bleyton Loc: Los Angeles, CA

Hopefully this is the right section for this...

I have been scanning my old negatives. Most of them came out great, but several rolls have shifted color pretty badly. I have tried using the White Balance controls in Lightroom to correct this, but apparently this is not the right tool for the job. When I sample something that should be white, the result is something that's just as badly color-shifted, but to another color.

Here is a sample image. I'm wondering if anyone has any good ideas for how to fix this. I attached a JPG, but I have the original TIFF files, if needed.

(Download)

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

Here is a really quick solution. In Photoshop I clicked on Hue-Saturation, selected the Yellow slider and reduced it by about 50%. That took care of most of the problem.

(Download)

bleyton Loc: Los Angeles, CA

Hmm. I tried doing similar things in both PS and LR but my results never came out as well as yours - it still looked "off". Dropping Green seems to help a bit also, but unfortunately I don't remember what color his outfit really was so I am just guessing at what looks right.

FrumCA

Here's another attempted solution. In LR selected "cold tone" in LR Color Presets then reduced exposure (-1.75), increased tint (+37), increased whites (+25), and reduced blacks (-11). All of this basically shifted the yellow color cast from yellow more towards green. It's not perfect that's for sure.

Jim-Pops Loc: Granbury, Texas

I think you can fix to a likable picture but not necessarily a correct color picture. I did this with photoshop and masks. Started with the skin mask and Reduced black + Clarity - red + Orange - all the yellow. Then moved onto the rest of the picture using a mask and desaturated and increased clarity. Then added a photo filter, sepia over the skin layer and then another Sepia photo filter over the background layer at a different level. If it was my picture I would know what I was truly going for and make more corrections by applying additional masks and correcting the precise areas.

Please view in download.

The additional problem is you said you are doing several slides, not sure if you would want to take this much time on each one. I don't think there is a quick fix. Black & White would be the quick fix.
--Jim

(Download)


(Download)

FrumCA

I agree with jim-pops' note regarding b&w. That does pretty much eliminate the color cast.

Doowopa Loc: Connecticut

Quick try at it

(Download)

SoHillGuy Loc: Washington

Probably overdone but had to throw it into the mix.

(Download)

bleyton Loc: Los Angeles, CA

Oh my, yes that last one is overdone, it doesn't even look like him.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. It seems like there is something about the color-shift that defies any logical approach to correcting it accurately. I am left with just tweaking things and seeing what looks relatively "normal". I agree that B&W is starting to look like the best option, or at least something where the saturation is dialed back enough to de-emphasise the shifted colors.

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

Well here is my shot at it, not great but acceptable I hope.

(Download)