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Posts Tagged ‘Grading’

Lightroom Color Grading: An Easy Way to Supercharge Your Photos

25 Nov

The post Lightroom Color Grading: An Easy Way to Supercharge Your Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

The October 2020 update to Lightroom Classic introduced a feature called Color Grading, which puts an advanced color-correction tool in the hands of everyone who uses Lightroom.

For newcomers who have never tried this technique, it can feel a bit overwhelming.

But with a bit of practice, you’ll get the hang of Lightroom color grading in no time at all. And you’ll be able to give your photos the Hollywood treatment you never knew you could achieve!

young man portrait
Nikon D7100 | Nikon 85mm f/1.8G | 85mm | 1/2000s | f/1.8 | ISO 200

What is color grading?

While color grading is often associated with film productions, it applies to photography just as easily.

Color grading refers to the process of changing global attributes of an image to give it a specific look or feel. It’s a subjective, stylistic process that can involve many different types of edits, but generally involves changing the appearance of the highlights, shadows, and midtones of a picture. This allows a photographer to create a mood or tone, and convey a certain emotion to the viewer.

In a strict sense, any stylistic adjustments to an image could be considered color grading. Adjusting the HSL/Color panel or tweaking the tone curve are both valid color grading techniques.

However, when most editors talk about color grading, they are referring to the way a specific tint is applied to the shadows, highlights, and midtones.

A common color grading technique in movies, for instance, involves giving shadows a teal color and making midtones more orange. This gives a more intense, cinematic feel to films and the same is true for photos.

kids walking without color grading
Nikon D750 | 200mm | f/2.8 | 1/250s | f/2.8 | ISO 220. Ungraded.
kids walking with color grading
The same image as above, but with color grading applied in Lightroom. The shadows are slightly more teal, the highlights are slightly more yellow, and the midtones are just a bit more orange.

Color grading vs split toning

The Color Grading tool replaces a tool called Split Toning, which was available as its own panel in the Develop module in earlier versions of Lightroom.

Split Toning was like a beta version of Color Grading, in that it let users adjust the tint of shadows and highlights, but not the midtones. While this was certainly useful, the omission of midtone editing was a frustrating sore spot that dramatically limited the value of the tool.

Lightroom color grading split toning
The Lightroom Split Toning panel, which let users adjust the hue and saturation of only the highlights and shadows. The Color Grading tool does everything that Split Toning did and much more.

Color Grading contains all the functionality of Split Toning – and much more. In fact, any photos that were edited using Split Toning will have their adjustments completely intact thanks to the Color Grading tool.

In addition to midtone editing, the Color Grading tool introduces the vastly more useful color wheels in place of linear sliders:

Lightroom Color Grading panel

The Lightroom Color Grading tool: a step by step guide

While the color grading tool has incredible depth, accessing it and getting started could hardly be easier.

Open Lightroom and click on the Develop module.

Then open the Color Grading panel on the right side, and you’re all set.

The Lightroom Color Grading panel consists of three color wheels in the middle, a line of icons at the top, and two sliders at the bottom. Each of the color wheels lets you change the tint of its respective range: midtones, shadows, and highlights.

Lightroom Color Grading panel

Click and drag anywhere on one of the color wheels and you will immediately see the edit applied to your image. As you drag the slider, note that the distance from the center adjusts the saturation of the color grade, while the position of the slider around the circle adjusts its hue.

You can also click and drag the inner circle to adjust only the saturation and use the outer circle to adjust the hue. The slider at the bottom can be used to change the overall luminance of the midtones, shadows, or highlights, depending on which color wheel you are using.

Lightroom Color Grading panel
You can also hold the Shift key to adjust only the saturation, or Ctrl/Cmd to adjust only the hue.

Click and hold the eye icon just below and to the right of a color wheel to temporarily remove the tint adjustment, and then release the mouse button to re-engage the adjustment. Double-click anywhere inside a color wheel to reset the tint if you want to start over.

The Blending slider at the bottom of the Color Grading panel lets you adjust how much the midtones, shadows, and highlights blend together.

