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10[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheMatrix https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/matrixcolorgrading_01_5.png]]]]
11[[caption-width-right:350:"So what are you trying to tell me?\
12There's a green filter everywhere?"]]
13%%
14->''"Well, I hope you like the color blue, 'cause this movie sure does."''
15-->-- '''WebVideo/{{Phelous}}''', ''Pulse (2006)'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zsi5104WGs&t=47s review]]
16
17Color Wash refers to a process designed to create a largely uniform tint or stylized color timing to a work, typically done in [[PostProcessingVideoEffects post-production]] on the natural footage but cinematographers and production designers have used lens filters, lighting gels and coordinated sets/costumes to achieve the same effect in-camera.
18
19The methods applied and the reasons for it depend on the intended goals. WarmPlaceWarmLighting helps convey that the characters are sweating it out in a hot location. RealIsBrown may be a variant of DeliberatelyMonochrome with a SplashOfColor. Very popular is an OrangeBlueContrast pushing skin tone to appear orange-y and everything else teal for ColorContrast. MoodLighting often goes along with UnnaturallyBlueLighting. And there are standard FlashbackEffects.
20
21Using lots of Color Wash can sometimes create a grating visual, but it can also be used to highlight important details or comment on a character's state of mind. Like any trope, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools it depends on execution]].
22
23----
24!!Examples:
25[[foldercontrol]]
26
27[[folder:Advertising]]
28* Viagra adopted a turquoise filter for their print, television, and online advertisements. Initially, this was subtle, enough that it was hard to notice unless comparing the advertisement side-by-side with something else. As time went on, this turquoise grew increasingly pronounced until, by the mid-2010s, everything was a shade of medium to dark turquoise, as if multiple sheets of turquoise gel were placed over the lens.
29[[/folder]]
30
31[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
32* The infamously confusing anime ''Bounty Dog'' takes place on the moon, and everything is tinted in a sickening shade of yellow.
33* In the Toei first series anime of ''[[Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', the palette seems to be made up entirely of super-saturated neons that don't go together.
34[[/folder]]
35
36[[folder:Comic Books]]
37* This was a common criticism of the art in Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns''.
38[[/folder]]
39
40[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
41* ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'' uses an orange wash to emphasize the setting of Native American Alaska.
42[[/folder]]
43
44[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
45* ''Film/Avalon2001'' has a ''very'' amber filter, to the point where it becomes monochrome, [[spoiler:until the end, when it's removed to suggest that the main character is now in "the real world."]]
46* Among the many, ''many'' reasons the ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'' movie was considered awful was the blue filter on many of the shots. It also enjoys combining green and purple, using the same logic as movies that use orange and teal - the colors contrast, so putting them together causes them to "pop".
47-->'''The Providence Journal''': Battlefield Earth's primary colors are blue and gray, adding to the misery. Whenever we glimpse sunlight, the screen goes all stale yellow, as though someone had urinated on the print. This, by the way, is not such a bad idea.
48* Not every scene in ''Film/BladeRunner2049'' is orange, but it's the way to bet.
49* In ''Film/TheBookOfEli'', the entire world is brownish as if it's being seen through the sunglasses everyone's wearing.
50* Creator/JamesCameron always uses a strong blue tint when scenes in his films are supposed to be set at night. It allows the scene to be strongly lit so that the audience can see everything, but also to give the indication of darkness.
51* Early black-and-white films, especially during the Silent Era, like ''Film/{{Civilization}}'', would tint the film to give it an evocative mood.
52* ''Film/ClerksII'', except for the [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment dance scene]]. The film was originally intended to shot in black and white like the first one, but producer Harvey Weinstein wanted the film to open wide so director Creator/KevinSmith chose to desaturate the colors instead.
53* The opening and closing scenes of ''Film/TheDayTheEarthCaughtFire'' are in yellow-tinted monochrome, while the rest of the film is in standard black and white. The tinted scenes are in the story present, and the untinted scenes are a long flashback leading up to the present.
54* The film adaptation of ''Literature/DoloresClaiborne'' jumps back and forth between blue filters for the present day and orange filters for 20 years earlier.
55* The director of the film adaptation of ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof'' wanted the film to be shot in earthy tones, and the director of photography noticed a woman wearing nylons in the exact shade of brown he wanted, so he asked for them right then and there. The film was shot with the nylon over the lens, and the weave of it can even be seen in parts of the film.
56* Creator/DavidFincher is a big fan of alternating between yellow/green and blue. A big part of this is his use of natural and "practical" light, rather than conventional stage lighting. He did this a lot on his later work.
