What is photo color correction? Learn more about color correction in Photoshop. Color correction using reference points
With this article I want to start a series of notes about simple photo processing techniques. Professional photographers They are unlikely to learn much new from here, but for beginners and amateurs this information may be useful. In each article, I plan to analyze the processing of one or two photographs, touching on correcting the most common and serious mistakes of beginners. The photographs discussed in the articles are either mine or were sent to me for processing and published with the consent of the author. To process photographs, Adobe Photoshop (using the example of CS 3 Ru), Adobe Lightroom (using the example of the 3rd version of Eng) and some others will be used. Although the articles are intended for beginners and hobbyists, it is assumed that readers are familiar with the minimum basics of working with these programs.
Before starting the discussion, let's make a reservation in advance: we are not talking about shooting techniques and how mistakes could be avoided at the photography stage - many articles and books are devoted to this. But everyone who has ever picked up a camera knows that it happens that the most interesting shots have to be thrown away due to technical defects. And sometimes it’s simply not possible to retake such photos. I hope this series of articles will help you save valuable footage captured with technical errors.
So, in this post we’ll talk about color correction of images using the “curves” tool. In general, curves are perhaps one of the most powerful tools in image processing programs. Skillful use of this tool allows you to truly work wonders and do without many plugins with an incomprehensible and uncontrollable mode of operation. On the other hand, this tool is quite complicated, which discourages novice amateur photographers from using it. Let's try to understand the basics of the curves tool and learn how to use it for our tasks - correcting the color and brightness of images.
1. Basics of color theory and color correction
In order to understand color correction, we first need to understand what color is in digital photography, what parameters it is set by and how to change these parameters to get the desired result. Of course, everyone involved digital photography, the letters RGB are known. This is the main color space with which most cameras and reproducing digital equipment work (there are other color spaces, but this is not about that now). All colors in this space are obtained by “mixing” 3 basic tones (often called channels) - red (Red), green (Green) and blue (Blue). Values are usually written sequentially, red-green-blue, for example 125-80-245. The brightness of each tone is set with a value from 0 to 255. This is a well-known truth.
Another truth, less known, but also important: with equal values of all three channels, we get a neutral gray color. 0-0-0 - absolutely black, 255-255-255 - absolutely white, between them - all shades of gray. How are the rest of the colors obtained, except for the three main ones? Understanding this is also essential for working with flowers. The most obvious representation of color formation in RGB is in the form of a color wheel. On it, in addition to the three primary colors, there are additional (or better yet, opposite) colors: CMY - green-blue (Cyan), purple (Magenta) and yellow (Yellow).
This simple-looking circle provides vital information for informed color correction. With 3 main channels (RGB), we can also control additional colors. Increasing the intensity of any of the main channels (as well as simultaneously weakening the two remaining main channels) leads to an increase in the main color. Decreasing the intensity of each main channel (or simultaneously increasing the two remaining main channels) leads to an increase in the opposite color. That is, by reducing the blue channel, we enhance the yellow colors, by enhancing the green, we reduce the purple shades, by reducing red and green at the same time, we enhance the blue, etc. If we need to, say, make the photo warmer, we will need to add orange and yellow. With yellow it’s clear - we reduce the intensity of the blue channel. And orange = red + yellow. This means we need to add more intensity to the red channel. Gradually, the use of this color wheel becomes automatic, but for now you can draw something like a cheat sheet. So, the theory is more or less clear to us, now let’s move on to practice.
2. “Curves” tool and semi-automatic “three-point” color correction (simple case)
In order not to delve completely into the theoretical jungle, let’s take a photo with a deliberately incorrect white balance: taken under incandescent light in the camera’s “daylight” mode. The result of photo automation is visible to the naked eye. Suppose we didn’t think of shooting in RAW (where the white balance problem is solved with one click), and now we’ll fight with JPEG.
First of all, let's figure out what tools the “curves” procedure offers us, and what settings need to be made before starting color correction. Open “curves” (Ctrl -M), click “curve display options”. I like a more frequent grid, but it's not for everybody. Click the “parameters” button on the right, set the cutoff of black and white colors to 0.10% so that when adjusting the brightness the program does not go into dull overexposure (255-255-255) and dull shadow (0-0-0), check the “use by default." The rest of the settings can be left untouched. So we see the curve window. The X axis is the original brightness, the Y axis is the brightness after processing, from 0 (full shadow) to 255 (full light). The background shows a histogram that gives us the distribution of points in the photo by brightness. The curve itself runs diagonally - before processing it is a straight line: original = processed. As we work, we can either increase the intensity of certain areas (pull the curve up) or decrease it (pull the curve down). You can work both with the RGB curve (gray curve, adjusts the brightness of all 3 channels simultaneously), and with the curve of each channel separately. Below the curves window there are 3 eyedroppers. They are used to define the points of black, neutral gray and white in a photograph. In the simplest cases, it is enough to use these pipettes; the smart program will perform color and brightness correction for you.
