Workshop: Chroma

I really love Ben Thomas's Chroma work, which makes me think of 1950s Americana, funfairs and the colour palette in Edward Scissorhands. Whilst I was busy procrastinating, I followed the easiest tutorial I could find and had a go, to see if I could turn a dull photograph into something much more dynamic.

In Lightroom, it's a case of adjusting the tone and colours via the HSL panel and also in the camera calibration panel. By over exaggerating the blue, red, yellow and orange the candy-factor can be increased dramatically.

The final step is to adjust the white balance as desired.

I attempted this on a portrait but the outcome was far less successful. The rich yellowy-pink tones don't work on skin, producing an almost comic-book effect.

Flattering level: 0

I am quite partial to the effect, though, so applied the process to other photographs.

View from Tate Modern

This is an effect where subtlety is not required.

I've shown this version with a person cropped out, as the skin was an almost lobster shade of pink.

This style of editing could be used to create a picture-postcard effect.