57* ''Film/{{Fury 2014}}'', set in Germany in April 1945, has a cold blue/grey tint.
58* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' used a purple wash to give the film an eerie, paranormal feel.
59* ''Film/UnFlic'' is set in winter in France, and has a generally cool colour palette, even indoors.
60* ''Film/TheGolem'' is a silent film from 1920. Every scene is tinted, in a variety of colors. The strength of the tint varies between restorations.
61* The first ''Film/HarryPotter'' film is full of vivid colours, with plenty of warm reds and gold. However, every subsequent entry in the series becomes more and more desaturated until ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'' is practically in black and white.
62* In ''Film/IAmSam'', a blue filter is used in certain scenes, portraying bad times for Sam, like in court or in the hospital.
63* ''Film/IKnowWhoKilledMe'': In a nod to the works of Dario Argento and Creator/BrianDePalma, every scene with Aubrey has a form of blue lighting, and a similar case occurs with Dakota and red lighting.
64* Used far too much in the made-for-TV film ''Jason and the Golden Fleece'', with desaturated colours and hard light.
65* The movie version of ''Literature/KamikazeGirls'' is really, really yellow.
66* ''Film/{{Kontroll}}'' is set in the Budapest Metro (underground railway), and most scenes have a green-yellow cast. When we see these scenes being filmed in the "making of" feature, they all have natural colors and are brighter.
67* Creator/PeterJackson's ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' uses digital color grading, and it becomes blatantly obvious at times. It's especially noticeable in day-for-night scenes, like with Merry and Pippin in Fangorn. There's even a scene in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'' where Pippin is searching for Merry that appears as a daylight scene in the theatrical version, but was regraded to night for the extended version. An interesting example occurs with several shots used more than once (Green Dragon Inn exterior, Boromir's last stand, and a certain close-up of Elrond) in different movies; frame-by-frame comparison shows exactly the same image but with drastically different colors.
68* In ''Franchise/TheMatrix'', scenes in the real world are tinted a cold blue, whereas scenes in the Matrix itself are tinted green, akin to an old monochrome computer screen. In fact, the green tint becomes more and more prominent as Smith takes over the Matrix. [[spoiler:The final scene, after Smith is defeated and the Matrix is freed, [[RuleOfSymbolism is completely devoid of this tint]]]].
69* The Moroder version of ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' used color washes over the whole screen: blue for scenes in the underground Worker's City and reddish tones for surface scenes (although there were some variations).
70* Most scenes in ''Film/{{Morgan}}'' have a cold [=grey/blue/green/overcast=] color palette, with flashbacks in sunny natural color.
71* In ''Film/NocturnalAnimals'', scenes in the present day tend to be cold and desaturated, flashbacks are natural, and the film within the film is more saturated and harshly lit.
72* ''Film/OBrotherWhereArtThou'' plays with this a lot. The producers messed with the hue and saturation until everything was an intensely colorful brown, imitating the look of early 20th-century photos. This was also done because dying yellow crops look better in a Depression-era film, whereas most of the greenery was verdant as Hawaii during filming. [[UrExample Also, it was the first feature film to be entirely digitally color corrected]]. The directors consulted with modern colorists on how to accomplish the look they wanted, as they wanted to preserve particular colors, and the reply was that it was impossible to not affect everything in the frame. They explored digital color correction and were able to manipulate the specific set of colors they wanted, which turned out to be rather groundbreaking.
73* For some reason, the HollywoodDarkness in the ActionPrologue of ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' wasn't considered dark enough, and it was suddenly given a dark blue color wash in the Ultimate edition DVD.
74* The theatrical release of ''Film/{{Payback}}'' has a stark blue filter applied throughout the whole movie, but the director's cut doesn't have this (it also changes the whole last third of the plot).
75* ''Film/TheRaid'' is very blue.
76* The film ''Reflections in a Golden Eye'', directed by Creator/JohnHuston and starring Creator/MarlonBrando and Creator/ElizabethTaylor, was originally tinted with a golden color. However, there were so many complaints from audiences that the film was pulled from distribution to reprocess the color back into a conventional palette for re-release.
77* ''Film/TheRing'' series is almost entirely bathed in green to give it is a [[SicklyGreenGlow sickly, ominous feeling]].
78* ''Film/TheRover'' is set in Australia, "ten years after the collapse." Bright colours seem to have been the first thing to run out after the collapse. The overall colour palette is muted, with a lot of beige landscapes and hazy skies.
79* ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'' looks fairly washed out thanks to cinematographer Creator/JanuszKaminski subjecting it to a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach_bypass very specific post-production technique]]. This also makes the images appear sharper and shakier, making it look more like documentary footage than a $70 million Hollywood production.
80** Director David O Russell used a similar technique while filming ''Film/ThreeKings''. Except he went for a more high contrast/bleached look in an effort to try and reproduce "the odd color of the newspaper images of the Gulf War".
81** Creator/StevenSpielberg and Kaminski have done this at least twice now. ''Film/MinorityReport'' has an icy hue to it, likewise accomplished in the film processing stages of post-production.
82* In ''Film/SeasonOfMiracles'', the colors look desaturated for a while after [[spoiler:Rafer is diagnosed with a [[LittlestCancerPatient fatal blood disease]].]]
83* Creator/ZackSnyder loves his dark and gloomy (though sometimes vibrant as well) filters, as demonstrated by the likes of ''Film/ThreeHundred'', ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'', ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', and ''[[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague Justice League]]''. More often than not, [[ObscuredSpecialEffects it helps his movies' special effects to look better]].
84** ''Film/ManOfSteel'' has a dark bluish tint when Clark is out in the world, while Smallville scenes use yellowish lighting.
85* Some of Creator/StevenSoderbergh's films have this:
86** Many scenes in ''Film/SideEffects'' are tinted warm yellow, especially in the first half.
87** ''Film/Contagion2011'' varies from scene to scene, with green, yellow and blue being popular choices.
88** ''Film/Traffic2000'' has different filters for different locales. For example, Mexico is always awash in orange-yellow, whereas the United States has a blue filter.
89** All the outdoor scenes in ''Film/MagicMike'' are extremely orange, emphasizing the Florida setting and more sharply contrasting the nightclub and strip club scenes, which are all dark and neon-soaked.
90* In the film adaptation of ''Theatre/SouthPacific'', everything appears heavily yellow because the film was filtered through a yellow sheet of cellophane in post. This was overkill of what the filmmakers wanted, which was to make the movie "more yellow", and they hadn't actually intended it to be ''all'' yellow. But they released it anyway.
91* ''Film/SpyGame'' uses different filters for each flashback segment. Vietnam is orange as hell, Berlin is kind of a cool blue, and Beirut is sort of a sandy yellow. This serves to easily delineate between the flashbacks and the central hub of the story.
92* The original ''Franchise/StarWars'' trilogy has a fairly consistent dark blue wash (very noticeable in scenes set on mostly grey spaceships) in the DVD release that wasn't in any earlier version (compare the bonus disc, which has the original theatrical version without the blue wash).
93* ''Film/Suspiria1977'' by Creator/DarioArgento is the go-to example as red, green, and blue lighting are both common motifs of this film and played for horror.
94* In ''Film/TheThirteenthFloor'', one character comments about how the colors are off [[InsideAComputerSystem in the computer simulation]].
95* The first film of ''[[Film/{{Twilight}} The Twilight Saga]]'': Because Forks is a dreary, rainy town, the director decided to desaturate the colors to get this across.
96* The ''Film/Underworld2003'' franchise is almost entirely colored in shades of black, white and blue.
97* ''Film/VickyCristinaBarcelona'' is very golden-yellowy tinted since Creator/WoodyAllen [[SignatureStyle likes warm colors]].
98* ''Film/TheWrongGuy'' uses a bland mix of grey and blue-green in the early "corporate" scenes. After the boss is murdered and Nelson discovers his corpse, color begins to seep in, starting with the red blood. By the time Nelson meets Lynn, the palette is brighter and a broader spectrum.
99* The color and lighting in the '70s scenes of ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' deliberately invokes the feel of movies from that era.
100* ''Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom'' uses a sickly yellow tint for the scenes set in China and washed-out colors for the part in Dublin. The final scene, in a Gaeltacht, has no filters, making the colors seem bright, vibrant, and full of life.
101* ''Film/PeterPanAndWendy'' features a very, very blue Never Land. In fact, this desaturated, [[RealIsBrown "realistic"]] take on what is supposed to be a very fun and whimsical setting is one of the movie's biggest criticisms.
102[[/folder]]
103
104[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
105* ''Series/{{Banshee}}'': Befitting the bleak, gritty tone of the story, the colors are desaturated and the lighting is made to look more harsh. On the flip side, flashbacks to Hood and Carrie's life under Rabbit are often shown in a monochromatic tint.
