Why is the background color of the Photoshop application designed gray?

Is there any way to set the background color of the Application Frame? I like the dark gray interface for the way it makes the panels look. I find the panels wich are always open on my second monitor are distracting and hard to read with the light gray interface.

But I do not like the very dark Application frame in the dark gray interface. Can you change its color separately?

I know this well as a painter and digital artist- Just recently I was working on cloning out white label, so full-screen white, I started to see yellow blobs that werent really there...

A long time ago I was painting live on a highly reflective, bright orange surface ( road sign ) completely screwed my color perception for the night!

I am a little late to the party but, as a retired printer, here is my contribution:

Prior to the introduction of Photoshop, letterpress printers and lithographers spent a considerable amount of time comparing reflection art* to its printed reproduction. In order to avoid the surround exerting an influence on perception, an industry-specific standard was established and special viewing booths constructed. The standard is Munsell N8, a value of gray slightly lighter than N7, which is used as the standard surround for comparing paint chips and fabric colors. The value of a gray surround compared to black or white has been mentioned here so there is little need to repeat it. I would add that it would probably help if you Googled “simultaneous contrast.” Although the following is a commercial site, the information there may be useful: https://www.rpimaging.com/munsell-neutral-gray-paint.html. It also displays N7 and N8. 

*We worked with C prints, R prints, Cibachromes, Dye Transfers, Flexichromes and fine art.

FWIW: When viewing 35mm transparencies a special viewer was used. It was a self-contained, fixed projection distance slide projector that displayed the image on an N8 surround.

When the art was 6cm x 6cm, 4x5 or 8x10 Ektachomes, a viewing box meeting Kelvin, Color Rendering Index and level of illumination standards was used. Kodak advised that at least 3” of light box illumination should surround the chrome to create an optical flare and reduce visual color saturation and range somewhat and bring the viewed image closer to the limitations of ink on paper.

As Trevor brilliantly illustrated, 50% Grey is neutral. I also have my desktop set to 50% grey for the same reason. It is the least distracting and won't affect your color perception. Here's more about color perception. One of the many things that designers are taught on graphic design degrees. If you feel like you need more help in learning the principles of design there's a book here that can help you :-)

Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist: A Practical Guide to Principles & Techniques: Amazon.co.uk: Angie Taylor:…

Best background image for the best color perception | Datacolor

Having heard so many very good arguments for neutral backgrounds, a plea against white walls might be interesting.

Sorry, it's only a Google translation.

Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann

A plea against white walls

http://herzogantonulrich.de/museum-backstage-mut-zur-farbe

19. Februar 2018

Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum

Braunschweig, Germany

Courage to color

One thing is certain: when we reopen our museum in autumn 2016, we will make the world more colorful. Purple,

sky blue, lemon yellow or lime green - the walls of our new showrooms shine in all the colors of the rainbow.

The Gemäldegalerie brings it to six different colors, while the exhibition floor on the second floor presents itself

in twelve different color garments. White walls can not even be found in staircases or service areas, because

here, too, the architecture retains a delicate outline in cream and stone tones, reappearing as it was originally

conceived in the 19th century.

Why such a rush of color? Can art handle that?

Oh yes. She can not only tolerate it, she wants it that way! White exhibition spaces, the concept of the "White

Cube", which became fashionable around 1920, is a staging of classical modern and contemporary art. One of

the ulterior motives of this concept was to prevent any interaction between the exhibition architecture and the

artwork. The artwork should talk to the visitor, without background noise. You can make modern art talk, but old

masters can only whisper. A painting painted in the 16th or 17th century does not have much to tell you in front

of a white wall. Our eye can hardly distinguish the subtle nuances of the motif created in several layers of paint

applied against the dazzling white of the background. This is called a "crossfade effect".

The eye adjusts to the brightness of the background color, the actual leading actor on the wall, the painting with

its fine, but muchdarker color facets, blurs into a shadowy spot on the wall. The fact that white is not an ideal

background color, by the way, is not only true for dark-toned paintings or dark bronze sculptures. Even bright

materials such as marble or alabaster do not flourish against a white background, the natural materials even

look dirty at worst.

Old art is therefore more effective in front of colored backgrounds than in front of brilliant white. But here too

there are differences. The new picture gallery is dominated by bright shades of blue, red and green, while the

sculpted and applied art on the second floor features bold colors such as purple, lemon yellow (see picture

above) and grass green, as well as soft like honey yellow or blue gray.

The reason: the colors are a means to an end, and the purpose is to provide our art with the right ambience.

The picture gallery consists of meter-high rooms with a lot of wall surface, so that the colors look very intense,

and the paintings hang directly on the wall.

Therefore, we have chosen bright colors that gently lift the art while supporting the open space feeling of the

spacious architecture.

The galleries on the second floor have a smaller ceiling than the picture gallery and are divided into smaller units,

the sculptures,porcelain, furniture, lacquer, coins, majolica and other treasures are not presented directly on the

wall, but in showcases or on pedestals. The spatial situation offered us the chance to choose colors such as

lemon yellow or grass green, which would be toointense for the atmosphere on meter-high wall surfaces like in

the picture gallery. On the second floor, each of the twelve theme areas has its own color. Once again, we had

both the art and the visitor in mind during the design.

The frequent color changes are refreshing and encourage you to experience each room as a new chapter.

At the same time, we were able to create a background for our works of art that emphasizes the thematic context

and thus optimally emphasizes it. For example, the rooms on the theme of "branding" (The Prince as a brand)

are held in stately purple tones, the theme room on faith and religion in a light sky blue, and so on.

The colors have long been set, the rooms are now the finishing touch to the return of art. Did we choose correctly?

As of October, we as readers of this blog will see it as we bring the first works into their new environment.

Yes as mentioned by others to focus only on main subject surroundings are kept neutral so all the attention remain for subject....Thanks.

Back in my film lab days, I went for an interview once at a place that had a "Viewing Room" that was completely grey—walls, floor, ceiling, cabinets, counter-tops. It was actually sort of disorienting to be in