Elements Photo Filter feature gives you a host of nifty filters to work with. These filters are the digital equivalent of the lens-mounted filters used in traditional film photography. They can help you correct problems with your image’s white balance, and perform a bunch of other fixes from the seriously photographic to the downright silly. For example, you can correct bad skin tone or dig out an old photo of your fifth-grade nemesis and make him green. Figure 8-13 shows the Photo Filter in action.
Figure 8-13. You can use the Photo Filter to correct the color casts caused by artificial lighting or reflected light. Left: This photo had a strong warm cast from nearby incandescent lighting. Right: The filter named “Cooling Filter (LBB)” took care of it. (Conversely, you’d use one of the warming filters to counteract a blue cast caused by fluorescent lighting.)
Elements comes with 20 photo filters, but for most people, the top six are the most important: three warming filters and three cooling filters, which you use to get rid of color casts caused by poor white balance (see Removing Unwanted Color).
The filters sometimes work better than the Color Cast eyedropper (Unsharp Mask) because you can control the strength with which you apply them (using the Density slider, explained in a moment). You can also apply them as Adjustment layers, so you can tweak them later on.
To apply a photo filter:
Open the Photo Filter dialog box, or create a new Adjustment layer.
Go to Layer→New Adjustment Layer→Photo Filter, or Filter→Adjustments→ Photo Filter. Either way, you see the Photo Filter adjustment controls. If you go the Adjustment-layer route, the controls appear in the Adjustments panel after you click OK. If you’re applying the Photo Filter directly to your image, you get a dialog box instead, but both offer exactly the same controls.
Choose a filter from the drop-down list or click the Color radio button.
The drop-down list gives you a choice of filters in preset colors. (The numbers following the names of some filters correspond to the numbers of the glass filters you’d use on a film camera.) If you want to pick your own custom color, then click the Color button instead.
If you turned on the Color button, then click the color square next to it to bring up the “Select filter color” dialog box—which is really just the Color Picker (Choosing Colors)—and choose the shade you want.
Pick a color for the filter, and that color appears in the dialog box’s color square. Elements applies the color to your image so you can decide whether you like it. When you’ve got the color you want, click OK to close the Color Picker.
In the Adjustments panel or the dialog box, move the Density slider to adjust the intensity of the filter.
Moving the slider to the right increases the filter’s effect; moving it to the left decreases it. If you leave the Preserve Luminosity checkbox turned on, then the filter doesn’t darken your image. Turn off the checkbox and your photo gets darker when you apply the filter. Watch your image to see the effect.
When your photo looks good, save it.