So at the time I share this video, it's just a couple of days to go
until the Free Photoshop Virtual Summit five and one of the two classes I’m
presenting is called The Color Conundrum
How to Manipulate Color in Photoshop.
Now, one of the things I cover in there that is vital is
how to start off with the correct colors before you do anything.
And that's what I want to give you a look at in this video.
How to color correct your images.
And also an extra little technique added at the end to take it
a step further.
So with this image open in Photoshop,
I'm going to choose a levels adjustment layer.
I could have chosen a curves adjustment layer.
It makes no difference because all we're after
is this auto button and you'll find that in both.
Now if just click on the auto button.
You can see that it doesn't really help us out.
And that's because it isn't using the best auto options.
But we can change that.
And there are two ways we can access the auto options.
We can either go to the menu in the top right of the adjustment
layer properties here, these three horizontal bars.
And in here just choose auto options.
Another way we could do this is to hold down the option key on Mac
or old key on Windows and simply click on the auto button.
Both of these ways will open the auto options that we see here.
So in here you'll see that there are a number of algorithms
and at the moment the algorithm is using is enhance brightness and contrast,
which obviously isn't going to fix the color issues.
Now, there are other algorithms here to choose from, though
enhanced monochromatic contrast, enhanced per
channel contrast and find dark and light colors.
And this is the one that we want.
So look, if I choose the find dark and light colors algorithm,
immediately, we can see a change in the picture, the colors.
Now look, why you better and much closer to what we would expect them to be.
It's also good practice as well
to tick the snap neutral mid tones checkbox.
So this is before and this is after.
The colors look much better.
Now the bottom we have this save as default
checkbox, which at the moment is unchecked.
If I tick this box from then on, whenever I press auto
the find dark and light colors algorithm and the snap
neutral midtones checkbox will be automatically applied.
Let me just show you that.
I'll add a tick and click.
Okay.
Now I'll delete this level's adjustment layer.
So we go back to the original image where the colors are off.
Now I will add a levels adjustment layer and just click on auto
and you can see the colors are automatically looking a lot better.
And if I go to the auto options, you can see the find
dark and light colors is the default algorithm.
And that will stay like that until you change it.
Also remember that I said we
could have used either a levels adjustment or a curves adjustment.
Well, because we changed the auto settings in levels.
Those same settings are the defaults in both.
So if I change it here now, let's go to enhance
brightness and contrast and set that as the default.
I'll click okay and then delete it.
I'll then choose a curves adjustment layer and click on auto.
You can see the default in here has changed too.
Now as with everything in Photoshop, there isn't a one size fits all.
There's not one technique
that works perfectly on every image and that's no different here.
For example, I have this image, which is a photograph I took with my drone
of the coastline, Lyme Regis in Dorset, near to where I live.
You can see the color is definitely off The color of the sea
just doesn't look right.
Nor do the clouds, the grass, the beach and so on.
Now, if I go to
the levels adjustment layer and use auto, actually I'll just make sure
the find dark and light colors is the default algorithm
and the snap neutral midtones is checked, which it now is.
And yeah, that looks a lot better already.
Although if we still weren't 100% happy, we could do this.
Actually, I'll just explain the principle first in this picture here.
If I duplicate it and change the blend mode of this duplicated
layer to difference, we see the whole image goes black.
And that's because the contents of both layers line up perfectly with each other.
But if I get the move tool and just nudge this top
layer across a little bit, look what happens.
We start to see lines, we see color appearing, and that's
because the contents are not lining up perfectly.
Now, there may be some black areas within this,
and that's where the tones are the same.
And we can use this
principle to color correct our images even better.
Okay, let's get back to the original image
and I'll just delete the adjustment layer for now.
I'll add a new blank layer,
then go to edit, fill and choose 50% gray.
I'll then change the blend mode of this layer to difference.
And when I do this, any areas that now
go black are areas that match between this layer
and the layer below meaning the black areas are therefore indicating
what is 50% gray because the tones are matching.
So what I'll do is now grab the color sampler tool from the toolbar
and press down on one of these black areas
that are indicating 50% gray.
When I do, the color sampler leaves a sample point
so I can now delete this 50% gray layer.
Okay, now let's fix the color in this image.
I'll add a levels adjustment layer.
I'll click on auto, which is using the find
dark and light colors algorithm.
But next I'll grab the mid tone
sampler and using this, I'll click down in the center of the color
sampler point indicating the 50% gray area.
And look what happens when I do.
It's done.
So this is before and this is after.
and to remove the color sampler points off your image,
just go to the options bar with the color sampler active and choose clear all.
Oh and one other also ...
So when I added the new blank layer, the reason
I didn't just bring up the new layer properties, choose
the difference blend mode and tick the fill with neutral color.
50% gray is because that isn't an option.
You can only fill the lay with black if you go with this route.
Unlike if I chose soft light, we could then use 50% gray.
So this and a lot more.
I cover in one of my two classes at the Photoshop Virtual Summit five,
which starts this coming Monday, October the 30th, with 40 classes
going out over five days from 20 instructors that you can watch
completely for free for 48 hours after each session is released.
And you can do that just by registering for a free pass using this link.
Now you need to register for your free pass
before the summit starts this coming Monday.
Otherwise, they'll no longer be available.
So just register. And if you use it, then great.
But if you don't, well, then you've lost nothing.
Okay, That's all for this video.
So I'd really appreciate a like and a subscribe,
which basically means follow and I'll catch you in the next video.