Using Photoshop Elements to improve your photos

Removing colour casts

Removing colour casts can be needed when you take pictures with some sorts of artificial light. The example here was taken under a mix of fluorescent and high pressure sodium lighting in a sports hall.

Please note. The images in this tutorial section are for personal non commercial teaching use only. They may not be used in -any- other way without the express consent of Northlight Images - see our usage and copyright page for more information.

Open the image Fluorescent.jpeg

This picture was taken under strong fluorescent lighting which managed to fool the auto white balance feature of the camera (in this case an Olympus E20)

First make a duplicate layer (Layers menu > Duplicate layer)

This is so as to be able to compare versions of the image with the original. Also, some operations do not work as layers

Create a new levels adjustment layer

Using the middle eyedropper, try to find something in the image that should be white and click on it.

This will use the colour under the dropper as white and make adjustments to show it as white in the image.

It is very sensitive and will often take many attempts to get a good white balance. There are several areas of the image that you might try (the paper, the coat)

Now try the individual colour adjustments and try to get the image looking better. The picture above show the blue channel selected with adjustments of the black and white points and midpoint (all three sliders)

Looking at the histograms for each of the primary colours (R,G,B) you can see that the lighting in the sports hall did not have much blue light in it.

You can also try the color cast adjustment

or the Quick fix

Don’t forget to do each one on a duplicate layer, so you keep the original

Remember that you do not have to get everything right with one adjustment. Sometimes two or three adjustment layers may be easier to use than trying to get it all done at once.

Try adding additional levels and Hue/sat layers and explore the effects.

There often many different ways to achieve the effect you are after. Here we have looked at different ways of correcting for awkward lighting. Needless to say it helps to know that your monitor is set up correctly, if you are going to be looking for subtle shifts of colour.

If your camera had recorded the original digital image in Raw format then the correction would be even more effective, but that's another story...

Save This Page in Del.icio.us

The techniques

Other areas of our site that may be of interest...

NEW -- Create your own customised A3 size wall calendar from a choice of 90 of Keith's images. Choose your own images for your own custom printed calendar - 12 months starting any month of the year - many all new images not yet in our main gallery.

Digital Black and White. Keith was recently interviewed about digital black and white photography for a magazine article. We have an expanded version here covering some of his thoughts, techniques and tips for those thinking of trying black and white.

As well as our Commercial Photography services and Training there is a growing collection of photography Articles and Reviews on the site aimed at helping you get the best out of your own photography. We also have a growing collection of Photography related information and links that we hope you find useful.

New site features and some of Keith Cooper's latest work are always covered in the What's New page.

Visiting Leicester or wondering where it is? We have views from the Leicester traffic cameras.