Dave s Amazing Trick for Finding a Neutral Gray

Dave's Amazing Trick for Finding a Neutral Gray

Finding a neutral midtone during color correcting has always been kind of tricky. Well, it was until Dave Cross, who works with me as Senior Developer of Education for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), came into my office one day to show me his amazing new trick for finding right where the midtones live in just about any image. When he showed me, I immediately blacked out. After I came to, I begged Dave to let me share his very slick trick in my book, and being the friendly Canadian he is, he obliged.

Step One

©SCOTT KELBY

Open any color photo and click on the Create a New Layer icon at the top of the Layers palette to create a new blank layer. Then, go under the Edit menu and choose Fill Layer. When the Fill Layer dialog appears, in the Contents section, under the Use pop-up menu, choose 50% Gray, and then click OK to fill your new layer with (you guessed it) 50% gray.

Step Two

Now, go to the Layers palette and change the blend mode pop-up menu to Difference. Changing this layer's blend mode to Difference doesn't do much for the look of your photo (in fact, it rarely does), but just rememberit's only temporary.

Step Three

Choose Threshold from the Create Adjustment Layer pop-up menu at the top of the Layers palette. When the dialog appears, drag the slider all the way to the left (your photo will turn completely white). Now, slowly drag the slider back to the right, and the first areas that appear in black are the neutral midtones. Take a mental note of where those gray areas are, and then click Cancel in the dialog, because you no longer need the adjustment layer. (In the example shown here, the neutral midtones are in the center of the building near the lantern.)

Step Four

Now that you know where your midtone point is, go back to the Layers palette and drag both the Threshold adjustment layer and the 50% gray layer onto the Trash icon (they already did their job, so you can get rid of them). You'll see your full-color photo again. Now, press Control-L to open Levels, get the midtones Eyedropper (it's the middle Eyedropper), and click directly on one of the neutral areas. That's it; you've found the neutral midtones and corrected any color within them. So, will this work every time? Almost. It works most of the time, but you will run across photos that just don't have a neutral midtone, so you'll have to either not correct the midtones or go back to what we used to doguess.