For the last few months I’ve progressively become more attached with a certain look that is warm and desaturated.
It all started with this shot of my buddy Travis taken in Brooklyn:
It was taken very late in the day at the golden hour, where the sunlight was very orange. The light was far too warm for my white balance setting. When editing the photo later, I fixed the white balance, but I found that I liked the shot better if I just desaturated the image enough to balance the skin tones. Everything else just popped.
I started using this technique with other shots and really started to like the look. It has a very surreal quality, but in a subtle way. Most people will notice that something is different, but they can’t say exactly what.
The colors are still present at consistent levels, but the blues and greens get washed out. The reds and yellows stick out.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m pushing this look too far. After all, it does look unnatural.
I like it so much that I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.
