FAKE A SUNSET
Warm it up
In the Folders window browse to our supplied sunset_start.NEF. Then go to
the White Balance tab in the Edit panel. Drag Color Temperature to 8000
to warm up the shot. Then add a warmer hue by dragging the Tint slider
towards the magenta end of the scale.
Modify size and colour
In the Color Control Point panel increase the Size slider to 90 to
colourize a wider area. Drop Brightness to -24 for richer colours and
then push Contrast up to 60 for more harsh backlit shadows. Increase
Saturation to 30 for a vibrant sunset.
Add Control Points
Click on the Control Points icon in the toolbar. Click to sample the
middle of the blue sky. In the Color Control Point panel click the Color
Picker icon and choose a sunset orange. Close the Color Swatch box.
This adds a warm hue to the sampled sky.Add a sun
Click to place a second Control Point to create the sun effect. Set the
Color Picker to white. Drop the Size slider to 6 and then increase the
Brightness slider to 65. Push Contrast to 80 to gradually burn out
the centre of your brand-new sun.1
3
2
4
Expert Tip
MORE CONTROLBy default each Color Control
Point gives you three sliders
to work with: B (Brightness),
C (Contrast) and S (Saturation).
If you click the black triangle
below the Control Point you can
summon extra sliders that enable
you to adjust H (Hue) and W
(Warmth). You can also use extra
sliders to independently adjust
R, G, B channels and produce
more dramatic changes to the
Color Control Point’s sampledColour temperature
When snapping this tutorial’s start
file we set our Nikon’s White Balance
preset to Auto to help it capture
accurate colours in daylight. This
caused the camera to set the White
Balance to an average midday colour
temperature value of 5252 degrees
Kelvin. At this setting our start file’s
whites are free from warm or cold
colour casts. We then adjusted
Capture NX-D’s WB Color Temperature
and Tint sliders to deliberately add
a warmer colour cast to the shot to
complement the Control Point’s
sunset effects.