Photoshop Tutorials

Description

Manual White Balance Correction

Sometimes none of the previous techniques will properly or accurately fix the white balance. For times like those, we need to manually adjust the levels of the individual color. Follow this workflow to learn how to manually adjust the white balance of an image. The tutorial may seem a bit long, but it's easy to remember and once you learn this method, it's a quick process that can be done minutes.

Step 1

Download and save the following JPG file to your computer then open it inside Adobe Photoshop.
twilight 128.67 Kb (right-mouse click> Save As)

alt="Twilight Photo" src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/twilight-photo.jpg" />

Step 2

Inside the Channels pallet (Window> Channels), set the thumbnail size to large. To do this, right mouse click on an empty area in the pallet and select Large.

alt="Setting the Thumbnail Size" src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/large-thumbnails.gif" />

Step 3

Click on each channel and find the channel that seems to have the proper or best exposure. In this photo we're working on, it seems like the green channel has the best exposure. By comparing the other two channels against the green channel, we can see that the red channel is underexposed and the blue channel is overexposed. Those are the channels/colors that need to be fix.

alt="Channels Pallet" src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/channels.gif" />

Fix the Colors

Now that we've found out which color we need to edit, we'll proceed with the next process of fixing the channels.

Step 4

Click on the RGB channel to activate all the channels.

alt="RGB Channel Selected" src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/select-rgb.gif" />

Step 5

The first step is to find something gray in the photo to use as a reference. For this photo we're working on, we can use the cement sidewalk and road as a reference. Use the Magnifier tool (Z) and zoom in near the bottom right where the cement road and sidewalk is.

alt="Magnify to the location bordered red." src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/zoom-in.jpg" />

Step 6

Add a Levels adjustment layer (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Levels).

alt="Levels Adjustment Layer" src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/levels-adjustment-layer.gif" />

Step 7

For us to properly adjust the settings in the Levels adjustment layer, we need to have a view of the individual channels. To do this, close the Levels tool and drag the Channels pallet outside of its window. The Channels pallet should appear in its own window. Now with the individual channels visible in the channels pallet, double-click on the thumbnail of the adjustment layer to open the Levels tool.

alt="The channels pallet in its own window" src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/workspace.gif" />

Step 8

To remove the color cast, we need to fix the red and blue channel. We'll edit the Red channel first. Press Ctrl+1 to select Red from the Channel drop down menu in the Levels tool. Click and hold the middle input slider and drag the middle input slider towards the left. While dragging the input slider towards the left, look at the channels pallet and release the input slider when the exposure of the red channel seems identical to the green channel. I set the location of my middle input slider to 1.80.
Tip: Don't press the OK button yet.

alt="Editing Red Channel with Levels" src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/red-channel.gif" />

Step 9

Now we'll edit the blue channel. With the Levels tool still opened, press Ctrl+3 to activate Blue channel. Drag the middle input slider towards the right and release when the exposure of the blue channel in the channels pallet matches the green channel. I set the location of my middle input slider for this channel to 1.65. Click OK when done.

alt="Editing Blue Channel with Levels" src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/blue-channel.gif" />

Tune the Settings

Although the colors look much better now, it still doesn't seem to look the scene I saw with my eyes. We'll need to find out what's wrong and make further adjustments to fix this.

Step 10

Select the top layer and press Ctrl+E to merge down.

alt="Layers Merged" src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/merge-down.gif" />

Step 11

Apply an Average filter (Filter> Blur> Average). The Average filter creates a fill of the average color of the image. We can see that the fill is a neutral blue color.

alt="Average Filter Applied" src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/average.gif" />
The hue identifies the most prominent color in the image and the saturation of the color shows how prominent the color is. What this means is that there's more blue than any other color in the photo but only by a small amount. If the blue was a bright, vivid blue, it would mean that there's more blue than any other color in the photo by a large amount.

Step 12

Because the average color is a neutral blue, we need to reduce the amount of blue just by a tiny bit. Before we do this, undo the previous two steps you've done by simply clicking the "Modify Levels Layer" state in the History pallet (Window> History).

alt="The Layers pallet should contain two layers." src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/history-and-layers.gif" />

Step 13

Find an area on the cement that has a slight blue cast and use the Magnifier tool (M) to zoom into the area.

alt="Magnify to the location bordered red." src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/blue-cast.jpg" />

Step 14

Double-click on the thumbnail of the adjustment layer to open the Levels tool. Inside the Levels tool, activate the Blue channel (Ctrl+3). We now need to move the middle input slider towards the right just a bit until the blue cast on the cement is gone. It may be difficult to make tiny adjustments when working on a tiny portion of the histogram. To make adjusting easier, click on the middle Input Levels field and press the down or up button to make changes. To remove the blue cast, I reduced the location to 0.49.

alt="Editing Blue Channel with Levels" src="/./images/stories/Photoshop%20Tutorials/Photo%20Restoration/White%20Balance/blue-channel-2.gif" />

Analyzing the Results

The color of the photo looks much better and looks like what I've seen when I was there. I'm going to check to find out how accurate the adjustments I made are. You don't have to do this, but I merged the layers and applied the Average filter to find out how balanced the colors are. The Average filter created a very neutral color.

I used the Color Picker tool to view the RGB values that create the color: R: 90 G: 96 B: 106. If the RGB color values were exactly the same (ex. R: 96, G: 96, B: 96), it would mean that all the colors are perfectly even. But R: 90, G: 96, B: 106 is pretty darn good so I'll leave it as it is.

Final Results

Rollover the image to see the before and after effect.