White Balance a Photo in Photoshop with Just ONE CLICK!
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- 0:00 Introduction
- 0:30 Remove a Color Cast with Auto Color Correction Options
- 2:30 How the Find Dark and Light Colors Algorithm Works
- 4:25 What to do when the Auto Color Corrections don't work
- 5:00 How to use the Gray Eyedropper to Find The Neutral Grays
- 6:51 How the Eyedroppers work in the Curves Adjustment Layer
Your choices stick across every tutorial on this device.
You can white balance a photo in Photoshop with one click of the Auto button on a Curves adjustment layer, once you tell Photoshop which algorithm to use.
A color cast is a tint that covers the whole image. Removing it neutralizes the photo, so whites look white and grays look gray.
The Auto button in Curves and Levels can do that for you. Photoshop will do all the hard work, and automatically figure out what colors to sample from to create an accurate white balance on your photo.
This tutorial is for anyone who wants a fast fix without learning color theory first. You will also see what Photoshop does behind the scenes, so you know what to do when the one-click fix is not enough.
By the end, you will be able to set the best algorithm as your default and rescue a photo the Auto button cannot fix on its own.
The video was recorded in Photoshop 2018 (version 19.1), and every tool it uses still works the same way in the current version.
Key Takeaways
- The Auto button in Curves and Levels is the same button. Either adjustment layer works for this technique.
- Photoshop has four auto algorithms. The default, Enhance Brightness and Contrast, is not the one that removes a color cast best.
- Find Dark & Light Colors with Snap Neutral Midtones checked gives the best result in most cases, and you can save it as the default.
- The Auto button sets the black and white points of the red, green and blue channels. The Gray Point Eyedropper moves only the center point, so it never undoes the Auto adjustment.
- Clicking the Gray Point Eyedropper on its own looks washed out, because the black and white points were never set.
- The Black Point Eyedropper and the White Point Eyedropper move all three channels at once.
Table of contents
- What You Will Learn
- Requirements
- White Balance Keyboard Shortcuts
- Step 1: Add a Curves Adjustment Layer to the Photo
- Step 2: Pick the Algorithm That Will White Balance a Photo
- How Auto Finds the Dark and Light Colors
- Step 3: Fix a Photo the Auto Button Cannot White Balance
- Why the Gray Point Eyedropper Alone Leaves the Photo Washed Out
- How Each Eyedropper Moves the Curves
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
- Related Links
What You Will Learn
- How to open the hidden Auto Color Correction Options from a Curves adjustment layer
- How to choose the Find Dark & Light Colors algorithm and save it as the default
- How the old per-channel black point and white point method works, and why Auto replaces it
- How to fix a photo the Auto button cannot correct, using the Gray Point Eyedropper
- How each eyedropper changes the red, green and blue curves
Requirements
Before you start
- Photoshop 2018 (version 19.1 or later) or the current version
- A photo with a color cast
White Balance Keyboard Shortcuts
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Open the Auto Color Correction Options | Alt click the Auto button | Option click the Auto button |
| Show where a channel’s black or white point clips | Alt drag the black or white point | Option drag the black or white point |
Step 1: Add a Curves Adjustment Layer to the Photo
Open the photo with the color cast. In the video, the image obviously has a color cast, and the goal is to remove it so the photo looks neutral.
Create a Curves adjustment layer from the Adjustments panel. The Properties panel opens with the curve, the histogram behind it, and an Auto button.
Click the Auto button. Photoshop makes an adjustment, but that adjustment will not necessarily be the best one.
That is because Photoshop has several different algorithms it can use to color correct the image automatically. The one it picks by default is not always the right one for a color cast, so the next step is to choose a better one.
Note: You can use either the Levels or the Curves adjustment layer for this tutorial. The Levels adjustment layer has the same Auto button, and it works the same way.
Step 2: Pick the Algorithm That Will White Balance a Photo
Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and click the Auto button. The Auto Color Correction Options dialog opens.
Another way to get there is the Properties panel flyout menu. Click it and choose Auto Options.
At the top of the dialog you will see four different algorithms. By default, Photoshop selects Enhance Brightness and Contrast, which is why a plain click on Auto does not always fix the color.
Tip: The dialog updates the image live. You can click through the four algorithms and watch the photo change before you press OK.
Select Find Dark & Light Colors. It gives the best results in most cases.
Then check Snap Neutral Midtones. With those two settings, the image in the video is color corrected right there in the dialog.
To make this your default, check Save as defaults at the bottom of the dialog, then click OK. The next time you create a Curves adjustment layer and click Auto, Photoshop applies this same adjustment. That is the one click.
Toggle the adjustment layer’s visibility to compare the before and after. The color cast is gone, and the whites read as white.
Note: The Auto Color Correction Options dialog is the same one you get from a Levels adjustment layer. Set the default once, and both adjustment layers use it.
How Auto Finds the Dark and Light Colors
Find Dark & Light Colors is an old manual color correcting technique, done for you. Longtime Photoshop users will remember it.
In the Curves adjustment, switch the channel menu from RGB to Red. Drag the black point to the right until you reach the spot where the data starts in the histogram. That is the darkest red in the image.
Then drag the white point to the left until it lines up with where the data ends on that side of the histogram. That is the lightest red.
Repeat the same two drags in the Green channel and the Blue channel. As soon as all three channels have their dark and light points set, the image looks much better.
