Mastering the Removal of Color Casts from Real Estate Photos

Mastering the Removal of Color Casts from Real Estate Photos

Shooting on a very beautiful set with an overflowing presence of color just makes it even better and livelier. The shoot goes well, he lights provide the perfect illumination for 100% visibility and the day comes to a close. Upon importing and checking your photos onto your computer, you notice a hue of colors across different photos and now wonder where these came from.

Color casts are one of the inevitable results of any photo shoot. It is a result of the camera picking up colors that are vibrant and yet dominant in the frame of the photo. The tint that it brings is simply abhorred and requires removal during post processing. Color cast realty editor is one of the basic skills required to make any photo look natural. In this regard, color casts are deemed unwanted as it distorts the perception of reality in a photo.

Real estate color cast photo editing is not difficult. Most of the available software can easily help you remove these. All it needs is a sharp eye to spot color casts and a keen sense of workmanship to take it out. The reality of mastering the removal of color casts is nothing to be afraid of and in fact, is one of the foundations of being a professional photographer who is ready to wow their client.

How are Color Casts Made?

Color casts are a result of an imbalance in the color white. Scientifically, the color white is a combination of several colors that when brought together in the right levels will give off the perception of the color white. Having said this, the hue of color that pops out of images called color casts are results of an imbalance along the spectrum of colors. One, or perhaps more, are shown to be more dominant in the photograph simply because there is more if it present in the frame.

There are various ways color casts can happen. They may reflect off of a vibrant color that is being photographed, it can be the result of a light source that has not been controlled, or simply the thrown-off white balance correction in the camera. One good example is the artificial lights brought in during the photo shoot. Using the home’s built-in lighting may significantly cast a hue of orange or yellow due to its yellowish emission of light particles. The artificial light brought by photographers aim to neutralize the yellowish hues in hopes to create a fair perception of color. In any case, it is important to understand that these things happen whether we like it or not and to be quite frank it is not the end of the world if this happens. It simply means that post processing must remove this imperfection.

How to Master the Removal of Color Casts?

There is no one shot way to master real estate photo color cast editing. It takes constant practice and hands-on experience so that one day you may be able to remove color casts through muscle memory rather than constant thinking. To start your journey to master this skill, check out these tips to help you out.

  1. Understanding layers

The concept behind layers is that of a film on top of the original photo. Real estate color cast photo editing relies a lot on layers on so many different techniques so do not be surprised if this is one of the first things that needs to be learned in order to remove color casts. When working with layers, it is important to distinguish between the base which is the photo and the layer. Proper labeling and naming is important to avoid confusion.

  1. Understanding adjustments

There are plentiful ways to achieve the right color cast. In real estate photo color cast editing, methods to change the levels of RGB is a basic element that jives with the scientific make up of the color white. Adjusting the color tones whether through adjustment layers, curves, or tones, let’s you see the micro adjustments from the image. The way that this works is that if you do not know which color will impact the color cast the most, you can adjust each until you achieve it. It will definitely give you a good learning to execute this step because as you perform this adjustment more frequently, you will build the familiarity and the eye for color casts and what colors affect them.

  1. There are convenient tools to execute color cast removal in the interest of time

The match color adjustment feature in Photoshop is a very quick and easy way to get things done. Simply select the image option on the tool bar, scoot over to adjustments, and then select match color. The important premise here in this command is that when performing real estate photo color cast editing, there a layer that is active where the adjustments will be made.

  1. Use the method of inverting colors

Real estate color cast photo editing is also conveniently done by identifying the color that is causing the tint. Photoshop has a sampler in the form of dropper icon that samples the color you want removed. After selecting that color, the parameters of “L”, “a”, and “b” will show up and to better understand what it means, “L” is the luminance, “a” is the red and green variable, and “b” refers to blue and yellow. Since it is the colors we want to invert, we choose to put a negating sign “-”on “a” and “b” to counteract that color, thereby producing a cancelling effect to the color cast.

Conclusion

Mastering color cast removal is not as difficult as it seems. With the aid of features in today’s computer-based software, real estate color cast photo editing can be done with a few clicks of a button. There are numerous ways to skin a cat and more importantly you know how to look at these concepts in order to perform these methods. The reality of color casts is that it will not go away. Even the best photographers grapple with the fact that cameras will never be perfect and no matter how advanced the technology built within it is, it will never be as good as the human eye. With this, it is good to bear in mind that real estate photo color cast editing is a must-do in correcting the flaws photographs naturally bring.

 

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