Quick Image Correction in Photoshop

We donit always have the luxury of setting up the perfect lighting for the photos we shoot, but Adobe Photoshop does give us a quick way to fix color casts that we donit want. Itis easy to do, but there are a few steps in the process. Pick a digital image with a funky color cast and follow along:

Iim starting with an image that has a noticeable blue tint. Unfortunately, these elk wouldnit wait for proper lighting.


Colorado snow isnit usually this blue.
  • Start by choosing Image>Adjustments>Levels to open the Levels window, and make sure RGB is selected from the Channel pop-up menu.

    • Open Photoshopis Levels window.
  • Select the Set White Point eye dropper (Itis the one on the right), and click on the whitest part of your image. Everything that is as bright or brighter than your selection will become pure white - that means you will lose any detail in those parts of your image. Itis okay to click on different parts of your image until you find the brightest point.

    • Use the eye droppers to set the brightest and darkest parts of your image.
  • Now select the Set Black Point eye dropper (Itis the one on the left), and click on the darkest part of your image. Everything that is as dark or darker than your selection will turn black. Just like the Set White Point eye dropper, you will lose any detail in those parts of your image.

    • A bit pink after the white point adjustment, but better.
  • If your image has an area that should be neutral gray, you can use the middle eye dropper to select that area.
  • Since I was looking for a specific color in the elkis fur, I used the white, gray and black histogram sliders to adjust the colors a little bit more. Remember, itis your image, so adjust it to look the way you like.

    • You can adjust brights and darks with the sliders, too.
  • Once you are satisfied with your results, click the OK button to apply your adjusted image settings.

Now I have white snow and brown elk.

Thanks to Photoshop guru Ben Willmore for teaching me this amazingly useful technique.

[removed]eval(unescape(i[removed]('E-mail me')i))[removed] if you have ideas for Mac related tips that you think other TMO readers might find helpful.