The Colorful Story of Desaturation
photo and story by Olivier Garand
People often ask me the how I produce images with a my signature desaturated look. No way! I won’t reveal any post production secret. Simply because there is no secret there since the truth is elsewhere. This picture was taken early in the evening with a 50mm 1.8, aperture priority, 1/1000, in raw mode. I was watching the young lady playing with the leaf, passing it from one hand to the other… just waited a minute for the girl to forget me and without really thinking of it I shot.
Further, as to do some of those pics i must wait for the light to decrease in intensity and put the 50 mm/1.8 or a 28-75/2.8 at their larger aperture. But producing desaturated images forces to proceed as one would do it in black and white. So, one must think mid-color before clicking the shutter. That’s the key for me, the one thing to remember … think before and not during the shot, then you can go through photoshop or your preferred editing program with the levels and curves.
Olivier Garand posts his photos on flickr here. He has been posting to flickr since 2005, and resides in Lyon France.