Let's try to use this technique: first we need to understand where the neutral points in the photo are those points that were gray in reality. Reflections of objects should not fall on them (for example, in our photo on the edges of the bottle, the gray foil has a different shade due to reflections). In addition, you need to determine the brightest and darkest point. It is important that these 2 points should not be in dead shadow (0-0-0) and dead overexposure (255-255-255), because from such points the program will not receive information for correction. The working algorithm is as follows: we determine the white point (poke with a white pipette), then the black one (respectively with a black pipette), and then poke with a gray pipette in potentially gray places until the result suits us. The program automatically recalculates the balance of the curves, which can be seen in the corresponding window.
After we are satisfied with the white balance, we can adjust the brightness balance either with the “levels” tool or by correcting the RGB curve (essentially the same levels, but with much greater capabilities). I turned down the brightness of the highlights a little and increased the contrast a little (this is done by the RGB S-curve). That's all. In 50 percent of cases, such a simple color correction completely helps.
3. Color correction using reference points
Unfortunately, everything is not always so simple, and sometimes pipettes are not enough. And in our relatively simple case, correction with eyedroppers does not give an ideal result (for example, I don’t like the reddish tint of the top part of the photo). Let's return to the original photo and try the second option - manual color correction. Here we will move the curves ourselves until the desired result is achieved. But simply moving curves “by eye” requires experience and, it would be nice, a calibrated monitor that will convey the real color of the photo. We will not touch upon calibration; this is the topic of other articles, and photographers working with calibrated monitors usually no longer wonder how to do color correction. We can only rely on the same “really gray” points, i.e. dots that were neutral gray when photographed. Adobe Photoshop allows you to select reference points by which we will monitor the correction. This is done with the “color reference” tool, a variation of the “eyedropper” tool. In the tool settings, you need to select an average sample size of 3x3 or 5x5 px to prevent the pipette from hitting a random pixel, which can also be color noise. Information about color standards is displayed in the “info” panel. We can select up to 4 reference points.
It is better to choose gray points in reality, preferably of different brightness (shadows, midtones, highlights) and from different areas of the photo. In my case, I chose 3 points and all on the bottle, because... special choice there was no more:
The information about the points is reflected in the panel, and now we can clearly see that our channels are not balanced. Actually, the result of color correction will be the alignment of values at reference points, and at the same time correction of the color of the entire image. Which channel should we take as the basis to which we will bring the other 2 channels? Typically the channel with the most balanced histogram is selected, most often green. Then from the reference points you can see that we need to reduce the intensity of the red channel and enhance the blue one. Well, let's get started. Let's start with red. Firstly, it is clear that we have overexposure in the red channel (the histogram is cut off on the right). It's sad, but not fatal. And this means that we can easily move point 255 (the brightest) to achieve the result. Now we move the curve so that for all reference points we reach the values R = G (approximately ±2 units). One point is not enough for this. Points on the curve can be placed either directly with the mouse or “taken” from a photo (Ctrl + click on the photo area). It is important here that there are no sharp bends in the curve (unless we have several lighting sources of different color temperatures, for example an incandescent lamp and daylight, but this is a much more complex case). We don’t pay attention to the color of the picture - the work is not finished yet.
We do the same with the blue channel. Here the histogram is cut off on the left - the blue channel is underexposed, and does not reach the right edge. This means that you will most likely have to move point 0 (the darkest) and 255. We aligned the reference points, it became better, but not perfect - the top part of the photo is clearly red:
It is necessary to correct a separate area of the red curve responsible for the points of this brightness. Using Ctrl + click we place a point from the problem area on the curve. In order not to spoil the remaining areas, we place a blocking point on the curve and move the main point to the desired result.
After this, all that remains is to adjust the brightness and contrast of the image (using the “levels” command, or correcting the RGB curve), and voila! We did manual color correction.
Of course, you can still tinker with this image, but I think the principle is clear. What is important, correction by reference points is practically free of problems with calibrating monitors - we bring the reference points to gray using the digital values of the channels, which do not depend on how the monitor is configured.
What to do in more complex cases? Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you cannot adequately correct a photo using just one curve. And if the scene was illuminated by several light sources with different color temperatures, this is almost impossible. The only thing that will help here is to select individual areas using a lasso with soft edges, and separate correction using the methods described above.
This is how, with some skill, you can “defeat” almost any incorrect white balance. The matter, as you have seen, is not very simple, which once again proves that it is better to shoot in RAW and with correctly set parameters. I hope this article will help you make your photos better. Good luck and great photos!
P.S. In general, this article does not say anything super new; it is rather a generalization of my personal experience for color correction using “curves”. I will be glad to receive criticism and clarifying comments that will help improve the article, and I will also be happy to answer questions.
