Have you ever noticed a coloured tint across your image and wish you could get rid of it? It might seem like the image is washed out and cause it to look dull. This is called a colourcast and can be easily removed in Photoshop CS6 and earlier.

You can use Match Colour to reduce or eliminate a colorcast from a photo without comparing it to a source. While there are other ways you can remove a colorcast, this method is more automated. In other words, the image you’re correcting becomes both the source and the target.

Match Colour is a feature that allows you to make colour and luminance adjustments together or independently, as well as adjust the degree of those adjustments—all in one control panel. (Match Colour is also frequently used to match the colour balance of one photo to that of another photo.)

To use this feature for colour and luminance adjustments:

  1. Launch Photoshop and open an RGB image.
  2. Choose Image > Adjustments > Match Colour.
  3. Select the Preview check box to view your changes as you make them.
  4. Move the Luminance slider to adjust the brightness of your image and move the Colour Intensity slider to adjust the colour range.
  5. Move the Fade slider to the right to modify the intensity of the first two adjustments. Lower values allow more effect, while higher values allow less or no effect.
  6. Select the Neutralise check box.
  7. Choose None from the Source pop-up menu and click OK.

If you have more images with similar problems and want to apply the same adjustments, click the Save Statistics button in the Match Colour dialog box and save the settings. You can call up these settings later by clicking Load Statistics in the Match Colour dialog box, and then apply the same settings to another image.