The Balance slider lets you customize the overall balance of highlights and shadows; values greater than 0 make the highlight edits more pronounced, while values less than 0 increase the presence of the shadow edits.

Lightroom Color Grading blending balance
Move Blending to the left to keep your shadows, midtones, and highlights separate from each other. Move Blending to the right to make your edits blend in with one another. Slide Balance to the left to make your edits to the shadows apply to more of the image. Slide it to the right to make your highlight edits more prominent. Or just leave these sliders alone and you’ll probably be just fine.

Look closely at the top of the Color Grading panel and you will see a strange-looking row of circular icons. The first appears to be some kind of alien hieroglyph, while the rest look like circles with different shading patterns. These switch between the different modes within the Color Grading panel.

The first icon, with three small circles, shows all three editing options at once: Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows. The others let you adjust a single parameter at a time. The final icon is a global Hue/Saturation/Luminance adjustment.

Lightroom Color Grading panel
These icons let you switch between editing highlights/shadows/midtones at once and editing each one individually. The final circle is a global Hue/Saturation/Luminance adjustment.

If you want more fine-tuned adjustments, you can click on one of the icons that show a much larger version of any of the three adjustment parameters. This can help you select your adjustments with pinpoint accuracy and give you greater control over precisely how your edits are implemented.

How to use the Color Grading tool for great results

As you make adjustments, keep in mind that there is no one correct way to use the Color Grading panel. It’s merely another tool in your arsenal to help you get your images looking the way you want.

That being said, if you want to get your feet wet but aren’t sure how to start, let’s walk through a color grading edit so you can see firsthand how it can be used to give your pictures an extra bit of punch and visual impact.

kids running in an alley with no color grading
Nikon D7100 | Nikon 50mm f/1.8G | 50mm | 1/180s | f/4.0 | ISO 1250. Original photo without any color grading applied.

For a scene like the one above, with a lot of tonal variety, I like to start by editing the shadows first. Rather than using the all-in-one adjustment option with all three circles showing, I prefer to use the larger circles to edit each parameter individually. I like the fine-grained control this gives me.

I recommend you start by adjusting the Luminance slider, which will make the darkest portions of the image even darker when pushed to the left, or brighter when pushed to the right. For this example, I’m going to make shadows punchier by decreasing the luminance.

Lightroom Color Grading panel

Then click and drag on the color wheel to add a teal tint to the shadows; this will start to give the photo a more cinematic feel. Your shot might look a little weird with only the shadows adjusted, but it will come together after you customize the highlights and midtones.

kids running in an alley
Color grading applied to the shadows.

Next, click the Highlights option and adjust the Luminance slider to make the brightest portions of the photo lighter or darker. Some people prefer to adjust the Luminance before doing any color editing, but this is up to you.

Once you have the Luminance adjusted, click on the wheel to add a bit of orange. This will make the brightest portions of the image really stand out from the darkest portions of the image, since teal and orange are on opposite sides of the color wheel.

Lightroom Color Grading panel

At this point, the example image is starting to come together. It has a grittier, cinematic feel compared to the original, thanks to a touch of teal in the shadows and orange in the highlights.

kids running in an alley

After the highlights and shadows are edited, head to the Midtones wheel to give your image a warmer or cooler feel overall. Instead of changing the appearance of the brightest or darkest portions of your image, the Midtones wheel affects everything between those two extremes.

Midtone adjustments are useful for giving your entire picture more of a warm or cool feeling. Adjust the Luminance slider, then click and drag the dot to orange or red to make your photo warmer, or blue to make it cooler.

Lightroom Color Grading panel

At this point, the image is nearing completion, and you can see the results below. It’s a far cry from the original, which feels flat and boring by comparison.

Lightroom Color Grading kids running alley
The shadows, highlights, and midtones have been adjusted. But the image isn’t quite done yet.

After editing the shadows, highlights, and midtones, it’s time to tweak the Blending and Balance sliders.

