Balancing your color

Ever thought your photos straight out of the camera look too warm--orangy, that is? Or maybe too cold--bluish? This is a color cast. And generally, color casts are aberrations that need to be corrected. A photo with a color cast is the opposite of one with thr proper white balance--simply, that the whites in the photo appear white, just as they should be. Try going over your photos, looking at the portions thatbare supposed to be white--do they appear off-white? bluish white? greenish white? If they do, this means your color balance--or white balance, whatever you wish to call it--is not balanced. Unfortunately, most cameras produce photos with color cast. But no matter how common it is, color cast is easily corrected--in-camera, before shooting; in-camera, after shooting; and in the godsend that is Photoshop. IN-CAMERA, BEFORE SHOOTING White balance button. All cameras, including point-and-shoots and even camera phones, have this button. If you think Auto mode's not doing it, use the white balance mode that matches your current shooting environment--incandescent if you have an incandescent light, fluorescent if fluorescent, etc. You'll see the difference if, for instance, you tried using Incandescent white balance in broad daylight--photos will appear bluish, not good at all. If white balance mode and shooting environment match, you'll get a better balanced photo, generally (results, of course, vary with your camera). AFTER SHOOTING In-Camera Color Balance. Not sure if all cameras allow you to edit your photo's white/color balance after shooting them. Basically, all you need to do is adjust the cursor of the color gradient, noting the whiteness of your whites. Navigating to the cyan-blue-green areas makes your photo colder; warmer when you navigate to the red-magenta-yellow areas. If you do not have white areas in your photo, you would have to base it on your own judgment of what is overly warm or cold and how much warmer or colder you're going to adjust it your photo to. Important: Adjust in small increments. Adjust slowly, and little by little. Photoshop: The same rule (above) applies to Photoshop. Simply hit the Color Balance option from the Image menu, or use the shortcut ctrl-B. SAMPLES Before: Color Balance (Ctrl+B in Photoshop) using sample values for midtones Color Balance (Ctrl+B in Photoshop) using sample values for highlights *Note: Of course, values differ according to the photo you're working on. If I want to neutralize a warm photo, I tweak the slider towards the cyan and blue portions for both highlights and midtones. If you want to make a cold photo warmer, meanwhile, tweak towards the red and yellow portions. After: Notice that the white portion looks a lot "whiter" than the original.