What am I going to do?

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Thanks for all the suggestions/comments everyone.
I'm not sure if my software can make use of a gray card or not. I'll have to dig into it more deeply.
I have one of my dad's old Weston meters, actually two of them, but I'm not sure if they're working properly or not so I think I'd rather trust the camera's metering. I wouldn't have normally shot these in the bright sun but sometimes my wife doesn't understand that a cloudy day is sometimes better. If you catch my drift. As it was, I didn't get too much of a sun burn from being out there for a few hours. The slight breeze did make it exciting at times as I didn't have any weights on the back drop stands and it was tied down pretty good (material to stands) so acted like a big sail when the breeze came up.
Next time I'll try metering with all the viewfinder filled with the quilt and see how that works out. Who knows, I might even remember to turn off the stabilization when I put the camera on the tripod too!
Oh, and not to worry too much about selling these quilts as they aren't for sale. Our financial situation hasn't gotten that desperate, yet.

[Dave Humphries]

If your camera has an RGB histogram feature, you should be able to use that to guide you to a 'correct' exposure while shooting.

Good to hear you're not having to sell the quilts just yet

Upgrade software?

[ccphoto]

Buy a tilt shift lens and quit worrying..oh, wait, you didn't want a second mortgage...never mind.