If colours aren’t there, can you invent them?

It’s a moral question not just a technical one! It depends on how you feel about the manipulation of ‘reality’ to create a satisfying image. The reality of this shot was that it was taken a little while before sunset with the sun still some way above the horizon, which is why it’s not in the frame, but low enough to cast specular reflections on the water and reflect off the decking on the pier. The colours, however, were mostly weak grey-blue tones as they so often are at this time of day.

I did want to experiment with a sunset ‘look’, though, and I did this by editing the image in Nik Color Efex and applying one of its Graduated Filter effects, with a rich orange tone at the top of the image and a lighter golden colour on the lower half.

It makes for a much stronger image than the original and has the look of a real image about it, even if the colour palette is artificial.

Quite apart from whether this kind of reality distortion is appropriate depends on your own sense of what’s proper in photography, this is now a very striking image. By effectively choosing my own colours I’ve created rich but narrow range of hues. You don’t need a lot of different colours to create impact; using just one or two harmonious colours can create an even stronger effect.