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Last Updated:
Jan 20th, 2007 - 12:55:03 |
You’ve got a fancy, state of the art digital camera. You attended classes to learn how to use it and have read every manual and third party book known to man. Yet do you still find your photos somewhat “lackluster?”
Well balanced colors can make the difference between a ho-hum photo and one that literally pops off the page. This month I’m going to demonstrate using
Photoshop’s Curves feature to correct the color in your photos. Many people find the Curves feature intimidating, but follow along and I’ll show you how you can sit back and let Photoshop itself do most of the work!
1. Open the photo that you wish to apply color correction to in Photoshop.
2. Duplicate your photo by right-clicking on the layer in the Layers palette and choosing “Duplicate Layer” from the drop-down menu.
Always work on a duplicate layer when making adjustments to a photo. Working on a duplicate layer preserves the original image in the event that you are unhappy with the changes and it is a good habit to get into.
3. Now we’ll create a Threshold Adjustment Layer: Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Threshold
Click “OK” in the box that appears.
The image will turn black and white. Click “OK” in the box that appears.
4. Double-click on the Threshold Layer thumbnail.
5. First we will set the BLACK POINT. Drag the slider in the Threshold box all the way to the left. The image will turn white.
6. SLOWLY begin dragging the slider back towards the right until black begins appearing. The first dots of black to appear represent the darkest BLACK POINT in your photo.
7. Click OK.
8. At this point I like to use my Zoom Tool to drag a marquee around the black area and magnify it before I place my color sample.
9. Choose the Color Sampler Tool from the Eyedropper submenu.
10. Click in the black area, setting Color Sample Point 1.
11. Choose View>Print Size or View>Fit on Screen to remove the magnification.
12. Double-click on the Threshold Layer thumbnail.
13. Now we will set the WHITE POINT. Drag the slider in the Threshold box all the way to the right. The image will turn black.
14. SLOWLY begin dragging the slider back towards the left until white begins appearing. The first dots of white to appear represent the lightest WHITE POINT in your photo.
15. Click OK.
16. Use the Zoom Tool to drag a marquee around the white area and magnify it.
17. Choose the Color Sampler Tool from the Eyedropper submenu.
18. Click in the white area, setting Color Sample Point 2.
19. Choose View>Print Size or View>Fit on Screen to remove the magnification.
Finding the neutral GRAY POINT in a photo can be difficult. Here’s a trick to help set the point for adjusting the midtones.
20. Click OFF the Threshold layer in your Layers Palette and ON the Background Copy layer.
21. Create a new layer between the Threshold layer and the Background Copy layer by clicking on the “New Layer” icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette.
22. From the toolbar at the top of your screen choose Edit>Fill.
23. Set the Contents to 50% Gray.
24. Set the blending mode of this layer to “Difference.”
25. Double-click on the Threshold layer thumbnail.
26. Now we will set the GRAY POINT. Drag the slider in the Threshold box all the way to the left. The image will turn white.
27. SLOWLY begin dragging the slider back towards the right until black begins appearing. The first dots of black to appear represent the GRAY POINT in your photo.
28. Use the Zoom Tool to drag a marquee around the black area and magnify it.
29. Choose the Color Sampler Tool from the Eyedropper submenu.
30. Click in the black area, setting Color Sample Point 3.
31. Choose View>Print Size or View>Fit on Screen to remove the magnification.
32. Delete the Threshold layer and the Gray Fill layer you created. The Color Sample Points you set will appear on the photo.
33. Choose Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Curves.
34. Click OK.
35. Choose the “Set Black Point” dropper (as shown below) and click on Color Sample 1 in your photo.
36. Choose the “Set White Point” dropper and click on Color Sample 2 in your photo.
37. Choose the “Set Gray Point” dropper and click on Color Sample 3 in your photo.
38. Click on the Eyedropper tool and then choose “Clear” from the options bar at the top of your screen to remove the Sample Points from your photo.
39. At this point the colors in your photo should be looking much better, but is probably still a bit dark. Double-click on the Curves layer thumbnail to open up the Curves dialog box again. Click on the center point of the Curves line and move the point up a bit as shown.
40. As a final step I like to “defog” my photo to make the colors pop using the Unsharp Mask.
41. Choose Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask from the menu bar at the top of your screen. Enter the settings shown below and click OK.
42. Choose Layer>Flatten Image from the menu bar at the top of your screen and save the file with a new name.
Let’s compare the edited photo with the original.
Edited Photo
Original Photo
Whew! Still with me? You went through a lot of steps to arrive at your final edited photo. Looks great doesn’t it? Pat yourself on the back and enjoy applying your new found skill to your photos!
© Copyright 2003-2005 by Scrapbook-Bytes; & original creator/s of tutorials/articles
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