: I tried saturation before I posted my adjusted version (which apparently no
: one seemed to care about :P) but the colours felt unnaturally vibrant. I
: just opted for a bit more contrast after the white balance, which helped
: boost the colours a bit and retain a relative balance over the scene.

: Slightly shifted white balance and a lack of contrast give the original more
: of a foggy, bland appearance. I'm not a huge fan of bold bright colours in
: a realistic scene, but many of the maps do feel very very subdued. To me
: bold colours feel more "video gamey" than realistic.

: I remember when Wreckless was released on Xbox prime, and it looked
: unbelievable compared to other games trying to imitate reality. And one
: of the first things I noticed was the subdued saturation. By today's
: standards it's still pretty vibrant I think, but back then, if I recall,
: it even had criticism for its visual blandness; and yet was praised for
: how real it looked. (relatively speaking :P)

: I for one don't want want bright bold colours in my Halo. Not just bland flat
: and foggy earthtones, but not overhwelming "clean" surfaces and
: colours. Splash some healthy colour where it's appropriate, but don't go
: hog wild in the environments just to be 'colourful'.

I went back and tried to recolor my image so that it looked more like what I had in mind. Tried to find a balance between something that's interesting to look at, but not just vibrant and colorful for the sake of it. Simply turning up the contrast and saturation doesn't always work.

The blues, reds, and patches of green are important in making the map look like the original Blood Gulch and Coagulation. However, the first image I posted didn't use those colors conservatively enough. There were too many blues and greens where they didn't need to be.

As an artist that's constantly trying to learn and apply this kind of thing to their own work, I find that paintings with deliberate color use tend to be my favorites. Too many vibrant colors and it just becomes noise.