Post by Romy Ocon on Jan 14, 2008 2:54:31 GMT
Here's sharing a simple yet effective technique in correcting color casts in PS, thanks to Chas of Naturescapes for sharing it.
This assumes that your monitor is somewhat accurate and you're not color-challenged, thus you can see the cast. When the photo was shot in RAW, it's best to just re-convert it using an adjusted white balance. This technique is intended for jpeg captures, or if one doesn't have the time to re-convert from RAW.
(Full Disclosure - I'm acutely color-blind, and though I can still discern whether the scene is cold or warm,
I'd rather trust my white balance to my color consultants at home. ;D )
1. Open the photo (in any format - jpeg, psd or tiff) in PS. The Layers Window should be active so you can monitor the layers. The photo is now the background layer by default
2. Right click on the background layer, and duplicate it.
3. On the duplicate, click Filter/Blur/Average. This will average the colors of the photo, and it will give you an indication whether the pic is colder or warmer than neutral grey.
4. Click Layer/New Adjustment Layer/Levels/Ok. The levels dialog appears. Click the midtone eyedropper (middle one). Place midtone eyedropper anywhere over the average-blurred layer in no. 3. then click. Click Ok on the levels dialog.
5. You should now see 3 layers on the Layer Window - original background (bottom layer), average-blurred layer (middle layer) and the levels adjustment layer on top.
6. Right click on the average-blurred layer (middle layer), then delete this layer.
7. Click the levels adjustment layer (on top) so it becomes active. If you make this layer visible/invisible alternately (by clicking on the "eye"), you can now see the color cast correction. You should adjust the opacity of the top layer so the cast is corrected to your taste. A 50% opacity works in most cases, though sometimes 10-30% opacity is all that's needed.
8. Flatten the layers, then save in desired format.
Hope this helps.
Romy
This assumes that your monitor is somewhat accurate and you're not color-challenged, thus you can see the cast. When the photo was shot in RAW, it's best to just re-convert it using an adjusted white balance. This technique is intended for jpeg captures, or if one doesn't have the time to re-convert from RAW.
(Full Disclosure - I'm acutely color-blind, and though I can still discern whether the scene is cold or warm,
I'd rather trust my white balance to my color consultants at home. ;D )
1. Open the photo (in any format - jpeg, psd or tiff) in PS. The Layers Window should be active so you can monitor the layers. The photo is now the background layer by default
2. Right click on the background layer, and duplicate it.
3. On the duplicate, click Filter/Blur/Average. This will average the colors of the photo, and it will give you an indication whether the pic is colder or warmer than neutral grey.
4. Click Layer/New Adjustment Layer/Levels/Ok. The levels dialog appears. Click the midtone eyedropper (middle one). Place midtone eyedropper anywhere over the average-blurred layer in no. 3. then click. Click Ok on the levels dialog.
5. You should now see 3 layers on the Layer Window - original background (bottom layer), average-blurred layer (middle layer) and the levels adjustment layer on top.
6. Right click on the average-blurred layer (middle layer), then delete this layer.
7. Click the levels adjustment layer (on top) so it becomes active. If you make this layer visible/invisible alternately (by clicking on the "eye"), you can now see the color cast correction. You should adjust the opacity of the top layer so the cast is corrected to your taste. A 50% opacity works in most cases, though sometimes 10-30% opacity is all that's needed.
8. Flatten the layers, then save in desired format.
Hope this helps.
Romy
