How to remove color cast and add color

[Gerald McClaren]

Can someone please tell me how to remove the yellow cast and add some color to make this photo stand out.


Gerald McClaren

[Kraellin]

gerald,

you do find the stinkers (the photo, not the girl). i'm not certain this was ever a color picture. it looks more to me like an age effect on a black and white. in looking at it in psp 10, i became even more convinced of this. i'd say your best bet is to simply desaturate it to remove the color cast and go from there. either leave it as a black and white (with some tweaking for contrast and so on) or do some painting to add color.

craig

[Gary Richardson]

I'd go with Craig on this one. If it ever was colour, it's so far gone as to be unrecoverable.

I've done a very quick B&W job, with a slight sepia tint.

[Cameraken]

Hi Gerald

There is a little colour left in this

Try this

Add a levels adjustment layer and try these numbers

Red 149 1.00 255
Green 85 1.00 229
Blue 0 1.00 155

Select All > Copy merged > Paste

Duplicate this layer and set blending mode to Multiply (Twice)

Add a Hue/Sat layer and set Hue to +10 and Sat to +37

That should get you to my first attachment

From there I went on to add blank layers to remove the marks and clean up and sharpen

Hope this helps

Ken.

[philbach]

I used several layers with color blending mode and painted away.

[Kraellin]

nicely done, phil. i like the pink and violet dress.

craig

[Flora]

I agree with Ken on this .... There is still a bit of colour left ..

I got there with the Levels too, but using it in a different way :

* in the Levels window, I set Black and White points on the spots shown in attachment 1

* Ever so faint, but some colour was there.. (Attachment 2)

* I created a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and 'pumped up' Saturation to increase saturation and visibility of the picture's own colours. (Attachment 3)

After this, depends on how much or how little you want to do to restore this picture...

My result ... I opted for a white blouse ...(Attachment 4)

Great job Phil!!


.

[Gerald McClaren]

Thanks ladies and gentlemen for the fantastic work all of you had done on this photo. I have a few techniques that I'm confused about. First, I have a pinkish cast on the shoes, socks and dress, Second, How can I blend color around someone elses hairline. If you note around the hairline ears etc. of the forehead, it's not blended properly. Finally, how did the background came out blue and mine came out brown?. I was told that this was a colored photo and that the background was blue. Thanks very much for all of your help and input.

Gerald McClaren

[philbach]

Well I didn't try to restore the original colors. I used the channel mixer to turn it into a black and white image and then painted colors in that I thought looked right. The advantage for me of doing it that way is that I didn't have to worry about color casts. Others though tried to restore what little color was there.

[Flora]

Hi Gerald,

Ken and I tried to restore (as much as possible) what was left of the original colour following two similar, but different paths ... I don't know which method you used, but with both, you get to a certain point and no further with the 'original' colour ....

...From there on you have to 'help' the colours a bit by means of Color Balance, Hue/Saturation, Selective Colors, Levels, Curves ... or like Phil did, by using blank Layers set to Color and gradually painting on them.

Painting white or black (at a very low Opacity) on a Blank Layer set to Color will gradually 'desaturate' the part you have been painting on, thus helping in removing the colour cast you might have in certain parts ...

I have a pinkish cast on the shoes, socks and dress

... As for the blue Background, I used Hue/Saturation to change its hue from pinkish to blue ... blue because that was the colour that could be seen at the very top and the very bottom of your original scan ...

Hope this helps ...