How Do You Get White to Look White and not Gray?

humbleman

New member
Hi!

I have my camera setting on manual. I have tried to get the
right color by using the gray card procedure, but my whites
come out gray and not white.

Thank you for your help.

Philip
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Hi!

I have my camera setting on manual. I have tried to get the
right color by using the gray card procedure, but my whites
come out gray and not white.

Thank you for your help.

Philip
Well first of all a Grey Card, really, is for correcting exposure, not correcting color/White Balance. I mean, you CAN use a Grey Card for that but it's a less than ideal way to go about things in my opinion. A White Balance card is probably the best way to correct color when post-processing and to avoid needing to correct White Balance in post, you need to either select the correct WB preset or learn to set a custom White Balance; which brings us back to a White Balance card. :)

But, in the meantime, what software are you using and how are you using it?
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

I assume by camera setting on manual, you are referring to exposure. However, what white balance settings are you using. If manual, how did you arrive at the setting to use? Note that their are manual different ways to use a gray card, please provide more details. Also a sample photo with EXIF data would be useful.
 
First off welcome to the forum.

Post a photo using the guide below so we can see what you are talking about.

Guidelines to adding a photo to your post.

1. Resize photo to 1000px on the long side.
2. Resolution set to 72ppi (Pixels Per Inch)

These guidelines will be good for viewing on a computer but will not be good for printing. This will help safeguard your copyright.







 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
I do it in Lightroom as part of post processing...
magnoliabud.jpg
 

WayneF

Senior Member
Hi!

I have my camera setting on manual. I have tried to get the
right color by using the gray card procedure, but my whites
come out gray and not white.

Thank you for your help.

Philip

I have not seen your picture example, but the gray card or white card is a white balance correction. The 18% gray card is pretty dark, and it is not specified to be neutral color. It is close, and some will work pretty well, but an actual White Balance card can be more assured. The $5 Porta Brace White Balance card at B&H is a good choice. Clicking that WB card tells the computer "I know this spot is neutral color, so make it be neutral". And it does, and it removes color casts (neutral is defined as equal RGB components, no color cast), but it does not adjust exposure. Underexposed white will always look gray, which is not a color cast, but instead is underexposure. More exposure corrects that, and makes white white.
 
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