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The Shades of Grayscale

There are 30 shades of gray available and you can convert your image into a grayscaled PDF using PDF tools in an instant. This saves you ink and storage on your device.

Published 24 Feb 2020

If you’re using the book “50 shades of gray” as a reference, it’s about time to change that perspective because it doesn’t really correspond to the real-life colors, instead, it portrays the feelings and moods of the character. In real life, there are actually more than 500 shades of gray. Our human eye could not distinguish all of it but there are at least 30 shades that we can see. Some may be gifted and can see around 50 but normally, 30 shades are visible.

sample of gray picture

What are the different shades of Gray?

Isn’t it amazing how our eye can detect around 10 million unique colors but can only distinguish 30 shades of gray? These shades can also be categorized in four parts – the Achromatic grays, off-grays,  the cool grays, and the warm grays.

The first category shows you different shades that have equal RGB mixtures (red, green and blue). The second type, the off-grays have unequal colors combined while the cool grays have other hues surfacing such as bluish, violets or greenish colors. The last category, the warm grays, have brown or pinkish shades surfacing its gray color.

To make things simpler for you, we’ve compiled the shades and the names in a table. More likely, common readers like you will be able to tell the difference between them all.

 

30 Visible Shades of Gray

 

Achromatic Grays

 

     Gainsboro

#DCDCDC

 

     Light gray

#D3D3D3

 

     Silver

#C0C0C0

 

     Medium Gray

#BEBEBE

 

     Spanish Gray

#989898

 

     Gray

#808080

 

     Dim Gray

#696969

 

     Davy’s Gray

#555555

 

     Jet

#343434

 

     Middle Gray

 

 

Off-Grays

 

     Xanadu

#738678

 

     Platinum

#E5E4E2

 

     Ash Gray

#B2BEB5

 

     Battleship Gray

#848482

 

     Gunmetal Gray

#2A3439

 

     Nickel

#727472

 

     Charcoal

#36454F

 

     Stone Gray

#928E85

 

Cool Grays

 

     Cool gray

#9090C0

 

     Cadet Gray

#91A3B0

 

     Blue-gray

#6699CC

 

     Glaucous

#6082B6

 

     Slate gray

#708090

 

     Gray-green

#5E716A

 

     Marengo

#4C5866

 

Warm Grays

 

     Pruce

#CC8899

 

     Rose Quartz

#AA98A9

 

     Cinereous

#98817B

 

     Rocket Metallic

#8A7F8D

 

     Taupe

#483C32

 

Why some users prefer grayscale?

In basic reasoning, grayscale makes everything simpler and therefore having smaller data. With this said, your computer will be able to do more complex processes faster. To elaborate further on the data, let’s list it down one by one.

1. PDF files and images automatically becomes smaller in size and gets compressed when converted to grayscale. It simplifies the code in the file, allowing your computer to do faster.

2. In image processing, having a grayscale image helps identify edges and texture, helping users by identifying noise in the image.

3. Colors have 3 dimensions or 3 layers – R, B and G. Grayscale meanwhile have only 2 – black and white. In programming, there are certain codes applicable only to 2 dimensional images, hence the preference for a grayscale image.

4. In photography, having images in gray sets the mood and the tone of the photo. It also emphasizes objects and depth when needed to.

How to set up your printer to grayscale

You can simply change the setting on your printer or change the color preference before hitting print. In a gist, you can set your printer to grayscale by following the instructions below:

1. Select device and printers from the start button (on Windows)

2. Right-click on your printer and select “printer preference”

3. Go to the color tab or the advanced options (if color tab is not seen immediately) then change it to grayscale.

4. Click apply or save.

setting your printer to grayscale

When you open your PDF using a browser, the browser already asks you if you want to change your printer setting to color or grayscale.

browser printer setting to gray

How to convert your PDF document to grayscale without printing

You can achieve this in two different ways – using the old and long method of printing it in grayscale, then re-scanning the document OR using the shorter version by using a PDF software to convert it to grayscale. Of course, who wants the long way if we can do this in the fast and easy way?

1. Go to DeftPDF homepage and select GRAYSCALE PDF tool.

2. Upload your PDF file there and click “Convert”

3. Save and download.

Here’s a video tutorial so you can see how easy it is to use:

 

 

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