P.P.S. All rights to this article belong to the author. Any copying of the article or its part without the permission of the author, or without a link to this page, is prohibited.
First lesson
Color correction in seven Photoshop lessons
1) Open the image:
2) add a “Selective Color Correction” adjustment layer with the following settings:
Yellow: -53, 64, -82, 21
Greens: 8, 73, -46, 0
White: 28, -17, 14, 0
Neutral: 0, -4, 21, 0
we get: 
3) Add a “Hue/Saturation” adjustment layer. In it we will decolorize the sky with the following parameters:
blue: -14, -49, -82
4) Add a new curves adjustment layer, go to the blue channel and set up the histogram something like this:
as a result we get:
5) Under the adjustment layers but above the main layer, create a duplicate of the image, convert it to black and white, reduce the opacity to 30%, change the blending mode to “overlay”. Afterwards you need to apply a mask of the following sample:
This will darken and add more contrast to the foreground:
6) Add a “Selective Color Correction” adjustment layer with the following settings:
Red: 0, 0, 12, 0
Yellow: 11, 21, 0, 0
White: 26, -10, 22, 9
Neutral: 0, 0, 5, 0
The last step is to create a new layer and apply a black to transparent gradient to the sky. Set the layer to the “Soft Light” blending mode.
And we get the final result:
Lesson Two
2) Add a new adjustment layer “Channel Mixing” and change the following settings.
In Blue
red: +3
Greens: +103
Blue: -18
3) Create a new adjustment layer “gradient map” and add 2 colors (030301 and e3d898):
Set the layer opacity to 30%. we get the result:
4) Create a new layer “Selective Color Correction” and set the following parameters:
Reds: -74, 0, 32, -22
Yellow: 37, -24, 38, 0
White: 12, -4, 0, 0
5) Add a “Color Balance” adjustment layer with the following settings:
Mid tones: 11, 5, 0
Lights: 6, 2, 0
We get the following result:
6) Add a new adjustment layer “Curves” and play around in the blue channel:
7) Create a new layer, fill it with the color b2fb5c, set the layer to the “Screen” blending mode and set the transparency to 8%.
8) Add a new adjustment layer “Brightness/Contrast” and increase the contrast to the value: 11
9) Create a new curves adjustment layer. In the blue channel we will do the same thing that we did a few steps ago. And also drag the right slider in the RGB channel a little to the left:
10) Create a new adjustment layer “gradient map” and set the gradient from 6b186a to fa7901. Set the layer to Soft Light blending mode and set the opacity to 30%.
Final result:
Lesson three(from 06/14/2011)
So, open the original image:
1) Create a “Selective Color Correction” adjustment layer with the following settings:
Yellow: -89, 0, -52
Greens: -100, 36, 0, 0
Blue: -88, 0, 62, 0
We get the result: 
2) Create a “curves” adjustment layer and change the settings as follows:
3) Create a new adjustment layer “Color Balance” and change the settings to:
Midtones: 0, 0, -10
Lights: 0, 4, -3
We get the result:
4) Create a new adjustment layer “Selective Color Correction” and set the settings:
Yellow: -9, 0, 13, 0
We get the result:
5) Create a duplicate of the background, move it to the very top, lower the layer opacity to 20% and set the layer to the “Soft Light” blend mode.
6) Create a new layer, fill it with color 0f637e, lower the opacity to 20% and set the layer to the “Overlay” blending mode. We get the result:
7) Create a new adjustment layer “Curves” and set the following settings.
8) Create a new adjustment layer “Selective Color Correction” and change the settings:
Yellow: -51, 0, 36, 0
9) create a new adjustment layer “Brightness/Contrast” and drag the contrast slider to a value of +4
10) Create a duplicate of the main layer, move it to the very top, desaturate it, lower the opacity to 30% and set the layer to the “Overlay” blending mode.
After this, apply the mask to the model’s face and hands as follows:
11) Next, using the “color range” tool with a spread of 140-145, select the blue areas of the sky against the background, transfer this to a new layer at the very top, change the blending mode to “Soft Light” and lower the layer opacity to 50% and get the final result:
Lesson Four “Kytay Kostya Lee from OdEssa”(from 06/15/2011)
1) Open the original image:
2) Create a “Hue/Saturation” adjustment layer. Check the “Toning” box with the following settings:
color tone: 26
saturation: 25
We get the result:
3) Create a new layer and fill it with the color bb9980, change the opacity of the layer to 60% and carefully wipe the layer from everything except the exposed sky, which this layer should eliminate. We get the result:
4) Create a new adjustment layer “curves” and set the following settings in the red channel:
5) Create a “Color Balance” adjustment layer and change the middle channel settings to: 4, 0, 20
6) What follows is a more complicated procedure. Create a duplicate of the original image and move it to the very top. CAREFULLY, WITH A SOFT BRUSH we wipe everything except the skin and hair of the models. Set the layer opacity to 50 percent - this will be enough. We just added natural colors to the skin, leaving the image stylization the same:
7) Create a new adjustment layer “Selective Color Correction” and set the following settings:
Red: 0, -30, 13, 0
8) Create a new curves adjustment layer and slightly change the blue channel:
9) Create a duplicate of the original image, use the “Gaussian Blur” filter with a value of 5 pixels. Set the layer to Soft Light blending mode and lower the layer opacity to 30%.
