Curvemeister Forum

I found what I thought was a neutral shadow color under a rock and made a neutral point there and adjusted for the shadow and highlights.  I once read you can find a neutral point with the following workflow:

Add a 50% fill layer above Background layer

Change Layer Blend Mode to Difference on 50% Gray layer

Add Threshold Adj Layer-drag slider until first areas that appear black and set color sampler point on this area

Trash Threshold Adj layer and Difference Layer

I tried this in Photoshop to help me identify neutral area before I went into CM.  The area I found was not totally black but very close so that is the area I marked as neutral in CM.

Appreciate thoughts on this technique or if anyone knows a better way of identifying a neutral, would appreciate info and comments on corrections made.

Lowell

Lowell,
The neutral is certainly the key to this image...
Things we KNOW should be neutral are a key part of making that decision.  These memory colors are very important because while they may not be 100 % correct they get us in the area we want to be faster than guessing. 

In the Taroko Gorge image you can count on a few things that "should" be neutral...the froth of the water is a good starting point.  It can have a brownish cast sometimes but it is certainly closer than the cyan / blue you have in the image as posted...

In my image I set a neutral on the froth of the water and it makes a vast improvement over trying to find a neutral using the Photoshop method you describe.  The trouble with the method you describe is that it tells you what is neutral in the image not what should be neutral.  You need should be neutral because a tone that is currently neutral before a correction will have have a new tone after the right neutral is set.

Greg

Thanks Greg, do you have a list of the "memory" colors?  It would probably help me to at least get me in the ball park to start.

Lowell

Lowell,
Memory colors are best described as "knowing that an object is a certain hue..." I know that hair for instance is generally not green.  If I find green hair I want to get rid of it.  I know that grass is green but I have no way of knowing how green...I do know that green grass is actually closer to yellow than pure green but again I have no exact measure of the hue...My memory will tell me that for the vast majority of the grass I see there will be little or no blue in it...if I find blue in the grass again I will try to be rid of it...

I'm not sure if that helps and we need to continue this discussion because it is at the heart of what we are trying to do...

Greg