How to enhance the photo colors in an easy way

There are many factors that affect the quality of your photographs. One of them is the color. Obtaining the appropriate colors is not an easy task. After shooting a scene, in comparison with what is in your eyes, the colors in your digital photo look somewhat pastel or flat. This is when you need photo post processing software to enhance the photo colors. When it comes to adjusting colors of a photo, there is a bewildering variety of software with the function of color adjustment available. It is difficult to find one that is easy to use for photo editing beginners. If you want to save your time picking out the ideal software, please continue reading this article. In this article, I will introduce a piece of beginner-friendly photo effect software to you and show you how to boost the colors of a photo with it.

Photo HDR by Vertexshare

Having a suggestive name, Photo HDR specializes in creating a HDR photo by merging several differently exposed photos of the same scene. What it is capable of doing is more than fast making a HDR photo. With a series of built-in filters, it is able to adjust the effect of your photo to take the photo quality to the next level.

After opening the program, you will see a sleek and clean window. Import some bracketed photos at different exposure into the program and the HDR technique will be soon applied to them. Click on "Next" and you will be taken to a new window. The window is made up of three panels. A rich collection of preset effects, which are cool special effects, are located in the left-side panel. You can see the small preview thumbnail of each effect. The middle panel occupies most of the window. This is a preview area where you can view any change as you apply it to the photo in real-time. A set of parameters are located in the right-side panel. By using these parameters, you can add a lot of adjustments to your photo. You can tune the exposure by changing the brightness, contrast, and saturation. In addition, you can make local contrast adjustments to enhance the contrast in particular parts. What's more, you can compress the dynamic range into a displayable range and tone-map your photo. Besides, you can use Lab adjustment to improve colors. You are also allowed to adjust the sharpness of a photo, apply a gradient effect to your photo, and get rid of noise from the photo. Vignette filter, channel mixer, vibrance, and soft light are other adjustable parameters.

In a word, Photo HDR functions as not only a HDR photo maker but also a photo effects editor. Bundled with an assortment of tuners, it enables you to adjust the visual aspects of your photo and apply special effects to your photo. The simplistic layout and intuitive settings ensures that it can be easily mastered by both inexperienced users and professionals. Photo HDR is a great tool to have around if you want to enhance the photo effect to make your photo outstanding.

Now, let's dive into the part of how to use Photo HDR to boost the colors of a photo.

How to boost the colors of a photo with Photo HDR

Step 1.

• Drop your photo into the box "Drag and Drop Your Photo here". You can also click on the "Add" button to import your photo. To remove the imported photo, click on the "Remove" button next to the "Add button".

Step 2.

• Click on the "Next" button. Scroll down to the section "Lab Adjustment". The function here is Lab adjustment. It separates the color channels and lightness channels. So, you can use it to adjust the color while not changing the lightness. Click on "Lab Adjustment" to activate this function.
• As you can see, there are three sliders in the section, including "Lightness", "Contrast", "Chromaticity", and "Red and Skin Tones". "Lightness" and "Contrast" are used to adjust the brightness and contrast of the photo without changing the colors. As the value is increased or decreased, the contrast and lightness of the photo will be increased or reduced. "Chromaticity" is used to increase or decrease the chromaticity of the photo. The higher the value, the higher the chromaticity of the photo. Meanwhile, the brightness and contrast won't be changed. Increasing the chromaticity will oversaturate the skin. To avoid this from happening, you need to use the slider "Red and Skin Tones". It prevents the effect of chromaticity from being applied to skin. The higher the value is, the stronger the effect of red and skin tones protection is. Pull the sliders to adjust the colors to fit your needs.
• Apart from adjusting the parameters, you can choose two options as you want. The "Avoid color shift" option is used to fit the colors of the image into the gamut of the working color space and maintain the color purity. The "Restrict LC to red and skin tones" option is to limit the effect of lightness according to chromaticity so as to make the skin fairer without affecting the other areas of the photo.

Step 3.

• Press the "Save as" button to export the photo to a desired location.

An alternative to Photo HDR for boosting the colors of the photo

Corel PHOTO-PAINT is an impressive photo editing app from the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. It is no exaggeration to say this app delivers everything you need to retouch your photos. Let's see how to boost the colors of your photo with this versatile photo editor.

• Fire up Corel PHOTO-PAINT and throw your photo into the program.
• Click on "Adjust" on the top menu bar. Select "Image Adjustment Lab".
• You can see different adjustment sliders in the right pane. Use the "Temperature", "Tint" and "Saturation" sliders to alter the color vividness and correct the color cast. Another way to fix the color cast is using the feature of auto adjusting. Just click on the "Auto Adjust" button and the photo will be automatically whitened.
• Click on "OK" to apply the adjustments.

Summary

To a great degree, colors in your photo determine what your photo looks like. Adjusting colors is something we often need to do in photography post production. With the aid of Photo HDR, you can enhance your colors with little effort. Give it a shot and you won't be let down. Though Photo HDR is not a piece of freeware, it only costs $29.95 for a lifetime license.