Landscapessingwhenyouapplytherightamountofcolour–or none at all
Colour interpretations
Whenitcomestoprocessinglandscapeshots,
therearemanydifferentoptions.Infact,it
seemsthateveryphotographerhasaspecial
techniqueorpluginthatcreatesthemagicfor
them.Whilethesetechniquesandpluginsare
great,thereisn’tasingleapproachthatwill
workforeveryphoto.Butthat’sgood,because
creativephotographyisn’taboutusing
someoneelse’spresets,it’saboutexploringa
photographyourselfandproducinganimage
thatmeanssomethingtoyou.
Forinstance,whenitcomestocolour,some
peoplelikeadesaturated,almostfadedcolour
palette,whileothersarehappierwithstrong,
vibrantcoloursthatwillknockyoursocksoff!
It’snotthatoneapproachisrightorwrong,butdifferentapproachescancommunicate
differentfeelingstoyourviewers.Andthat’s
themagicwe’replayingwith.
Oneofthefirstadjustmenttoolswe
meetwhenplayingwithcolourisHSL(hue,
saturation,lightness),butthemainreason
HSLisusedistocontrolcoloursaturation.
However,tuckedawayintheHSLdialogue
istheabilitytocontrolcolourchannels
independently,soyoucanenhancejustthe
redswithoutaffectingthegreens–even
adjustingtheprecisehueandlightnessatthe
sametime.
However,colourisn’ttheonlygame
intown.There’sawonderfulhistoryof
landscapephotographyinblackandwhite.Byremovingcolour from our compositions,
landscapesbecome all about shape and form,
concentratingon the graphic nature of our
subjects–aswe discovered in Issue 223.
Thechallengefor black and white
photographersis how the different colours are
convertedintomonochromatic tones. If you
simplydesaturate your file (as you can in the
HSLdialogue),you get a default conversion
thatmightnotbe particularly exciting. This
iswhythemulti-channelled black and white
convertersareso popular, because they
enableyoutoset different colours lighter or
darker,givingyou full creative control.
There’salotof potential in the worlds of
colourandblack and white.How doesHSLwork?
1
Usemasteror
channelsMuch
ofHSL’spowerisin
itschannels.While
youcanmakeHSL
adjustmentstothe
wholeimage(with
thedefaultmaster
channel),youcanadjustcoloursindividually
usingachannel.Youcouldmakeredsmore
saturated,withoutaffectingothercolours.2
Usesaturation
Forlandscape
photographers,
saturationisthe
most-usedslider.
Pushingittoofarwill
makethingslook
unrealistic,buta
moderateincreasewillgivethelandscape
morevibrance.Oryoucansaturateor
desaturateonechannelatatime.3
Hueand
lightnessHue
and lightness aren’t
always so useful for
overall changes to
landscapes, as all
the hues can get
mixed up. However,
thesesliderscan be useful when changing
singleorsimilarcolours (channels), either
adjustingthehue or its lightness.Hue,saturationandlightnesscanchangethetonesof landscapes
Left
HSLtotherescue
Themasterchannel was used to increase the
overallcoloursaturation, followed by adjusting
theredchannelalone, where the reds on the
mountainpeakswere made more scarlet and
darkeneddownslightly as wellAbove
Needssomething more
Ifyouwanttochange the colour balance of an
image,HSLisnot the right tool, but if you want
toaddsomecolour saturation, HSL can edit
bothindividualchannels and overall colourAFTER BEFORE
TECHNIQUES