Correcting Color

How to correct a color cast or white balance?

Article written by: Siegfried Seierlein
Date Updated: 23 March 2008

A while back I wrote an article about a product from a software company called, PictoColor. Correcting a color cast or correcting the white balance of a picture is a common problem and the cause of most color problems in pictures.

The ideal is to have the white balance correctly set in the camera prior to taking the picture. As you most probably know, this is not the most simple thing to do.

Both PictoColor, Adobe or PaintShop Pro from Corel can come to the rescue when you have a color cast in your picture. I think important to remember is that the cause of all color problems is white balance and the correct use of this one parameter in the digital camera.

I wrote an article on white balance and I like you to have a look at that as it will help you to better appreciate how it all works. You will find the article here.

The method I like to describe today is very similar to the technique one found in the software from PictoColor. All you need to do is to identify a white, gray or black area in a picture. From this information it is then possible for the software to completely re-adjust the color of a picture. Often one look for the more complex solution and one tend to overlook the friendly option. One such complex solution you can find here.

The method I will describe today can be done in Photoshop Elements 4, 5 and 6. I do not know about the other versions. It is also possible to find the same function in PaintShop Pro.


		In the main editor of Elements, select the “Enhance” menu and the select “Adjust Color” and finally select “Remove Color Cast”.

	The next step is to move the pen to a white area or a gray area or a black area in the picture. When there, click on your mouse and the software will record that value and based on that it will correct all the colors in the picture. How to find the correct white, gray or black spot in the picture? In the other, more complex article I wrote a method of finding the correct spot in the picture is described. What I have found is that with experience one develops a really good feel for finding that perfect white spot in a picture and the more you practice the better it becomes.

Another great method helping you to develop the feel for finding the correct white, gray or black spot on a picture is to use your gray card. How does one use a gray card during post processing, one can correctly ask?

Simply by taking a picture and by leaving your gray card on the table, the grass or anywhere in the picture you will be able to point to during post processing. By doing that on a regular basis you will always have a real reference when practicing testing difference surfaces in a picture.

Personally I find that one can get very good finding these areas in a picture that are correct for use as white balance points.

The above picture has been corrected using the above method. I then used the curves function to add a little contrast to the picture plus I added a little saturation to give it color. Finally I used Unsharp Mask to sharpen the image.

The image is now ready to be posted on a forum with the following title: The E-330 from Olympus demonstrating the lovely colors one can get from Olympus....

Siegfried




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