Photoshop Friday : A More Accurate White Balance

May 15th, 2009 by ariana

In a previous tutorial I showed you how to quick fix your exposure and color cast by setting the white and black points in a curves adjustment layer by guessing the light and dark points. I also showed you how to use a color balance adjustment layer to correct obvious color casts.

This tutorial is a much more exact method of using threshold layers to find the true white and black points which will act as an instant exposure/contrast/color cast fix for your image. But it also goes a step further and sets the gray point for even more accuracy.

Using this workflow should help with stubborn images where you are soooo close but still feel like maybe the color or exposure is a bit off. This is particularly helpful in nailing the skintones which is always challenging!

Here is the before image:

Before image:

SOOC

It doesn’t look too bad right? But once you see the after image below, it becomes clear that the first image was muddied up by a magenta color cast.

After Setting White, Black & Gray Point

Now we have the correct brightness and skintone. A subtle difference here, but the results will be much more or less subtle completely dependent on the image you start with. Try it and you’ll see!

>>WATCH THE SETTING THE CORRECT WHITE BALANCE TUTORIAL NOW

PS: Jasper was sleeping next door so I am quite literally whispering..You’ll probably have to jack up the volume to hear what’s going one.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Filed under: Photoshop Tutorials, Tutorials, photoshop by ariana
6 Comments »

Photoshop Tutorials
Maya Part I of III Layer modes, adjustment layers Maya Part II of III Layer masking, sharpening Maya...

Photoshop Tutorial : Setting the Correct White Balance
Use threshold layers to find the true white, black and gray points of your image enabling you to...

Photoshop Tutorial: Actions
It's Photoshop Friday! Today's tutorial is about actions.. how to load them, run them and then adjust...

Photoshop Tutorial: Black and White the Old Fashioned Way!
I say the old fashioned way because last week I showed you how to do a black and white conversion using...

Grab this Widget

6 Responses to “Photoshop Friday : A More Accurate White Balance”

jbhat, on May 15th, 2009 at 4:01 pm Said:

You have a good weekend too! So glad it’s Friday…
HamiHarri, on May 15th, 2009 at 7:24 pm Said:

I love your tutorials…I just need to get a faster comp to allow my photoshop to work better :P
CMC, on May 17th, 2009 at 7:00 pm Said:

I love your photoshop tips! Thanks for posting. Great pics Jeff posted on FB of Jasper on his motorcycle!!!
Georgia, on May 18th, 2009 at 1:48 am Said:

Thanks! The sound is really low though :( I had to turn my speakers all the way up and I could still barely hear you.
ariana, on May 18th, 2009 at 3:13 pm Said:

Georgia, yeah I’m sorry about that.. Jasper was sleeping in the next room and I was whispering. I may have to redo this one..
Georgia, on May 19th, 2009 at 1:57 am Said:

Oh hehe it’s ok! I know Photoshop well enough that I can follow the menu clickage. I’ve been using this method now to properly set Curves layers instead of the screen/soft light layer combination. The latest image of my husband in flickr was done via this tutorial!