As I explained above, blending refers to how much each of the three parameters stays within its own range. It has a default value of 50, which results in a relatively smooth color grade overall.

Sliding Blending to the left means the edits to shadows are confined almost exclusively to the darkest portions of the shot, and the edits to the highlights are confined almost exclusively to the lightest portions of the shot. A balance of 0 essentially makes each of the edits stay in its own lane and not affect the rest of the picture. And bringing the Balance slider to the right will increase how much each tonal area overlaps with one another. The result is often quite subtle, but can have a noticeable impact when applied carefully.

Lightroom Color Grading kids running alley
Blending set to 0 after the shadows, highlights, and midtones were edited. The difference is most noticeable in the sidewalk.

Now, the Balance slider determines how much of the picture is treated as shadows and how much is treated as highlights. Moving the slider to the left takes whatever adjustments you made to the shadows and applies them to more of the picture overall. The same happens to the highlight edits when you move the slider to the right.

If you have applied a certain tint to the shadows but want that tint to affect more of the picture, move the Balance slider to the left. Likewise, if you want your highlight adjustment to apply to more than just the brightest portions, adjust the Balance slider to the right.

kids running in an alley
Balance set to -54. The teal colors in the shadows now bleed over to much more of the rest of the picture.

Tips and tricks for Lightroom color grading

The key to color grading is to remember that there is no one magic solution. Don’t think of color grading as a search for the right way to adjust your image, but as a doorway to infinite possibilities that can be used however you see fit.

The best way to learn about color grading is to click around on the color wheels and experiment on your own. Lightroom is non-destructive, so you can always revert back to your earlier image. And in the meantime, you just might find a new way to edit your pictures that you never thought of before.

sunset on a lake without color grading
Fujifilm X100F | 23mm | 77 seconds | f/16 | ISO 200. Edited, but not color graded.

That being said, these tips will send you on your way to improving your color grading skills:

  • Edit your image to have an even exposure prior to using the Lightroom Color Grading tool. Use the Basic panel for highlights/shadows adjustments.
  • Give your shadows a richer look by adjusting them to be teal, blue, or purple
  • Contrast the highlights with the shadows by making them yellow, orange, or red
  • Adjust the midtones a little, but not too much. The midtones should complement the highlights and shadows, not compete by standing out.
  • For subtle tweaks, use the Blending slider to control how your graded colors meld together
  • Click the eye icon next to one of the color wheels to toggle between a before and after view
Sunset on a lake with color grading
The same image as above, but color graded. The shadows are blue, the highlights are orange, and the midtones are yellow-orange.

Lightroom color grading: conclusion

You should now have enough to get started with Lightroom color grading. Just remember that the goal here is the same as it is with most editing: You want to end up with an image you like! Color grading is just another tool you can use to make that happen.

Lightroom is a non-destructive editor. That means you can always undo your changes, so experiment with color grading as much as you want. And feel free to share your before and after images in the comments below!

The post Lightroom Color Grading: An Easy Way to Supercharge Your Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.


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Adobe Lightroom Classic 10.0 released, includes Color Grading and more

19 Oct

Adobe has released Lightroom Classic version 10.0, ushering in a variety of performance improvements and new features, including new controlled color grading adjustments for shadows, midtones and highlights.

With Lightroom Classic’s new color grading tool, users can control the color separately in midtones, shadows and highlights, or adjust the color of your entire image with a global control. The Color Grading panel replaces Split Toning and offers additional control overall color. Within Color Grading, you can adjust hue, saturation and luminance by moving the point in each color wheel. When making adjustments, if you hold the Shift key or Command key, you restrict wheel movement for Saturation or Hue adjustments, respectively.

Image credit: Adobe

The Color Grading panel also includes Blending and Balance sliders. The Blending slider ‘adjusts the amount of overlap between the shadows and highlights.’ The Balance slider balances the effect of sliders between highlights, midtones and shadows. If the value is greater than zero, the effect of highlights will be increased. A value below zero increases the effect of the shadows. If you want to recreate the effect of the old Split Toning effect, set the Blending slider to 100.

