Driftwood tipi

[Manfred M]

I watched the original version of Apocalypse Now on Netflix last night, and I couldn't help noticing how scene after scene is "bathed" in red or orange, so I take this to show that sometimes a heavy colour cast is the professional choice.

Colour grading made its way into photography from the film industry and they do a lot of funky things. They've done all kinds of funky things in film even in the old days when some directors effectively bleached their films before printing to get them that washed out look.

If you see and old movie with credits for Colour Timing, this is where modern colour grading started. "Colorist" was another common term used for the person doing the colour grading. Now this is all digitally. I use a tool called Magic Bullet (from Red Giant) for video work.

The difference between a colour cast and colour grading is that colour grading is done AFTER the image has been colour corrected to be neutral. The highlights, mid-tones and shadows are graded separated, usually with either colours in the same tone family or complementary colours.

As I've said before, this type of colour work represents the photographer's opinion. As we all know, opinions differ...

[xpatUSA]

<> Coincidentally, I watched the original version of Apocalypse Now on Netflix last night, and I couldn't help noticing how scene after scene is "bathed" in red or orange, so I take this to show that sometimes a heavy colour cast is the professional choice.

Excellent!

One evening my front yard had that look - the overcast was lit by the sinking sun which turned the clearing an eerie orange. By the time I got my camera the effect was almost gone but here's how the clouds looked, even then:



Well, the EXIF shows the WB to be "Custom", so who knows how those clouds really looked?!

[purplehaze]

Well, the EXIF shows the WB to be "Custom", so who knows how those clouds really looked?!

LOL. I can so relate.

[bambleweeney]

All nice images. I have a slight preference for the light in #2 and #3 and I might up the exposure just a tad in #1 but ... all lovely

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Paul.

I went back to this today and incorporated a number of your suggestions in a fresh variant. I also cleaned up the edges.



Have been going back and forth a lot on this one. Time to turn to something else.

[mugge]

I suspect that the cinemaphotographer and director wanted a technically incorrect colour cast for symbolic effect. Just a thought.
Cheers Ole

[purplehaze]

You are quite right that the colour is symbolic, Ole. The cinematographer, Vittorio Storaro, is quite deliberate about his use of colour.

From the Wikipedia article I linked to above: "His philosophy is largely inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's theory of colors, which focuses in part on the psychological effects that different colors have and the way in which colors influence our perceptions of different situations."

I am not sure that the orange in the scenes I was referring to is technically incorrect. Some of them are lit by fire, which is reflected in the visible surfaces, and hence they appear to be "bathed" in orange. My point is that, whether true to nature or not, "bathing" a scene in a given colour is a valid aesthetic choice. That said, I will grant that my execution leaves much to be desired.

[purplehaze]

Just thought I should share with you the results of one of my early dalliances with Luminar 4, to compare with what I had done with the same image in Capture One. (#2). The AI features are really quite astonishing.

#5

[Wavelength]

Waaw...so enchanting...

[pschlute]

Really like that latest version

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Peter and Nandakumar.

Here's a rework in Luminar of #1, starting with a Daylight WB.



Uh, oh. I think my head is starting to spin again...