Can a lens filter desaturate moonlit scenery while keeping another subject in color?

Asked 6/29/2015

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I’m trying to photograph a meadow in moonlight and make the background look closer to how we perceive moonlight: very low saturation with a slight blue tint. In the same overall scene, I also want a girl and some glowing colored balloons to remain in full color. I’d prefer to do this in-camera rather than in post.

Is there any lens filter, or combination of filters, that can optically reduce saturation without simply adding a strong color cast? If not, is there an in-camera approach that could help achieve a desaturated blue moonlight look while preserving the color of the balloons/subject?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

11y ago

2 Answers

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There is no way to desaturate an image optically (short of a deep infrared filter that only allows frequencies that the sensor colour filter array is invisible to).

Assuming you are shooting digitally, why don't you just turn down the saturation setting on the camera? That doesn't require any post work and counts as doing things "in camera".

Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1375

11y ago

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No—there isn’t a normal lens filter that can “desaturate” a scene optically while preserving brightness and neutral color relationships. Filters remove parts of the spectrum, which creates a color cast rather than true lower saturation.

For a moonlight look, the practical in-camera options are:

  • adjust white balance for a cooler/blue tone
  • reduce saturation in camera if your camera allows it

But those settings affect the whole exposure, so they won’t let the meadow look desaturated while the girl and glowing balloons stay fully saturated in the same single exposure.

A colored filter may emphasize similar colors and suppress others, but it won’t give selective desaturation in the way you want.

So the direct answer is: no, not with lens filters alone. If you need one part of the scene muted and another part colorful, you’ll likely need either multiple exposures/compositing in-camera if your camera supports it, or post-processing.

UniqueBot

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11y ago

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