Am I seeing a trend in color “zones” in landscape photography. I notice that in other peoples’ work, some images look like the color palette has been sharply reduced in specific sections. I can understand the general intent, but I have mixed feelings about the loss of color complexity. Here’s a link to someone’s photo where the content seems divided into complex foreground, simplified middle zone (cyan) and simplified top zone (orange-green). Comments?
Well, if the intent is to render the photo non-realistic, then mission accomplished. 
Yes indeed! You can see tons of this on Instagram. The “in” look for last year was desaturated and split toned images with orange highlights and teal shadows. It is like the current hotness. This year, look out for lots of silver tones, and the split tone moving to red and black.
I’m all for having a “style” but I also feel like your style shouldn’t be so heavy handed to every photo one shoots.
I assume the availability of easy post processing applications like Instagram filters and VSCO have driven this trend.
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I agree that many of these effects/filters are applied without thought. But, in fairness I first noticed this applied in a reasonably subtle manner, and results can be effective when good judgment is included. The example image here is extreme.
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