Fixing Discolored Photos with Digital Editing Software

Do you have a photo whose colors have turned a strange shade (for example, everything looks a little too red)? Then you have a problem with a color cast. A color cast is a tinge — a shade of red or maybe yellow — that discolors your image in whole or in part. Casts occur for a variety of reasons, including the age of the photo, the quality of your scanner (if you scan a printed original), the print from which you scanned the image, or the film used to take the picture.

If a cast appears in an image captured with a digital camera, you may need to adjust the white balance of your camera to compensate for the different colors offered by various types of illumination. (See your camera's instructions to figure out how to make this adjustment.)

Most digital editing applications offer tools for getting rid of a cast, usually with a name like Color Balance or Color Cast. Here's a general description of the steps that you need to follow to use these tools:

1. Open the image with the unwanted color cast.

2. Choose your image editor's Color Balance, Color Cast, or similar command.

The dialog box opens with an array of tools, as Figure 1 shows.

3. Choose whether you want to apply the change to the Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights.

4. Move the Cyan/Red, Magenta/Green, or Yellow/Blue slider away from the color of the unwanted hue.

For example, if your picture looks too blue, move the Yellow/Blue slider toward Yellow.

5. Click OK to apply the change when you're satisfied with the color balance in your picture.

Applications such as Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, and others have a Preview option. Make sure that you leave the Preview option selected in the dialog box. Leaving it checked means that you don't have to apply the changes just to see them in your image. If you do apply them and then decide you don't like the change, choose Edit --> Undo (or your image editor's equivalent) to go back.

If your application doesn't refer directly to a color cast, you can use any tool that adjusts tone, including dialog boxes and toolbar settings that let you adjust the levels of color in the image, one color at a time. This process lets you increase the level of blue, red, green, or yellow (or perhaps cyan or magenta), and you can tweak one or more of these colors until the photo looks more natural and normal.

Another tool in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements is the Variation tool, which gives you several different versions of an image to choose from, enabling you to add more red, green, or blue. You can adjust color intensity for any one of these colors in your image and view Before and After versions of the image. In Photoshop, choose Image --> Adjustments --> Variations. If you're using the lower-priced and nearly as powerful Photoshop Elements, choose Enhance --> Adjust Color --> Color Variations.

What do you do if none of the color correction tools in your image editing software do the trick? You can try a different application, or you can appreciate the photo for what it is. If it's an old photo, the color problems can add charm. If it's a new image and you have no excuse other than film or technique, just chalk it up to experience. You can also try rescanning a print on a different scanner or after recalibrating your scanner (follow the manufacturer's instructions to recalibrate your scanner).