# Using a gray card for color correction



## Tea Clipper (Jan 13, 2007)

I mentioned in another thread that I like to use a target in my pictures and then crop them out.  What I meant was, I like to use a gray card for color correction.

[All photos had to be resized and jpg quality reduced in order to meet the requirements of the forum, but I hope you get the idea.]

The original picture from the camera:






Loaded into Photoshop, note the gray card along the bottom:





Here, I've selected the area of the photo I want to keep and then used the Level control (CTRL+L) with the eye dropper to set the black, white, and midtone levels from the respective areas of the gray card:





Next, it is copied into a new window.  I noticed that my little stand was visible so I would use the healing tool to erase it, but I'm lazy and didn't do it for this example:





The final result of using the gray card:





For more info, and better step-by-step info, please see this web page: http://www.digitalartsphotography.com/instructions.htm

I hope you enjoyed my little photo essay.  I am by no means an expert on the subject, I just wanted to share my method.  Enjoy!  [8D]


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## bob393 (Jan 13, 2007)

The gray card is the place to start for exposure control and accurate color rendering.


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