Photo Color Correction

Adobe Photoshop Tutorial

4. Color Balance

The fourth Adjustment Layer in the Photoshop color management control panel is Color Balance.

Color Balance has three sections: Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights.

Each of the three shade range sections itself has three parts:

1. Cyan to Red

2. Magenta to Green

3. Yellow to Blue

The numerical range for each part is -100 to +100. 100% cyan is -100; 100% red is +100; 100% magenta is -100; 100% green is +100; and 100% yellow is -100 and 100% blue is +100.

Effective use of the color balance adjustment layer requires isolating one of the three designated shade ranges when looking at a photo in the evaluation process before making corrections.

To correct the dark parts, concentrate only on the dark areas, and forget about the midtones and highlights.

To correct the light parts, concentrate only on the light areas, and forget about the midtones and highlights.

To correct the midtones, concentrate only on the midtones areas, and forget about the shadows and highlights.

If you don't pay close attention to specific shade ranges, it is easy to get confused or fail to pinpoint color problems.