Undesirable artifacts appearing in color images, such as blooming or smudging around the edges of text, are avoided through selective reduction of the color gamut for objects which form the image. Individual component color values are modified by taking into account combinations of colors and their effect upon the artifacts to be eliminated. Only those parameter values which contribute to the artifact are modified. Other parameter values are left intact, to maintain the original image characteristics. When a color value is modified, all components of that color are modified in a symmetrical manner, to preserve the hue of the original color. The impact on the image is further minimized by selectively applying color correction only to those objects in which the artifact is pronounced.