Photoshop 101 Color Correction

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I am no Photoshop guru. Everything I know I learned from photographers Ken Hubbard and Andre Costantini, two pros who DO know their Photoshop. But I can fix a shot that’s too dark, or the wrong tint. Sometimes sharpen it up a bit. The thing to remember with digital is that almost all images need a little boost. If you send your images out to a lab to make prints (like Shutterfly or any other online processing) or drop them off at a drug store, the images automatically go through processing to increase contrast, correct a little color and sharpen them. But if you print at home like me, it’s worth the little bit of time to take a great shot and make it even better. Software like Photoshop Elements, Picassa and more are a great investment of both time and money. I noticed my shot of her in the pool from Sunday’s aperture post was looking a little blue. So I took a moment to fix it and thought this would be a good post. Here we go…

Step 1: Go to Edit > Adjustments > Levels (Ctr+L) and move your slider on the right until you meet the black hill. If need be, move the slider on the left to meet the black hill, too.1_levels
Step 2: Next, I zoomed in on the photo and went to Image > Adjustments > Curves (Ctr + M) and clicked the eyedropper on the right (white) and selected a white point in the photo (the rail of the pool in the background). The image now shifted color and became brighter.
2_curves
Step 3: However, I thought it was too bright. So I went to Edit > Fade > Fade Curves (fade will adjust the opacity of whatever your last action was) and selected 50%. I like the difference. I think the retouched version pops a little more and it not so blue.
5_after-before

5 thoughts on “Photoshop 101 Color Correction”

  3. Great article! I can always use good technical info on PhotoShop. I am thinking about taking some continuing ed classes at our local U. Like I need one thing to take up my time!

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