Color Balance

Color balance is critical and can come out wrong due to all sorts of factors: incorrect camera settings and/or odd lighting conditions. The computer allows you to adjust the color balance after the shot is taken, which can save many an image.

If there is an area in the photo that has a neutral gray subject, it should be easy to correct the all-over color. If not, it can be surprisingly tricky.

However, your computer monitor really has to be calibrated to make color adjustments, or the images may look good — only to you.

Bottom Line: Adjusting color shifts in photos can make a big difference.

greenish

flourescent?

very color

very warm

cyan

blues

sepia

gray scale

greenish

flourescent?

very color

very warm

cyan

blues

sepia

gray scale

Left

Right

The light filtering through the green leaves turns Nicole somewhat green. The camera was set to daylight.

Here the image has been brought closer to the color we expect to see.

Here the color balance has been pushed too far to the blue side.

Color balance has been pushed too far toward the yellow.

Here the whole image has been "colorized" into cyan.

The image has been "colorized" into blues.

The image has been turned into sepia tones.

Here all color has been removed, but there are much more powerful ways of turning color to black and white than just dialing out the color.

The light filtering through the green leaves turns Nicole somewhat green. The camera was set to daylight.

Here the image has been brought closer to the color we expect to see.

Here the color balance has been pushed too far to the blue side.

Color balance has been pushed too far toward the yellow.

Here the whole image has been "colorized" into cyan.

The image has been "colorized" into blues.

The image has been turned into sepia tones.

Here all color has been removed, but there are much more powerful ways of turning color to black and white than just dialing out the color.