Changing the white balance on a photo can significantly enhance its appearance by intensifying specific colors. Adobe Photoshop has a couple of methods to adjust the white balance of your project. Here are the two most commonly used ways.
Adjust the white balance manually
With your picture opened in Photoshop, follow these steps.
- In the Layers tab, click on Create new fill or adjustment layer.
Click on Create new fill or adjustment layer. - Click on Curves.
Click on Curves. - In the new window that pops up, click on the three vertical lines and select Show Clipping for Black/White Points.
Select Show Clipping for Black/White Points. - From the RGB drop-down menu, choose Red.
Choose Red. - Move the left arrow to the right until the picture shows dark spots.
Move the left arrow to the right. - Move the right arrow to the left until the picture shows red spots.
Move the right arrow to the left. - From the RGB drop menu, choose Green.
Choose the Green color. - Again, move the left arrow toward the right until the picture shows dark spots.
Move the left arrow to the right. - Move the right arrow to the left until the picture shows green spots.
Move the right arrow to the left. - From the RGB drop-down menu, select Blue.
Select Blue. - Move the left arrow to the right until the picture shows dark spots.
Move the left arrow to the right. - Move the right arrow to the left until the picture shows blue spots.
Move the right arrow to the left. - You are done.
The results of the white balance.
Adjust white balance using Auto Options
Some preset settings could work as well.
- In the Layers tab, click on Create new fill or adjustment layer.
- Click on the three lines in the top right, and select Auto Options.
Click on the three lines in the top right and select Auto Options. - Check out the options under “Algorithms”, as those are preset color correction options.
- In this case, we will choose Enhance Per Channel Contrast. Test them and find the one that best optimizes the white balance of your image. When finished, click OK.
Pick out the preset option you prefer. Then click OK. Your image will be white-balanced according to the preset.
Results of the preset white balance.