How to Remove Extreme Photo Red Cast and Salvage Old Images

We all have grandparents, obviously, and they almost all took photos that have turned red. You don't need to throw them out or suffer them being red, though. This video shows how to salvage old family images that have gone red with age. The photo shown is a VERY extreme example, but the same process applies to remove even slight red casts. A few more examples using this process are presented at the end.

[@WeePinkGin]

Technique still holds true to even the latest version of photoshop, needed a quick fix for some photos dating 50 years ago and this video done the trick, many thanks! :)

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you!

[@boneschapel]

Awesome!!! I love your method on this. Saturated with Red Photographs are always the hardest for me to do. Now, I can't wait to do it. You really helped. Thanks again and please keep churning out more videos!!!

[@CharlesDecoy]

9 years and it still good ! thank you

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you!

[@mdingel61]

Still works on the latest version! Thank you very much!

[@DavidHancock]

Good to hear!

[@chefalybee2943]

This was great! Very helpful. I used it on an old photograph of my mom as a kid and it worked fairly well. Do you have any tips on how to save the color when there are people in the photo? It's sort of sepia toned now but the red is pretty much gone!

[@DavidHancock]

Hmm. That may or may not be salvageable. It depends on the specific image. You can try creating a curves adjustment layer and working on that. PixImperfect and Phlearn both have good videos showing how to use curves adjustment layers.

[@suddenslipinterspersed-the7847]

Thank you. This helped with an interview I did with someone sitting under a red umbrella. 😊 I had to use color wheels in premiere pro. Your explanation helped a lot 😊

[@DavidHancock]

Fantastic and thank you!

[@Anaxxo]

Thank you mate managed to improve a photo of my dad taken in 1978

[@DavidHancock]

That's fantastic!

[@careyholman]

Awesome. The way I was doing it before I was losing the blue in the sky. This way gives a lot more control. Thanks!

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you!

[@DavidHancock]

You're welcome! And I use Screencast-o-matic. It's pretty fantastic.

[@JennyZinaTavares]

This was amazing! What software was used? It looked like a Microsoft suite, paint maybe? But I'm not sure.

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you and Adobe Photoshop CS6.

[@SylvsTheCat]

Thanks a lot! What software do you use to record sound and your screen?

[@alanjohnson4541]

Super helpful. Thankyou

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you!

[@anatolbaskak]

thanks. will check. i got a pic of myself ca. 1977 with similar redshift

[@SylvsTheCat]

Thanks David, I was looking just for that for making a video on how I process digitally my film.

[@hmaustips9742]

Thank you! I have a couple hundred old red photos to correct in PSE and tried with the eye droppers in Levels but it gave me extremes. Cmd-shift-L was like a miracle! I'm also THINKING about getting a slide scanner - do you have any recommendations? Thank you!

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you! Check out my recent video on scanning 35mm slides with a DSLR. That would give you a better option with more editing flexibility than a scanner would.

[@udoysaha3086]

great

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you!

[@MarcusWoods]

Thanks! This helped me a lot! I am interested in Green color as well. I have some slides that are extreme green. I'll check out your channel to see if you already have one!

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you! I do not have one on removing green cast, but the process ought to be similar. You may have good luck in curves by increasing the magenta channel.

[@bethrogge5281]

I'm going to try this. I'm wonder about printing. I'm actually using scanned photos, not slides. They look OK on screen but turn red when I print.

[@DavidHancock]

Hmm, not sure why they'd turn red. It could be a printer setting or a photo editor setting.

[@davidbird8265]

Very interesting, I have several thousand of these, all Ektachrome. What software tool were you using? a current software tool?

[@DavidHancock]

I was using Photoshop CS6 (maybe CS4 at the time I filmed this video, but I'm on 6 now.) I don't recommend Photoshop any more, however. I have no problems with their software -- it's amazing. Their subscription-based pricing model is my issue and I don't believe that software should be a subscription, except for rare exceptions.

[@davidbird8265]

Thanks for the reply. I thought is was Photoshop but was not sure.

[@NailsByAdanja]

This is a bit of a long shot. but I have a couple of old photo's I would love to restore with Photoshop. That's how I found your video, except the problem I'm having is a little bit more complicated. Half of the photo is turned into an red to yellow ombre. I would like to restore the photo but I wouldn't know how! Any ideas?

[@DavidHancock]

That will be a bit harder. Try duplicating the background layer then masking off one side with one color-shift. Right click --> feather --> some high number to maximize overlap. Then duplicate that. Repeat the process for the other half. Then work with each of those layers individually to correct the colors. The feathering ought to have the benefit of allowing the corrected overlaps to blend. It might take some refinement, but that approach is how I'd start.

