GIMP color distortion

Support Software & Applications
1

I made a photo of (colored) pills on a white paper, opened the jpeg file in gimp in order to print it. Problem: The white paper got blue and the original colors of the pills are distorted.

I tried a numer of option of my camera, read the GIMP manual about white balancing, I experimented hours with various GIMP options to modify colors - in vain. I did not understand what to do. Also I went through the options of my HP Laserjet printer; I didn’t find a clue.

Here is the jpeg file of the photo:

foto-jpg
foto-jpg2604×4624 167 KB

That is the foto of the printout:

foto-of-printout3
foto-of-printout34624×2604 369 KB

The distortion of colors is so much that the colors of the tablets cannot be recognised any more.

The chain from 1.camera to 2.GIMP and to 3.HP Laserjet printer with a multitude of options in 1, 2 and 3 is too complex for my simple brain.

What can I do?

2

Gimp should have a “Pick black point” and a “Pick white point” option into Color → Levels . Picking something white (the paper) and then something black lets Gimp calculate the acurate color balance.

Photographers even buy colour cards (try searching “Pixel Perfect Camera Colour Correction Card”) to include in the photos and then be able to obtain the most real colors.

3

Assuming this was taken in artificial indoor lighting it might just be a white balance problem. In GIMP 3.0 there is a Colors → Auto → White Balance menu option which might be a good starting point.

Colors → Color temperature… might also be worth altering if the auto white balance doesn’t do it.

Edit: if you are able to retake the photo try having the flash forced to fire.