If you want to color correct an image in iPhoto 5, you could bring up the Adjust palette and fiddle with the Temperature and Tint sliders. The Temperature slider makes your image warmer or cooler by adjusting the balance of blue (cooler, toward the left) or orange (warmer, to the right). Tint adjusts the balance from magenta (left side) to green (right side). Even when your image has an obvious color tint (if you shot outdoors with your camera’s white balance set to Tungsten, for example), getting just the right settings can be tricky. But there’s an easier way…
When you adjust the temperature and tint, you’re actually adjusting your image’s gray balance, and iPhoto gives you a way to do that directly.
- Open your image for editing in iPhoto by selecting your image and clicking the Edit button in the bottom left corner of the iPhoto window.
- Now, look for an area in your picture that should be a neutral gray. Click on the area while pressing the Command key.
- The Adjust palette will appear and the Temperature and Tint sliders will move to make the adjustment.
- It may take several attempts to find just the right balance. You don’t have to undo your work. Just Command-Click on another part of your image until the colors look realistic. Feel free to experiment, too; sometimes altering the color balance can produce interesting effects.
- If you like, you can also try nudging the Temperature and Tint sliders to fine-tune your gray balance selection.
- To save your adjustments, just click the close button on the Adjust palette. To discard your work, click the Reset Sliders button before closing the palette. If you accidently close the palette before resetting the buttons, just select Revert to Original from the Photos menu.
That’s it. Your image should look better, usually after just a couple of Command-Clicks.
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