Motivation: Color Corrections are the difference between good and great photos
 Software: Paint Shop Pro 7

The before image	The after image

In our series on Photo-editing 101, the A of CAST will be getting more attention simply because Color Adjustments can mean the difference between good and much better images. For example, the before image only hints at the lava flow of rich green moss, ferns, and leaves seen on the Bruce Trail in the dead time of Fall to Winter when the leaves have dropped but before the winter snows have taken over. So the "A for Adjust Color" exercise will try to bring out what was originally seen as a rich flow of green and tan hues.

However, a quick remark on what was originally seen. Our eyes are not always true court reporters. On a gray overcast day in the still shadiness of the woods, the richness of the greens seen may be relative to the surrounding somber browns and grays. Also the overcast literally is that - it tends to put a grayish-blue cast on all photos taken. So in the contest between ever mechanically precise and "faithful" camera sensor and our minds eye retinal reporting - we will tend to err towards the minds eye. And PaintShop Pro will be used to interpret the minds eye in this case because it has a remarkably robust set of color correction tools.

	Given the relative sharpness and reasonable brightness of the image, our first Color adjustment will be to to correct the RGB hue. Colors | Adjust | Red/Green/Blue is the menu selection. This color correction has two benefits. First by decreasing the blue by 14% we increase its complement, yellow by 14%. Remember the color complements Red <=> Cyan, Green <=> Magenta, Blue <=> Yellow. The other benefit is that all the colors are moved differently and therefore
moves the color cast away from neutral gray, Again remember that RGB values that are the same show as lighter or darker shades of gray - thus RGB= #999999 will be mid gray while RGB= #AACC33 will be : RGB="#999999" RGB="#AACC33" as the color cells show, a fern green. Thus, the color correction is in the direction of a lighter yellow green.
	But the colors still lack the snap and punch of our mind's eye image. So our next correction is for saturation. Choosing Colors | Adjust | Hue Saturation Lightness brings up the dialog box shown on the left. We set the hue to zero and move the saturation up as much as we can without getting exaggerated hues in the grays and light browns. Then in a move in the opposite direction, anticipating the final tonal correction, the Lightness is not increased but decreased. In effect, stepping down the overall color lightness allows more play in the final tonal. Now all of our corrections have some logic to them; but nothing beats trial and error in color corrections. So readers are urged to use the Undo/Redo menu commands (or convenient icons in the case of PaintShop Pro to test and see what's working well.
	Also what's not quite working well become evident as well. And the brightness contrast tonal curve which started fairly well on has moved darker (deliberately to an extent. So Colors | Adjust | Tone Curve is our last color correction. Again, trial and error is the best test for what works. Our choice is a lighter overall tone. But a darker tone, about equivalent of 2 camera f-stops also works well. Since its so fast and easy to try and reverse back with the Undo/Redo tools - user should get used to doing this. So the color corrections are done but not quite yet with the overall picture. The image to convey is molten green colors - and so using a favorite tool - Effects | Noise | Edge Preserving Smooth - a rounded, smooth, molten look can be suggested.
Again in just a few steps we have made color corrections that in the darkroom could take hours. This allows us to either further refine the image or make some excursions in the creative realm with collage-like compositions with layering tools. The digital software is equal to the task. Jacques Surveyer is writer and photographer; or is that ...