A few weeks ago, Adobe showed a sneak peek at the new Color Grading feature. You can view the early look at the feature below.

Lightroom Classic version 10 includes performance improvements as well. Adobe promises faster editing when using brushes and gradients when GPU acceleration is enabled. Further, the new version delivers faster scrolling through the Library Grid, Folders and Collections, particularly for users with large catalogs.

When using the Loupe, Compare and Reference views in Lightroom, there is improved control over zoom levels with new Scrubby zoom and Box zoom options. Scrubby Zoom can be used while dragging your move left or right while pressing the Shift key. This is only available when GPU acceleration is enabled. The Box Zoom is available in Library and Develop modules by pressing Ctrl on Windows or Command on macOS while drawing a box with your cursor. The Navigator panel has been updated as well, it now offers Fit/Fill, 100% and Zoom percent options (ranging from 6% to 1600%).

A summary of Lightroom Classic version 10.0’s new features. Click to enlarge. Image credit: Adobe

For Canon camera users, you can see what you are shooting in real-time when tethered to Lightroom Classic version 10. Your connected camera’s live view will appear in a new, resizable window with orientation options. The tether bar includes focus control buttons and an autofocus button. To learn more about this feature, check out this article.

In addition to new tethered support, Lightroom Classic 10.0 includes new camera and lens profile support. The Fujifilm X-S10, Panasonic Lumix S5, Sony A7C and Sony A7S Mark III are all now supported. A variety of Sigma lenses and Voigtlander lenses have new support in Lightroom Classic 10.0. You can view the full list of supported cameras and lenses via the following links: Supported cameras and supported lenses.

When you update Lightroom Classic to the latest version, you will be prompted to upgrade your catalog. When doing so, a new feature will allow you to control the name of your catalog. To learn more about the new features in Adobe Lightroom Classic version 10.0, click here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video: Adobe teases Advance Color Grading tool coming to ACR, Lightroom and Lightroom Classic

28 Sep

Adobe has announced a new Advanced Color Grading feature will soon be available inside Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom and Lightroom Classic.

The new Color Grading panel is inspired by the Lumetri Color panel used in Adobe’s Premiere Pro video editing software and replaces the previous Split Toning panel. Unlike Split Toning, which only allows you to adjust the highlights and shadows, the new Color Grading panel takes it one step further, allowing you to also adjust the coloring of the midtones.

In addition to adding midtones, the panel is also redesigned. It now uses a three-wheel system, not unlike the color wheels often seen in professional video editing programs. Each wheel works alongside a slider to provide complete HSL control for highlights, midtones and shadows. There’s also a global color wheel for more general adjustments, as well as a blending slider to help boost or reduce your adjustments, depending on the look you’re going for.

Adobe doesn’t mention when we can expect to see this filter in Adobe Camera Raw, Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Lightroom Classic, but does say it’ll be showing off more of this new panel at this year’s virtual Adobe Max conference, which is taking place on October 20–22.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro

02 Feb

The post A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

step-by-step-color-grading-in-capture-one-pro

One of the reasons photographers hesitate to move from Lightroom to Capture One Pro is the learning curve associated with a new piece of software. The interface and the tools in COP are very different than those of Lightroom. Color grading in Capture One is one example of a process that is radically different than those found with Adobe products.

That being said, if you already know how to retouch your photos in Lightroom or Photoshop, then it won’t take you long to get up and running with Capture One Pro, which is recognized industry-wide for its superb color grading tools.

Color grading in Capture One Pro is a huge topic, but here are some tips to get you started.

The Color Editor

The Color Editor can be found in the left-hand side of the COP workspace, indicated by an icon as shown below:

color grading in capture one pro

Here you’ll find an RGB Histogram, a panel for White Balance, the Color Editor, and Color Balance.

There are three tabs in the Color Editor: Basic, Advanced, and Skin Tone. COP is recognized for its ability to render beautiful and highly realistic skin tones in comparison to other RAW editors.

