A range of shades of gray in an image. Gray scales of scanners are determined by the number of grays, or values between black and white, that they can recognize and reproduce. The spectrum, or range, of shade of gray an image has from white to black. Scanners' and terminals' gray scales are determined by the number of gray shades, or steps, they can recognize and reproduce. A scanner that can only digitize gray scale of 16 will not produce as accurate an image as one that digitizes a gray scale of 256.
Return To Glossary