Mea culpa.
Forum Gray is a
bit bluish. The strip of gray I look at when I have
Forum covering most of the screen is that at the top which belongs to Safari and that at the
side (my "Dock") which belongs to my OSX operating system. These are paler than my 18% Screen (I do dislike that swoosh cyan!) but equally neutral.
PatP.S. Though now I can see Perseus' feet, that looks nothing like one of those Amisos coins. I don't think you can do it by numbers. At least, I couldn't. And I don't think you can by Curves or Levels convert a photo taken with natural black to one with any kind of pale gray or white except by the usual magic wand (or alternative) + paint bucket.
To lighten the
Perseus coin posted originally (but darker then?) all I can think of is to let the black be but diddle the midtones either together, RGB, or separately if need be, to lighten them and then, using the lefthand end of levels darken the black, as it were, to the extent that you regain the dark accents (as Ansel Adams would require in the Zone System) for punch, a
bit. Not that I do that, but in principle that's how I understand it.
Actually, though it's dark, I like your old photo. You know what those coins usually look like!!!
PatHere's a
reduced file of the flatbed scan of mine. I ought to be game and dig it out and try to photograph it.
And here's a
reduced (K) new photo of the same. Maybe too saturated for some taste, but easier to give this one a black background than the other way around.
CLICK!Pat