106* In ''{{Series/Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', scenes on lifeless planets tend to be very washed out, but the scenes on Kobol have implausibly vivid green foliage.
107* Used for StylisticSuck in ''Series/TheBoys2019'', where ''Dawn of the Seven'', the film-within-a-show, has a level of color wash that can only be described as "piss-yellow". It's especially evident when the camera cuts to the same set in more normal lighting conditions.
108* Similarily to ''Traffic'', from season 2 onwards, ''Series/BreakingBad'' would frequently visit orange-yellow-tinted Mexico.
109* ''Series/CharlieJade'' has a different color wash, depending on which dimension you're currently watching: Alpha was green, Beta was Blue and Gamma was red.
110* In ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', not every indoor scene is underlit with a green tint, and not every outdoor daylight scene is overcast, but it's the way to bet.
111* The miniseries ''Series/ChildrenOfDune'' did a lot of oversaturated brown and orange, probably to emphasize the desert planet setting and give it a visual style similar to older Biblical films, most of which were filmed in places like Italy, Spain, and other regions containing dry, arid locations similar to the ancient Middle East.
112* ''Series/ColdCase'' uses this a lot. Scenes that take place in the present have either only a slight blue tinge or no color wash at all, Those in the past, however, have a color wash that 'fits' the time. For instance, scenes in the 1970s have vivid, warm colors to contrast with the present.
113* Because ''Series/CSIMiami'' is set in Miami, everything is drenched in orange. Whenever someone is walking outside in daylight, the ''sky'' is a vivid orange as well.
114** Related, ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' uses UnnaturallyBlueLighting, particularly in season one (and the crossover with Miami has Horatio Caine bringing his orange light...).
115** [[RuleOfThree Not to mention]], ''Series/{{CSI}}'' has a green tint.
116*** Not so much. In earlier seasons, scenes set in daylight have a noticeable BlueOrangeContrast, while those taken indoors or at night have a more realistic blue tint.
117* ''Series/TheDefenders2017'' has a habit of using color wash to reflect the thematic colors of its main protagonists: red for [[Series/Daredevil2015 Matt Murdock]], yellow for [[Series/LukeCage2016 Luke Cage]], green for [[Series/IronFist2017 Danny Rand]], and blue for [[Series/JessicaJones2015 Jessica Jones]]. This is especially predominant in the first episode, when the heroes are all running their own thing, and the colors start to gradually blend together as the heroes begin teaming up.
118* The last two series of ''Series/FoylesWar'' are noticeably desaturated compared to the rest of the show, reflecting the more morally ambiguous nature of Foyle and Sam's work in MI-5 and the difficulties of life in postwar England (which was still difficult thanks to continued rationing, economic troubles, and {{Shell Shocked Veteran}}s with inadequate support).
119* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' often filmed their New York settings in a blue or green light, while Texas, California, and other outdoors settings in the show had a yellow or orange light.
120* Earlier episodes of ''Series/{{House}}'' have an almost orange look to them, fading out to a very slight greenish tint for the rest of the series.
121* ''Series/{{Jekyll}}'' plays with this to wonderful effect. When Tom Jackman is awake, colors are subdued by means of a subtle blue filter, while vivid colors mark Hyde being awake.
122* ''Series/{{Life on Mars|2006}}'' was made to look older (the show takes place in the 1970s) by washing everything with yellow during the coma/whatchamacallit (and that lasted the entire show). In comparison, the 2006 scenes were almost drained.
123* Like in the movie, ''Series/{{Limitless}}'' shows the perspective of NZT users in orange and yellow, while reality is more dull and blue.
124* Each timeline in ''Series/OrdinaryJoe'' has distinct shading as differentiators, with the Musician Joe timeline being red, the Nurse Joe timeline being green, and the Cop Joe timeline being blue.
125* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' consistently uses this for a relatively inexpensive method of giving BBCQuarry planets an AlienSky and otherworldly atmosphere (and to distinguish them from the very similar quarries the Rangers visit all the time on Earth): the moon is blue, a volcanic planet is red, the post-nuclear RobotWar wasteland is yellow, etc.
126* The ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode "My Way Home" features heavy color saturation as a homage to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
127* In ''Series/{{Skins}}'', scenes that take place outdoors have very saturated colours. This is often seen as very good cinematography.
128* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'':
129** In "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS1E04AbsoluteCandor Absolute Candor]]", the Qowat Milat monastery scenes have a strong orange tint, although it's slightly less intense for North Station.
130** In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", there's a greenish-grey hue in the scene where Narek and Narissa first meet on the Artifact.
