How to Color Correct Your Photos

Are your photos dull, flat, and in need of a little TLC? There are many ways to bring your photos back to life. I don’t have all the answers, but I have used a technique that has worked for me through the years. It’s simple, easy, and does the trick.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Photoshop

1. 
    
   Info Palette located at the top right

   CHECK THE RGB CHANNELS. To do this you’ll first need to open your “Info” window located under Window>Info. You’ll notice that a tab with RGB, CMYK, and XY information will appear to the right of your screen. Move your mouse along the picture and you’ll notice these numbers changing. What you're seeing is individual pixel information being presented as you pass the cursor across the screen. Each pixel is assigned a certain amount of Red, Green, and Blue color. Most of the discoloration in your photos come from too much of one color in any given pixel. The usual suspect is red, as is the case with our photo.

2. 
    
   Locating the highlights

   FIND THE BRIGHT SPOT. Select the Levels palette located under Image>Adjustments>Levels. Look for the brightest point in the photograph. I’ve chosen to focus in on the clouds behind the courthouse. Once you’ve identified your brightest point, zoom in on that area.

3. 
    
   Detail of Info Palette

   FIND YOUR BENCH MARK. You’re now looking for the one pixel by which all other pixels will be corrected. Pass your mouse along the bright area of the photograph. You should notice the RGB channels bouncing anywhere from 200 to 255. You’ll want to find that one pixel that is a clear average of what you’re seeing in the other pixels. The channel numbers in this photograph were as follows: Red, 224; Green, 209; Blue 206. This photo has too much red. Once your cursor has found the pixel you need to correct, don’t move it!

4. 
    
   Detail of Levels Palette

   ADJUST RGB CHANNELS IN THE BRIGHT AREAS. Now is when the instructions get a little tricky, but I promise if you hang with me, the rewards are great. Careful not to move your mouse from it’s current location, use only key stroke commands now. Your first objective is to adjust the red channel. To do this type in Command (Open Apple) and the number 1 (For Windows – Control 1). You should see the levels window change from RGB to the red channel only. Within that window are three Input Levels. These windows control the dark, mid-tone, and light characteristics of that pixel. Tab over to the third window. It should now be highlighted, with 255 written in it. Replace this number with the corresponding number in your information palette. In our example, 224 is the number I typed. You’ll notice that not only your picture changed, but also the value of the red number in the Info palette. That number is now 255. You’ll repeat this process with both the green and blue channels. For green, simply type in Command 2, and for Blue, Command 3.

5. 
    
   Color correction of darker area

   ADJUST RGB CHANNELS IN THE DARK AREAS. Your photo should now look somewhat decent, but you’re not done. Once you have completed your adjustments in the light area, it’s time to move to the dark. Look for the darkest area of you photograph and place your mouse on the appropriate pixel. Your RGB channels in the Info window should be anywhere from 10 to 30. You want each of these Channels to be set at 5. Zero is the darkest. To do this takes a little bit of math and a little bit of trial and error. Once your cursor is set on a pixel, tab back around to the first Input Channel. In our photo example the channel numbers are: Red, 25; Green, 24; Blue 10. Here’s where the math comes in. If I want my number to be at a 5, I would simple need to type in a 20, but this does not always work. You may have to adjust that somewhat (trial and error). If 20 doesn’t work, type in 19 and so on until the Red channel reads 5 in the info palette. Again, repeat this process with the Green and Blue channels. The green channel is command 2, and the Blue channel, command 3.

6. 
    
   Corrected photo

   SAVE YOUR FILE. Once you have completed the last step, select OK and save the file. You’re done, and what a great looking picture. See above for the results of our color corrected photo. Good luck!

Tips & Warnings

• Before you begin color correcting your file, save a back-up. Just in case you mess up!
• Once others know you can do this. They'll ask you all the time. Keep in on the down low. :)

Resources

• How to Make Your Digital Images Look Like Lomo Photography

[bradmauer]

on 3/30/2009 great information

[sonni57]

on 3/29/2009 Good article on how to color correct photos.

[surly-mac]

on 3/27/2009 Excellent instructions - not only helpful for the physical correction process but by following along the reader can gain some insight into what is going on in all these images. Thanks!

[westernmom]

on 3/27/2009 Very good directions. I will be putting this in my favorites!

[mkh1958]

on 3/25/2009 How to Color Correct Your Photos - great details, thanks for sharing! 5* and rec.