Removing a Yellow Cast

[T Paul]

I am retouching this for my sister-in-law, and I was wondering how you would approach this and what your various techniques for retouching it would be. For one, there is a lot of yellow that need to be toned down. I figure that a yellow cast is fairly common with old photos and thought this thread might be helpful.

~T

[G. Couch]

Did this really quick.

1. Levels adjustment. - Just used the middle eyedropper on an area I thought would be neutral. It helped correct some of the cast but the colors were still over saturated.

2. Hue/saturation layer - Desaturated the yellow and greens. Also desaturted and darkened the Cyans.

[Stephen M]

Some common steps presuming Photoshop:

i) Use a RGB colour space that does not make the issue worse (assign sRGB if assigning Adobe RGB makes it more intense etc).

ii) Set neutral endpoints (hi + Shadows) and a 'set gray' point too if you can find one (a spot that is presumed neutral, then force it to neutral).

iii) Then if there is a caste left, the quickest method is to generally...

a) Sample the caste colour
b) Fill a new layer with caste colour, invert the colour
c) Change to COLOR blend mode
d) Reduce opacity of layer until you calibrated monitor and by the numbers inspection reveals that the new colour is how you like it (start at 50 opacity, often ranging between 10%-50%).

It can get a whole lot deeper, but that's usually a good way to start.

Regards,

Stephen Marsh.