Way better than a gray card! From Canada - eh. What ever the exchange rate this is such a handy tool it should be in every shooters’ bag for 2 reasons -    1) It does the job better than most other options and 2) It is more convenient so you will actually use it.

So what is it you ask. See the photo above. The Photomaster target is like one of the pop out style of reflectors similar to the one in your assistant’s hot little hands on that shoot today. You know the ones that you are so proud of being able to collapse after you learn how. Just take it out of its 6” zippered case (handy-eh?) and flip it out to the 12”, or so, full size. See the 4 patches? That is the magic.

Zoom in and take a shot of the middle gray area and use it for your white balance. Set it as the custom balance and that will put you right next to home plate for color. That means better than “in the ball park”.  If your sources are really mixed up you can shoot your custom balance thru the translucent white patch instead. Now frame up all four of the patches and shoot a test for exposure. This is the cool part!!! The 2 white patches are slightly different so a great exposure will be obvious on your histogram as there should be 2 peaks close to one another next to the right end of the display. It is like a signature for the exact right exposure. No questions. Expose to the right while being sure to have the 2 distinct peaks and you can be confident of a perfect exposure.

C'est étonnant !  - Hey the genius who came up with this is from Montreal so I can use some french. After 2 years of it in high school and a trip to Paris a few years ago I only know a few bits of the language and the one above means “It is astonishing” at least I hope so. Please don’t write if it doesn’t mean that because the only other french I know is Où est la bibliothèque ? or “where is the library”, and is not very useful when talking about the Photomaster Target.

Jean-Francois O’Kane is known as The Studio Coach. this and the similar target in large sizes - The Color Balance Coach- are his babies. You can learn a great amount from this man and he has some wonderful DVD’s to prove it. See The Studio Coach.com for more information on training, DVD’s and targets.
See photo master target.com for specifically the my new favorite tool or attend my classes or seminars and I will show it to you personally.