Basic Color-Correcting Techniques for Photoshop

Are off-color photographs making you see red? Following these simple color-correcting techniques in Photoshop will make your colors more vibrant and lifelike.

The easiest way to color correct is to set your white balance before you capture the image. Here is an article on how to do that, for your reference.

After importing your images to your computer it is highly recommended that you save unedited images to a CD. This will ensure that you can always go back to the original if you run into problems with editing.

There are several different ways to color correct using Adobe Photoshop. I have picked a few simple ways and urge you to share your own techniques on the photography board, as there are many ways to achieve the same results.

Correcting Using Auto

Using the Auto settings is a basic wayto start. You can do all three of these commands, or just one if it looks better. With your image open go to:

• IMAGE > Adjustments > Auto levels
  
  
  
  
  
  The "Auto Levels" command will automatically correct both the color and contrast. However, if it doesn't look quite right to you, you can undo the step and try the following commands one by one to see if they help get a better result.
  
  
• Image > Adjustments> Auto Color
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Image >Adjustments> Auto Contrast
  
  
  
  
  (Auto Color plus Auto Contrast)
  

If the image looks worse than it did before, start over. You can do this by going back in your history. To show this window go to VIEW> History. Sometimes this window is hidden behind your Actions or Layers windows. Minimize those windows to reveal your History window.

If the auto controls don't do the job, then you can adjust those same elements manually using the following tools:

Correcting Using Color Balance

• Under the IMAGE pull-down menu, select ADJUSTMENTS>Color Balance.
  
  
• If the whites look off-color make sure the box labeled "Highlights" is checked. You can make corrections and adjustments there, and repeat those same steps with the shadows, or midtones, section checked.
  
  
  
  
  
  Notice in the un-corrected photo that the white pool ledge and the deck chairs look bluish greenish. That is what color labs call "cyan." The opposite of cyan is red. So checking the highlights box and then sliding the bar towards red will correct the image.

Correcting Using Hue Saturation

• Under IMAGE >Hue Saturation you'll see "edit line" with the word "MASTER" in it. That is all colors combined.
  
  
• In that same pull-down menu, you can select each specific color such as red, yellow, magenta etc. You can take an image that is too yellow and slide the saturation bar to the left. This allows you to subtract yellows from the image without adding its opposite which is blue under the color balance method. This method works well when color correcting with color balance leaves your images too blue, for instance. Use the lightness bar to lighten hues instead of eliminating them.
  

Think that looks good? Look at your whites. Do your whites look white? (If you are not sure, hold a white piece of paper next to your opened image.) Your blacks should also be black, not blue.

You can use any combination of these steps to custom color correct to your liking. Have fun with it and remember that the original copy is safely kept on a CD if you make a serious mistake!

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