This page shows you the
result of correcting a photo with ColorWasher and similar tools.
It is meant to give you the chance to compare ColorWasher with
other tools. We tried to do the photo corrections in the other
tools as accurately as possible and didn't try to cheat by using
them wrongly. We probably even used them more accurately than
most users do. The names of the other tools aren't mentioned
(only those of Photoshop and PSP), but they are sorted according
to their price. For each tool an automatic and a manual correction
was done.
Automatic Correction
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Manual Correction
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ColorWasher
Version 2.0 ($50 / $30) |
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Automatic and Manual
correction remove the yellow color cast completely within
seconds. The noise that was initially hidden by the color
cast (which can only seen at original size and not in these
thumbnails) was effectively hidden by ColorWasher during
the correction.
Remaing Cast: 0.4%, 0.0% |
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ColorWasher
Version 1.0 |
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Version 2 of ColorWasher
performs an even better correction than Version 1 at default
settings. The old version still retained a part of the color
cast in the darker areas of the photo. This look can still
be produced manually in Version 2.0 by using the Standard
Light cast type.
Remaing Cast: 0.4%, 0.0%
(but 11% and 10.6% in the Shadows) |
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Photoshop
Version CS 2 ($650) |
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Photoshop's AutoColor still
leaves a pink cast in the photo while Auto Levels improves
contrast, but only removes a bit of the yellow cast. At
least the hidden noise isn't revealed in both cases.
Remaing Cast: 9.8%, 23.6%
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$200+
Tool |
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: The Automatic Correction
doesn't remove the color cast at all. The Manual Correction
adds a green color cast. The hidden noise was revealed
which makes the photo look quite grainy. At least it does
a nice job on the contrast and brightness.
Remaing Cast: 32.9%, 8.6%
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$200+
Tool |
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Not possible
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After some tweaking we managed
to get this brown cast result. It was the best result
we managed to achieve. Trying again we got one with a
green cast which looked even worse.
Remaing Cast: 22.4%
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$100+
Tool |
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Again a very expensive tool that
has an useless Automatic mode that sometimes even makes
the color cast worse. After fiddling with sliders in Manual
Mode for a long time, we managed to come up with this
brown cast image that has a bad contrast.
Remaing Cast: 37.6%
(was made even worse!), 12.9%
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$100+
Tool |
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: The Automatic mode is no use
for removing the color cast. After extensively using the
color pickers the color cast was removed in the bright
areas, but turned green in the shadows. Additionally the
yellow noise gets quite visible.
Remaing Cast: 33.3%, 1.2%
(but 13.7% in the shadows)
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Paint
Shop Pro ($100) |
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PSP's Automatic Color Balance
adds a blue cast and PSP's Manual Color orrection tool
adds a green cast in the dark areas and a pink cast in
the bright area. Both reveal the ugly hidden noise.
Remaing Cast: 5.9%, 0.4%
(but 10.2% in the highlights and 11.8% in the shadows)
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$75+
Tool |
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Not Possible
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A slightly pink cast is left
in the bright areas and a green cast in the dark areas.
The hidden noise was made quite visible.
Remaing Cast: 3.1%
(but 11.4% in the shadows)
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$50
Tool |
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The Automatic mode of this tool
left a strong brown cast in the photo. Fiddling a lot
with the manual controls resulted in a slightly blue cast.
Remaing Cast: 18%, 7.5%
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$50
Tool |
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Not Possible
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This tool made the photo even
darker by over amplifiying the contrast and doesn't offer
a feature to adjust that. The hidden noise was made very
visible by this tool. At least it removed the color cast
more or less sufficiently.
Remaing Cast: 5.1% (and
13.3% in the shadows)
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$50
Tool |
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This plugins offers a tedious
semi-automatic mode that often doesn't help much. Extensively
adjusting the auto result with manual controls doesn't
produce a much better result. The orange cast that compensates
the yellow one is still there.
Remaing Cast: 16.1%, 12.5%
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$40
Tool |
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Not Possible
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This tools demands a lot of slider
tweaking until it produces such a result. There's still
a pink cast in the bright areas and a green one in the
dark.
Remaing Cast: 7.5% (but
14.1% in the shadows)
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$30
Tool |
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Not Possible
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After tweaking some controls
for a very long time, we managed to come up with this
relative good result. However, the cast is still remaining
very visibly in the shadows.
Remaing Cast: 2%
(but 14.1% in the shadows)
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Freeware
Tool |
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Not Possible
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This tool still keeps a strong
yellow cast and makes the hidden noise a bit visible
Remaing Cast: 15.3%
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