Adjusting White Balance in Adobe Photoshop: A Step-by-Step Guide
Photography enthusiasts and professionals alike know the importance of white balance in creating stunning images. White balance affects the warmth or coolness of pictures, and it can significantly impact an image's colour cast, flatness, and saturation. In this article, we'll explore how to adjust white balance in Photoshop using the popular tool, Curves, and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR).
Firstly, it's essential to understand that cameras, while good at automatically choosing the right white balance, may struggle with tricky images that have multiple sources of light with different color casts. In such cases, manual adjustments may be necessary.
Curves is an adjustment layer in Photoshop that provides flexibility, allowing for selective reduction of adjustments in certain parts of the image using layer masks. To adjust the white balance using Curves, select a specific colour, say red, and adjust the red line to reduce reds in the highlights, mid-tones, and shadows. This process helps control a warmer color cast.
After reducing reds, you might want to adjust greens to improve the image's overall colour balance. It's worth noting that this manual process can be more suitable for RAW photos, TIFFs, PSDs, and other minimally-compressed files, as adjusting JPEGs too far may result in noticeable colour problems or compression artifacts.
For those who prefer a more automated approach, Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) offers an easy solution. This plugin allows for importing RAW images into Photoshop and making basic adjustments, including non-RAW images like JPEGs. In ACR, the white balance adjustment is near the top, called Temperature. To automatically fix the white balance of a photo, add a Curves adjustment layer, click on the right edge of the Properties tab, select Auto Options, choose "Find Light & Dark Colors", and click Ok.
Lastly, to set the final tone of the image, a bit of blue can be added to balance the warmth and achieve the desired look. Remember, the goal is to make your images pop, not to overcorrect and create an unnatural appearance.
In conclusion, mastering white balance correction in Photoshop can greatly enhance your photography skills. Whether you prefer manual adjustments using Curves or the automated approach with Adobe Camera Raw, the key is to experiment and find the method that works best for you. Happy editing!
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