10) Create a new curves adjustment layer and change the settings as follows:
11) Create a new adjustment layer “Brightness/Contrast” and drag the “Contrast” slider to a value of 13
12) Create a new layer and fill it with color 050f43, change the layer opacity to 60% and change the layer blending mode to “Exception”
13) Create a new adjustment layer “Curves” and play around with the blue channel:
14) Create a “Selective Color Correction” adjustment layer and set the following settings:
Yellow: -9, 0, 3, 0
15) Create a new layer, fill it with FBD264 color, change the layer blending mode to “Overlay”, and lower the layer transparency to 20%. We get the final result:
Lesson Five(from 06/19/2011)
1) open the image:
2) Create a “gradient map” adjustment layer and select the colors 210456 on the left and f77c03 on the right. Lower the layer opacity to 40%, blend mode “Normal”
3) Create a curves adjustment layer and play around with the red, green and blue channels:
4) Create a duplicate of the main layer, move it to the very top, desaturate it and lower the opacity to 40%.
5) Create a “Selective Color Correction” adjustment layer and set the following settings:
Yellow: -40, 45, 25, 0
White: 100, -60, 100, -35
Neutral: 10, 8, -15, 15
6) Create a duplicate of the previous “Selective Color Correction” layer and set the opacity to 40%, and change the blending mode to “Soft Light”
7) Create a new adjustment layer “Color Balance” and set the following settings:
Shadows: 5, 25, -20
Midtones: 25, 2, -10
9) Create a new adjustment layer “levels” and set the settings as follows:
10) Create a “Brightness/Contrast” adjustment layer and lower the brightness to “-4”, increase the contrast to “8”.
From which we get the final result:
Lesson Six(from 07/10/2011)
1) Open the original image:
2) Create a new adjustment layer “Selective Color Correction” with the following settings:
Yellow: -100, 40. -71, 0
Green: -100.5, -100.0
Blue: -100, -100, -100, 0
Blue: 100, -100, 100, 0
Neutral: 6, -3, -12, 5
we get the result:
3) Create a new adjustment layer “Hue/Saturation” and play around with the blue channel:
Color tone: -140
Saturation: -80
We get the result:
4) Create a new adjustment layer “Photo Filter”, apply a yellow filter with a transparency of 30%
5) Create a new adjustment layer “curves” and set the following settings:
6) Create a new adjustment layer “Color Balance” with the following settings:
Shadows: 10, 8. 20
Midtones: -8, -3, -22
we get the final result:
Lesson Seven(from 07/17/2011)
1) Open the original image:
2) Create a “Selective Color Correction” adjustment layer and set the following settings:
Red: 10, -100, -65, 0
Green: -100, 100, -100, 100
Magenta: 100, -64, 100, 100
Then we apply the mask to the model’s skin. We get the result:
3) Create a “curves” adjustment layer and play around with the blue and green channels:
We get the result:
4) Create a “Color Balance” adjustment layer and set the following settings:
Midtones: -5, 5, 25
We get the following result:
5) Create a “Selective Color Correction” adjustment layer and set the following settings:
Red: -15, -40, 0, 0
Yellow: 100, 100, -60, 0
Blue: 20, 0, 100, 30
We get the result:
6) Create a “Brightness/Contrast” adjustment layer and increase the brightness to “8” and lower the contrast to “-10”
7) Finally, create a “Hue/Saturation” adjustment layer and lower the saturation of the red color at our discretion to remove the “Mom, I’m so drunk, hic!” effect.
We get the final result:
In this tutorial we will show you how to apply selective correction colors to a photograph, or more precisely, how to convert an image to black and white, but at the same time leave the selected element in color.
And although this effect is extremely easy to achieve in Photoshop program, many are wary of it because they are not always sure that they are choosing the right tools. Most often, people resort to selection tools, and then there are often hiccups. In this tutorial we'll show you how to create this effect without using selection tools. All we need is a simple Black & White adjustment layer, a layer mask and a brush, nothing more!
I'll be working in Photoshop CC, but this tutorial is also compatible with Photoshop CS6.
So, here we have the original photograph, which shows a woman in a red dress.
Original image
And here is the image that we will get after performing all the necessary manipulations. The entire photo will be converted to black and white except for the red dress. Again, we won't resort to using any selection tools.
Final image
You can follow all the steps in this tutorial while working with your own photo. Just select a photo and identify an object that will remain in color, it could be a dress, a flower, a telephone booth, in general, anything. Let's get started already!
