Achieving a subtle/muted colour pallette

sirch

sirch

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There is a style of processing which I guess has a muted/soft/subtle colour palette (dare I use the word “pastel”) which I really like, Nadav Kander’s landscape work is an example. I would like to develop my own style along these lines but having had a dabble with channel levels, split toning, HSL, etc. I am struggling to create something which is subtle but retains details and doesn’t look like an over-processed mess. I’m not looking for a preset or whatever, I want to understand how to achieve the “look” from the ground up so that I can develop my own style.

It’s proving to be a difficult thing to find much information on via Google so I thought I would ask on here for hints and tips. Any suggestions where to start? Is it all in the processing or is it dependent to some extent on the original image, lighting levels, etc.?
 
A muted colour palette will suit some images and I do this myself but I have no concerns about using one of my Topaz filters when I want to do this. Nor do I use exactly the same filter effect each time but select to suit based on my visual judgement. I do capture a wide variety of subjects and genres so this effect will only suit a few. I choose my process for each image individually. So you might think I had no identifiable style and I certainly do not aim to have a style. However most the members of my camera club can recognise my images and claim there is a style. Equally, I can recognise styles in other club members. Style is certainly not using a particular process but covers much more such as choice of subject, lighting, lens choice, perspective, treatment etc. In fact it is very complicated as for portraits, the way you interface with the subject makes a huge difference. I recommend just being a good photographer and aiming to produce images to please yourself. It sound as if you would like to experiment which is fine. If you do this and forget about developing a style, you will find that others start remarking on your style.

Dave
 
One approach you could take is to find a preset or 2 that gets some of the way, then dissect it to understand how it achieved that look and build your own based on the new knowledge. You aren't copying anyone, but you will benefit from what they have discovered (probably also learned from others too).
 
The HSL slider in LR is a useful tool as it allows you to control the hue, saturation and luminance of the colours in your image. It gives you ultimate flexibility.

"Muting" a colour could mean several things. Do you want it less "bright" in which case it's luminance needs to go down. Or less "colourful" in which case it's saturation. More likely it's a combination of both. Split toning will apply a hue change to all the colours - so it can be a bit of a sledgehammer approach - esp if you're in LR and not going into PS to start masking things (although LR is getting better at masking with the adjustment brush).

It goes back to the "what are you trying to achieve" place I think. If you know what you're trying to do you stand a much better chance of getting there than if you don't - both in camera before you take the photo as well as afterwards. Because playing with sliders to get to that "ah, that looks nice" moment takes a while, but importantly, may not work for every image. And that's when you become style-less because it's a "poke & hope" approach to processing. If your approach is "I want a cold feel to my images/this series/project" then you're working on colours with that always in mind. But you should be working on your images with that in mind too. It's going to me much harder working on a "cold" project when your subject is wearing a red jumper, a yellow necktie and a jolly smile, than someone in a black t shirt with a neutral expression. Or working on a gorgeously sunny landscape when perhaps overcast would work better.

To use a film adage, if you've got Velvia in your camera, there are some pictures you wouldn't bother with. Same goes for HP5.
Apologies if I missed the point of the post... Got a bit carried away... :)
 
Nadav Kander's landscape work was shot on 5x4 (I'm talking about Yangtze and Dust) so there's a certain tonality that can't really be achieved with smaller formats, but a good starting point would be to have a lower contrast overall and don't clip the highlights and shadows. You're looking to emulate a somewhat neutral film stock like Portra or Fuji NPH. Shadows can be toned a little green in the camera calibration section of Lightroom. Also a major component would be the lighting on the day itself, overcast/smog filled days work best as the scenes will be inherently lower in contrast/shadows aren't as clearly defined. Here are two examples I've shot that were heavily influenced by Nadav Kander, the first was shot on an iPhone (which is why the blacks are a little more clipped than I'd like) at the Barbican and the second in Milan with a Ricoh GR on a very sunny day:

Example1.jpg

Example2.jpg
 
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andrewp said:
Try this video:
Click to expand...

He makes some good points in the first half of the video regarding the tonality in the movies, the HSL stuff is pretty much what I have been doing, I guess I just need more practice.
 
FruitFlakes said:
Nadav Kander's landscape work was shot on 5x4 (I'm talking about Yangtze and Dust) so there's a certain tonality that can't really be achieved with smaller formats, but a good starting point would be to have a lower contrast overall and don't clip the highlights and shadows. You're looking to emulate a somewhat neutral film stock like Portra or Fuji NPH. Shadows can be toned a little green in the camera calibration section of Lightroom. Also a major component would be the lighting on the day itself, overcast/smog filled days work best as the scenes will be inherently lower in contrast/shadows aren't as clearly defined. Here are two examples I've shot that were heavily influenced by Nadav Kander, the first was shot on an iPhone (which is why the blacks are a little more clipped than I'd like) at the Barbican and the second in Milan with a Ricoh GR on a very sunny day:

View attachment 247090

View attachment 247091
Click to expand...


I know that Kander uses 4x5, I shoot some myself but am too mean to shell out for colour film a £5 per sheet :) I also shoot 120 (6x6) fairly regualrly but even then it's not always the look I am after. That second shot is the kind of thing I am getting at do you mind sharing some details about how you processed it? Or is it a function of the Ricoh?
 
sirch said:
I know that Kander uses 4x5, I shoot some myself but am too mean to shell out for colour film a £5 per sheet :) I also shoot 120 (6x6) fairly regualrly but even then it's not always the look I am after. That second shot is the kind of thing I am getting at do you mind sharing some details about how you processed it? Or is it a function of the Ricoh?
Click to expand...

Assuming you're using Lightroom:

Back off a lot on the contrast (on this particular file it's at -47) pull down the highlights and whites (-71 and -40), push the shadows +25, pull the blacks -23. These adjustments can be achieved with curves as well but the general principle is that you're pulling the extreme shadows and highlights closer towards the middle.

White balance is a little on the warmer side (my own taste), tint is slightly green. Colour adjustments are done with HSL (generally just mute anything that's standing out too much), and finally I tinted the shadows a little greener in the calibration panel. I noticed that the building had lots of orange detailing so I went for green which would contrast with that detail, as well as have a side benefit of toning down the red light being reflected up by the pinkish floor.

You can then lift the blacks a little with a curve to achieve a slight fade, I find that this actually looks a bit like a handmade colour darkroom print scanned in on a flatbed.

Finally I corrected the perspective and cropped to 5:4

Here's a before and after:
Screenshot 2019-06-07 at 14.05.33.jpg
 
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