The price was right (well, close enough!)

I finally found a photo grey card at an (unreasonably) reasonable price. I mean, $5.99 for a piece of grey cardboard?!?!?!?! But it really looked good to me yesterday! Let me explain.

I've been wanting one for a long time. It is so hard to get the exposure right when photographing jewelry; especially on the light backgrounds that I prefer. I've been relying on Photoshop to make up the difference, but if I'm going to enter contests or send my work to be considered by magazines, that won't do. They want photos that have not been Photoshopped, and mine are just not up to that standard. I really, really needed that grey card.

But they're not easy to find, and when they are available, they're outrageously expensive. I've been to several camera shops; when I ask for a photo grey card, I've mostly been greeted by blank stares. When I did find clerks who knew what I was going on about, they usually laughed and said, "I haven't seen one of those for years!"

It seems that most people just use the auto features on their cameras. Erm, that's not working for me! I need to do it the old fashioned way. So I began looking online. I committed myself to just buy one, no matter the price. I told myself that it really doesn't matter how much it costs; I need this thing. In the long run, it will save me so much frustration and time; I will recoup the cost in weeks, if not days.

But the best price I could find was $12.99 with $6.99 shipping. I couldn't talk myself into spending that much; I just couldn't do it. I put it in my cart and took it out several times; but in the end, regardless of how much I wanted it, regardless of how many times I reminded myself that I needed it, I just couldn't do it.

I just couldn't spend $19.98 for a piece of grey cardboard.

Now I'm glad I couldn't. We just happened by Sam's Camera in Mount Kisco, and the lovely gentleman behind the counter not only knew what I was talking about, but he had them in stock, and agreed that they really were better than the camera's meter for getting the exposure right,

Now let's just hope this does the trick!