Step 1: Black & White Adjustment Layer
Only after opening the program, you will see in the layers panel that the document so far contains only one layer - the Background layer - which is the original image.
We will create the effect using a non-destructive method, i.e. Let's leave the original image untouched and apply selective color replacement using a separate adjustment layer. Click on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the layers panel:
Click on the New Adjustment Layer icon
From the list that appears, select the Black & White item:
As the name of this adjustment layer tells us, it is used to convert a color image to black and white. Now let's look again at the layers panel, as you can see, above the Background layer there is now a new Black & White adjustment layer.
Photoshop placed a new adjustment layer on top of the image layer.
We see that the program itself translated our color photograph in black and white, using default settings. We can independently adjust the parameters of the black and white image, which is what we will do now.
Convert to black and white by default.
Step 2. Adjust the settings for converting to B/W
You can find all the controls for the Black & White adjustment layer in the Properties panel. Here you will see six sliders, three of which are responsible for the primary colors (Red, Green and Blue) and the next three for the secondary colors (Yellow, Cyan and Magenta). Move the slider to the left to darken, to the right to lighten the area of the image that contains given color in full color format.
For example, moving the red slider to the right will cause the area of the image that originally contained red to become lighter. And by moving the blue slider to the left, we will darken the areas that were originally blue. You should not thoroughly memorize the colors of all image elements, since this is easy to understand by moving the sliders. Do you like the result? Yes? Amazing. No? Then keep experimenting with sliders.
Move the sliders to darken or lighten areas of the image based on their original color.
Above the sliders you will find the Auto button. This button sends a command to Photoshop, by which the program itself selects the parameters. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But you can always correct the result yourself after using the Auto button.
If you want to compare your black and white version with the color version, simply click on the visibility icon (the eye-shaped icon) in the Layers panel to turn off the visibility of the adjustment layer. By turning it off, you will see your original image. To return to black and white, return the adjustment layer's visibility:
This is what my photo looks like after conversion. On at this stage there is no point in making everything perfect. You will see that we can always return to this point to make any changes.
Corrected black and white version
Step 3: Select the Brush Tool
One of the main advantages of all adjustment layers is the built-in layer with a mask. In this article I will not go into detail about how exactly masks work, but if you are interested, I advise you to find the material and read it. And although the mask is not visible to us in the image itself, we know that it is there because its thumbnail is displayed in the layers panel. Notice that at this stage the thumbnail is filled with white, which means that the adjustment layer is affecting the image layer underneath it.
We can reveal some of our color source image with an adjustment layer by simply painting over the mask with a black brush. Select the Brush Tool from the Tools panel:
Step 4: Select a Soft Round Brush
Click on any area open document Right-click (Ctrl key for Mac) to open the Brush Presets panel. Then select the soft round brush from the top left corner of the panel. Press Enter (Return for Mac) to close the window.
Select a soft round brush
Step 5: Change the Foreground Color to Black
Photoshop uses the Foreground color as the brush color. Since we need to paint with black using the layer mask, we should change the Foreground color to black. To do this quickly, press the D key. This command instantly sets the original colors for the foreground and background, namely white and black. To change them, press the X key on your keyboard. The foreground color should now be black.
We can see the current colors at the bottom of the toolbar. The foreground color is indicated by the square located at the top, and the background color at the bottom.
Step 6: Paint the inside of the object
To return the color to the selected object, first, arm yourself with a large soft brush and on the layer mask, begin to paint only the inner part with black, without touching the edges of the object. You can change the brush size using the keyboard. Hold down the key ] to increase the brush size, and the key [ , to decrease. To increase brush hardness, hold down Shift along with the key ] , and in order to reduce hardness use a combination Shift+[.
In my photo, I decided to return the color to the girl's dress. I use a large diameter brush to paint most of the object without worrying about the edges. I started from the bottom of the dress.
I then switched to a smaller brush and painted part of the top of the dress, again leaving the edges alone.
Notice that if we look at the layer mask thumbnail, we can see that the areas we painted in the photo are now showing up in black. This is how a layer mask works. The color white is used to indicate the areas of the image to which the effect is applied. The black color on the layer mask indicates areas where the effect is hidden.
Step 7: Paint the edges with a smaller radius brush
To accurately draw the edges of an object, you should first zoom in on the picture. You can also use convenient hotkeys for this. To zoom in on a photo, press and hold Ctrl+Spacebar (Win)/Command+Spacebar (Mac) and click on the desired area of the image. To zoom out of a photo, use the following keys: Alt+Spacebar (Win) / Option+Spacebar (Mac).
To draw finer details in the photo we will need a brush with a smaller diameter. To make the brush smaller, I press the left square bracket key several times. You may have to increase the hardness of the brush; I described how to do this using hotkeys just above.
Very carefully draw the edges of the object with a brush of a smaller diameter.
