18% Gray Grey Card Digital Studio Location Photography

Condition: NEW

A dramatic, eye catching photo can mean dramatic profits.

But sometimes -- after you set up your shot, and take what you think will be the perfect picture, with a pure white, floating on air background -- the background turns out to be a muddy gray and the picture is dim and under exposed.

Or perhaps you've been disappointed by the opposite situation --

Where an inky, black background suddenly looks like a neutral gray and all the contrast is leached out of your photo.

Well, getting those perfect shots can be easy if you know the secret weapon of the professional photographer.

And I'm going to tell you how they do it.

The secret is an inexpensive tool called an 18% Gray Card.

Today's cameras are amazing.

They can do all the metering and adjust all the settings automatically -- so you just have to point and shoot to capture stunning pictures on the fly.

But sometimes the camera "sees" a problem that doesn't really exist -- and the correction can ruin the shot!

In product photography -- which is a good way to think about the pictures we take on eBay -- the backdrop can confuse the camera's sensors.

The built in light meter sees the big patch of white - which is our background -- as an over exposed area

And tries to compensate by under-exposing the shot --

Giving you that gray background -- instead of the pure white one you wanted.

When the camera sees a deep black area, it tries to lighten it. And again, your shot turns out wrong.

For decades, professional photographers have gotten perfect shots by using a simple tool known as an 18% gray card to calibrate their light meters.

The gray is the exact, neutral gray a camera's sensors are built to view as the perfect exposure.

So  you can stage your picture, focus on the card, remove the gray card -- and shoot.

You'll get a perfectly exposed picture every time.

With brilliant white-white backgrounds for those "floating on air shots" that buyers love

Or dramatic, deep black backgrounds to showcase your products.

The 18% Gray Card will save you time and frustration

No more re-shooting or re-touching to make your pictures come out right.

Just meter, focus, and shoot

For the perfect exposure every time!