Colour balance in Photoshop Elements

[ChrisLumix]

Maybe Photoshop Elements now has a Colour Balance dialogue like its older sibling? I'm using an older version (6) which doesn't, so this is aimed at anyone who has a version of Elements without a Colour Balance dialogue.

 

First, there are already different ways to adjust colour in Elements :

• Variations, but you can only adjust this by about 5 or 6 steps, and sometimes the thumbnails are uselessly small 
• Quick Fix : Temperature and Tint, which are both somewhat blunt instruments, not for precise colour adjustments
• Hue & Saturation dialogue, which is exactly like the full Photoshop and again, not for precise colour adjustments

But those familiar with Photoshop will have used the Colour Balance dialogue, which gives sliders Red <-> Cyan, Green <-> Magenta, Blue <-> Yellow, each of which can be adjusted in minute steps separately for Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights. 

 

By now, some of you may  be saying "Oh, but it IS in Elements - it's in the Levels dialogue". Yes - you can indeed choose Red Green or Blue within Levels and adjust the midtones with the middle slider. So, using Red <-> Cyan as an example :

• to the left adds Red
• to the right adds Cyan

But the limitation comes with highlights and shadows : you can only adjust the slider in one direction : the highlights slider (< left) will progressively add Red to the highlights, while the shadows slider  (> right) adds Cyan. You can't move those sliders in either of two directions, like the midtones slider.

 

HOWEVER : if you use the Output Levels slider (bottom of dialogue), you can complete the Colour Balance : move the shadows slider right, and you add Red to the shadows, while the highlights slider (left) will add Cyan to the highlights.

 

So... it's all there within the Level dialogue in Elements! It's more complicated than Photoshop, but it's good to know that if and when you really need it, it's there.