Color is a complex thing. It doesn’t get its intensity solely from saturation, but also from contrast. This can include color contrast with colors on opposite sides of the color wheel, brightness contrast between bright and dark colors, and another type of contrast we can call ’saturation contrast’. This is where you contrast strongly saturated […]
Ideas and effects
It's easy to get stuck in a rut and run out of ideas, so here are a few treatments and editing effects I've tried out over the years, with explanations about how they work and how to replicate them. I hope you find them useful!
For this shot I cheated. I didn’t use a computer at all
That sounds an odd thing to say. Most people associate digital manipulation with ‘cheating’, but it’s all about the context. This site is all about digital manipulation and I didn’t even use a computer.
How much color do you need: Kynance Cove in Cornwall
How much color do you need? Color is a complex thing, and sometimes less is more. Sometimes flat-out, full-on saturation works, but sometimes it seems you just need hints of color to get an equally strong effect.
HDR can work wonders on interiors: this is a church in Porto in Aurora HDR
HDR can work wonders on interiors. HDR is not just for high-contrast outdoor scenes or extended dynamic range photography. It can also give interiors a unique, rich and dramatic look.
Balancing rocks on Poltesco beach, Exposure X5
Balancing rocks on Poltesco beach, Exposure X5: When I saw this balancing pile of rocks, I was sure I could make a picture out of it, with the pebble beach in the foreground and the silvery sea and sky in the background.
Icelandic sea stacks in Capture One
The radial filter tool in Capture One, Lightroom and other image editors is great for ‘relighting’ scenes to add drama and depth.
Porthleven power lines in Lightroom: one LUT, three graduated filters
Porthleven power lines in Lightroom: one LUT, three graduated filters. How a series of tools and effects can be used in combination towards an overall ‘look’.
How to highlight a color and then suppress the rest
Color is great, most of the time. But sometimes colors can fight with each other or just undermine the mood you’re trying to create. This is where an understanding of how your software’s color controls work can be a big advantage.
HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) adjustments and what they can do
Global HSL adjustments aren’t very useful. If you shift the global hue of an image it quickly looks wrong. The real strength of the HSL system is the way it lets you separate and edit individual colors.
Nik Collection presets: Even on a Cloudy Day (Color Efex Pro)
You can learn a lot from experimenting with manual adjustments and individual filters in a program like Color Efex Pro, but you can learn even more by dismantling a preset to see how its individual parts work together.