Photoshop Actions for Correcting Common Color ProblemsHow to save time fixing color in a large photo archive by creating a suite of power toolsThere are many photo color problems you encounter that are common. For instance, reds are oversaturated; there's a yellow cast in the highlights; or there just isn't enough contrast in the entire photo. Instead of applying a new Photoshop adjustment layer for each photo's issue by going through the relevant Photoshop menus one step at a time--which can get tedious after a while--you can apply one or more Photoshop actions for a quick fix. Once you have learned enough about color, and got enough experience correcting images so that you have trained your eye to detect both color and tonal problems, you know the likely solutions without doing a lot of guessing. Then you will know what Photoshop actions you could create and use to considerably speed up the entire correction process. Photo editors who work on a lot of photos, indeed, benefit from creating an entire set of actions for every main type of problem. The more experienced your eye, the more sophisticated your set of actions can be. You can keep each issue separated, though, so you are dealing with one specific color problem at a time. The entire set is your Color Toolbox. For example, one action can be "Desaturate Red." All it does is lower the Saturation level of the reds by an amount you set. You could have just one action for the reds, e.g., -5, and then you would apply it once, or however many times it is required. You just click one button (Play Action). Or you could have another action that is -10, plus another that is -20, i.e., one that is aggressive and one for finetuning. Get organizedOrganization of your Color Correction Actions is helpful to think straight and work quickly. One way to organize the actions is by two basic categories: Tone and Color. Below are some examples of possible actions you can make. Tone* Auto Levels Color* Black and White (Saturation -100) Create separate action folders for one of more of the primary colors: Red, Green, and Blue. Red* Desaturate (-10) Yellow* Desaturate (-10)
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