131* The entirety of ''Series/{{Utopia}}'' is shot in vividly over-saturated colors.
132[[/folder]]
133
134[[folder:Music Videos]]
135* The music video for Music/{{BTS}}' "Blood, Sweat and Tears" has the image suddenly gain very high contrast and a fuchsia tint during the second chorus.
136** The (vastly different) music video for the Japanese version of "Blood, Sweat and Tears" has this as a defining feature, with each scene having ''very'' saturated color palettes that tend towards a single color (one scene looks extremely green, another looks extremely fuchsia, etc.).
137* The video for {{Music/Devo}}'s "Girl U Want" is ''very'' purple-and-green, to the point that there almost aren't any other colors. Even skin is mostly purple.
138* Music/TheHaloEffect: The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeQbC8OYDQA "In Broken Trust"]] is a playthrough of the song on the roof of a skyscraper at night, with a green lens filter.
139* In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE lyric video]] and full video for Music/PoetsOfTheFall's "[[https://youtu.be/xfvtPTvuFTA Drama for Life]]", colors shift between heavy washes of deep blue, purple and red.
140* Animated band Music/{{Savlonic}} exists in a world dominated by shades of red.
141* Music/TearsForFears:
142** The birthday party segment in the "Mad World" video has a slight orangish hue to reinforce the delight of the partygoers and further juxtapose the bleak mood of Curt Smith's character in the [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent background]].
143** Most of "The Way You Are" video was filmed with an orange filter, but some shots of the female photographer working in her studio has UnnaturallyBlueLighting.
144** A lot of scenes in the "Advice for the Young at Heart" video are mildly pink-tinged to heighten the romance and joy of the newlywed couple.
145[[/folder]]
146
147[[folder:Theater]]
148* It's not uncommon for a Lighting Designer to implement one or two dominant colors in a play.
149[[/folder]]
150
151[[folder:Video Games]]
152* ''VideoGame/BattlefieldThree'' is the bluest game in the history of gaming. [[HollywoodDarkness Even the night maps are blue instead of black]].
153* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' has a color scheme where the primary color on the palette to denote high technology is blue.
154** ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' also has this, but yellow.
155** Parodied in WebVideo/BroTeamPill's sponsored Gunnar Optiks video. When he's wearing them, the game on his screen is ''Deus Ex'', but tinted yellow. When he takes them off, it's vanilla ''Deus Ex Human Revolution''.
156--->This isn't the right Deus... Shouldn't it be the other one?
157* In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'', King Cerberus changes the theme of his battle arena to fit which among of his heads' FireIceLightning powers is currently dominant. Apart from the demon itself changing colors or the presence of temporary structures (from his ice powers), the color palette of the arena itself may temporarily shift to red (fire), light blue (ice), or purple (lightning).
158* Almost everywhere in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has a [[Main/SicklyGreenGlow strong green tint]] (save for [[spoiler: the Tranquillity Lane simulation]], which is [[DeliberatelyMonochrome sepia-toned]]). If you remove the tint with a visual overhaul mod, you'll find that a lot of textures had their saturation reduced to exaggerate the effect, making the Capital Wasteland look quite grey without it.
159** The areas added by some of the DLC packs have their own color palettes. The industrial setting of ''The Pitt'' has a red-brown wash, whereas Alaska in ''Operation Anchorage'' is tinted a wintry blue. ''Point Lookout'' cranks the wash of the main game up and adds a thick green haze, likely to hide the lack of detail outside of the playable parts of the map.
160* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has an orange-brown tint, in keeping with its desert and Western themes. It's probably not as obvious as ''Fallout 3'''s green tint, though, since the Mojave is, like most deserts, pretty brown to begin with.
161** Some areas shift to a different tint when you enter them. For example, the recently nuked Camp Searchlight is ''very'' [[SicklyGreenGlow green]], and [[MeaningfulName Camp Forlorn Hope]] is a drab sepia, in keeping with its occupants' [[LosingTheTeamSpirit low morale]]. This filter is seen in a few other places around the Colorado River, like the Deathclaw Promontory.
162** The Sierra Madre resort in the ''Dead Money'' DLC uses a strong reddish-brown filter, which makes a lot of the outdoor scenery look either orange or purple.
163** The ''Lonesome Road'' DLC's color palette is like that of the main game, but amplified. The exceptions are the three nuclear blast sites (the Courier's Mile, and the two [[UnlockableContent optional]] [[PostEndGameContent post-endgame]] areas, Long 15 and Dry Wells), which have the same tint as Camp Searchlight.
