Experimenting with Desaturation

Misty Storr

Over the past week or two I have been very focused on tidying out my Lightroom Catalog, or should I say catalogs.  Over the years since I started using Lightroom I had managed to create a complete buarach of copies of images.  I began the process by consolidating all my images into one single catalog, containing over 21,000 images, many of which were duplicates.  I gradually worked through them all and now have just over 4,000 left.  It took a great deal of courage to finally press the delete button and remove the discarded images once and for all.  No doubt I will discover that I have lost a few by mistake but I feel strangely elated at having completed the task.

One interesting aspect of going through all your old images is that you see how you have progressed in terms of post-processing of the RAW images.  In some cases I know I could do much better now, but many still stand up to scrutiny I think.  As a result though, I decided to take ten of my favourite images and try an alternative approach to their processing.  I chose to experiment with a more desaturated look.  I feel that too often one gets subconciously into a habit of over processing and creating highly saturated and contrasty images.  While this can add drama and punch to your work, it can also become a bit predictable.  Anyway, here are the results of my little experiment and I would welcome feedback via the comments option below.

Anglers at Sunset, Achnahaird Beach

Old Croft House, Drumbuie

Liathach from Loch Clair

Old Boat, Plockton

Crannog Sunrise, Loch Achaidh na h-Inich

Old Bridge at Cluanie

Letter Box, Plockton

Red Roofed Cottage by Loch Torridon

Bla Bheinn from Loch Cille Chriosd