fixing white balance on a jpeg

[Jeni]

a friend had some photos done, shes gone to get them printed and they all have a lilac colour cast which i presume is because the white balance was never set properly on the camera. im trying to fix them for her, she wants them for Christmas presents. whats the best way to fix the white balance on a jpeg but stop the highlights on the face from blowing too much?

in Lightroom i used the white balance dropper tool to select the background, it has reduced the colour cast but not got rid completely.

theyre supposed to be on a white background, so far ive got it to be less lilac but thats about it. ive tried using levels to alter the background then use a layer mask to bring the original through, but then the face still has the colour cast.

[Pipeman]

I'm no expert Jeni and you probably know more than I but what comes to mind is "Hue" and the white dropper in Levels.

Good Luck.

[Jeni]

thanks Ron, i did the white dropper in levels and it completely ruined his face, didnt think about hue though, ill give that a try.

[benjiblanco]

if its a colour cast and a white balance issue, then correcting the white background should be correcting the other contents in the picture too.
The white balance in lightroom should work 100% to correct a white balance issue, and shouldnt make any difference wether its jpeg or Raw.

If you want to correct the bg, more likely cos of blown hightlghts giving a cast. then just use a mask in ps, use a hue sat, and take out the saturation completly. Unless the subject is wearing a white t shirt or something, the mask should be pretty easy to do. Keep it rough and blur it. no need for a real acurate mask, could probably use the magic wand or something easy.

[Jeni]

ill have another mess in Lightroom. after thinking about it this afternoon i wonder if ive tried too much and not got the first bit right and that is throwing everything else out.

i cant believe this guy has actually charged her for these photos. hes got some head and shoulder shots, which are just crops from the other pictures, i presume its these she wants printing for xmas presents. ive looked at the size, theyre about 900x1200 pixels, if that. i hope she doesnt want them too big :mad:

[full of fluff]

In Elements there is a remove colour cast option, you just click on something that should be white then it corrects the whole picture accordingly.

[Shaun]

You can actually edit Jpegs in Camera Raw..... In bridge >> Right Click >> Open in in camera raw..

[Jeni]

isnt that the same as editing in Lightroom Shaun? ive not used Camera Raw since i got Lightroom.

[benjiblanco]

Yes Jeni,, Ligthroom = camera Raw + bridge. Exactly the same engine,

[Jeni]

thanks Ben. ill post a before and after later on this afternoon, ill see if anyone else can come up with any ides on what to do :)

[Shaun]

isnt that the same as editing in Lightroom Shaun? ive not used Camera Raw since i got Lightroom.

no idea.. dont use it lol