>> [...] for better photos, adjust your white balance.

> Very true. I've never found a camera that was 100% with
> white balance and contrast, even the better ones need a
> little post processing for the photos to look their best.

You can do essentially zero post-processing with the right
techniques during the shooting session.

Easiest way is to shoot an 18% gray card under the lighting
(fill the frame) you will be using then select "custom white
balance" (in camera menu) and use that gray card frame as the
target image.  You have to repeat when the lighting changes.
But if you have pre-scouted out locations (say wedding with
outdoors, in church, reception in restaurant, etc), you can
pre-expose gray card photos as first few images on each of
your memory cards.

Better is use a PhotoVision Digital Calibration Target (has
3 bars: 1 white, 1 18% gray, & 1 black -- average 18% gray).
Use it to set white balance (as above) then use white bar
plus the camera's histogram to set highlight exposure.

You take care of contrast by building your lighting setup
correctly beforehand -- assuming you have control of the
lights and/or have reflectors available.

At this point, all the images are "proof quality" or better
with no post-processing.

Once you get white balance & exposure close, you can tweak
it a bit further...

One post-processing step that's hard to avoid is calibration
of your specific camera's sensor.  Shoot a ColorChecker card
(from Pantone, GretagMacbeth, X-Rite, etc) then run the
Photoshop calibration tool or script (depending on version
of Photoshop you use).  Output is a set of constants/curves
for each color channel.  You then bulk apply this to all of
the images that you shot at a specific color temperature &
ISO speed.

[ Note -- the above paragraphs are a barebones introduction
  to these techniques.  ]

						Lee Jones

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