Here is a photo I took the day after a devastating apartment complex fire near our home in Burnsville (fortunately, no one was hurt). Even though it was a sunny morning the photo is really dull with a gray color cast and the portion of the security fence detracts from the photo.  Here are the few simple steps to follow to create the photo on the right.

Before and After photo editing with Photoshop Elements and iCorrect OneClick Color

Elements Cropping Tool

After you open Elements and select the picture to edit click on the cropping tool on the left task bar. Another menu bar will appear at below the main menu at the top of the Elements window where you can select the aspect ratio (photo ratio, 3×5, 4×6, etc.) of the cropping window. In this example I selected Use Photo Ratio (this is the same 3×4 ratio of the chip in most cameras). Expand the crop window over the desired area and either click on the little green arrow (lower right under the crop window) or hit Enter to save the cropped area.

Photoshop Elements Cropping Tool

Fix the color with iCorrect OneClick Plug-in

Assuming you have purchased and installed iCorrect OneClick in the Elements Filters Folder simply click on Filter on the main top menu bar and select iCorrect OneClick from the pull down window.

Select iCorrect OneClick plug-in from Elements Filter menu

The OneClick window will open. Find an area in the photo that is neutral (white, gray, or black—not beige) and click on it. OneClick automatically removes any color cast, corrects the tonal range, adjusts the overall brightness, and makes any photo more vivid and life-like.

PictoColor iCorrect OneClick Color Correction-Click on Neutral for auto color correction

OneClick Enhancements.

For most photos the OneClick is all that is required. However, if the photo would benefit from a little more tweaking click on the Enhancements button and the enhancements window will open where additional adjustments to brightness, contrast and saturation can be made.

iCorrect OneClick Enhancements may be used for tweaking color

Summary

Edited photo-Photoshop Elements and iCorrect OneClick Color Plug-in

I talked to Burt after he installed iCorrect OneClick into Elements and walked him through the above procedure and he was delighted that it was really easy to crop photos in Elements and that the OneClick plug-in was just like the OneClick Color correction in CorrectPhoto.  He is really proud to share his photos with friends and when they comment on how good his camera is he acknowledges that it is OneClick Color and not the camera that Makes the Color Right.  So, if you have Elements don’t be intimidated by all the tools and features. Just add iCorrect OneClick plug-in and use the cropping tool to crop and OneClick to fix the color and you too will be proud to share you photos with others.

Wayne www.correctphoto.com. www.pictocolor.com/oneclick.htm www.oneclickcolor.com

Is the Color Right? Look at the mustard bottle and the girls shirt.

Now compare it with this photo. Now, doesn’t the original photo look dull and lifeless compared with the color corrected one?

Look at the mustard bottle and the girl's shirt to see the difference in color

Do you need to see the photos side by side to tell the difference?

Compare the original on the left to the corrected photo on the right

Some time ago I showed my granddaughter a similar comparison and asked her to pick the best photo. After she selected the color corrected one I asked her why she selected it.  Her response was; “Duh, it looks real.” I guess that is the simple answer to knowing if the color is right.  It looks real.

Every time I show someoneOneClick color correction on one of their photos that they thought was okay I get the same reaction–”Wow!”  So, don’t assume the color of your digital photos is the right, because it probably isn’t. Fix it and see the difference.

Wayne
www.correctphoto.com

Fixing Color is Difficult
If you have tried to use the software that came with your camera or some other photo editing software like Photoshop Elements you know it is one of the most frustrating and difficult challenges. If the tools in Photoshop were easy their wouldn’t be a market for the hundreds of thousands of articles and the many books devoted to Color Correcting Photos in Photoshop. For most of us, it is just too much work and take too much time to fix the color. And, if you’ve tried to use the auto color feature you probably found that it really doesn’t do much good on most photos (see the middle photo in the example below).

The Original Color (left) is dull, Elements Auto Fix is a little better (middle), OneClick Color is accurate (right)

So, is there really and easy way to fix color?
I am going to assume you have Photoshop Elements to edit your photos, but you don’t have a good understanding of Levels and Curves and all the other color tools (and really don’t care to learn it).

Color Correction using Elements Quick Fix

After opening and image file click on the Quick button on the right hand panel and a set of color correction tools  and  Before & After image windows will appear. First, I suggest you click on the Auto button under General Fixes. If you don’t like the result click on the Reset on top of the After image and then go to the Lighting tool set. Carefully adjust the three sliders until you are satisfied with the result. Then, jump down to the Saturation slider in the Color tools section and gently move the saturation until you are happy with the photo. In general, I would stay away from the other color tools as you will start the “chase your tail” exercise that will chew up a lot of time with marginal results.

