Whether you are shooting film or digital, the need to shoot accurately and repeatably is important. As you may have already discovered digital photography is much more critical than film when it comes to exposure and balance. These two areas seem to be the most troubling for many digital photographers. With this in mind, we have developed a white balance and exposure kit to help you with this issue.

  In order for you to achieve the best results from your digital studio portraits, we recommend setting your camera to an ISO of 160 or 200. With the camera in MANUAL mode set SHUTTER SPEED to 125. This will insure that no ambient light is recorded in the file. To achieve proper exposure using our kit , set up your studio lights in a typical manner, take a picture of the WHITE/GREY/BLACK card (with no edges or glare showing in the viewfinder) and evaluate the HISTOGRAM. Aproperly exposed image will reveal 3 "PEAKS" centered in the histogram box. The middle "peak" should be in the very center of the box with neither the left peak nor right peak running off the edge. Adjust the F-STOP manually until you achieve this. When your histogram is centered in this manner, the exposure is correct for this ISO and light set up. After proper exposure is achieved, use the WHITE side of the card to set a CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE using the method recommended in your camera manual. This procedure should give you correct exposure and proper white balance for this light set up. Repeat these steps any time you change your lights.

   Many photographers prefer to use a digital flash meter to achieve proper exposure. Choose the method that works best for you. Will Crockett is a leading authority on digital procedures and he created a website devoted to digital exposure and other vital information. ShootSmarter.com

   Also included with your white balance kit is a CD with one image on it and a color 8x10 of that image printed from our printer. By loading the CD and adjusting your monitor to closely match the target print, your files should be visually closer to our output.

   It is best to purchase a good monitor that can be profiled. We recommend the Monaco profiling software by X-Rite.

   If you have any questions, please contact our staff at Garrett and Lane.