Blue cast
This is a step by step explanation of the systematic approach to image editing. Depending on light conditions we get different color cast in our images. Sometimes this only makes the image better. A typical example is the warm glow of a sunset. Other times we get color cast that makes our images look not so good. It is tempting to fix the cast first, but we will stick to the systematic approach.
Here is the list we will follow:
- Edit Highlights using Curves and Selection
- Enter black / Enter white using Curves
- Tone using Curves
- Contrast using Curves
- Colorcast using Curves
- Color-correction using Hue/Saturation, Selective Color, Replace Color, Path, Layer Mask.
- Restoration using History brush.
- Sharpen using Unsharp Mask.
This is the order you should follow editing most images. All list items should be considered. Act on those that are appropriate and skip if there is no need to adjust.
And here is the image:
Step by step editing:
Start by opening the image and the curves dialog box.
Choose menu and submenus:
1. The Curve dialog box opens.
2. The first thing you have to consider is if there are highlights present.. In this case you do not need to change this at all. So you skip this and go right to selecting the black point. You are looking for a part of the image thats the darkest and at the same time most neutral(closest to gray). The Curves panel can help you with that. Try to adjust the curves start and end position like this.
Then click on the eyedropper in the Curves panel and click in the darkest part of the image.
3. Now you have a image which contains neutral tones in the dark. Next select the white point. Look around the image and find what you think is the lightest part. Use the "Info panel" to check. Look for the values closest to 255 in all channels. At the same time try to find the most neutral point. A white point is normally in the range
R 200 - 255, G 200 - 255 and B 200 - 255. A neutral white point have close to the same value in all tree channels. In this image you have a heavy cast in the light, it measures R 181, G 184 and B 252. Click to set the white point.
4. Next step is tone edits. Ask yourself this: is the image all over too dark or to light? In this case it is too dark so we place the cursor on the middle of the tone curve and drag down and to the right to lighten the mid-tones. Then click O.K.
5. Now have a look at the blue cast, it is already better. Click down on Channel menu and choose Blue. Drag the blue curve up some until the overall image impression gets neutral.
6. The last two list items, Color-correction and Restoration you can skip. The image looks god.
7. Using "Unsharp mask" is an optional step, I find that most images can benefit from getting sharper. If you do edits for printing press you should always sharpen, since the finished print will be less sharp.
The final result compared to original.
