Desat - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

06/08/2005 03:22:21 PM · #1

Do you feel that desaturation is being overdone ?
comments either way welcome.

rlinn3

Nikon D100

06/08/2005 03:28:20 PM · #2

Just so you know, I am not a big fan of desat in pics, I find it annoying and way over used. That being said, IMHO the red pops way to much for me. I would tone it down some.

faidoi

Pentax K10D

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

06/08/2005 03:29:39 PM · #3

Desaturation is best used to bring someone's eyes toward something that the photographer may want the viewers attention on. Same as rules of third, leading lines, dof, etc, if used effectively a photographers idea can be conveyed.

Unfortunately some people don't like the gimmicky look :(

Message edited by author 2005-06-08 15:31:16.

06/08/2005 03:37:16 PM · #4

I take your point on the red being a little loud Robert.
Welland, good comments, I was trying to emphasise the wellies and the little boy in bare feet, maybe it hasn't worked as I planned.
Maybe totally B/W ?

added sig.( don't know why it keeps disappearing :)

Message edited by author 2005-06-08 15:38:08.

DjFenzl

06/08/2005 03:47:43 PM · #5

personally I'm not a big fan of desaturated pictures. For me it causes my attention to focus on that one spot and one spot only thus negating the rest of the image to a certain degree. In my opinion a good photograph should be weighted and evaluated as a whole and this makes it difficult to do. I think it's much better to have the composition lead the eye more naturally to the places you'd like people to look.

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon

06/08/2005 04:00:26 PM · #6

Originally posted by peecee:

Do you feel that desaturation is being overdone ?
comments either way welcome.

or this?

DjFenzl

06/08/2005 05:00:21 PM · #7

I prefer the second. I still look at the boots - but I look at the boots because my eye follows the shape of the person. I see more of the image in the second one because my eye moves more around the picture but ultimately I find myself landing on the boots.

dockode

06/08/2005 05:06:59 PM · #8

I do like that second one better...

Kavey

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

06/08/2005 05:47:15 PM · #9

Selective desaturation for me only works in images where the item left in colour is clearly the main focal point of the image and the desat actually adds something to my appreciation of the content of the image.

Here's a good example:

The green is TOO oversaturated for my taste BUT what I like about this is that the selective desaturation here actually supports what I'm seeing in the image - a lone sentinel of organic life in a lifeless stone world. Taking the colour away from the stone buildings and leaving it only in that organic tree exaggerates the difference between living and non-living.

In your image the boots draw the eye so immediately and so strongly that it's hard to move the eyes from them to even notice the little boy at the edge of the frame, infact I only noticed him when I deliberately started looking around the image in order to offer more feedback. There doesn't seem to be any added value to the story provided by directing my attention to the boots above all else.