Dull color to saturated color

Mother Nature rules and when she decides to work against your plans, you might as well accept her terms and go shoot. Last month I shared with you how to replace a sky when Mother Nature goes against your needs. Although replacing the sky works in many situations, its not the solution for all. Here is another tip that helps in some cases but can completely destroy others. Therefore, I’m going to forewarn you, this tip is worth trying but don’t think of it as a solution for all problem photos.

From Dull to Saturated Magic

The first image is shot in flat light but with a little Saturation I was able to put some life into the photo.

I often run up against conditions opposite of my needs but can’t let it get me down. With today’s digital technology there is more than likely something I can do to turn bad into something worth while. Here’s a trick I use when I get flat light with little or no color in my subject. I flood it with Hue and Saturation. This isn’t a fix all solution but with some situations it is magical.

• Open your photo into Photoshop and duplicate the background layer.
• Go to your Layer pull down menu, then go to Adjustment Layer, then Hue/Saturation.
• A new Layer box appears. You can rename this layer or leave it at its default title, Hue/Saturation 1. Click OK.
• You will see an Adjustment layer on your Layers Palette and also an Adjustment window with a pull down menu. This pull down menu has several options beginning with Master then followed by Red, Yellow, Green, etc… I typically just go for it all set on Master. If you want you can do each individual color to see what you come up with.

This scene was shot in flat overcast light. As you can see, everything looks dead and not very appealing photographically.

• Once you select the color palette you want to work, you now have three sliders, Hue, Saturation and Lightness. In most cases I work only the Saturation slider, sometimes the Lightness slider and rarely the Hue slider. Play with the sliders until you’re somewhat happy with the results. You may find yourself happy with some areas within the photo but others maybe a little to saturated.
• You can now pull back on the areas you feel are over saturated by selecting the paint brush and set the opacity at a desired setting. I typically set my opacity somewhere in the 20% to 30% range and start painting over the area I want to tone down the saturation. (If your paint brush is to small or to large you can change the size with the bracket keys on your keyboard. The left bracket key will make the paintbrush smaller and the right bracket key will make it larger).

After adding some Hue/Saturation I was able to bring some life into the photo. It is very important to know what one can do in the computer when out in the field shooting in bad conditions. It certainly makes it a whole lot more fun.

• You are now pretty much finished putting some life into your picture. At this point I will sometimes work a color or two if I find them over bearing. I do this by selecting the background copy and then go to the Image pull down menu, then to Adjustments and then select Selective Color. I will select the color I want to work and play with the sliders until I find a hue that finishes off on photo. Now flatten your image and you’re finished (Go to layer pull down menu and select Flatten Image).

I hope this little tip helps with one of your problem photos at some point. Good Luck and send me one of your before and after shots, and see how you’re doing.