Desaturating HDRIs

[Nathi Tappan]

Alright, last comment on this lesson, promise.

You mentioned choosing the HDRI based on the overall colors of the scene. And while that is definitely the way to go for the heavily saturated scenes, or something crazy light neon lights on a night scene, there is a way around it if you find an HDRI that is slightly too warm but has the perfect lighting/reflections for your scene: you can just add a hue/saturation node and take down the saturation. Voila! 

[Sascha Feider]

That is certainly a way to go about it, if there is a particular HDRI you really like for your scene, for sure.

[Nathi Tappan]

Yeah.. very rare that one HDRI is a fave or irreplaceable, but there are a ton of different versions of photo studios that are great at Polyhaven. I found a couple that were too brown but quite perfect for Saas and Product Viz projects, but needed the color cast to be gone. 

As with everything in Blender, just another way to skin a cat (not that we would do that any way).

[Sascha Feider]

You’re getting a real bad look from behind me right now. 😾😁
True enough though. I’ve caught myself scrolling through way too long before. These days I just pick relatively neutral ones quickly for ambient light and do the rest another way.
Good tip with the HSV node nonetheless.

[Nathi Tappan]

lol.. you know me… I’d never do that to any kitty, or anything alive really. 

Remember… the pets own my house at the end of the day, they just don’t pay for it. In fact, my “different take” on the next Session might be a dog bed instead of a furry rug. haha

[Sascha Feider]

Moose and Nala approve. 😁
Doggo bed would be interesting.

[Martin Bergwerf]

Here’s a pro tip:

Try desaturating like this:

Makes more of a difference with ‘normal’ images than with HDRIs, used for Lighting, but it looks less ‘washed out’. With HSV desaturation, completely different colors can start to look the same.

For instance:

[Nathi Tappan]

Nice! Thanks Martin! Great tip! Screenshot it so I don’t loose this one tomorrow!

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