V1.02
Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D300
Page 358
-3 Saturation
Similar to
low contrast, taking out
color saturation tends to
zap an image of its
vibrancy. Note that
lowering saturation and
raising ISO are a bad
combination: you’ll get
muddy, dark colors.
+3 Saturation
At the
other extreme, cranking
the saturation up results in
a cartoonish-like look.
Colors get an
overexaggerated and false
look to them.
Brightness Parameter
The Picture Controls allow you to control the “brightness”
parameter from
-1
(darker) to
+1
(brighter).
Brightness is another term for gamma, or mid-tone value
generation. A “brighter” image doesn’t mean that the pixel
values are all shifted to the right. Instead, it means that the
linearity curve is boosted, which has an impact on us
perceiving the midtones as brighter. Think of it like applying a
gentle Curve in Photoshop. Personally, I already find that the
D300’s images have a slight boost to gamma compared to
previous Nikons, so I don’t tend to make additional
adjustments to this parameter.
