Figure 1 - Saturn was shot with an incorrect color balance. The original is too yellow. Hold your mouse cursor over the image to see a comparison between the original uncorrected image and the corrected one.

The image of Saturn seen in Figure 1 is too yellow. It was shot with an incorrect color balance.

There are several ways to adjust the color in Photoshop:

• Color Balance
• Levels
• Curves

Saturn's rings are made of water ice and are visible by reflected sunshine. This means they should be a neutral gray color because our eyes see sunlight as white. We will use these facts and a little trick in Photoshop to correct the color.

Photoshop's Levels command and the Gray Point Eyedropper

Figure 2 - Photoshop's levels command and gray-point eyedropper

• Click the eyedropper tool in the tool's palette.

• Set the sample size to 3x3 or 5x5 in the options bar.

• Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels.

• Click the gray-point eyedropper to make it active (Figure 2, Number 1).

• Click the mouse in the image on Saturn's Rings (Figure 2, Number 2).

• Save the image with a new file name.

Figure 3 - Saturn with the color balance corrected. Hold your mouse cursor over the image to see a comparison between the original uncorrected image and the corrected one.

The colors in the adjusted image of Saturn (Figure 3) may look a little bit muted now, but they are correct. We will increase the contrast and color saturation in subsequent steps.