We’ve already looked at how changing your camera’s white balance setting will change the way it records colours, but there are other ways of modifying its response. Almost all cameras offer manual control over colour saturation and contrast, and to a degree these are linked.

Increasing contrast also tends to increase saturation, and vice versa. If you want images with more saturation and ‘punch’, increase the camera’s saturation setting. It’s better to do it in the camera rather than later in your image-editor for reasons we explain in the next section. Many cameras offer a slightly different approach, with optional ‘Vivid’, or ‘Chrome’ modes. The names change depending on the brand of camera, but the principle is the same – you can switch to colour modes with stronger or subtler colours, depending on the subject you’re shooting and the style you want to shoot it in.