Too saturated??

jdryan3

These are from bracketed sunset shots in DV. Processed using Photomatix and tweaking in LR afterwards. In a lot of ways these sunsets looked like this, especially the Racetrack shot.

But are these just too saturated? :dunno They are dialed back after blending, but comments would be appreciated.

1


2


3

Cameron

Too saturated? There's always debate about art vs reality and how extreme post-processing should be. I'm not going to debate that here. Of the three, the first image, to me, looks the most unnatural - the color cast on the plant in the foreground is simply much stronger than what you'd likely see in nature.

My favorite is #3 - I don't mind the strong colors, even if a bit unnatural, since the scene itself looks like it could be from another world. Great colors, interesting composition.

kdog

Good questions, David. I struggle with the same issues myself in processing. The first two do look like they have a bit of reddish cast. I usually try to go for some real blue in the sky to give some context. By that metric, the third one looks pretty good. The larger problem with that one is the halo over the distant mountains in the center.

Rhuarc

I like the saturation and the pinkness in the sky, but I think maybe mask out the ground and reduce the reddish cast just a bit on the ground. My eyes tend to grab onto the pinks in the sky, but minimize the effect of those colors on ground objects.

cb4photo

I also struggle with the same issues myself in processing. I think it also comes down to each photographer has there own style and likes and dislikes.

For my tastes, these do seem a little over the top, but I love the photos!! Especially the last one.

Overfocused

It's not too saturated IMO but the color balance is off on the red/magenta. The images all have a pretty strong pinkish hue over the whole photo regardless of the intense color. A couple years ago I shot a sunset behind my house that was the most color intensive sunset I've seen in my life. The clouds and angle of the sun were positioned so perfectly it made the sky look like an infrared lamp. The photo was much more saturated than this sunset, but it still had a good WB and it didn't look off. I'd suggest tweaking the magenta/reds in color balance and see how it pans out.

jdryan3

CSwinton wrote: »

Too saturated? There's always debate about art vs reality and how extreme post-processing should be. I'm not going to debate that here. Of the three, the first image, to me, looks the most unnatural - the color cast on the plant in the foreground is simply much stronger than what you'd likely see in nature.

My favorite is #3 - I don't mind the strong colors, even if a bit unnatural, since the scene itself looks like it could be from another world. Great colors, interesting composition.

kdog wrote: »

Good questions, David. I struggle with the same issues myself in processing. The first two do look like they have a bit of reddish cast. I usually try to go for some real blue in the sky to give some context. By that metric, the third one looks pretty good. The larger problem with that one is the halo over the distant mountains in the center.

Missed that halo. I also see another one in one of the other shots.

Rhuarc wrote: »

I like the saturation and the pinkness in the sky, but I think maybe mask out the ground and reduce the reddish cast just a bit on the ground. My eyes tend to grab onto the pinks in the sky, but minimize the effect of those colors on ground objects.

cb4photo wrote: »

I also struggle with the same issues myself in processing. I think it also comes down to each photographer has there own style and likes and dislikes.

For my tastes, these do seem a little over the top, but I love the photos!! Especially the last one.

Overfocused wrote: »

It's not too saturated IMO but the color balance is off on the red/magenta. The images all have a pretty strong pinkish hue over the whole photo regardless of the intense color. A couple years ago I shot a sunset behind my house that was the most color intensive sunset I've seen in my life. The clouds and angle of the sun were positioned so perfectly it made the sky look like an infrared lamp. The photo was much more saturated than this sunset, but it still had a good WB and it didn't look off. I'd suggest tweaking the magenta/reds in color balance and see how it pans out.

Thanks everyone. I think the consensus is that the magenta haze across these (especially the plants and gray rocks) needs to be toned down, but the overall the skies are OK. I had dropped the luminence and saturation overall (some were just PINK), but not I have to localize the tweaks. I'm sure that the playa in #3 actually did pick up some of the sky color, but my eye at the time didn't see it (that whole deal about how our eyes see white no matter whaat, compensating for the type of light).

chrisrarmstead

That third picture is a perfect shot. I love the simplicity....

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

Overfocused

jdryan3 wrote: »

I have to localize the tweaks.

You don't have to localize anything; that's making it more work than you need to do. If you use color balance to correct the photo, you can bump up the saturation after it's corrected without the haze returning in the wrong areas since the magenta will no longer be a problem with the photo! The purpose of the balance is to balance all colors together, and not just reduce one color If everything is in balance, it doesn't matter how much you saturate it, it will no longer be slanted toward the magenta hue.


I took one into photoshop... I saturated the picture even more, but since I balanced it prior to saturation, it doesn't have that hazy feel anymore

anwmn1

Rhuarc wrote: »

I like the saturation and the pinkness in the sky, but I think maybe mask out the ground and reduce the reddish cast just a bit on the ground. My eyes tend to grab onto the pinks in the sky, but minimize the effect of those colors on ground objects.

I agree with this. The skies are fine but the pink cast on the ground, rocks. and plants seems unnatural. Throw a cooling filter over these areas to help balance the scene.

Great skies while in DV though.