Dallas Wedding Photographers - Understanding Saturation

When first learning the art of photography, all of the different terms can be confusing, especially the terms that have a different meaning outside of the word of pictures. A good example of this is saturation. Normally, saturation means that something has absorbed the maximum amount of a liquid that it can hold. A saturated sponge has absorbed a lot of water, and when the air is saturated it begins to rain. When referring to saturation in photos, the word takes on a slightly different meaning.





When thinking of white light, we often think that it has no color. The fact is, white light is actually a combination of all colors. A white object is actually reflecting all colors at our eyes (or a camera) equally. If an object is blue, it means that it is reflecting the blue light at us, while absorbing all the other colors. That’s the reason a white shirt is cooler on a sunny day than a black shirt; a white shirt reflects all the light, while a black one absorbs it all.





When talking about saturation in colors, the term is referring to the amount of light that gets reflected by the objects in the picture. If something is extremely orange, than that means that it is reflecting a lot of orange light, so it is highly saturated. If, on the other hand, the object is a dull or dim shade of orange, than it is less saturated, which means that it is absorbing some of the orange light as well as all the other colors. When referring to the saturation of a photo, it simply means the vividness of the colors in the photo. A photo with a lot of vibrant colors is considered a "high saturation" photo, while a photo with less colors or a lot of black and gray areas is considered "low saturation." Dallas wedding photographers will usually end up with photos that have a lot of saturation, but occasionally you may want less.





One of the reasons Dallas wedding photographers use digital cameras is the fact that you can edit the saturation of a photo after you take it. With film cameras, you used to choose film based on the amount of saturation that you want to achieve. Now you can adjust your camera settings or use a photo editing software to get exactly the level of saturation for which you’re aiming.