These tabs allow you to modify the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness of individual colors.

You can also work in Layer Masks. These work similarly to local adjustments in Lightroom and allow you to modify individual colors more precisely.

The Basic tab

There are six color ranges represented in the color wheel under the Basic tab.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro

To work on a particular color, you first need to define the color range.

Choose the eyedropper to the right of the color wheel and click it on the desired color in your image.

In my image of the roasted cauliflower below, I clicked on the roasted tomatoes in order to work on the red tone.

color grading in capture one

The shading in the red segment of the color wheel shows you what color/colors have been selected.

You can further define the color range by clicking on the border of the segment and adjusting the width with your mouse.

color grading in capture one

To see exactly what the range includes click on View Selected Color.

color grading in capture one

Use the Smoothness slider to control the fall-off of the selected color into neighboring colors. This is represented by the shaded colored area around the boundaries. This will prevent hard edges.

The Basic tab is great in that it allows you to work on colors in your image individually. However, for maximum control when color grading in Capture One, use the Advanced tab.

The Advanced tab

As with the Basic tab, you need to define the color range you wish to work on with the color picker.

Click on the area you wish to adjust.

Then click View Selected Color Range.

Everything that is not part of the selection will be shown on the image as black and white. The width of the selection on the color wheel shows the excluded colors.

color grading in capture one

When working in the Advanced tab, you have extra precision when controlling the depth of the selection, as shown in the image above.

Simply click on the border and move your mouse towards the center of the color wheel. You can grab the border to include other colors in your selection.

Now you can make adjustments to the Smoothness, Hue, Saturation, and Lightness.

Once you have made the desired adjustments, uncheck View Selected Color Range.

To edit certain colors and not others when color grading in Capture One, you can also work on layers.

Layers in COP work similarly to local adjustments in Lightroom.

The Color Balance Tool

The Color Balance Tool is a simple yet powerful tool for correcting color casts and also for color grading in Capture One.

It can also be found under the Color Tool tab.

Color Balance allows you to not only tweak color, but add luminosity to the highlights, midtones, and shadows individually to an image. It enables precise control over hue and saturation in your images.

It can be used to make local adjustments in conjunction with the Layers Tool.

The tool is split up into five tabs: Master, 3-Way, Shadow, Midtone, and Highlight.

The Master tab allows you to affect color throughout the image. For example, if you want to cool down or warm up your image.

3-Way allows you to conveniently see Shadow, Midtone, and Highlight all at once.

When working with the Color Balance tool, you might want to remove it from the side panel and have it float in your workspace. You can then enlarge it for more comfortable viewing to make extra fine adjustments as needed.

To do this, simply click on the panel and drag it to another area of the workspace with your mouse.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro

Then drag on a corner to expand it.

color grading in capture one

To use the individual color balance tools, click on the centerpoint and drag it around the circumference, towards the color you want to affect.

Moving the pointer away from the center towards the perimeter increases saturation.

color grading in capture one

The curved sliders on either side of the color wheel affect the density of the chosen color range.

To reset the slider, you can click anywhere in the middle.

After you have made your individual color adjustments, you can head over to the Master slider and tweak the overall color balance if you wish.

In the image below, I made a couple of adjustments to the exposure, contrast and brightness of my image but I wanted to improve the colors.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro

I used the Master tab to cool down the image overall and bring out the blue undertone in the peonies.

color grading in capture one

Then I added some blue to the shadow. To the naked eye, the plate was quite blue and I wanted to bring this out in my image.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro

I also added magenta to the midtones and highlights to bring out the pink.

To work on colors individually, like the green of the leaves, you can use the Color Balance tool in conjunction with the Layers tool.

To do this, click on the Layers tab and create a name for your layer so you know what it refers to. I called my “Leaves.”

color grading in capture one

Paint a mask on the selection of the image you wish to change. There is no need to be super precise.

Use the Master tab to make the adjustment to the color.

color grading in capture one

The image will be adjusted with the updated color.

color grading in capture one

Conclusion

Capture One Pro comes with a steeper price tag than Adobe products, however, their claim that they are the number one choice among professionals is not an exaggeration.