If you accidentally drive over the boundary of an object, there will be nothing wrong with that. For example, I accidentally drew a finger:
This error is very easy to fix. Press the key X to change the foreground color from black to white. Then paint over the area you touched with a white brush to get rid of the color. And then press the key again X to return black as the main color and continue working.
I continue to paint around the edges of the dress, zooming in and out and changing the hardness and size of the brush if necessary.
Final result:
Step 8. Make adjustments to the Black&White settings
At this point you may want to adjust the settings of the Black&White adjustment layer. To do this, in the layers panel, go to this adjustment layer and open its settings panel. Adjust the sliders until you achieve the desired result.
Additional step:
Since we only worked with one adjustment layer, we can easily reduce its effect, partially returning the photo to its original colors. To do this, we just need to slightly reduce the Opacity of the layer. You'll find this option at the top right of the Layers panel. I reduced the opacity to 75%:
This adjustment will allow the original colors to show through a little through the adjustment layer that sits on top of the image. Let's compare the Before and After photos again:
And here's the final image with the vibrant red dress taking center stage.
Before you start getting acquainted with color correction, it is worth clarifying that this topic is very broad. To engage in color correction at the proper level, it is better to take special courses where you will be taught the basics of color harmony, taught how to correctly combine colors and use existing methods and methods of color correction. And it is advisable to obtain a certificate. In the century digital technologies Photo processing is a very profitable business. And most profitable investment education has always been and remains a means.
We will look at the basic universal method of color correction.
Before you make color correction in Photoshop, you need to understand what it is and for what purpose it is used.
Color correction is a change in the colors, tones and saturation of an image, used either to improve the picture or as a creative technique. The first case may include the need to get more realistic colors or make the photo lighter. After all, when certain settings photographic equipment, colors can be conveyed distortedly, not the way we see them in real life. This also includes photo correction to increase color saturation to make the photo more attractive. In the second case, color correction will be suggested to you by your own imagination. This could be vintage color correction, fantastic colors of landscapes and the like.
Color correction in Photoshop is done on adjustment layers. If color correction is applied to an image layer, the changes to the image will be irreversible. Adjustment layers work like filters. All effects of the adjustment layer will be visible in the image below this layer. Also, the adjustment layer will allow you to make changes to the final result, if necessary. We discussed the topic of layers in a previous article.
Automatic color correction
The simplest and quick way for beginners - automatic color correction. Open the image in Photoshop, create a duplicate of the image layer ( Ctrl+G). Go to the duplicate layer and click Shift+Ctrl+B. This Photoshop command automatically adjusts the contrast and color of an image, automatically detecting shadows, midtones, and highlights.
This is what the pictures look like before and after automatic color correction.
Hue/Saturation
Open the image in Photoshop. On the layers palette, find the list of adjustment layers by clicking the half-filled circle icon.
Select from the list “Hue/Saturation”/Hue/Saturation.
In the layer settings dialog box, you can change “Hue of flowers”/Hue, "Brightness"/Lightness(make the photo lighter or darker) and “Color saturation”/Saturation(make faded or rich shades).
An image can be divided into color channels. The settings allow you to work with all color channels simultaneously or with one.
When working with a separate color channel, selecting a specific hue that needs to be changed, use the tool "Pipette". Click on the tool icon, move it to the desired area of the photo and make one click. You will see stops on the gradients. On color gradients, you can limit the color range, then changes will occur only in it. By moving the limiters, you set the operating range.
Next, by moving the hue, saturation and brightness sliders, all that remains is to select the settings according to your task. Let's give this photo a purple tint to get a more colorful sunset. To do this, select the blue channel. Drag the range stopper on the gradient to the right to capture the range of purple shades. Move the slider closer to purple Hue, add saturation. When finished, close the settings window.
That's how it happened.
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Curves
Adjustment Layer "Curves" has more abilities than we will consider in the basic method for beginners.
Open the image, call the adjustment layer "Curves" from the list of adjustment layers.
A settings dialog will open. Initially the curve appears straight. We are interested in the tool "Pipette". There are three of them. The first is responsible for shadows, the second for midtones, and the third for highlights.
Now we take the eyedroppers in turn: first click on the blackest part of the photo, second on the gray part, third on the whitest part.
With each dropper you use you will see changes. Curves of RGB color channels (red, green, blue) will appear on the graph. When finished, the curves window can be closed.
In the end it will turn out like this.
Levels
For the adjustment layer "Levels" We will also consider only the basic method of application.
A raster image, and in this case the image of our photos, consists of dots. These dots each have their own color. The black, gray and white points in the image are responsible for saturation, brightness and light. Adjustment Layer "Levels" allows you to change the point value level. Level 0 - black pixels, 255 - white. Level 128 - gray. The remaining levels range between 0 and 255. Redistributing the levels changes the tonal range of the image.
