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Color Correction with Levels

In the Layers palette, click on the new adjustment layer button and choose Levels.

While we're here,let me introduce you how to fix the white balance of normal photos in a single click. Below the option button in the levels tool are three eye droppers. Click on the middle eye dropper and click on a neutral gray area in the image. This works just like the white balance tool with RAW editors.

But with underwater images such as the aquarium image I downloaded, it's really difficult to find a neutral gray area. But because we looked in the channels and found the problem, we don't need to guess to know which colors to adjust - the reds and blues.

In the tutorial description, we said that even a color blind person can do this. How? We'll be watching the black and white data in the Channels as we make the adjustments. Even if you're color blind, you can still correct white balance using this technique.

Before we begin, have the Channels palette ready so that you can look at it while you make the adjustments. First, we'll fix the reds since it has the most influence on the final color output. In the levels tool, click on the drop down menu and select red. Adjust the middle input slider. As you move the slider, look at the photo and channel to see which setting to use. Because aquatic life is so colorful, we don't really know if it is exactly the right color so to help, look at the channels and make sure that the luminosity of the red channel is close to the green channel. When all three channels are the same luminosity, the white balance should look ok. When you're done, don't click OK yet! We still have to edit one more channel.

The photo is a lot better now but it's not perfect. The blue channel still seems a little too bright so now we'll edit the blue channel. Select Blue from the drop down menu and adjust the middle input slider the same way as the previous step. Click OK when you're done.

This step is totally optional - it is to improve the saturation. If your image already looks perfect, you're done. But if you feel that your image is lacking vibrancy, then follow the last two steps to find out how to add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to improve the color vividness.

In the Layers palette, click on the new adjustment layer button and choose Hue/Saturation.

Adjust the saturation setting. If you want to edit a specific color, click on the drop down menu and select the color. Click OK when done.