This is for questions, answers, and discussion of photography and image enhancement. - Joel
Saturation
Saturation refers to the intensity of the colors in a photograph. Some of us wonder why some photos, which were full of color when we saw them live, came out faded and others came out vivid. Here are a few tips for controlling the saturation of your photographs:
- If you use slide film and have control over your f-stops and shutter speed, let less light onto the film. You can do this either by closing the f-stop by one click or speeding up the shutter. For example, when showing 64 ASA Kodachrome, if the light meter suggests a setting of f5.6 at 100, you can either reset the aperture to f8 or increase the shutter speed (depending on your camera -- 200 or 250). Most photographers prefer to reset the f-stop rather than the shutter speed.
- Colors are most washed out at the middle of the day. Take photos either before 10 am or after 3 pm for the best results.
- Letting in less light by means of neutral density filters has no effect unless you adjust the f-stop or the shutter speed as above.
- When all else fails, you can control saturation in the print by using Adobe Photoshop or Jasc Paint Shop Pro. -- Joel
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