[@AndresDX1]

I love this video. I usually go into the curves and then lower the red curve but the autotune feature does it wayyy better than i better did xD holy shit.

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you!

[@greenharvestproductions6743]

Thank you for the video question I have 16 mm Motion Picture film from 1968 and I want to try to get back to original color this got some reddish on the film can you please give me any suggestions how to do it can the same process be used for Motion Picture film what do you have to do one frame at a time thank you very much Sergeant Velez USMC

[@DavidHancock]

BLUF: you'll want to check out a channel that specializes in your video software. That's a tough one. I don't do much serious video editing. If you haven't had it digitized, you would want to try and coordinate the digital format with whatever video editing software you use. If you have had it digitized, then you're kinda stuck and will need to do what you can. I'm not a video editing guru at all and the different softwares out there have different capabilities. Davinci Resolve, for instance, is super powerful and could definitely do it through color correction. Movie Studio 17 Platinum could probably do a lot but would not be as powerful. So your video software really determines your results. To that end, each major video software has at least one YT channel with a host who focuses on it. Whichever channel focuses on your software would be the best source for help.

[@sirdrakey]

thanks I have some old fuji film that has just crapped out this will help!

[@pisscake6390]

please do not tell anyone on how to do it on videos. i’ll give u some info. the silhouette challenge is basically when u start of wearing soemthing normal or baggy and then the beat drops and it shows ur sillouete in a red filter and you can’t see the actual person but just the frame. some pleople do it nude and people are trying to get rid of the red and posting the nudes online

[@DavidHancock]

Honestly, even if I knew how to do it for video, I wouldn't tell anyone. I mean, it's super creepy that people would try to do that. And any KZbinr who teaches people how to edit video like people are wanting for this should have their channel suspended.

[@6ix365]

@@climaxtv5488 ong, aint nobody told them to record themselves like tha🤣

[@pisscake6390]

@@6ix365 well you see, they covered themselves to where you can’t see them. you literally only see a black sillouete. not the actually person. say you were doing something like that and somebody leaked ur nudes. how tf would you feel? and the have it posted on some website for strangers, adults, minors to look at. fucking disgusting. so why don’t you shutup and go outside loser.

[@6ix365]

@@pisscake6390 Im a loser? you the bih tryna tell me its my fault them bitches wanna show themselves without clothes. If they minors then why tf they een posting tha type shi anyway? Even if it was just supposed to be a shadow or whateva tha shi called 🤣 nobody forced them to do shi. They reap what they sew🤷🏽‍♂️.

[@jaybrog449]

lmao this is a video from several years ago. why are you bringing a tiktok problem here?

[@SandyHansenPhotography]

Thanks! Can you share the link for your video, how to use a DSLR camera to photograph a slide? Thanks

[@DavidHancock]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZvahKF6ftWapsk

[@SandyHansenPhotography]

We have some slides that are all very red and this didn't help to get rid of the red at all. Thanks any way

[@flyurway]

Pretty cool...far beyond my level of understanding, I'm still trying to figure out how to get pics into/out of the program and saved on my stupid, un-user friendly Mac. I was wondering, since you knew what the place was couldn't you Google search the building to see if there aren't any pics on the 'net that would give you an idea of what the color cast should be? Just curious.

[@DavidHancock]

Possibly, yes. I had never thought of that. That's a really great idea.

[@luismorgan2422]

This helped a lot, thank you

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you!

[@francescaarcuri5961]

thanks!!!

[@greenharvestproductions6743]

Thank you for the information Dave I would like to do this to my 16 mm films I have the motion picture The Way We Were on 16 mm and some other films they also have the same problem can you send me the link to the program and can this be done on 16 mm Motion Picture film thank you very much

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you! For motion, I don't know how to do this but I would be shocked if Davinci Resolve cannot do it. I don't know all of Casey Ferris' back catalog, but he may have a video on this or something similar to it. Color grading is likely the tool to use in that software.

[@robertcrone1897]

Thanks! But the roofs are orange tiles.

[@DavidHancock]

There's only so much that can be done with a 60+ year-old slide.

[@barbcramer7153]

Hi David, I just found this tutorial and I am in the process of digitizing some old slides...from the 70s. I am using GIMP. Can you translate what you did here for use in GIMP? Thanks so much.

[@DavidHancock]

Oh gosh I wish I could. I haven't used GiMP is more than a decade, however.

