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Photography vocabulary · Editing & Retouching

Saturation

Meaning in photography, with examples

/ˌsætʃəˈreɪʃən/nounCommon term

In photography, saturation means: How strong and intense the colors in an image are. Zero saturation gives black and white; very high saturation looks loud and unnatural.

In Turkish: doygunluk, renk doygunluğu

How it is used

A standard slider in editing software, often next to vibrance, which boosts muted colors more gently and protects skin tones. You increase or reduce the saturation. Oversaturated is a common criticism in photo reviews.

Example sentences

  1. The grass looks fake; bring the saturation down a little.

  2. Use vibrance instead of saturation so the skin doesn't turn orange.

Common collocations

  • increase the saturation
  • reduce the saturation
  • oversaturated colors
  • saturation slider
  • contrastThe difference between the light and dark areas of an image. High contrast has deep blacks and bright whites; low contrast looks flatter and softer.
  • color gradingAdjusting the colors and tones of photos to create a particular mood or style, for example warm highlights with cool shadows.
  • black and whiteMade only of shades of gray from black to white, without any color. Also called monochrome.
  • editTo improve photos after the shoot by adjusting things like exposure, color and cropping, and to choose which images to keep.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Editing & Retouching

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