Photoshop Adjustments Sub menu: Color Controls

From the image menu, the Adjustment sub menu is opened. It contains the commands use to control contrast and color. Auto fix. The Adjus...

From the image menu, the Adjustment sub menu is opened. It contains the commands use to control contrast and color.

• Auto fix. The Adjustment menu contains various Auto commands for correcting color and contrast. There is even one-Auto Smart Fix-that combines several corrections in one go. While these may occasionally work to improve the image (usually when it does not require too much work in the first place), it is best to ignore these and to use the other controls in the menu to fully control the look of your photographs.
• Color balance. The balance between the three primary colors-red, green, and blue- and their opposites-cyan,magenta, and yellow-can be altered in the shadows, mid tones or highlights.  This, in theory, is similar to traditional color photographic printing. An example, if an image appears to contain too much cyan, by adding its opposite-yellow-the cast can be removed. Color balance is also used for toning black and white images.
• Hue /saturation. This another important control for color correction. Hue changes the color of an image, while saturation changes the intensity of the color. When the saturation slider is moved to the right, the colors become loud and vibrant. When moved to the left, they become less saturated, eventually becoming monochromatic. The Hue slider from left to right changes the predominant hue of each color, and subtle changes to the overall color range can be made with only a slight adjustment.
• The color bars. The range of possible colors is represented by two color bars at the bottom of the palette. The top one shows how each primary and secondary color blends into the next, from Cyan, Blue, and Magenta, through to Red, Yellow, and Green. As the Hue is changed, the bottom bar will show what each color in the top bar is changed to.
• Controlling separate colors. Hue/Saturation will open in the default mode (Master), and can be used to change all colors. Individual colors can be adjusted from the drop-down Edit menu. This allows finer control and specific areas of an image, such as the sky, to be intensified.
• Desaturate. To totally remove the color from the image, choose Desaturate.
• Match Color. Match Color can be used to balance the color range of different shots so they all match in color tonality. It works best with images that already have a similar and sympathetic color range.
• Replace Color.  Opt for this control to isolate the area to be changed. The replace color palette should show a small thumbnail of the image. If not, select image, then use eyedropper tool to click on the color to be changed, either from the palette or from the main canvas. Selection is then chosen and the thumbnail will turn to a black-and-white negative. All the white areas in this window can then be changed using the Hue/Saturation controls beneath.
• Fuzziness. The Fuzziness control will change the amount of white shown in the Replace Color palette and therefore the amount of change made to that color.
• Select before using. If only parts of an image need correcting, and you don't want to alter similar colors elsewhere in the shot, make a rough selection just outside the required area before opening Replace Color.
• Selective Color. As its name suggests, this control alters only selected colors. There are colors to choose from black, white, gray, and six primary and secondary colors. four sliders (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) are used to fine-tune a color without altering the others.
• Channel Mixer. Use this control to correct the color balance of individual red, green, and blue channels, either to remove a color bias or create a color cast. It is also useful for converting images to black and white if the Monochrome option is ticked. 30 Magenta, 60 green, and 10 Cyan is the combination thought to give the best overall conversion. However, in a similar way to using color camera filters when shooting with black and white film, different tones can be emphasized (or reduced) for effect by careful control of the different channels. For example, increasing the red will emphasize a blue sky.
• Variations. If it gets confusing thinking of which color to reduce or increase, help is at hand with the Color Variation Window. This shows before and after images of photograph and several smaller windows that can be clicked to either increase or decrease the level of red, green, and blue. Each click will add (or remove) an amount governed by the Adjust Color Intensity slider. Press ok to make this changes to the image, or reset to start again.
• Which tone to adjust. For general corrections, select Mid-tones in the Color Variations palette. For finer control, try altering just the shadows of highlights.
• Photo Filters: warming. There are several Photo Filters in the Adjustment Menu that give the impression of camera filters. The three Warming Filters are useful for giving warm, sunny feel to a photograph.
• Photo filters: cooling. Both the warming and cooling filters are based on the filters used with color transparency film to correct color casts. While they will give similar results to digital files, they are used more for effect. The cooling filters, especially when applied subtly, will make a photograph appear cooler and more austere.
• Photo filters: deep colors. For more extreme coloring, deeper tones, such as red, blue, yellow, and emerald, will give strong cast.
• Photo filters: for toning black and white. Use these to quickly add a tone to a monochrome image.
• Is the screen correctly calibrated? Any color correction used from the Adjustment menu will only work properly if your computer screen is calibrated to show the correct colors.