Color Toning

When you change the colors in a picture to get a different effect, that’s color toning, also called color grading. For instance, making a photo sepia-colored suggests an old photo from a different time.

Photographers use color toning to create a mood. When you take pictures in town at night, the overall effect is often too yellow because of street and store lighting, so the photographer cools it down by introducing more blues.

I haven’t done much yet with color toning, but I had occasion to try it on a recent picture. This is a nice pic of an eastern phoebe. Nothing’s been done to this but cropping.

I liked it just fine after processing, but the background was too green for me. I wanted to change it to something that better complemented the bird and buds. I did it by changing the hue of the primary background color, which was green.

The change is subtle, but I think it’s an improvement. The photo is warmer and better balanced.

I liked this so much, I plan to do more of it in the future.

Here are other recent pics I’ve taken. On my way home after a photo session, I saw these chickens running around near the road. This female is a barred Plymouth rock.

She was hanging around with a leghorn rooster.

What can I tell you? I like chickens. They may not be overly bright, but they’re fun to watch, provide you with farm-fresh eggs, and if you are in need of a hearty meal, they are good for dinner. If allowed to range, they’ll keep your place clean of unwanted insects, because chickens eat anything. Make sure you lock them up every night, though; predators love them, too.

Saw my first cardinal of the year!

Gray catbirds, so-called because their native call sounds like meowing, are related to mockingbirds and thrashers. Like them, they also copy the songs of other birds. You can’t see it in this pic, but the feathers under the tail are rust-colored. They’re about the size of a cardinal.

See you next time.