68degrees
Well-known
What do I tell the paint guy at home depot how to mix up 18% middle gray. Is there a formula I can tell him. The woman at lowes had no idea what I was talking about.
Brian Puccio
Well-known
Did you honestly expect someone who works with paint to know what 18% gray is?
Bring in a gray card and tell him to match it. Most paint retailers can match a swatch of any sort. Get a sample jar (a few bucks) of the match, then go home and a spot on your wall with a few coats and when it dries, see if it matches.
Bring in a gray card and tell him to match it. Most paint retailers can match a swatch of any sort. Get a sample jar (a few bucks) of the match, then go home and a spot on your wall with a few coats and when it dries, see if it matches.
68degrees
Well-known
um.. ya actually.. haha I do. If not the paint guy then who would know?? haha
Oh thats a good idea with the gray card sample Ill bring my kodak guide in there it has a gray card. Thats a great idea thanks. But still there should be a formula.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Swatch. Even then, don't bet on a linear spectral response. Why do you want 18% grey paint?
Cheers,
R.
Cheers,
R.
bjornkeizers
Established
OK, I'll be that guy: why do you need 18% gray paint? Building a home photo studio with built in gray card or something?
Sylvester
Well-known
Where I study photography they do paint walls, floor and ceiling middle gray where we process and print images so our eyes are somewhat not influenced by the environment.
Before boring walls, a calibrated graphic pro monitor is much more important...
Gray kills creativity for me...
Before boring walls, a calibrated graphic pro monitor is much more important...
Gray kills creativity for me...
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear Olivier,
So presumably they know nothing about lighting intensities and the response of the human eye? Painting darkroom walls (or even lightroom walls) 18% grey suggests to me that you might want to change colleges to somewhere that they have a faint idea of what they are doing.
Your point about the monitor is well taken. As is the point about killing creativity.
Cheers,
R.
Sylvester
Well-known
Not darkroom computer and printer places...
68degrees
Well-known
haha I dont actually need middle gray. I was going to make a portable gray board to calibrate with and I went to lowes and they couldnt come up with anything so I became curious about 18% middle gray. its not even about the having middle gray anymore, its not knowing how to do it that bugs me.
Also as a side note I thought I would paint my darkroom middle gray, hey its a photography color. flat black, kodak yellow, middle gray, fuji green. Its also a bathroom. Gray would be alright with the woodwork and beige tile, white fixtures.
But I digress. Its the principle now. I want to know how to make middle gray just for the sake of being able to do it because I currently dont know and that bugs me.
alfredian
Well-known
Doesn't the store have a photo-eye thing?
Doesn't the store have a photo-eye thing?
At some of the paint stores they have an electric-eye scanner thing that they use to "match" paint choices to a swatch of something - wallpaper, carpet, furniture upholstery, the family cat. That, or get one of their color-choice books and match it by your eye, under the lighting source where you'll be using it. Sounds like outdoors if you'll be toting this thing around.
Doesn't the store have a photo-eye thing?
At some of the paint stores they have an electric-eye scanner thing that they use to "match" paint choices to a swatch of something - wallpaper, carpet, furniture upholstery, the family cat. That, or get one of their color-choice books and match it by your eye, under the lighting source where you'll be using it. Sounds like outdoors if you'll be toting this thing around.
peterm1
Veteran
Go to the decorating store. Grab some of the small colour swatches in grey (mind you they are likely to have names like "dove grey" or "grey velvet" or some such pap) and compare them to a real grey card. If needed take them to the photo store to do so. Then when you have one which is close enough (it does not need to be perfect) - buy a small test pot of in colour. (Is grey actually a colour or only a tone?)
bigeye
Well-known
daveleo
what?
Does this scheme work? . . .
Buy a can white paint and a can of black paint.
One f-stop down from white (50% gray) = 1 part white + 1 part black.
Two f-stops down from white = (25% gray) = 1 part white + 2 parts black
Three f-stops down from white = (12.5% gray) = 1 part white + 3 parts black
I think
Buy a can white paint and a can of black paint.
One f-stop down from white (50% gray) = 1 part white + 1 part black.
Two f-stops down from white = (25% gray) = 1 part white + 2 parts black
Three f-stops down from white = (12.5% gray) = 1 part white + 3 parts black
I think
Richard G
Veteran
Dulux have an iPhone app to match colours. Truth is if it sort of looks right, it's going to be close enough. Furthermore, from an interior decorating point of view, what might look OK as the colour on a card, is likely to look very different in effect on a large patch of wall. Even the texture of the paint and of the wall are going to affect the reflectivity.
Brian Legge
Veteran
This is the best thread title ever. Easily.
Edit: And I agree with others - take a Kodak grey care in and as for a match.
Edit: And I agree with others - take a Kodak grey care in and as for a match.
venchka
Veteran
Why would you attempt to match a pre-printed paint sample by eye? Matching the sample and a real 18% grey card with a trusted reflected meter is the way to do it. Match the mixed paint color to the grey card with a meter as well.
K.I.S.S.
Wayne
K.I.S.S.
Wayne
Sam N
Well-known
You don't need 18% grey for the computer area, just any shade of neutral gray.
68degrees
Well-known
icebear
Veteran
"18% grey" is meant to be a grey surface that is reflecting 18% of light that hits it.
I haven't seen this posted so far but this gives you also an idea that this is pretty dark.
Going in to a shop and have them match a standard grey card should give a sufficient accurate result.
I haven't seen this posted so far but this gives you also an idea that this is pretty dark.
Going in to a shop and have them match a standard grey card should give a sufficient accurate result.
68degrees
Well-known
well i took my kodak photo guide into lowes. Im assuming the big gray card page is an 18% gray card.
I went in at 7:58pm (sunday)and they closed at 8 so she wasnt too happy to see me. I introduced myself as her nightmare customer which at least made her smile albeit briefly. I showed her a formula from largeformatphotography.net and she said she cant make sense of it. That formula had
B 0 95
C 0 16
F 0 7
KX 0 170
and they are in 384th oz. She said her machine is 48ths of an oz. ( the lfp.net site said lowes had higher precision than home depot up to 1/1000th oz. but i digress)
She said the numbers dont look right. So I asked her to scan my gray card and she looked at me with her head tilted slightly, her forehead beginning to crinkle. I showed her my book and asked her to scan it and said we dont have to mix it tonight I just want to see the formula. She seems relieved until another late customer walks up to the desk waiting for service. Anyway she scanned it and came up with this:
Black 26/48ths oz
Umber 30/48ths oz
Red Oxide 5.5/48ths oz
seems quite different.
I went in at 7:58pm (sunday)and they closed at 8 so she wasnt too happy to see me. I introduced myself as her nightmare customer which at least made her smile albeit briefly. I showed her a formula from largeformatphotography.net and she said she cant make sense of it. That formula had
B 0 95
C 0 16
F 0 7
KX 0 170
and they are in 384th oz. She said her machine is 48ths of an oz. ( the lfp.net site said lowes had higher precision than home depot up to 1/1000th oz. but i digress)
She said the numbers dont look right. So I asked her to scan my gray card and she looked at me with her head tilted slightly, her forehead beginning to crinkle. I showed her my book and asked her to scan it and said we dont have to mix it tonight I just want to see the formula. She seems relieved until another late customer walks up to the desk waiting for service. Anyway she scanned it and came up with this:
Black 26/48ths oz
Umber 30/48ths oz
Red Oxide 5.5/48ths oz
seems quite different.