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- Before You Color Correct Anything, Do This First!
- The Advantages of Adjustment Layers
- Photo Quick Fix
- Getting a Visual Readout (Histogram) of Your Corrections
- Color Correcting Digital Camera Images
- Daves Amazing Trick for Finding a Neutral Gray
- Studio Photo Correction Made Simple
- Drag-and-Drop Instant Color Correction
- Adjusting Flesh Tones
- Warming Up (or Cooling Down) a Photo
- Color Correcting One Problem Area Fast!
- Getting a Better Conversion from Color to Black and White
- Correcting Color and Contrast Using Color Curves
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Studio Photo Correction Made Simple
If youâre shooting in a studioâwhether itâs portraits or productsâthereâs a technique you can use that makes the color correction process so easy that youâll be able to train laboratory test rats to correct photos for you. In the back of this book, weâve included a color swatch card (itâs perforated so you can easily tear it out). After you get your studio lighting set the way you want it, and youâre ready to start shooting, put this swatch card into your shot (just once) and take the shot. What does this do for you? Youâll see.
- Step One: When youâre ready to start shooting and the lighting is set the way you want it, tear out the swatch card from the back of this book and place it within your shot (if youâre shooting a portrait, have the subject hold the card for you), and then take the shot. After youâve got one shot with the swatch card, you can remove it and continue with the rest of your shoot.
- Step Two: When you open the first photo taken in your studio session, youâll see the swatch card in the photo. By having a card thatâs pure white, neutral gray, and pure black in your photo, you no longer have to try to determine which area of your photo is supposed to be black (to set the shadows), which area is supposed to be gray (to set the midtones), or which area is supposed to be white (to set the highlights). Theyâre right there in the card. Note: Weâve even included a Camera Raw White Balance swatch if youâre working with RAW files. See âThe Essential Adjustments: White Balanceâ in Chapter 2 for more info.
- Step Three: Press Ctrl-L (Mac: Command-L) to bring up the Levels dialog. Click the black Eyedropper on the black panel of the card (to set shadows), the middle Eyedropper on the gray panel (for midtones), and the white Eyedropper on the white panel (to set the highlights), and the photo will nearly correct itself. No guessing, no using Threshold adjustment layers to determine the darkest areas of the imageânow you know exactly which part of that image should be black and which should be white.
- Step Four: If youâd like to still use this photo, then press C to get the Crop tool and crop the card out of the image. However, the more likely situation is that you donât want to use this photo (since it does have a big card in it), but youâd now like to apply this color correction to some other photos. Well, now that you have the Levels settings for the first image, you can correct the rest of the photos using the same settings. Just open the next photo and press Ctrl-Alt-L (Mac: Command-Option-L) to apply the exact same settings to this photo that you did to the swatch card photo. Or, you can use the âDrag-and-Drop Instant Color Correctionâ method that appears next in this chapter.
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