Skip to main content

5 ways to remove chromatic aberration from images with Photoshop

No More Chromatic Aberration - 5 Ways To Remove All CA In Photoshop
Chromatic aberration (CA), those colorful glowy outlines on hard edges of your high contrast images, can be a real downer when processing or sharing your photography. Luckily, these days removing or correcting CA can be a pretty easy affair.

CA occurs when the different color wavelengths of light (red, green, and blue) are focused onto slightly different spots on your camera’s sensor. This causes slight overlap on hard edges of objects in a shot, which is seen as color fringing. CA is a product of a lenses’ optical design. Higher quality, more complex lenses tend to produce little to no CA, while simpler, less complicated lenses suffer from it more.

Recommended Videos

If you are looking to remove some CA in Photoshop there are many ways that you can go about it, ranging from easy built-in sliders to more advanced processes utilizing custom layers and brushes. Photographer Jimmy McIntyre recently posted on YouTube an overview presenting five ways to correct chromatic aberration using Photoshop.

In addition to the easy sliders that come with Photoshop’s Camera RAW plug-in, one method that McIntyre mentions is the Gaussian blur method. This involves creating a duplicate layer of your image, applying a Gaussian Blur until the color fringing is gone, and then using a mask to paint in the effect where needed. It’s a bit more work than the easy sliders, but in situations like the one demonstrated in the video where the easy sliders don’t cut it, it can be a life saver.

Another more advanced method that McIntyre explains is the clone stamp method, which can take a lot of time. But in those situations where nothing else is working, and you want your image to look its absolute best, it can be worth it. Creating art is not easy, and these are some of the little things that one can do as a photographer to really improve an image.

Anthony Thurston
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony is an internationally published photographer based in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Specializing primarily in…
GoPro launches ultralight, affordable Hero 4K Camera for $199
The 2024 GoPro hero is frozen in ice.

GoPro enthusiasts have a new camera to consider after the company introduced its miniature, ultralight 4K Hero late last week. It is the company's smallest and most affordable offering, costing just $199.

The Hero is waterproof and combines GoPro's simplest user interface with 4K video, 2x slo-mo at 2.7K resolution, and 12-megapixel photos. It is available on retail shelves around the world and online at GoPro's website.

Read more
The best camera phones in 2024: our top 9 photography picks
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

In the past decade or so, cameras on smartphones have evolved so much that they can pretty much replace a standalone digital camera for most people. The results you can get on some of the best smartphones these days are just so impressive, and being able to be with you at all times means you'll never miss a moment.

But what if you want the best possible camera phone money can buy? A camera that won't let you down no matter what you're taking a picture of? You've come to the right place. Here are the very best camera phones you can buy in 2024.

Read more
An ace photographer is about to leave the ISS. Here are his best shots
The moon and Earth as seen from the ISS.

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick is preparing to return to Earth after spending seven months living and working aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

After arriving at the orbital outpost, Dominick -- who is on his first mission to space -- quickly earned a reputation for being an ace photographer. He's been using the facility’s plethora of high-end cameras and lenses to capture amazing shots from his unique vantage point some 250 miles above Earth. Sharing his content on social media, the American astronaut has always been happy to reveal how he captured the imagery and offer extra insight for folks interested to know more.

Read more