For quick color correction, you need to redistribute the level of midtones. Open the image, select from the list of adjustment layers "Levels".
In the settings dialog box, select the middle eyedropper, which is responsible for midtones. In the image, click on the area where there should be perfect gray. Then close the settings window. In this way, equal values of red, green and blue are selected.
As a result, we get a balanced, rich picture.
Would you like to learn more about how color correction is done in Photoshop? The purpose of this tutorial is to help beginners learn basic color correction techniques in Photoshop to enhance their images.
General color correction in Photoshop
In this tutorial we will be working with general color correction. General color correction in Photoshop affects the entire image by controlling the intensity of red, green, of blue color, gamma (halftones), shadows (black) and light (white).
Use color effects on adjustment layers or individual layers to quickly change or remove them as needed during the color grading process.
Monochrome and sepia
A monochromatic image is an image whose color spectrum consists of one color or its shades.
Step 1
Open the image – Ctrl+O.
First, let's adjust the grayscale of the image.
Open the layers palette – F7.
I think that The best way To adjust the midtones is to use a Black and White adjustment layer. (The Black and White adjustment layer appears in Photoshop only starting with version CS3).
To add a black and white adjustment layer, click on the corresponding icon at the bottom of the layers panel.
Working with a black and white adjustment layer allows you to use sliders to control the six primary and secondary colors - red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow - to adjust the amount of these colors in the image.
This is very useful tool to fine-tune the tonal range of your image.
Step 2
Double-click the layer thumbnail in the Layers palette to bring up the properties window.
In the “Set” line, select “Sepia” from the list.
If you're working in Photoshop CS6, all sepia settings will be set to default. If you are running an earlier version, you may need to set the settings manually.
In this case, check the “Colorize” line; this will automatically desaturate your image and color it in the same tone as the slider in the Hue line.
Set the value in the Hue line to 35, as shown in the picture:
Step 3
Finally, adjust the brightness of the color of your image using the sliders on the Black and White adjustment layer.
Clicking the hand icon in the Properties panel will allow you to use an eyedropper to select areas of the image whose color tone you want to adjust, and the color that is within the range of that area will be highlighted in the Properties panel so you can edit it further.
Avoid significant color changes or you run the risk of posterizing the image.
Typically, changes solely to the Black and White layer are not enough to make a final color correction to the image.
Finally, apply another adjustment layer - Curves (Curves) and adjust the image to the end.
(It is better to do this step at the end - after adjusting the color, so that you see the corrected color spectrum).
Sepia ready.
You can use any other monochrome color schemes using the same principle.
Instead of setting Hue to 35 in the second step, move the slider on the Hue color bar to the color you want to tint the image with.
You can also increase the Saturation slightly to increase the impact of the color.
Bleach Bypass
A popular image processing method is Bleach Bypass.
This color correction method in Photoshop adds a silver tint to a photo, as if combining black and white and color into one.
Step 1
Open a new image – Ctrl+O.
Apply a Black and White adjustment layer to our image as we did earlier (click on the icon at the bottom of the layers palette). You can also desaturate the image with a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
Change the layer blending mode to “Overlay” at the top of the layers palette.
Step 2
A feature of images processed using the Bleach Bypass method is a significant increase in contrast.
To soften the contrast, add a new adjustment layer – Curves.
Change the contrast carefully to achieve a quality effect.
Try to get rid of overexposure and failure in the shadows.
Additionally
The grain effect is often used in conjunction with the Bleach Bypass method.
If you want, you can use this effect when color correcting photos.
Create a copy of all layers – Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E.
Add noise using a filter.
Go to the menu: Filter – Noise – Add Noise (Filter – Noise – Add Noise).
Check the boxes next to “Gaussian” and “Monochrome”.
Set the effect at your discretion. I put 1%.
A little about color theory
Before we look at the next color correction method, let's talk briefly about color theory.
Look at the color wheels below.
basis color model RGB are three colors: red, green and blue.
The intermediate CMY colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow.
Secondary colors are formed by the sum of two primary colors:
Blue = green + blue,
Purple = red + blue,
Yellow = red + green.
Simple enough.
Secondary colors are on the opposite side of the primary colors on the color wheel:
Red - blue
Green – purple
Blue yellow
There are six more tertiary colors, which are created by mixing primary and secondary colors. But we will not dwell on this in detail now.
Now all that matters to us are the primary and secondary colors and their relationship to each other.
Using the Curves adjustment layer, you can make separate adjustments to the red, green, and blue channels.
Let's see how it works.
Shifting the curve above the diagonal line in the red channel increases the amount of red in the image.
Shifting the curve below the diagonal line increases the color opposite to red on the color wheel, cyan.
Same thing with other channels:
Shift up in the green channel – increases green; down - opposite - purple. Shift up in the blue channel - enhances blue; down - yellow.
