Adjust White Balance

	Adobe Photoshop
	Figure 1: Image with Poor White Balance
	Have you ever been disappointed by a batch of photos that you thought were great when you took them, but later, they look only so, so? Even a little drab or dreary? Maybe your white balance wasn't set correctly. This article is to help you after the fact. I will post another that will help you set the camera up correctly before you start. Let me give you an example: Figure 1 (content is not important) shows a photo that is pretty gray overall. The camera's white balance wasn't set beforehand. So to adjust the white balance, Photoshop has two choices: Levels and Curves. We will use Levels to make the adjustment. From the menu choose Image > Adjustments > Levels (or Ctl + L) The Levels Dialog Box will appear.
	Figure 2: Using Photoshop's Levels Dialog Box
	Notice the Histogram showing the different levels of color: Black is on the far left and White is on the far right. Everything else is in the middle. You can make the following adjustment in each channel (see the drop down at the top), but for now, we'll just stay on the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) channel. Right below the histogram you will see 3 triangle sliders, the far left controls the shadows, the far right controls the highlights, and the center slider controls the mid-tones. Figure 2 shows the settings after the adjustment. It originally started with the outside triangles all the way to the right and left and the center slider at dead center (these are the defaults). If you want to be lazy, you can press the AUTO button and Photoshop will make its best scientific guess for the new settings. I rarely use this. Instead, (make sure the Preview check box is selected) I pull the left (shadows) slider just inside the farthest left hump (inside the histogram). Then I pull the right (highlights) slider just inside the farthest right hump (again,inside the histogram). Lastly, I slide the center (Mid-tones) slider only a little at a time right and left until I like the result. See Figure 2 again for the ending positions. Personally, I think the significant change is in the colors that are neither black nor white. Depending on the photo, (a person standing in front of a hedge, for instance) the foreground jumps right off the background and some 3D starts to creep into the photo.
	Figure 3: Before and after Levels adjustment
	Now, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so "my settings" aren't the only choice you have. Experiment until you get the hang of it and develop your own style and taste of what "true" white balance is.. Have fun !!