---
title: "Grey card (gray card): meaning in product photography | Herofab"
description: "A card of neutral middle grey, photographed in the light of the shoot to set white balance and exposure. One reading corrects a whole series of photos."
url: https://herofab.app/glossary/grey-card
language: en
updated: 2026-11-06
---

# Grey card

A card of neutral middle grey, photographed in the light of the shoot to set white balance and exposure. One reading corrects a whole series of photos.

Also called **gray card** · **middle grey card**

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![Model wearing round tortoiseshell glasses on a cobbled Paris street, close portrait](https://herofab.app/img/ex/tortoise-mateo-street-1100.webp)

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A grey card is made to reflect all colours equally. White paper often is not: many papers contain brighteners that glow bluish, and a white surface easily turns into pure white in the photo, which leaves nothing to measure. A grey card keeps detail at normal exposure and stays neutral, so the reading taken from it is reliable.

The card is placed where the product will stand, angled like the product's main face, and photographed once in the same light. The camera's custom white balance can be set from that frame, or the white balance tool of an editor is clicked on the card afterwards, and the setting is copied to every photo from the same light. When the light changes, a new card shot is taken.

The card also helps with exposure. A camera meter aims for middle grey, so a white product on white is shot too dark and black on black too bright. Metering from the card gives the correct exposure for both. For matching colours across several cameras or studios, a chart with colour patches goes further than a single grey card, which only sets the neutral point.

## Grey card, answered.

**Does a grey card work with a phone camera?**

Yes, mostly in editing. Photograph the card where the product will stand, then click the white balance picker of an editing app on the card and copy that setting to the other photos from the same light. Tapping the card to set exposure and locking it before reframing on the product also gives a steadier exposure for white and black goods.

**Do cheap grey cards work as well as expensive ones?**

Mostly yes, as long as the card is neutral, matte and clean. The price buys a tested, even surface, but an inexpensive card from a photo shop does the job for white balance. A grey printed at home is rarely neutral, since printer inks lean warm or cool, and a faded, scuffed or stained card is replaced, because the stain is what the reading then corrects for.

Updated 15 October 2026

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