8.10. Normalize
| 8. The “Colors” Menu |

### 8.10. Normalize

The Normalize command scales the brightness values of the active layer so that the darkest point becomes black and the brightest point becomes as bright as possible, without altering its hue. This is often a “magic fix” for images that are dim or washed out. “Normalize” works on layers from RGB, Grayscale, and Indexed images.

#### 8.10.1. Activate the Command

- You can access this command from the image menu bar through Colors → Auto → Normalize.

#### 8.10.2. “Normalize”Example

Figure 15.137. Original image

The active layer and its Red, Green and Blue histograms before “Normalize”.

Figure 15.138. Image after the command

The active layer and its Red, Green and Blue histograms after “Normalize”. The contrast is enhanced.

Histogram stretching creates gaps between the pixel columns, giving it a striped look.

8.9. Color Enhance |  | 8.11. Stretch Contrast