Vibrant Colors and Saturation

[Joshua_Lee]

What is the rule of thumb when adjusting a photos vibrancy and saturation?

I tend to like the look of really vibrant colors in photos. I like higher contrast as well. What are your thoughts?

Is there a rule of thumb, or is it what ever appeals to the eye is good?

Thanks,

 

[Gaerek]

There's no real rule of thumb on this. Adjust it to what you like. It's VERY easy to go overboard with Saturation adjustments, so be careful. I'll usually do an adjustment layer in PS to do Saturation and other adjustments. When I have it where I think I like it, I'll click off visibility for the layer to ensure I didn't go to far. This helps you to remember where you started. It might look good to you after the adjustments, but when you see where it came from, it could look really bad.

The same goes for contrast. I tend to like higher contrast scenes, but going overboard here can be the difference between what could have been a great photo, and an alright one.

 

[Morpheuss]

I would say play with it. I usually try and remember what it looked like when I took the pictures and try and match it as best as I can you just have to be careful you don't over saturate it.

 

[mwcfarms]

I too tend to lean towards photos with the punch of high color and contrast. Some times its hard for me not too go too far. I always do a split screen with the before and after.

 

[Overread]

As the others have said there isn't really and hard fast rule for editing the colours (that I am aware of) -however most of us do have our own methods for ensuring that we don't go overboard with the settings.

Myself I tend to find that when I boost these settings as well as using layers and turning them on and off I will also try to under boost the contrast and saturation - that is to go to what I like and then tone things back from that point just a little.
In addition keep an eye on background areas - boosting saturation and contrast can lead to banding problems in background areas. With contrast also keep an eye on the extreme bright and dark points in a shot and make sure you are not dominating these areas with too much contrast.

 

[KmH]

Most people like contrasty images.

The key is the mid-tone contrast. That is what conveys dimensionality to an image.

There is a big difference between vibrancy and saturation and like mid-tone contrast vibrancy is what adds dimensionality to an image. Overdone saturation just tends to make an image look surreal.

 

[Derrel]

Most people like contrasty images.

The key is the mid-tone contrast. That is what conveys dimensionality to an image.

There is a big difference between vibrancy and saturation and like mid-tone contrast vibrancy is what adds dimensionality to an image. Overdone saturation just tends to make an image look surreal.

Surreal, and cheezy. Do not go overboard, or your image will look like a total novice processed them.

 

[Taylor510ce]

Most people like contrasty images.

The key is the mid-tone contrast. That is what conveys dimensionality to an image.

There is a big difference between vibrancy and saturation and like mid-tone contrast vibrancy is what adds dimensionality to an image. Overdone saturation just tends to make an image look surreal.

+1

Also, in terms of saturation, if you crank it up to much you will see the distortion "bleeding" that occurs, due partly to the luminosity and color data sharing the same channels ( in RGB mode ) so you inadvertantly effect the luminosity as well. Using LAB mode and curves, allows you to adjust the color independently to boost saturation more without the adverse effects as in RGB mode. The newer Vibrancy adjustment layer in
CS4 and 5 basically uses this method just in a more subtle degree. You cant max it out quite as much with the vibrancy slider if you want those really vibrant colors that are surreal. Of course I never tried layering multiple vibrancy layers.

 

[Gaerek]

I'll add that I do a lot of selective saturation changes as well. Changing global saturation can work, but it can also cause problems. Let's say you have a photo of a little girl with a bunch of bright flowers. If you bump the saturation up globally, the colors in the flowers might look good, but chances are you'll completely mess up the skin tones on the girl. Selecting each area and adjusting saturation in independent areas can help with this problem.

Really, you can't pin down hard and fast rules of how much (or how little) saturation or contrast to use. Some things look good highly saturated, and others look very cheesy. Do you have some examples of things you've shot and edited to give us an idea?

 

[Rekd]

Those fonts are cool. You should change the color to, and maybe the alignment to make it even funner to read!

Now, what was that you were saying about vibrant colors and saturation? Cuz I'm sure it's a great topic. I'm just too distracted to be able to read it all.

:lmao:
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