Color Correction in Adobe Photoshop

[CampFireJack]

In the past, I’ve written about how using the “Auto” features in Adobe Photoshop can be a great starting point for adjusting photos. There are many of these auto features out there. For instance, If you were to open a photograph in Photoshop and then navigate to the Image > Adjustments menu and click on the Brightness/Contrast menu item, you’d see the related dialog box open. Inside of the box is an Auto button. If you clicked that button, you’d see the sliders move automatically, to positions where Photoshop thought they were best suited, based on its own intelligence. There are more examples of this feature, but I’ll get to some of them later. What I’d like to say right now is that by allowing Photoshop to initially attempt to adjust an image for you and then modifying that adjustment yourself later on, you can save yourself a lot of time.

In today’s post, I’d like to show you a somewhat hidden area of two of the adjustment layer Properties panels. Both of these panels have Auto buttons in them, but behind that button are three additional auto adjustments that can be made. Personally, I have no idea how anyone would ever find this hidden panel without first being told about it, but these things aren’t up to me. At least I discovered it so I can share it with you. Below, I’ll talk about what these additional auto adjustment algorithms can do.

Demo Image​

For this post, I thought I’d go with a photo that has the potential for a lot of additional contrast. Not that I’ll be pushing anything to the limit, but I did want a photo that had the potential to show the differences that some of these auto algorithms can apply. Fire at night is going to be perfect for this.

Applying Either a Levels or Curves Adjustment Layer​

The additional auto adjustment algorithms can be found inside of either the Levels or Curves adjustment Properties panels. For this demonstration, I’ll head up to the Adjustments panel and click on the Curves icon. That will open up the associated Properties panel and will also add that adjustment to the Layers panel.



So basically, to create this new adjustment layer and to open the Properties panel, all I did was click on the Curves icon in the Adjustment panel.

Opening the Auto Color Correction Options Panel​

As I’ve described in the past, applying an “auto” correction is simple. All you need to do is click the Auto button in the Properties panel. You can see this button below. I’ll circle it in red for you. Here’s the thing, to access the additional correction algorithms, you’ll need to hold down the Alt key on your keyboard and then click the button. I know, weird.

Here’s the Auto button.



Here’s the Auto Color Correction Options panel that appears after holding down the Alt key and clicking the Auto button.



If you’ll notice, when you simply click the Auto button the regular way, some changes are made to the image, appearance-wise. Those changes are the same as if you were to select the bottom option in the panel that just opened. The Enhance Brightness & Contrast one. I’ll talk about the options in a moment.

The Algorithms – Explained​

In this section, I’ll do my best at explaining what each option in the Auto Color Correction Options dialog can do for you. To be honest though, much of what I write below won’t matter one bit. It’s ultimately the look that matters most, so even if you think one option is “the one” for you after reading its description, it may not be at all. But for the sake of being thorough and technical, I’ll describe the options below.

Enhance Monochromatic Contrast: This option works directly on highlights and shadows, regardless of the consideration for each channel. This means that each channel is altered identically so the relationship between those colors won’t be altered at all. Bright areas of the image will appear brighter and dark areas of the image will appear darker after using this option. This is the algorithm that the Image > Auto Contrast menu item uses.

Enhance Per Channel Contrast: Unlike the previous option, this one does focus on each channel independently. Taking advantage of this option can result in a more robust correction because each channel is altered. But, because each channel is touched, colors can be shifted. Simply put, your image may look either better or worse after using this option. Unexpected color shift may occur. This is the algorithm that Image > Auto Tone menu item uses.

Find Dark & Light Colors: This option takes an average of all the lightest and the darkest pixels of an image and makes a calculation to increase contrast based on that result. This is the algorithm the Image > Auto Color menu item uses.

You’ll really need to open up this dialog box and experiment to get a feel for what each option can do for you. At least you now know these things exist and that that can make a difference in your images.

Snapping Neutral Midtones​

In the dialog box I showed you, you’ll notice a small check box that’s labeled at Snap Neutral Midtones. I’ve circled that option in the screenshot below. Take a look.



If you select one of the options above this check box, you’ll see what was previously unavailable, become available (meaning, this option becomes checkable, if that’s even a word). What this option does is it finds a nearly neutral color in the image you’re working on and it sets the midtone of the image to make that color neutral. Again, you’ll need to check this box a few times to see the effect it has on an image.

At the bottom of this dialog box are a few other options that have to do with clipping of the highlights and the shadows. I’m going to keep this area for a post that’s dedicated to just this topic. I don’t want to go too far in this one. What I basically wanted to show you in this post was that if you hold down the Alt key on your keyboard while clicking on the Auto button in the Properties panel for either the Levels of Curves adjustment, you’ll have a few more options to play with. That is, if you’re a fan of using the Auto feature at all. Some of us like to do things by hand, but like I said, it’s not a bad idea to start off with letting Photoshop make a few decisions for us.

I hope I clearly explained how to use the additional auto algorithms for adjusting the tone of images in Adobe Photoshop. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section down below. Also, you can always ask questions in the Photoshop discussion forums as well. Thanks for reading!

 

[CampFireJack]

How to Easily Remove a Colorcast in Photoshop​

I’ve got the best tip for you today. I have been working on a bunch of photos over this past weekend and because of the sun or my camera or whatever, each and every picture has a colorcast in it. I looked up many different methods for removing the color cast, but they all seemed so long winded. I wanted a few steps that were easy to understand and very fast that would do the same thing. I think I found that.