Take some time to play around with the Color Editor and Color Balance tool. You may soon find you’ll be abandoning Lightroom for color grading in Capture One Pro.

Do you have any other questions or tips for color grading in Capture One Pro? If so, please share them with us in the comments.

The post A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.


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Easy Color Grading With LUTs and Luminar 2018

20 Feb

Focusing on color can help you communicate style and emotion. This approach is often referred to as color grading.

Color grading versus color correction

You may have wondered how this differs from color correction, which is more of a technical adjustment. A tungsten bulb, for example, will produce a color shift in your images that’s warmer than what you’re accustomed to seeing with your eyes. Often you want to adjust that hue, cooling it off a bit so that it appears more natural. That’s a correction.

Color grading, on the other hand, leans toward the artistic. You may want to add or enhance orange tones and teals to create a mood similar to what one would experience in the movies. Exact reality isn’t the goal. It’s more about a creative look that elicits a feeling.

Here’s a simple example. Compare these two portraits. The first picture seems perfectly fine. The rendered colors are similar to what we would perceive if standing there during capture.

Color Corrected Portrait - color grading in Luminar 2018

A reasonably color correct portrait.

The second image is color graded to communicate a style, a look. And even though it isn’t natural by everyday lighting standards, it’s interesting – and probably more engaging than the “correct” color version.

Color Graded Portrait - color grading using LUTs

This version was color graded in Luminar 2018 using Chrono-Steel LUT by Lutify.me.

All image editors are equipped to correct color. But some are better than others at providing the means to manipulate it stylistically. Luminar 2018 is one of those creative applications.

The Power of LUTs

Lookup Tables (LUTs) sound like a technical adjustment. And indeed there is plenty of color science at work under the hood. They are used to precisely shift colors from one spot to another. But those shifts can be stored in a container, such as a “.cube” file, that can be used to color grade an image.

So even though LUTs are precise color science, their recipes can be wonderfully artistic.

Las vegas comparison - Easy Color Grading With LUTs and Luminar 2018

A side by side comparison of this Las Vegas scene shows how color grading can breathe life into an image.

The original version of this Las Vegas scene was serviceable, but certainly not exciting. Nor did it convey the majesty of the building. By color grading with a teal and orange LUT, suddenly the scene comes to life.

Does it look exactly like that in reality? No. But does the image feel like Las Vegas? Definitely more than the original.

Applying LUTs in Luminar 2018

Your gateway to this type of color grading in Luminar 2018 is via the LUT Mapping Filter. You can add this adjustment to your workspace by clicking on the Filters button, and by choosing LUT Mapping from the Professional category.

Adding LUT Mapping - Easy Color Grading With LUTs and Luminar 2018

LUT Mapping is available via the Filters menu in Luminar 2018.

Once the filter has been added to the workspace, click on the popup menu inside the panel to reveal the built-in LUTs (such as Tritone and Kodack chrome 3), or to access LUT files that you may have already added to your computer via Load Custom LUT File.

Before After Color Grading

LUT Mapping Filter - Easy Color Grading With LUTs and Luminar 2018

Luminar comes with built-in LUTs, or you can add your own.

Once you select a LUT, the image is color graded via the LUT’s recipe. You can fine-tune the recipe using the Amount, Contrast, and Saturation sliders. Also, a good companion filter for this color grading with LUTs is HSL, which provides color adjustments for hue, saturation, and luminance.

HSL Filter - Easy Color Grading With LUTs and Luminar 2018

Tips for Effective Color Grading with LUTs

Creating a separate adjustment layer for your color grading provides lots of flexibility. The base layer is used for basic adjustments via the Develop filter and the other tools that you need to establish a good range of tones. The adjustment layer (Layers > Add New Adjustment Layer) contains the LUT Mapping, HSL, and other creative filters. You can then use the blend modes and the opacity slider for precise control over the grading.