[@amititis]

Hi, I want to remove red light that is in a portion of the frame without reducing it across the image. Any suggestions?

[@DavidHancock]

Mask out that part of the frame, duplicate the layer, and de-saturate the red channel until it looks good. PixImperfect will probably have a tutorial on how to do that well.

[@rasberryjuce]

You didn't say whether it was photoshop.... Probably was, but it really pays to say or put it in the notes.

[@DavidHancock]

Fair point. I think I felt that using the entire screen of my PS interface would be enough.

[@cathymartin2970]

1.1.24. This video is 10 years old. Is there something more current? I have old photos that are going red. I can't tell what app or system being used. Thanks

[@DavidHancock]

Is this really ten years old already? Wow. I was using Photoshop CS4 back then. Any later version of Photoshop will have the same capabilities. Most other photo editors can do this but with different names for similar functions.

[@cathymartin2970]

Thank you! I have a bunch of photographs, like you did, however I am wondering if you can think of someone I can send them to for the cleanup? Happy New Year and thank you again. @@DavidHancock

[@DavidHancock]

@@cathymartin2970 Thank you and I don't know of anyone specifically but there are some talented freelancers on Fiver that might be able to do this.

[@erica01161978]

Are you using photoshop

[@DavidHancock]

Yes

[@christophergardner596]

Very useful, but I have a few photos that are very pink and I can't get much joy. Would you please take a look?

[@DavidHancock]

I don't have the bandwidth to work on photos, but the steps in this video should provide a good process for correcting the tinting.

[@russellparris921]

I found this image online taken at approximately the same angle. I wonder with this contemporary image as a baseline, some slightly different values might yield a more 'lifelike' result. However, 50 plus years might have had some impact on the castle itself. i0.wp.com/frenchmoments.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Carcassonne-132-©-French-Moments.jpg?resize=702%2C336&ssl=1

[@DavidHancock]

Certainly looks a lot cleaner! I had some old photos in this batch, I think, of Notre Dame before it was cleaned in the 1970s to remove all the built-up car exhaust fumes. It looks a lot better now.

[@cipherxen2]

I find the final images somewhat greenish.

[@DavidHancock]

They can be. It depends on how much red there is in the source and how much correction you'd like to apply. This isn't a be-all and end-all process, but hopefully is a guide to get you on the right track. Also, monitors are a bit different, so it's always a good idea to refine processes to suit what you see.

[@cipherxen2]

@@DavidHancock Yes. And it also depend on one's choice. It's all subjective. Great tutorial by the way.

[@anthonynosike]

Does this work on cellphones?

[@DavidHancock]

This is a software-based process so it would depend on the software on our phone.

[@Christine_Cox]

What software is this?

[@DavidHancock]

Photoshop

[@debsdabarb7554]

Not y’all coming here in 2021 after the silhouette challenge.

[@14mxjm_34]

🤫🤫🤫

[@DavidHancock]

This is the second comment today about that. I'm definitely missing something.

[@hurden]

@@DavidHancock people on the app 'tiktok' are doing a challenge with a red filter where they film naked. Some perverted people are trying to remove the red filter to see them naked pretty much.

[@DavidHancock]

@@hurden ... Well, that's not what I was expecting.

[@hurden]

@@DavidHancock yeah it sucks

[@kathryn4178]

Is there any way to do this with videos in Premiere Pro?

[@DavidHancock]

I would think so, but I've never used Premiere so I'm not sure how to do it.

[@DestroylonIey]

Pls do tutorial how to do this on videos

[@mazipita3268]

Pervert..You wanna use it o Silhouette Challenge

[@DavidHancock]

@@mazipita3268 What's a silhouette challenge?

[@DavidHancock]

My video editing skills are not anywhere close to good enough to do this on video.

[@Rhone1]

Really really really?

[@DavidHancock]

Really.

[@Rhone1]

Why though? You do that all the time or is it just a phase?

[@Rhone1]

Really really really sounds like nails on a chalkboard. Did you meet David Bowie before he died?

[@DavidHancock]

@@Rhone1 I wasn't as good at audio back however many years ago when I made this video.

[@zionj104]

8000th view! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

[@DavidHancock]

LOL. I love the round numbers, too.

[@Andregg2]

2:12

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you

[@user-xxxxxn]

maybe you can restore your voice.

[@DavidHancock]

How does Photoshop do that?

[@HitpointFilm]

Do no use words like extreme if it is not extreme red. Amateurish advice in this clip.

[@DavidHancock]

Please share a link to your video showing a better and more professional solution.