A matter of saturation

[GreenOne]

Hi Y\'all, here is something I would want to be enlightened about, it\'s a very popular term recently, desaturated, and I wonder, what\'s up with that? I can recognize it, and I feel it would be in line with the style i\'m trying to find.
But I don\'t know what the word really mean, has it just got to do with the color used, is it a technique, a way of dealing with the paints ?
When someone mention using a desaturated color, is it written \'desaturated purple\' on the label, are some base colors desaturated and some not, or maybe you need to do something with the paint to desaturate it.
My understanding so far is that it refers to the proportion of chromatic pigments opposed to non-chromatic ( Ex. red and grey.) but I may be way off.
For myself, I am quite saturated of dealing with a word without knowing what it means so that\'s why I am asking here :duh:

 

[matty1001]

Saturation is the purity of the colour. Saturation levels describe a colours tendancy to move towards or away from grey. At full saturation the colour contains no grey. And at lower saturation colours contain increasing amounts of grey which result in subdued, muted and dull colours.

But it does not imply the darkness/lightness of a colour, that is controlled by the value of the colour, which is achieved by adding white or black. Mixed with white you get a tint, mixed with black you get a shade.

Alot of people get these two mixed up and often think they are similar, but they are both independant colour theorys.

See....college hasn\'t been a waste of time! :beer:

 

[GreenOne]

Thanks
That\'s pretty much what I taught it\'s nice to be fixed on the question.

See....college hasn\'t been a waste of time!

That\'s is if you choose to take art classes and paid attention

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by GreenOne
Hi Y\'all, here is something I would want to be enlightened about, it\'s a very popular term recently, desaturated, and I wonder, what\'s up with that?

Buzzword. Like with zenithal lighting, when it became in vogue you saw it mentioned lots; less now.

Anyway, basic definitions:
Desaturated = duller = closer to neutral* = lower in chroma.
Saturated = more vivid = \'purer\' colour = higher in chroma.

*Neutral, not grey. A very light colour can be unsaturated because it\'s close to white and not being something you\'d look at and think \"greyish\"; pastel colours are a good example here.

There is a more precise definition of saturation (which is distinct from chroma really) but this\'ll give you the general idea.

Originally posted by matty1001
But it does not imply the darkness/lightness of a colour, that is controlled by the value of the colour, which is achieved by adding white or black. Mixed with white you get a tint, mixed with black you get a shade.

Quite right about value, but I feel we should be clear here that this is really closeness to white or black - doesn\'t have to be achieved in paint by actually using white or black.

Originally posted by matty1001
Alot of people get these two mixed up and often think they are similar, but they are both independant colour theorys.

Colour attributes or dimensions, not theories.

Einion

 

[matty1001]

Originally posted by Einion

Originally posted by matty1001
Alot of people get these two mixed up and often think they are similar, but they are both independant colour theorys.

Colour attributes or dimensions, not theories.

Smart Arse

 

[GreenOne]

Thanks for the prscision Einion.

Like you said, buzzword. I don\'t think it\'s something new, but I think more people been using the style and the term recently.

 

[multimeltaman]

Hi!
Yes Mr Bean is alright:
desaturate meens that you added grey to your colour. It changed its purity in pigments. However if you take a colour with a certain lightness and dessaturate it, it will still be at the same lightness.

Bye and sorry for words mixing lol

 

[Avelorn]

I think people like me use it because it\'s the term used in photoshop and photography.. And it\'s more value-neutral then other terms might be imo.