[Neel1]

I am into fashion photography and I generally shoot outdoor in daylight mostly. I normally bring along a white balance card which I bought on ebay, which is a card containing different colours like white grey blue red yellow, not just white....I work with flash. what I do is take a photo with the card with the most ideal flash setting I can have for every situation. My camera is set to auto white balance. but I usually fix the white balance inside photoshop using the white bslance tool of camera raw or of lightroom.

my question is 'why do I get the notification choose a neutral white balance' every time I try to use tge white balance tool on the white on my white balance card. why does the program say the white of this card is not neutral enough and I have to use it on th grey instead....

I ve always heard that white card is for white balance....isn't it?

[dms]

If you work with flash that determines the WB--I would set it for flash--and then if need be fine tune it w/ photoshop bridge/etc.
If using incandescent or daylight a gray card or white card (in principle) should be the same--gray is simply less light reflected.

[severalsnakes]

As I understand it, or, rather, how I use MY white balance cards (white, gray, black), you use the gray as a neutral to set the white balance, and you can the visually assess how "white" your white card looks and how "black" your black card looks once you get the image into post processing...

I'm no expert, though, and I look forward to seeing other technical responses. I'm sure I've not utilized my WB cards to their full extent.

[psychdoc]

Try this link:
Robin Myers Imaging: Gray or White Card for Neutral Balancing?

[enoeske]

I am into fashion photography and I generally shoot outdoor in daylight mostly. I normally bring along a white balance card which I bought on ebay, which is a card containing different colours like white grey blue red yellow, not just white....I work with flash. what I do is take a photo with the card with the most ideal flash setting I can have for every situation. My camera is set to auto white balance. but I usually fix the white balance inside photoshop using the white bslance tool of camera raw or of lightroom.

my question is 'why do I get the notification choose a neutral white balance' every time I try to use tge white balance tool on the white on my white balance card. why does the program say the white of this card is not neutral enough and I have to use it on th grey instead....

I ve always heard that white card is for white balance....isn't it?

You can use the white part to white balance, but there has to be some information there for lightroom to use. If the white section is totally blown out, there is no information to adjust. It can't set the white balance on something that is 255-255-255

[Parallax]

^ I suspect that's the answer right there. ^ You can easily determine if that's what's happening by intentionally underexposing a test shot by a couple of stops and see if you still get the same message.

[dms]

I suppose the use of a white, gray, and black card would be/should consistent with the dynamic range (DR) under the controlled setting (e.g., studio or outdoors in simple front lighting). Then the white would be close to 100% reflectance, the black about 3% reflectance (ideally although likely more) and the gray 18% (in between) if a 5 stop range. I.e., 100%-50%-25%-12%-6%-3%.

Actually the gray card may be lower (10-12%), or the equivalent incident light meter calibration, depending on the author/authority. Likely because the DR may be (typically) closer to 7 stops (as the scene is typically more complex with three dimensional objects in partial lighting).

Oh--ignore what I said about setting it for flash--I was thinking in studio, not outdoors w/ flash as (presumably) fill in. BTW Ideally/if very critical you would cover the flash w/ a light balancing filter to adjust flash to prevailing daylight temperature--although in practice it is about 5500K so none needed.

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Last edited by dms; 02-04-2015 at 12:07 PM.

[Neel1]

^ I suspect that's the answer right there. ^ You can easily determine if that's what's happening by intentionally underexposing a test shot by a couple of stops and see if you still get the same message.

yes I think it is. because on the photos where my flash is set to a very low output, I can use the white part for white balance. but not on the photos when I set my flash power higher. because then the white part will reflect a bit too much of the flash light.....

[johnmflores]

You can use the white part to white balance, but there has to be some information there for lightroom to use. If the white section is totally blown out, there is no information to adjust. It can't set the white balance on something that is 255-255-255

This.

[Not a Number]

This is what I do with my K10D -

Press the FN button - WB - manual WB - right controller button - press shutter release and shoot the entire card - move the select area over the white portion of the card in the preview image and press OK and OK.

Then take a shot of the card and keep it for reference in PP.

Since you are using flash you may have to make allowances for flash distance.

[Kerrowdown]

For colour critical stuff I use an X-Rite Color Checker Passport, which includes both a desktop application and an Adobe Lightroom plug in for creating custom DNG profiles.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ua...oUgwBcKcJWs9hw

[Fire Angel]

You can use the white part to white balance, but there has to be some information there for lightroom to use. If the white section is totally blown out, there is no information to adjust. It can't set the white balance on something that is 255-255-255

I'd go a little further; if any of the three RGB values is 255 in the white area use the grey part of the card. If any channel reaches 255 there's a possibility of clipping on that channel, so it may introduce inaccuracies if you use it.

---------- Post added 02-05-15 at 01:57 PM ----------

For colour critical stuff I use an X-Rite Color Checker Passport, which includes both a desktop application and an Adobe Lightroom plug in for creating custom DNG profiles.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ua...oUgwBcKcJWs9hw

The Light Room plug-in is by Adobe and can be downloaded for use with other cards. I point this out because there are cards just as good as the Color Checker Passport at about a fifth of the price. They don't come with the nice case the Color Checker comes in, but they work every bit as well. I made my own case for mine with a bit of 430 grade stainless steel plate in the back to make sure my card never gets bent. It still worked out at about a quarter of the price of the Colour Checker Passport, even allowing for the cost of the steel plate.