Auto Levels

RS
Posted By
Robert_Schoenburg
Aug 9, 2004
Views
253
Replies
5
Status
Closed
When I choose Auto Levels, the photo turns nearly black. This also happens when I choose Levels and use the White Eyedropper.
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R
Ram
Aug 9, 2004
Robert,

When I choose Auto Levels, the photo turns nearly black.

Well, then don’t use Auto Levels. That particular image obviously doesn’t lend itself to auto correction with Auto Levels. Not all images do. You can do a lot better with Curves anyway.

This also happens when I choose Levels and use the White Eyedropper.

Where are you clicking with the eyedropper?

Actually, it would help if you give more details. I’ve misplaced my mind reading cap. What image mode and color depth is your file in? Is it tagged? How big is the file? What exact version of the OS and Photoshop are you using? Which machine? How much RAM? What % of maximum available RAM are you allowing Photoshop to use? How big is your HD and how much free space is left on it?
CB
charles_badland
Aug 9, 2004
It sounds like your levels white eye dropper got set to black. Double-click on the white eye dropper and set to 243 RGB. Set the black eye dropper to 11 RGB. (I’ve read these are good settings for Levels white and black set points) Might do the trick.
cb
RS
Robert_Schoenburg
Aug 9, 2004
Yes! That did the trick, thanks. Actually, "pure" white would be 255 and "pure" black would be 0, but maybe that is too harsh.
CB
charles_badland
Aug 10, 2004
Robert,
FYI, Jullieanne Kost has a nice little pdf tutorial on "color correction by the numbers" on the adobe evangelists site: <http://www.adobeevangelists.com>
RS
Robert_Schoenburg
Aug 10, 2004
Thanks. Great link!

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