ShaheedMalik wrote:I would love to see references to 18% Gray and Stops above and below Middle Gray displayed on the Curves screen that corresponds to the colorspace and gamma of that node. It will be easier to make the changes we want to make instead of just having a blank grid.
I'm not as obsessed with middle gray as some people, but it is something I keep in mind. Middle gray equates to about 46 on an IRE scale, and I kind of think of that as halfway down the scale. I generally tell students to use Editable Splines on Custom Curves, so we can make sure we have a very smooth, sweeping curve when adding contrast. Generally I can eyeball the image overall and make sure that middle gray is maintained enough to see enough detail.
There is a grid available on the Custom Curve display, but they don't make it obvious where middle gray would be. I wouldn't object to emphasizing the third line in that vertical grid display, which is very close to what I would call Middle Gray. Here's what I mean:
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/1TqHyEn.png)
I think people kind of go nuts about middle gray, but in the real world, there's so many other complications, it's not the first thing I necessarily worry about when I'm tackling a color session. Sometimes, the DP wants to throw that right out the window because they have a very specific idea about a look they want to impose on the image, so it's one of those theoretical things I'd like to do, but it's not always possible in the real world. (Look at
Furiosa if you want to see an idea of what I'm talking about.)