That is exactly what the Auto button does with this algorithm. It finds the dark and light colors in each channel and moves the points for you.
Note: If you do not see the histogram in the panel, click the Properties panel flyout menu, choose Curves Display Options, and make sure Histogram is enabled.
Tip: Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) while you drag a black or white point. The image turns the channel’s color, red in the Red channel, and the first areas that turn black show you where the data starts. The histogram is easier, but this view shows the clipping on the photo itself.
Step 3: Fix a Photo the Auto Button Cannot White Balance
This algorithm is the best one in most cases, but it does not always work. The second photo in the video is a good example.
Create a Curves adjustment layer and click Auto. The image does look better, but it is not the result we are looking for.
Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and click Auto to check the settings. Find Dark & Light Colors and Snap Neutral Midtones are already on, and clicking through the other algorithms does not help either.
Keep Find Dark & Light Colors and Snap Neutral Midtones selected and click OK. Then select the Gray Point Eyedropper in the Properties panel.
Click anywhere on the image that should be a neutral gray. In the video, a brick path does the job, and the image looks much better as soon as you click.
The target does not have to be pure gray. Off-white counts as a neutral too, so clicking the woman’s sweater fixes the photo just as well.
Tip: The same Gray Point Eyedropper can aim at a skin tone instead of a gray. The fix skin tones in Photoshop tutorial shows that one-click Curves hack.
Why the Gray Point Eyedropper Alone Leaves the Photo Washed Out
You may be wondering why we did not click the gray point from the beginning and skip the Auto button. The video shows what happens when you do.
Click the Reset button in the Properties panel to reset the Curves adjustment layer. With the Gray Point Eyedropper selected, click the brick path again.
The color cast is gone, but the image looks washed out. The black and white points of the photo were never found, so the image has no real contrast.
You could drag the black point and the white point of each channel by hand, like the old method above, but that takes too long. It is much easier to start with the Auto button.
So the fastest way to white balance a photo is this: click Auto first. If the result is still off, select the Gray Point Eyedropper and click anything that should be a neutral gray.
Note: To learn more about how Curves work with color, and how color correction relates to color grading, watch the cinematic color grading tutorial. It goes into depth on how the Curves adjustment works.
How Each Eyedropper Moves the Curves
The Gray Point Eyedropper does not change where the white point or the black point sits. Click anywhere on the image and watch the curve. Only the center point moves, and that is true for every channel.
The Black Point Eyedropper is different. Click any color and the black point changes, and it changes on all three channels at once.
You can see this in the RGB view. The black points of the Red, Green and Blue channels sit almost in the same spot, and one click shifts all three.
The White Point Eyedropper works the same way. In the video, clicking a backpack moves the three white points together, and the change is easy to spot at the top of the curve.
That is the whole idea. The Auto button adjusts the black points and white points of all three RGB channels. The Gray Point Eyedropper adjusts the gray point without affecting any of them, so the two steps never fight.
Note: Current versions of Photoshop also have a white balance eyedropper inside the Camera Raw Filter, which sets Temperature and Tint in one click. The remove any color cast in Photoshop tutorial covers that route.
Frequently Asked Questions
Add a Curves adjustment layer and click the Auto button in the Properties panel. For the best result, first hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS), click Auto, choose Find Dark & Light Colors, and check Snap Neutral Midtones. Save those as defaults and every future Auto click uses them.
They are hidden behind the Auto button on a Curves or Levels adjustment layer. Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and click Auto to open the dialog. You can also click the Properties panel flyout menu and choose Auto Options.
Find Dark & Light Colors gives the best result in most cases. Check Snap Neutral Midtones along with it. Photoshop defaults to Enhance Brightness and Contrast, which is why a plain Auto click often leaves the cast in place.
Yes. The Levels adjustment layer has the same Auto button and the same Auto Color Correction Options behind it. Everything in this tutorial works the same way in either adjustment layer.
The Gray Point Eyedropper only moves the center point of each channel. It never sets the black and white points, so the photo has no real contrast. Click the Auto button first to set those points, then use the eyedropper if the color is still off.
Click anything in the photo that should be a neutral gray. It does not have to be pure gray, and an off-white surface such as a sweater works too. Avoid anything with a real color of its own, because Photoshop will shift the whole image to make that spot neutral.
The Black Point Eyedropper and the White Point Eyedropper move the black or white point of all three channels at once. The Gray Point Eyedropper moves only the center point and leaves the black and white points alone. That is why you can use it after the Auto button without undoing the adjustment.
Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and click the Auto button on a Curves adjustment layer. Select Find Dark & Light Colors, check Snap Neutral Midtones, then check Save as defaults and click OK. From then on, one click on Auto applies that algorithm.
Conclusion
That is the one-click way to white balance a photo in Photoshop. Set Find Dark & Light Colors and Snap Neutral Midtones as your defaults, and the Auto button does the rest.
When a photo does not respond, the Gray Point Eyedropper is the second click. It fixes the midtones without touching the black and white points the Auto button already set.
Watch the video above to see both examples in motion, and comment on the video if you already knew this technique or prefer a different algorithm.
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Keep going
Next, go deeper into the hidden algorithms for easy color correction in Photoshop.
Do you have a place to download images for me to follow along in your tutorials?
Patrick, in some cases I cannot share the images since they are stock photos.
i love this!
This was a great video! I’m looking forward to trying this out. Thanks so much!
You’re welcome!