Controlling Vividness: Saturation

Saturation controls the vividness of colors.

—Photographs Taking

Option

Normal (default)

Moderate Enhanced

Description

Normal vividness. Recommended for most situations.

Reduced vividness. Use when taking pictures that will later be retouched by computer.

Increased vividness. Use for vivid, photoprint effect when taking pictures that will be printed “as is,” without further modification.

Images Optimizing

Controlling Color: Hue Adjustment

Hue can be adjusted in the range of about –9 ° to +9 ° in increments of 3 °. If red is taken as the starting color, raising hue above 0 ° (the default setting) would introduce a yellow cast, making colors that would be red at a setting of 0 ° appear increasingly orange. Lowering hue below 0 ° would introduce a blue cast, making colors that would be red at a setting of 0 ° appear in- creasingly purple.

Hue

The RGB color model used in digital photographs reproduces colors using differing amounts of red, green, and blue light. By mixing two colors of light, a variety of different colors can be produced. For example, red combined with a small amount of green light produces orange. If red and green are mixed in equal amounts, yellow results, while a smaller amount of red produces a yellow green. Mixing different amounts of red and blue light produces colors ranging from a reddish purple through purple to navy, while mixing different amounts of green and blue light produces colors ranging from emerald to turquoise. (Adding a third color of light results in lighter hues; if all three are mixed in equal amounts, the results range from white through gray.) When this progression of hues is arranged in a circle, the result is known as a color wheel.

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