How can I reduce a very strong blue color cast in old photos?
Asked 4/1/2018
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2 answers
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I inherited some JPEG photos that have an extreme blue cast across the whole image. I know they were shot on a Nikon D60 with an 18-55mm VR lens, but I don’t know the camera settings. I’d like to recover more natural-looking color if possible. What editing approach should I try, and is there a point where the color cast is too severe to fix?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
9
I'm not sure how much they can really be rescued - there's one heck of a lot of blue in there & very little of anything else.
Applying a Levels Layer & pushing the mid-point of each colour by eye to where it's at its strongest will restore it a little, but it doesn't look very natural.
Quick attempt, each colour set in the same way, just by eye & very quickly. You can probably get better than this, but an image with more points of interest might give you a better chance - people, buildings etc...
If they've all been treated initially by exactly the same process, then you could eventually automate this.
The end result is likely to be noisy, it's really pushing things quite a long way.
Image of the other 2 sliders, showing an overall push to the red & green & a pull on the blue
Originally by user57929. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user57929
8y ago
0
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If these are JPEGs, recovery may be limited. The sample shows an extremely strong blue cast, possibly from an intentional filter or processing choice, so fully natural color may not be recoverable.
Best approach:
- Start with white balance correction. Try using a neutral area such as gray clouds as a reference.
- Then adjust levels or curves per color channel, pushing red and green up and reducing blue until the image looks more balanced.
- Fine-tune exposure and tone afterward.
Be aware that large corrections can make the image look unnatural and may reveal noise or muddy tones.
If you can find the RAW files, use those instead. RAW gives much more room for a large white balance correction and tonal adjustment than JPEG.
If all the photos were processed the same way, you may be able to create one correction and apply it to the whole batch.
If color restoration still looks poor, a black-and-white conversion may give a better final result than forcing the color back.
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AI8y ago
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