auto color correcting in Photoshop

Ordinarily, I NEVER would use the auto color correcting functions on the computer. It is simple enough to eliminate a color cast or adjust the exposure levels. However, on a recent post I wanted to post a photo of my new baby daughter and didn't have the time or tools to give it the full photoshop treatment.

Here is the photo straight out of the camera but cropped.

I felt that the photo was fine, but did have a yellow color cast. This was a result of the combination of the auto white balance on the camera combined with the flourescent lights of a windowless hospital room while we were waiting for something or other. The yellow cast is still a nice color for a photograph of a person generally though.

This next photo I simply clicked the auto levels button.

I suspect this same correction can be applied with the Windows Picture viewer because all it does is clip .1% of the red, green, and blue channels on both the top and bottom end. Basically, it looks at each color's histogram, and eliminates the top and bottom of each range, effectively stretching each histogram out. While the result may not always be realistic looking, it is fast and easy, and in this case was probably better than I could have done on my own.