amfoto1 wrote:
Looking at your images on my calibrated monitor, they don't appear particularly over-saturated. Is your monitor calibrated?
It wouldn't be possible in either of your examples, but one possible "solution" is to look for subjects in the shade. Full sun creates strong contrast and high saturation. Shaded subjects will tend to be "blue" and cool on clear days, when the light source is the blue sky and not direct sun. You can use a custom white balance or adjust RAW files in post processing to counteract this.
Using a Circular Polarizer will, if anything, increase saturation! On an overcast or moderately cloudy day, in particular, the white of clouds will reflect off foliage and greatly reduce saturation. The C-Pol reduces that reflection and lets the true color of the foliage show.
Here's are some examples. Both the images below were shot in shade. The left hand shot was done on an overcast day, so I used a C-Pol on my lens to reduce reflection and "enrich" the colors, but even so there's still quite a bit of reflection off some of the leaf surfaces....
https://live.staticflickr.com/6091/6364490937_384b473d76_o.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/8076/8303948063_ce2f789a88_o.jpg
The right hand shot above was done with a different lens and I didn't use a C-Pol. But the main difference is that the it was a clear blue-sky day, which causes the image to be cooler. Compare the reds in the two images, in particular...
Time of day can be very important. Late afternoon and early morning sunlight are much "nicer" than midday sun, in most cases.
Compare these similar shots where the "warmer" one was done later in the day...
https://live.staticflickr.com/8330/8117305504_e28d0b7548_z.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/8193/8117303616_a1b694ab9f_z.jpg
Both the above were shot after a rain shower, which makes for clearer air and can boost the saturation of a scene.
Below are a couple more shots of a similar subject that were done at different times of day. It's pretty obvious which was done late afternoon, isn't it?
https://live.staticflickr.com/4841/46294393322_a94bf5fc34_b.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/5030/5735118686_ac10184e42_o.jpg
I know for certain I used a C-Pol for the second of the two shots above. I'm not sure if I did for the first one, which was taken some years prior.
All the following were shot in shade:
https://live.staticflickr.com/5149/5601622244_9db24600e7_o.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/8028/7314420430_c1be67fea0_z.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/7097/7314451566_ffea73ac47_z.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/7061/7012015859_06380a2bf2_z.jpg
The first of the four shots above was done with fill flash. All the others used only available light. All were done with a tripod, too. For some that was necessary due to the length of the exposure. The orchid was shot indoors, in fact, near a window with lovely "North light".
All the following were shot in full sun or even back lit by full sun:
https://live.staticflickr.com/5125/5283068575_5d2187dd6f_z.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/8345/8227381557_71abcb0431_z.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/5063/5633942316_2acc010754.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/8210/8228451336_1961738249.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/6179/6144045867_6149f2bee6_o.jpg
In some cases I've used a diffusion panel held above the subject, to reduce the glare of the sun. I don't think I did that with any of the above and am not sure I have any images uploaded where I used that technique.
I always go for a realistic rendition of an image... but as I remember it, which may be somewhat exaggerated. For example, the last shot above of the yellow rose bud, I was trying for a soft, and sort of "painterly, chairoscuro" effect. To do that I deliberately used a non-macro 50mm lens at a fairly large aperture, which I knew would produce soft corners and have a lot of vignetting when force to focus closer than it's designed to, by fitting a macro extension tube behind it.
There are times when you shouldn't use any filter of any type on a lens... such as shooting with the sun very close to or within the image area. To make the following, I made a point of not fitting any filter (a C-Pol would have had little to no polarizing effect anyway, but might have reduced reflections I wanted in the image, in this case)...
https://live.staticflickr.com/5004/5344128721_f67f38bd61_o.jpg
Finally, be sure to use a lens hood. That will help keep stray or oblique light off your lens, which can cause "veiling flare" that reduces overall color and even can create artifacts and ghosts in images.
Hope this helps!
Looking at your images u on my calibrated monitor... (
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