In this video, I'm going to show you the quickest way
to white balance an image in Photoshop.
Hi, welcome back to the Photoshop Training Channel!
I'm Jesús Ramirez.
In this video, I'm going to show you how to color correct images with just one click.
And even though we'll focus on an automatic adjustment, I am gonna take some time to explain
what Photoshop is doing behind the scenes, that way you understand how the tool works,
and if you run into any problems, you'll know how to solve them.
Okay, let's get started!
We're gonna work with this image here, and it obviously has a color cast, and our goal
is going to be to remove the color cast so that we can neutralize the image.
I just want to point out that in this tutorial, you could use either the "Levels", or the
"Curves Adjustment Layer."
I'm going to use the Curves Adjustment Layer, and we're gonna work with the Auto button.
But notice that the Levels Adjustment Layer also has that same Auto button.
So you can use either Adjustment Layer for this tutorial.
I'm gonna stick with Curves.
If I simply hit the Auto button, you'll notice that Photoshop will make an adjustment, and
that adjustment won't necessarily be the best adjustment.
Photoshop actually has different algorithms
that it uses determine how to color correct the image automatically.
You can access those algorithms by holding "Alt", "Option" on a Mac, and clicking on
the Auto button to bring up the "Auto Color Correction Options."
Another way to get to that is by clicking on the fly-out menu, and selecting "Auto Options."
You'll notice that on the top of this window, you'll have four different algorithms.
By default, Photoshop selects "Enhance Brightness and Contrast",
and you have different algorithms that you can choose from.
The algorithm that I prefer is the "Find Dark & Light Colors" algorithm.
I believe that it gives the best results in most cases.
I also like to check the "Snap Neutral Midtones", and you can see that by simply doing that,
I've color corrected this image.
I can also tell Photoshop to use this algorithm
as default by checking this box, then pressing OK.
That way, the next time that I create a Curves Adjustment Layer, and hit the Auto button,
Photoshop will apply that Auto Adjustment.
Now before we move on, I want to explain what's going on behind the scenes so that you'll
understand this algorithm.
Then we're gonna move on to a photo that's a little bit more complicated, and simply
applying the Auto Color Correction Options will not color correct the image, but I'll
show what to do when that happens.
So we applied the Find Dark & Light Colors Adjustment, and really what that means is
this; if you are an old Photoshop user,
you might remember an old color correcting technique,
and that old color correcting technique is this one.
You can select the Red, Green, and Blue Channels,
and then find the light and dark colors.
And what I mean by that is, you select the black point, and then move the black point
over to the right until you find the darkest point of the image.
Basically, that's where the data starts here in the Histogram.
If you don't see the Histogram on your panel, you can click on the fly-out menu, and select
"Curves Display Options", and make sure that "Histogram" is enabled.
But anyway, you can click and drag the black point
until you start seeing some data on that Histogram.
Another way of doing it is by holding "Alt", "Option" on the Mac, clicking and dragging.
In this case, the image will turn red because this is a Red Channel, and whenever you start
seeing black on the image, that's where you'll find your black point.
So, you can just drop the point there, but it's a lot easier to do it through the Histogram.
So I'm just gonna click and drag the white point to the left, make sure that it matches
where the data starts here on the Histogram, and I'll do the same thing for all those channels.
That's the Green Channel, and this is the Blue Channel.
Notice that as soon as I find the dark and light points of the image, the image now looks
much better; that's before and after.
Let me know in the comments if you're an old Photoshop user and remember this old technique,
but basically, this is what the Auto Color Corrections Options is doing with this algorithm;
it's finding the dark and light colors.
Again, in most cases, this is the best algorithm
so I like having it as default, but it doesn't always work.
And that's what I'm going to show you in the following example;
what to do when this algorithm doesn't work.
So I'm gonna go into this image here, and if I create a Curves Adjustment Layer and
click on the Auto button, you'll notice that the image does look better, but it's not quite
the result that we're looking for.
If I hold "Alt", "Option" on the Mac, and click on the Auto button, you'll see that
we're using the "Find Dark & Light Colors."
I'm Snapping the Neutral Midtones, and the image is still not looking the way it should.
And I can actually scroll through the different algorithms, and you'll see that none of them
give me a good result.
So what I'll do is I'll keep the one I had originally, Find Dark & Light Colors, make
sure that Snap Neutral Midtones is selected, and then, I can come into the Properties panel,
and simply select the gray point eyedropper.
Then you can click anywhere on the image that should be a neutral gray.
For example, this brick path, and as soon as I click, the image looks much better.
I can even click on her sweater because her sweater is off-white,
so it's still a neutral gray.
So when I click on that, the image also looks much, much better.
Now you may be thinking, "Well, why don't we do that from the beginning?
Why can't we simply just click on a gray point, and just be done with it?"
Well let me show you what happens when I do that.
I'm going to click on this reset button to reset this Curves Adjustment Layer.
I have the gray point eyedropper selected,
and if I click on the path, the image looks
much better, but it looks washed out because we haven't found
the black and white points of this image.
Of course, we can click and drag the black point and the white point of each individual
channel until we find the information, but that will take too long.
It's much easier to start with the Auto button.
If it doesn't work, select the gray point eyedropper, and click on anything that should
be a neutral gray, a gray color.
And the image looks much, much better right away.
So that's before, and after.
And by the way, before we continue, I want to mention that if you're interested on learning
more about Curves and how they work, and how they work with color, more specifically, then
I recommend watching my tutorial on Cinematic Color Grading because I go into depth on how
the Curves Adjustment works, how it relates to color correction, and color grading.
It's one of my most watched tutorials and I believe it's one of my best ones so check it out.
I'll post a link to it right below in the description.
But anyway, let's get back to the tutorial,
One thing that I want you to note is that when we make an adjustment with the gray point
eyedropper, we don't actually change where the white point or black point is.
If I click anywhere on the image, you'll see that only thing that changes is the center
point, and that is true for every channel.
Notice how I'm not really adjusting the black and white point, just that point right in
the center, which is a neutral gray.
Also, if you select the black point eyedropper, and click on any color, notice that in this
case, the black point changes, and the black point changed on all channels.
So if I go into the RGB mode, watch the black point of the Blue Channel, which is here,
and the Green and Red Channel, which are right here, almost in the same spot.
If I click on this area here, notice how all three change.
So the black point eyedropper changes the black point for all three channels, the same
is true for the white point, notice how all three change.
And I'll click on her backpack just so that there's a bigger difference, you can see the
three white points change up here.
And I'll reset the adjustment, click on Auto, and the same is true for the gray eyedropper.
If I click on an area, it will change all three channels at the same time.
But the point of me showing you this is that when you hit your Auto button, you'll adjust
the black points and white points of all three RGB channels, and you can adjust the gray
point without affecting any of the black points or white points.
And there you have it, the one-click-solution to color correcting images in Photoshop.
In this case it was actually two, but you get the idea.
Let me know in the comments below if you already knew this technique or if you prefer a different
algorithm than the one I used.
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Thank you so much for watching, and I will talk to you again in the next tutorial!