Need help to fix yellow color in photo

[Tepazi]

Hello, I took pictures with a Canon 550d of Mandalas painted with gold color. I didn't have good lighting, so I improvised using warm lamps...

When I see the pictures on Microsoft 'Photos' app, the colors look good for a second, and then it loads it properly and all the gold looks really yellow, mostly on the sides that were close to the lamps. When I open the photos on Photoshop, it instantly loads them properly and the picture is too yellow...



I tried to change the exposure, white balance, blacks, whites, highlights, etc.

Nothing worked for me!

Does anyone have a good idea of what I should try??

Thank you very much!!

I'm attaching pictures...

 

[JeffK]

I'm willing to bet it's an image profile problem,
With your image open in Photoshop, go down the lower left corner and look for the profile setting:


If you don't see the profile info, just click on the arrow and choose Document Profile.

Most likely, you shot the image using AdobeRGB. That's ok. My wife, an avid photographer, does the same.

But what's not OK is most displays and browsers default to sRGB. Another issue I've found online is that Microsoft Photos, if we're talking about the same program, is not color managed. So what you see in Photoshop, displaying with a profile of AdobeRGB, will look far different. In fact, no matter what profile you use, it will look different in MS Photos.

The option is to first not view your images in MS Photos. Choose another program. Check to see how your image looks in the alternate software. Then also, go back to your PS image, switch the profile to sRGB, save it as an sRGB alternate, and then view it in the alternate app. See if there's a difference.

We've had many discussions about color profile conflicts here. It's like the old adage - when you hear hoof beats coming over the hill, think horses, not zebras. In other words, go for the simple explanation first.

- Jeff

 

[JeffK]

Just as an example, here's a comparison of the same areas in 2 different profiles -
the one on the left is sRGB ad the one on the right is AdobeRGB:



Same image, different profiles. Note that the gold in the left/sRGB version looks yellow while the right/AdobeRGB looks more like gold.
Also look at the center art - the on the right has more depth and range.

Let us know what you find

- Jeff

 

[Tepazi]

Dear Jeff,
Thank you very much for your reply!
however, even in the AdobeRGB it is more yellow than how I want it to be....I am quite new to photoshop, maybe you have any suggestion on how to decrease the yellow on photoshop?
thank you very much.
I'm attaching a picture of a similar mandala painting that was taken with proper lighting...so you can see approx. how the gold should look

 

[JeffK]

Color analysis is not my strong point...in fact I'm not sure what my strong point is. But I have a few questions:

- When you say the image is more yellow, it's more yellow than the original artwork you remember seeing by eye? More yellow than what you saw in camera?
- What ICC profile is your camera set to?
- What ICC profile is your Photoshop image set to? (I read about too many color problems with MS Photo so maybe don't use it as a reference)
- Is the monitor you're viewing the images in calibrated?

This may be an issue of luminescence and not color.

I'm about at the edge of my experience. Hopefully others will jump in with suggestions including our resident analyst, @thebestcpu

Let us know on the questions above - might help to lead to an answer.

- Jeff

 

[Rich54]

Aside from all the color profile issues, if you simply want to change your image to make the yellow appear more gold, there are several ways to do that. Here's one:

• Open a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer above your mandala layer.
• Click on the drop-down arrow where it says "Master" and select the Yellow channel.
• With the Yellow channel selected, adjust the Hue slider to the left until you are satisfied with the gold color. In my example, I set the Hue slider to -9 (see below).
• You can also experiment with the Saturation slider, but in my example I left it alone.
• If you want the image to be overall slightly brighter (which I did), then open a Brightness & Contrast adjustment layer above the Hue/Saturation layer. Set the layer blend mode of the Brightness layer to Luminosity. Then move the Brightness slider to your taste.

Here's what my adjustments look like.

 

[Rich54]

The image I just posted here looks too green compared with the target color in post #4. However, in Photoshop, they are nearly identical. This probably goes back to the color profile issues that Jeff was highlighting, where colors look different depending on where they are being viewed. Color profiles are not my area of expertise.

 

[Tepazi]

WOW thank you both so much for the amazing answers...I am very new to photoshop so I'm not sure how to answer all these questions... I'll try to experiment with the advice you gave and we'll see what happens