Okay, for some reason, most of my nature shots come out with a lot more green or yellow than they are supposed to. I shoot in RAW, so maybe that has something to do with it. Whatever the reason, I like to get those unwanted colors out of my photos. I’ll show you what I learned as far as removal goes down below using a stock photo I found. I’m going to use this photo because the change is pretty dramatic. It’s got a real orange overlay colorcast and when it’s removed, it’s pretty obvious.

This is the original picture.



To do this, I first opened up the picture in Photoshop. Then, I applied a Curves adjustment layer, which opens up the Properties panel for that adjustment. Once the panel opened, I saw the Auto button. I took a screenshot and circled this button in red.



Instead of adjusting this image by hand and guessing at what to change about it, I can use Photoshop’s built in intelligence to do the work for me. Trust me, it does a much better job than I can do and I can always go back and adjust things afterwards.

I’ll hold down the Alt (Option on Mac) key on my keyboard and then click once on the Auto button. This is what will happen. The Auto Color Correction Options dialog box will appear. Take a look.



From here, I’ll click on the Enhance Per Channel Contrast and then beneath that, I’ll check the Snap Neutral Midtones box that appears. Here are the settings.



If I roll over this check box area, I’ll see a tool tip appear that says, Adjust midtones so that colors that are close to neutral are mapped to the target neutral color (Autocolor). This box does a lot. You can see the red, green and blue lines in the curves box above. They’ve been automatically altered in an effort to get to neutral colors.

When I’m finished, I’ll click the OK button and this is what I’ll see as the final image.



Not only were the colors corrected, some contrast was added as well. Not bad for such an easy and fast process.

Do you have a method for removing a colorcast in your photos? If so, please let me know below. Thanks!

 

[CampFireJack]

Why Does the Color Change When I Copy a Selection to a New Document in Photoshop?​

Question: I’m having the strangest issue right now. I set up a brand new document in Adobe Photoshop because I’m going to be making a business card. I have all the text typed out and I’d like to include a selected part of a photograph on the card as well. To do this, I opened the photo in Photoshop and made the selection. I copied the selection by using the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut, but when I paste it into the business card document by using the paste keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+V, it seems like the selected part of the image’s color is completely different. It’s shifted somewhat. I know the keyboard shortcuts aren’t important here, but I thought I’d tell you that I used them anyway. My question is basically, why does the color of a photo or graphic change when you move it from one document to another inside of Photoshop? This is super frustrating!

Answer: Okay, there may be many causes for what you’re experiencing. The trick here is to find out which one it is. First, check the opacity of your source layer or document. Is it 100% or is it less? If it’s less, that opacity value won’t carry over to the new document, which will make things look very strange. The same is true for a blending mode that you’ve applied but have forgotten about.

Next, check to see if you have any adjustment layers that you’ve applied to the layer in question. It’s easier to notice something like this if you’re dragging over the entire layer because you’ll be looking straight at the Layers panel when you go there to start the dragging, but if you’re making a selection and then copying and pasting, this is much less noticeable. Have you applied any adjustment layers to the source layer? If so, they won’t carry over, so expect some color shifting there.

What’s most likely going on is that you’ve got two separate color profiles for the two documents you’re working with When you created the business card document, Photoshop most likely set that up using an sRGB color profile. The image you’re using probably doesn’t use that profile, therefore you’re seeing color changes when you bring elements of one file over to the other.

Here’s a quick test you can use to see if this is what’s going on. Visit the Edit > Assign Profile menu item in your source document.



When the Assign Profile dialog box appears, click the Profile drop-down and change the value to the sRGB option. If you see the color change, then this is the problem.



To solve the problem you’re experiencing, you can visit the Edit > Convert to Profile menu item.



When the Convert to Profile dialog box appears, click the Intent drop-down and choose either the Perceptual or the Relative Colorimetric option. Click the OK button. That should put things in good shape. Now, when you copy from the source document and then paste into the target document, you shouldn’t see any color changes or shifting.

 

[CampFireJack]

Hidden Auto Color Correction Options in Adobe Photoshop​

I have no idea why Adobe hides such helpful features behind other ones, but I guess that’s just the way it is. Luckily, we have the workings of the internet to help us out and to show us all the neat stuff we’d never be able to find ourselves. What I’m referring to here is a few additional “auto” color correction options that can be accessed by pressing the Alt key on your keyboard while pressing a button in a palette. I’ll get to that below.

Okay, as you may already know, we can easily add adjustment layers in Photoshop. Today, I’ll be referring to the Curves and Levels adjustments. If either one of these adjustment layers are selected for use, the new layer, with mask, will appear in the Layers panel. The corresponding Properties panel will open up as well. Inside of both of these respective Properties panels is an Auto button, which, if pressed, will automatically adjust certain color variables in the image. This is widely known, but what’s not so widely known is that if you press the Alt key on your keyboard as you click on the Auto button, a separate dialog box will appear. This dialog is called Auto Color Correction Options and it contains some additional, well, color correction options. While the initial correction option is good, these additional ones maybe more suited to your needs.

I want to let you know that each auto color correction option uses its own algorithm to determine how it’s going to edit your image, so it’s important that you become familiar with what those algorithms are. If you’re interested in learning more about this, you can read the post I wrote on these additional color corrections. I discuss the options in that post. Also, please be aware that even if you studied the algorithms until you were blue in the face and you think that one of them would be perfect for you, it might not be. There’s nothing better than trial and error when it comes to this type of thing.

Please do some experimenting with all of the auto color correction choices you have in Adobe Photoshop. You may just end up saving yourself a lot of time in the future if you decide one or more of them is good for you.

Do you have any related suggestions regarding color correction in Photoshop? If so, please share below. Also, if you have any questions regarding this topic, please ask below as well. Thanks!