There is a better and easier way to achieve good color.
If you are willing to spend a few dollars you can add a plug-in to Elements to help with the color correction process. PictoColor has several to choose from, however, the easiest and least expensive is iCorrect OneClick.  The plug-ins are available for Windows or Mac versions of Photoshop and Elements.

iCorrect OneClick from PictoColor is an easy way to color correct photos

If you have iCorrect OneClick installed under Filters in Elements simply click on Filters/PictoColor/iCorrect OneClick to activate the plug-in. Then move the cursor to something neutral in the image (black, white, or grey) and click the mouse. (No, beige is not neutral in photography.) The OneClick technology is totally different and more sophisticated than the color correction tools in Photoshop, or any other photo editor, in that it is based on color management profiling algorithms. That is probably more than you need to know, but it is what makes the difference. You have to tell OneClick what part of the image is supposed to be neutral and then it will do a global analysis of the image and automatically remove the color cast (that what makes the image appear dull or off color), and adjusts brightness, contrast and saturation. Generally, that is all you need to do to Make the Color Right and the photo come alive. If you think you need to tweak a little more just click on the enhancement button and you can make further adjustments to over all brightness, highlight and shadow brightness, contrast and saturation. It really does work and you can see the difference in the third panel of the comparison image above.

Now, if you don’t have Photoshop or Elements you can get OneClick technology in an easy to use Windows editor, CorrectPhoto.  Here is the screen shot of the Before/After view of CorrectPhoto with OneClick color.

CorrectPhoto Editor with OneClick Color is available for Windows Computers

PictoColor has two more color correction plug-ins, iCorrect Portrait and iCorrect EditLab Pro with more advanced color correction technology and I will cover these in future posts. But, for most of us amateurs and photo enthusiasts, iCorrect OneClick or CorrectPhoto is just perfect for making your photos come alive. You will be proud to share them with others. And, if your pictures are worth sharing with others they are worth Making the Color Right.

Wayne  http://www.correctphoto.com

Chances are when you look at your digital photos on your computer screen or the prints you just picked up you don’t really ask yourself, “Is the Color Right?” And, unless some Smart Alec like me comments about the color (remember, that’s my business) you probably think the color is okay. Well, chances are pretty good that the color is not right. Look at the following photo comparison of Spearfish Falls in Spearfish Canyon, SD. The original photo (left) is dull and lifeless and seems to have a grey cloudy day color cast. The color corrected photo is much more alive and looks like the scene I saw when I took the picture.

Spearfish Falls-Before/After Color Correction

The nature of digital cameras is that unless you take the time to white balance your shots (and who has time to do that?) the color will be off to some degree. In fact, most will be dull and lifeless. And, it will vary with lighting conditions both outside and indoors. When shooting outdoors you will get the best color on a bright sunny day.  Generally, the color of indoor shots will vary greatly depending on the lighting conditions. Yes, with more expensive cameras you can compensate for incandescent or fluorescentlighting, but you will probably forget to make the adjustment. Here is an example of an indoor flash photo from a real estate listing. The room really is not a dull as it appears in the original photo posted on the internet.

Flash photos can appear dull and lifeless

 Even photos taken on a bright and sunny afternoon can appear dull. Now, if you saw the photo on the left by itself you may not think it is too bad. But, compared to a color corrected version it really is dull. 

Even a photo taken on a sunny day can be dull and lifeless

How White Is Your Dog?-Dickens is a Westie and He is White.

This is Dickens, a West Highland White Terrior (Westie) and he is white. “Well, ya! So What?”, you say. One of the more frustrating things about being in the “color” business is that most people, except for pro and semi-pro photographers, tend to be insensitive (how is that for being polically correct?) to color. They either don’t recognize that the color of their digital pictures is wrong or they just assume that the photos from their digital camera just aren’t as good as Kodak or Fuji film. In a way, that assumtion is correct, however, the color information is really there (unless the photo is over or under exposed) and it can be fixed. Here is a comparison of the original photo and the cropped and color corrected shot of Dickens.

The original photo has a color cast and is dull and lifeless. While this condition is most evident in pictures with a lot of white or grey areas it is generally the case with almost all of the pictures you take. This problem can be helped significantly if you calibrate or “adjust the white point”, but who among us knows how to do that or even what it means. So, if you make the whites to be white and the greys to be grey (we call those neutral colors-no, neutrals are not beige or brown.) the rest of the colors in the photo are going to be pretty close to what they should be. How does one do that?

Color Lesson #1-Get rid of the color cast.
There are certainly a number of ways to get rid of the color cast, most of which I don’t know how to do or even care to learn. Why? Because I don’t have to. (Caution: Commercial coming.) My company, PictoColor (www.pictocolor.com), specializes in color correction technology that makes it real simple to Make the Color Right. Our OneClick Color technology, which was used on Dickens, removes the color cast, adjusts brightness, contrast, and saturation by clicking on an area in the photo that is white, black, or grey. It is available in CorrectPhoto (www.correctphoto.com), the digital photo editor I used to crop and color correct the photo of Dickens, or for PhotoShop or Elements users there is a plug-in called iCorrect OneClick (www.pictocolor.com/oneclick.htm)

Using CorrectPhoto I cropped the photo using the 4×6 cropping format and then clicked on a couple of white areas on Dickens and the white in the Santa outfit. You can find more detailed information on the OneClick color by going to http://www.correctphoto.com/Color_Correction.htm.

The point of this post is really twofold. First, the color of your digital picture is really not right even though you may think it is. Secondly, it is easy to Make the Color Right if you have the right tool to do it. Don’t accept a mediocre photo when you can easily create a memory.

Wayne http://www.correctphoto.com

PS. I almost forgot to mention how I added the “Santa Dickens” text to the photo. Go to http://www.correctphoto.com/ImageTitler.htm for information on a really simple ImageTitler.