Photoshop
Fixing Temperature / Color Cast
The "temperature" of a photo refers to it's color cast (or tint): if a photo is too blue in overall tint, we say it has a "cool" temperature. If a photo is too orange/red in tint, we say it has a "warm" temperature. Sometimes, a photo looks better with a cool color or a warm color cast, but usually, your goal is to remove the color cast so the coloring looks natural.
Example of a photo with a cool cast and a warm cast.
The way you take pictures can affect the coloring of your photos. Your camera has pre-set color temperature options like tungsten, daylight, cloudy, shade, and auto. These options try to capture the best coloring for photos based on the lighting in your environment. For example, because cloudy skies tend to produce cool-tinted photos, the "cloudy" setting will try to correct this by putting a warm color cast over your photos.
Download the practice photo:
Use the "color balance" adjustment layer in order to remove the warm color cast.
If my photo has too much red and yellow, I need to drag the color sliders in the opposite direction (towards blues):
Another method to try is using a tinted photo filter. Click the "create new fill or adjustment layer" button at the bottom of your program. Select the option that says "Photo Filter."
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From the photo filter properties panel selecting a "cooling filter"
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If your photo is too warm, pick one of the cooling filters, and it might cancel out your photo's red-orange colors:
Optional/Advanced:
To make your own custom cooling filter that perfectly cancels out the colors you are having problems with, click the "Color" box option. Use the eyedropper tool to select a color on your image that you want to get rid of. I selected this orange color:
Next, make the "a" and "b" numbers negative...like this:
This will give you the color that is the exact opposite of the one you selected from the photo! Click "ok" to apply your new filter to the photo. Move the "density" slider to make the color affect the photo more or less.
