Use the Color Balance command to change the balance of colors in an image. This command provides general color correction and allows you to adjust the color balance in shadows, midtones, and highlights.
Important: To apply this command to a selection, the image must be a 16 million (24-bit) color image (otherwise the command is applied to the entire image). To increase the color depth of an image, see Increasing the Color Depth of an Image.
To use the Color Balance command:
To limit the correction to a specific area, make a selection in the image. See Using the Selection Tools.
Do one of the following:
To modify the image pixels directly, choose Adjust > Color Balance > Color Balance.
To create an adjustment layer, choose Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance. For information on adjustment layers, see Using Adjustment Layers.
To reset the settings, in the Presets drop-down list, select Default.
In the Tone balance group box, select which lightness level, or tonal range, of colors to adjust: Shadows (dark colors), Midtones (colors in the middle range), and Highlights (bright colors). Adjust each one individually.
To have the corrected image match the lightness of the original image, mark the Preserve luminosity check box.
In the Color
balance group box, drag a slider toward a color to increase that
color in the image or drag a slider away from a color to decrease the
color. Increasing the proportion of one color decreases the proportion
of its opposite on the color wheel.
The values in the Color levels edit boxes
show the color changes for the red, green, and blue channels. Values range
from -100 to 100. Zero indicates the original color balance.
Click OK.
Adjusting the Hue Saturation and Lightness in Unison
Changing the Overall Color Balance
Correcting Colors by Setting Black and White Points