Brilliance and Warmth in Color Efex Pro 4 – Color temperature and saturation

Colors are the heart of every picture. They bring life and emotion to your photography. With the "Brilliance and Warmth" feature in Color Efex Pro 4, you have the opportunity to quickly and precisely influence the color temperature and saturation of your images. In this guide, I will show you how to use these settings to get the most out of your pictures.

Key Insights

• You can adjust the overall saturation of the image to create different moods.
• The warmth of the image can be increased or decreased to achieve different lighting effects.
• With perceptual saturation, you can specifically target warm and cool areas in your photo.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Import Your Image into Color Efex Pro 4

Before you start editing, open Color Efex Pro 4 and load the image you want to work with. Make sure you are working with an unedited image to achieve the best results.

2. Access Brilliance and Warmth

In the Color Efex Pro 4 interface, you will find the option “Brilliance and Warmth” on the left-hand side. Click on it to display the various sliders to adjust saturation and warmth.

3. Adjusting Saturation

With the saturation slider, you can influence the overall color of your image. Move the slider to the right to increase saturation and create a more vibrant image. Moving it to the left results in desaturation, which can ultimately lead to a black-and-white image.

4. Adjusting Warmth

Also on the right side, you'll find the warmth slider. By default, it is set to zero. You can move this slider to the left to produce cooler color temperatures – ideal for moody nighttime shots. Conversely, you can increase the warmth to create an image with a warm, inviting feel.

5. Using Double Click to Reset

If you are unhappy with your adjustments, you can quickly reset the warmth slider back to its original position with a double click. This allows you to experiment with different values without having to remember previous changes.

6. Perceptual Saturation

Another powerful slider is the perceptual saturation. This allows you to specifically edit warm or cool areas of your image separately. Increase this value to emphasize primarily warm hues like yellow and orange, while intensifying the cooler blue tones as well.

7. Fine-Tuning Colors

If desired, you can also reduce saturation while still working with perceptual saturation to highlight specific color contrasts. With a lower saturation value and an increase in perceptual saturation, you can achieve impressive effects even with black-and-white images.

8. Creating Contrasts

By setting the saturation all the way to zero, you achieve an image with strong contrast, where the dark and light areas are highlighted more clearly. This can create a dramatic effect that gives your image the necessary depth. Experiment with these settings to find what looks best.

9. Final Adjustments

Finally, you can try out all the variations of the sliders together to achieve the optimal result. Adjust the saturation and warmth again until the overall composition matches your desired look.

Summary – Brilliance and Warmth in Color Efex Pro 4: Effectively Adjusting Color Temperature and Saturation

Optimal use of the “Brilliance and Warmth” feature in Color Efex Pro 4 requires a sense for fine-tuning your colors. With simple adjustments to saturation and warmth, you can unleash the emotional potential of your images.