📦 To supply too much 💧 To add too much 🌈 To make too bright

to oversaturate

1 6.8

Make colors or tones so strong that an image looks unnatural

verb
/ˌoʊvərˈsætʃʊˌreɪt/

Specialized

: sobresaturar

The photographer decided to avoid editing that would oversaturate the colors, preserving the natural beauty of the landscape.

Examples

During editing, the designer noticed that the image appeared oversaturated, making the colors look unrealistic.
And I would just like to clarify that I would never oversaturate my photos in an unethical way.

Blog text (14)
If you oversaturate your artwork with too many bright colors, it may distract viewers from the main subject.

Synonyms

to intensify

vsto oversaturate

Specialized

1 6.8

Make dark parts of a film or photo darker to increase contrast

increases color or tone excessively making visuals look unnaturally strong

Antonyms

to desaturate

Specialized

1 7.1

To make the colors in a picture less bright so it looks more gray

How Saturated

to oversaturate

Specialized

1 6.8

to saturate

8 5.2

to desaturate

Specialized

1 7.1

Surface Forms

oversaturate infinitive

oversaturated past

oversaturated past participle

oversaturating present participle

oversaturates third person singular

Morphology

oversaturate = saturate (transparent) = over + saturate

In the visual context, 'over-' + 'saturate' straightforwardly means 'increase saturation to an excessive degree'; the morphological relation is clear.

Etymology

The word oversaturate comes from over- 'too much' and saturate 'to fill', like a saturated photo where every color is full and loud. So to oversaturate an image is to push the colors too far, making them look fake and harsh.