Blockbuster/fashion magazine
Now that we have remembered a little color theory, we can proceed to the next processing method.
This effect is often used in cinema, for example in films such as Transformers. This style is also popular in fashion photography.
The shadows with this processing method should be bluish, and the highlights - mainly the part of the image containing the skin - should be orange, close to the natural color of the skin.
This is an additional color scheme. The colors used in it, blue and orange, are opposite each other on the color wheel.
When working with portraits of people in photographs, pay attention to skin color. You cannot have people with green, purple or blue skin. It will look strange and unnatural. The skin will always be between orange, orange-yellow (tertiary), and yellow.
In addition to the primary color, they usually use opposite colors of surrounding objects: from light blue, blue or blue-violet (tertiary).
Now that we know the principle, let's start stylizing our photo.
Step 1
Opening new photo– Ctrl+O.
Go to the layers palette – F7.
Create a new adjustment layer - Curves (Curves) by clicking on the corresponding icon at the bottom of the layers palette.
Start color correction of photos with shadows; then go to the light; and finally to the halftones.
Step 2
In the drop-down menu, change the RGB channel, which is responsible for the brightness and contrast of the entire image, to Blue.
We will perform color correction from specific to general, starting with the blue channel and ending with the general RGB channel.
Move the starting point of the curve above the diagonal line, this will allow us to increase the amount of blue in the shadows.
Next, to compensate for our first color adjustment, let's reduce the amount of blue in the primary colors - drag the end point of the curve down, closer to yellow, so that the skin tone remains natural.
Step 3
You will notice that the image has taken on a purple tint.
This is due to the equal intensity of green and red in the image.
To get a bluer tint you can either go to the green channel and raise the left point of the curve (in the shadows) above the diagonal line, or in the red channel move the left point of the curve down.
However, if you increase the amount of green in the shadows, the image will become a little lighter and lose contrast.
If you reduce the amount of red in the shadows, the image will become darker and more contrasty.
The first method subtracts colors, and the second, on the contrary, adds.
In most cases, it is preferable to use the first method.
So, in the drop-down menu, select the green channel, move the starting point of the curve up to reduce the amount of red in the shadows.
Step 4
At this point, you can go back to the blue channel and adjust the skin tone if necessary.
The skin should have the most natural shade possible: not too blue and not too yellow.
Adjust the highlights and midtones until you are happy with the result.
Step 5
Let's go to the main RGB channel.
Adjust the brightness and contrast of your image.
I just moved the curve in the shadows a little to increase the contrast.
Step 6
You can complete the color correction in Photoshop by applying the final filter.
Increasing the blue in the shadows increased the color of the image.
Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
Lower the saturation value a little if necessary.
Here's what we got:
Bronze
Another way to process an image is to add a bronze tint to it.
This effect is similar to sepia, however, with this processing method, unlike sepia, the colors of the image are not reset and the image does not become monochrome.
Vivid colors remain visible in the bronze treatment, while highlights and shadows take on a warm bronze hue.
Let's take an example of an image with big amount colors and a large tonal range. This will make it easier for us to see what is happening.
Step 1
Open the photo - Ctrl+O.
Create a new adjustment layer - Photo filter (Photo filter) by clicking on the corresponding icon at the bottom of the layers palette.
Change the filter color to Sepia and set the density to between 90 - 100 percent.
Step 2
Let's apply another adjustment layer - Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation), again clicking on the icon at the bottom of the layers panel.
Reduce the saturation of the image in the range from -10 to -50, adjust this value to your liking.
Step 3
Create another adjustment layer - Curves.
The bronze effect looks pretty good with the added contrast.
Set up the curve as in the picture below (increase the contrast):
Step 4
At the final stage we will add some diffusion, it should look good.
Make a duplicate of the layer with the image under the adjustment layers – Cltr+J.
We work on a copy of the layer.
Go to the menu “Filter” – “Blur” – “Gaussian blur” (Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur).
Don't blur the image too much. For my photo, I blurred it at 2 pixels.
At the top of the Layers palette, change the blending mode of the blurred layer to Overlay. You will notice that the contrast of your image will increase.
To soften the effect, change the Fill parameter at the top of the layers palette to your liking from 25 to 50%.
Finally, make final adjustments to the contrast using an adjustment layer – Curves.
This is what we ended up with:
Conclusion
Today we talked about how color correction is done in Photoshop, looking at several methods for color correction of photographs.
In fact, there are many ways to color correct photos in Photoshop. However, it is impossible to say that any of them is the only correct one. Different specialists use different tools. Everyone has their own processing methods. You can use any processing method that suits you best.
Also, remember that each image you process will look different from another with a similar color grading style.
There is no universal method of processing and color correction in Photoshop for any images; in each specific case everything will be individual.
Try not to add a lot of effects so as not to “overdo it”, apply them as delicately as possible.
Experiment, learn new effects, learn to create your own, enjoy your work!
