The ninth essential creative option is the hue/color tone control.
The hue (sometimes called color tone) mixes yellow or red in to your image. This gives you the important option of changing the ‘color’ of the colors you are shooting. For a clearer view of what that means, think of something yellow like a banana. Now, visualize what that yellow banana would look like if you were to add red to it, then a bit of yellow. Both would still be considered yellow, it’s just that one would have more red in it than the other.
This is what a change of hue/color tone offers. It changes the ‘color’ of the colors you are shooting. It’s most often used to correct skin tones, but creative shooters can also use it to pinpoint specific types of colors they’re going for. It’s especially powerful when combined with your white balance and tint options.
The Hue Control
The Hue (Color Tone) Control
Most DLSRs offer seven levels of control for the Hue/Color Tone setting, from [-3] to [+3] with a neutral (0) setting resting in the middle. When set to the minus side, more red will be mixed into your image. When set on the plus side, more yellow will be mixed into your image.
Adjusting the Hue Setting
Hue and Color Tone Setting
The Hue/Color Tone control is usually mapped (located) with the character options (contrast, saturation, sharpening) and is often found near the bottom.
To find the Hue control, you may have to maneuver through several menus. In Rod’s Nikon, for instance, it takes three steps. In my Canon it also takes three steps.
Nikon – Hue
- Find Picture Control
- Choose Picture Profile
- Choose Hue Setting
Canon – Color Tone
- Find Picture Style
- Choose Picture Profile
- Choose Color Tone Setting
Check your camera manual to discover the route to your Color Tone control now.
To change the setting, simply move the highlighted icon either to the left or to the right. On most DSLR cameras, moving it to the left mixes red into your image, while moving it to the right mixes yellow into your image.
Hue/Color Tone Comparison
While in the field, we will often ask our new students to shoot extreme variations of character and supporting features to familiarize them with their options. What follows are a few comparison Hue/Color Tone examples. The left images have as much red mixed in as possible, while the right images have as much yellow mixed in as possible.
Click on an image to launch the slideshow.
Next: Essential Creative Option #10 – The Contrast Setting
This is post #12 of 16 of In Camera Magic: The 12 Essential Creative Options, a free online photography course for creating spectacular images right in the camera.