164* Creator/{{Bethesda}} deliberately averted this with ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' for the most part, likely due to the popularity of de-tinting mods for the previous two games. However, a sickly greenish-yellow wash was added to some heavily irradiated areas like the Glowing Sea, and during radiation storms. According to WordOfGod, this was done as a deliberate aesthetic CallBack to ''Fallout 3''.
165** In addition to sharing a few plot elements, the ''Far Harbour'' DLC's setting has a very similar aesthetic to that of ''Point Lookout''. The exception to this is the Nucleus, which has the same colouration as the Glowing Sea in the base game.
166* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': Whenever you fight with an Esper, the whole screen is tinted the color associated with that Esper (e.g., red for Belias, blue for Mateus).
167* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has a slight gray tint that dulls out the colors of the whole game.
168
169* Platform/GameBoy games that were compatible with the Platform/SuperGameBoy tended to feature this, since the Game Boy could only display objects in four shades of gray, with the games being programmed to reflect this. While certain static areas of the screen could be given individual color palettes, mobile areas of play (such as stage backgrounds and characters) all used single, unified palettes, sometimes changing these palettes from stage to stage. Two notable examples of this were ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand2'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', which used a different "tint" for the game depending on what world/area the player was in (which was also present in the world selection map in ''Kirby's Dream Land 2'', where hovering to a different world immediately changes the game's tint). Games that weren't designed for the Super Game Boy could also use color washing thanks to the various palettes the player could create and/or choose from, with certain titles having default palettes pre-coded into the SGB's hardware. For example, ''VideoGame/{{Alleyway}}'' used a primarily lavender and yellow palette, and ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand'' used a reddish-pink palette.
170** When played on a Super Game Boy, ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' defaults to using a red, black, green, and yellow palette, befitting the "alien" nature of [=SR388=]. Because it was released before the Super Game Boy went into development, however, this default palette is precoded into the SGB's hardware (as with numerous other pre-SGB games), and doesn't feature any of the more advanced color trickery seen in SGB-optimized titles.
171* Used in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' for an accentuated atmospheric sense. Since San Andreas is a huge state with contrasting environments, there's a color wash scheme that differs from place to place. [[UsefulNotes/LosAngeles Los Santos]] is orange-ish with heat hazes; [[UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco San Fierro]] has [[UnnaturallyBlueLighting unnaturally teal lighting]] to convey a mild-to-cold atmosphere, reinforced by the city's constant fog; [[VivaLasVegas Las Venturas]] goes for a less blatant color scheme, but with a dash of yellow to convey the desert's hot weather; the forested countrysides of Red and Flint Counties have a pastel green/brown tint to them; and finally, the deserts of Bone County take it further, with bright white sand and yellow skies that turn purple at night. All of this is much more pronounced in the [=PS2=] version; later versions such as the PC port toned it down for a more sober, less in-your-face look, but it's definitely noticeable, especially when the sun is setting.
172* Done to the second and third games of the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' trilogy, ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheLostAndDamned'' and ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheBalladOfGayTony'', respectively. ''Lost and Damned'', being DarkerAndEdgier, subtly shifts to desaturated, grimy tones, while ''Ballad of Gay Tony'' is LighterAndSofter, preferring brighter neon hues.
173* ''VideoGame/GravityRush'':
174** The first game gives each district of Hekseville [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience its own distinct color]]. The run-down residential Aldnoir is reddish-brown, the entertainment area of Pleajeune appears to be AlwaysNight and is a more festive purple, the industrial district Endestria is yellow, and downtown Vendecentre is a light green.
175** The effect is downplayed in ''VideoGame/GravityRush2'', with the poor district in Jirga Para Lhao shrouded in overcast greys to give it a gloomy, dismal feel in comparison to the brighter, more colorful areas of the city. [[spoiler:It returns in full force in the last third of the game, when Kat finds herself back in Hekseville, which retains the old color wash with higher resolutiom visuals.]]
176
177* In ''VideoGame/Haven2020'', each biome of the planet Source has a unique color wash. The [[GreenHillZone plains]] are cyan, [[TheCorruption Rust]]-covered areas are magenta, the [[BubblegloopSwamp swamp]] is green, the [[ShiftingSandland desert]] is yellow, and the [[LethalLavaLand lava zone]] is red. Abandoned buildings are generally gray with electric blue TronLines, corrupted fauna have a red-brown aura, and consumable plants are highlighted with their own colors.
178* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' has the colors in the prologue very bright and vivid, making everything pop out. When the game actually kicks off, all the colors are muted, with lots of gray tint due to the [[TitleDrop heavy rain]] occurring. The only time the colors become more vivid is inside certain buildings, but the colors there aren't quite as colorful compared to the beginning of the game. The color differences also expresses the mood; the bright colors are during happier times before the tragedy strikes. After said event occurs, the darker colors show how dark and depressing the story has become.
179* In ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'', deserted civilization zones, such as the Forgotten Crossroads and City of Tears, have dark blue-heavy palettes; [[GreenHillZone Greenpath]] and the Queen's Gardens are green; the Fungal Wastes are slate blue with hints of yellow; the [[DownTheDrain Royal Waterways]] are turquoise; [[CrystalLandscape Crystal Peak]] is pink; [[HornetHole The Hive]] is appropriately golden brown; the lowest depths of Hallownest, such as Ancient Basin and Deepnest, are gray; and the White Palace, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin is white]].
180* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' and ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' have a color wash depending on the campaign being played. To name a few examples, No Mercy has a bluish-green tint to reflect the gloomy weather in a city at night, Dead Air has an orange hue due to the fires and smoke in the city, and Hard Rain has its later half washed in a green-blue tint due to a hurricane. Meanwhile, safe rooms in all campaigns have a warm yellow tone to convey a cozy and safe feel. [[DVDCommentary Developer commentary]] states that the color wash was intentional since the developers wanted to invoke the feel of a B-horror movie with fog "smoking the set". Using mods that alter the color correction or removing fog entirely gives the visuals a more clean look, but also exposes the flaws that would have been hidden by the color correction and distant fog.
181* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', the Twilight Realm was initially designed as [[DeliberatelyMonochrome grayscale]] with some splashes of color. However, the design later changed to an incredibly hyper-saturated color scheme, with gold, brown and magenta being the most prominent colors. Most praised the new design, citing it as more original and evocative of a creepy, alien twilight world.
182** Used to a lesser extent with normal-Hyrule, which has a faint yellowish tint to most things.
183* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'''s Shadow Moses and a good deal of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' are green-blue. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' continued this trend, opting for a green-yellow filter.
184* The E.M.M.I. zones in ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' use a gray-green tint, with film grain and low lighting to invoke the sense of [[{{Pun}} dread]] when dealing with the patrolling [[OneHitKill E.M.M.I. robots.]] Once Samus destroys one of them, the color wash and film grain are lifted to restore the zone's natural colors while turning the lights back on.
185* In ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'', the forest of Nibel starts out vibrant during the prologue, but appropriately turns to drab shades of brown, gray, blue, and purple once the decay sets in after the defilement of the Spirit Tree. Outlying areas have color washes in varying hues: Thornfelt Swamp and the Ginso Tree are brownish-green, Moon Grotto is midnight blue, the Misty Woods are teal, the Forlorn Ruins are [[OrangeBlueContrast ice blue with glowing orange machinery]], Sorrow Pass is mustard yellow, and Mount Horu, being a LethalLavaLand, is red-orange.
186** ''VideoGame/OriAndTheWillOfTheWisps'' has a more varied palette overall, except in the areas hardest hit by TheCorruption, such as [[{{Mordor}} the Silent Woods]], which are blue-gray; [[ShiftingSandLand Windswept Wastes]], which are burnt orange; and [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Willow's End]], which is neon magenta.
187* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
188** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' recycles a lot of demon artwork from the mainline ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series, and splashes it with a desaturated gray filter to match the rest of the game's rather-dreary, muted color palette.
189** During ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}} Royal'''s third semester, there is a noticeable gray filter over most of the outside areas of Tokyo to represent the chill of winter. During snowy days, interiors get hit with the gray wash too.
190* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' is one of the reddest games ever made, with red menus, red monsters, red zombies, red pulsing hives and building, and red skies.
191* ''VideoGame/RedFactionGuerrilla'' does this in a different color for each portion of Mars: Parker is slightly brownish red, Dust is vaguely blue-ish, Badlands is yellow, Oasis is green, the Free Fire Sector is grey, and Eos is white.
192* The third ''{{VideoGame/Resistance}}'' does this (with a different color every stage) as a compromise between the RealIsBrown of the first game, and the brighter, more natural colors of the second.
193* ''VideoGame/{{Singularity}}'' is overly fond of [[OrangeBlueContrast lighting everything with orange. Anything that isn't orange tends to be blue.]]
194* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' uses color tints on the cosmic comet missions: red for the speed run missions, yellow for the Fast Foe missions, blue for the cosmic clone missions, white for the daredevil missions, and purple for the purple coin missions. The effect is subtle, but it's there.
195* ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'', like ''Singularity'', is fond of a yellowish-brown color for absolutely everything with occasional blue-lit areas (usually in the Undercity).
196* The NES games on the Wii's Platform/VirtualConsole have a filter that not only darkens the screen, but also darkens the colors. This was supposed to emulate the way NES games would look when displayed on a 1980s TV set, but it makes the games look like someone put a gray film over the screen. Ports of the NES games plus emulators don't use this feature, which makes the games look brighter and more colorful by comparison.
197* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' uses different color grading in different areas. The difference is sometimes very noticeable; for instance, Ghostlands looks very different when you're looking in from Zul'Aman than when you're inside and the darker color grade takes hold. It's sometimes so strong (particular with red colored areas like Durotar) that it takes a while for eyes to readjust to another color when changing zones.
198[[/folder]]
199
200[[folder:Web Comics]]
201* In ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'', [[http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/archive/page-197/ by the water scene, in blues.]]
202* In ''Webcomic/FarOut'', the color palette is tinted toward ruddy orange.
203* This technique is used in ''[[WebOriginal/{{KeitAi}} Keit-Ai]]'' in order to [[http://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/keit-ai/list?title_no=36825 differentiate]] the two universes involved (the boy's universe is tinted blue and the girl's universe is tinted brown).
204* Played with in an arc of ''Webcomic/NoNeedForBushido''. Scenes seen through the eyes of Yori (who, at that point, is under the effect of a powerful hallucinogenic drug), have duller colors and a sap tint, as opposed to the usually vivid visuals of the rest of the battle.
205* A frequent technique used by [[http://tamberella.deviantart.com/gallery/ TamberElla]], often to set up a [[MoodLighting specific mood]]. This is taken to the extreme in their webcomic [[http://tamberella.deviantart.com/gallery/32753874?offset=0 Ink]] which is set in a world made of stain glass.
206[[/folder]]
207
208[[folder:Western Animation]]
209* ''WesternAnimation/HomeAdventuresWithTipAndOh'' uses a yellow/gold gradient for almost all of its settings, even the sky. It changes to light blue/cyan in winter.
210[[/folder]]
211
212[[folder:Real Life]]
213* If one person were to accurately see through another's eyes, this is what you could get, as everyone has their own balance of cones, which lights the world in a certain way: one person's blue looks slightly different than another's.
214* The particles in the air during a red sandstorm can make everything appear, well, red.
215* Volcanic ash can make the moon appear blue, which is why some people say that volcanic eruptions occur once in a blue moon.
216* Differing weather and atmospheric conditions within an area in general can naturally create these. The added moisture of a good rain shower or a particularly humid day can enhance the light of the sunset to cover an entire city in golden orange or red while snow (fresh snow in particular) is so reflective that it will oftentimes bathe the immediate area in whatever color the strongest ambient light source is at night.
217** Fog and even smog can make everything in the daytime look desaturated due to the sunlight being filtered out. At night, fog can bathe everything in a certain color from lit street lamps, depending on the color of the light from said lamps. During the COVID-19 pandemic where many cities went on lockdown, smog heavy areas like China and California were shown to be a lot more bright and colorful in the daytime due to less pollution being released into the air.
218* A lot of cities and towns use orange sodium based street lights to light up streets and buildings during the night due to being cheap to use and install. Not only do the street lights make the surrounding area have an orange hue on them, any object (such as cars for example) that is not white will almost appear black under the orange lighting.
219* A widely distributed propaganda picture of the 2022 Winter Olympics intended to shame China for hosting the Big Air event in what appears to be a nuclear power plant, but is actually a decommissioned industrial area turned into an open air museum and green space, and has a very obvious grey wash, making it look like a hellscape wasteland.
220* The BBC was caught adding what could only be described as a "smog filter" to a news report about the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan.
221* During the 2022 World Cup, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/z1nk0v/poland_vs_mexico/ a meme about the Poland vs. Mexico game]] parodied the UnnaturallyBlueLighting[=/=]BlueMeansCold filter used in media set in Eastern Europe, and the WarmPlaceWarmLighting filter used in media set in Mexico, with each team's half of the field having different palettes.
222* The June 2023 Canadian wildfires had its smoke drift southward, which impacted several east coast cities like New York. Cities that were affected by the smoke had the sky under a yellow fog due to the sunlight penetrating the smoke. This created a very apocalyptic looking environment.
223[[/folder]]

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