Custom Preset - Easy Color Grading With LUTs and Luminar 2018

Saving your LUT as a custom preset provides you with a preview thumbnail as well.

Another handy technique is to save your LUT color grading as a custom preset. Luminar makes this easy. Once you achieve a look that you want to use again, save it as a custom preset. Use the “Save Filters Preset” button in the lower right corner of Luminar. This provides the added benefit of a preview thumbnail for the LUT and its accompanying adjustments. You can create custom presets for all of your favorite LUTs. That’s a real time saver.

LUTs are also terrific for film emulation. There are LUTs for Kodachrome, Polaroid, and B&W film looks. This is a high-quality way to build your own Instagram-like filters, with a pinch of your own creativity added.

Downloading and Organizing More LUT Files

Skylum maintains a LUT downloads page that you can access through Luminar. Click on “Download New LUT Files” in the LUT Mapping popup menu. This will take you to the Skylum LUT catalog.

Download New LUTs - Easy Color Grading With LUTs and Luminar 2018

Once you download a new collection of LUTs, store them in a place that you will remember, such as a LUTs folder in Pictures or Documents. You’ll have to navigate there when you use the “Load Custom LUT File” command in Luminar. The application doesn’t store LUTs for you, so you have to remember where you are.

Bonus tip! Store your custom LUTs in Dropbox so you can access them from any computer.

Save Your Work

If you’re using Luminar 2018 as a standalone app (as opposed to a plug-in or editing extension), then save your favorite color gradings as a Luminar file. This allows you to return to the image and its settings at a future date to continue your work, or to change the color grading to another style.

Make it Look Easy

Your viewers may not realize the techniques that you used to create the enticing color schemes in your images. What they will notice are your style and creativity. Using LUTs can contribute greatly to that pursuit.

Disclaimer: Skylum (formerly Macphun) is a paid partner of dPS.

The post Easy Color Grading With LUTs and Luminar 2018 by Derrick Story appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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How to Create a Dramatic Cinematic Style Portrait Using Photoshop Color Grading

30 Jun

Cinematic style portraits are personally one of my favourites. What I like the most about them are the desaturated colours and the dramatic ambience.

Before we start the tutorial on colour grading, I will give you some of my best tips to achieve this cinematic look:

  • Use a large aperture, something between f/1.4 and f/2.0. If you have a long lens then you can also use that. The idea is to have a nice background bokeh (when things in the background are blurred). You also want to have nice separation between the model and the background.

IMAGE 1

  • If you’re shooting indoors with strobes, then try to add ambience by adding shadows to the model’s face. You do not want flat lighting, it is boring.
  • If somehow you can’t get the dramatic lighting, don’t hesitate to enhance the contrast with some dodging and burning in Photoshop.

IMAGE 2

  • If you’re shooting outside, the I recommend shooting right after sunset. You will get nice soft light on the model’s face, and you will also have city lights behind them, to really get a cinematic feel. This only works with a large aperture, and it adds another point of interest.

IMAGE 3

  • Your model should have a strong expression on their face, especially if it’s a male. Cute smiling images do not really work that well with this style.
  • Leave some space in the frame. You do not want your model to take up the whole frame, so leave some space around them, to add context to your image. You can get better results if the viewer is able to locate the spatiotemporal context of your image.

IMAGE 4

  • Your model should not wear something too flashy (something like pink or yellow), limit their clothes to sombre, subdued colours.
  • Try to use complementary colours as much as possible, it creates nice depth to your images. Usually in movies, the actor is either in blue and the background in yellow/orange, or vice versa. Try to keep your actor in a range of cold colours and your background in warm colours, it works the best. The opposite also gives you good results.

IMAGE 5

  • The most important thing is that your model should look like a character. Try to add accessories, clothes, or poses that make the character look credible. You can discuss with the model or stylist before the session, the look you want to give to your images, and have a look together at the wardrobe.
    IMAGE 6

Color Grading in Photoshop

For the colour grading tutorial I am going to work on this image:

IMAGE 7

This image was taken on a Canon 6D, with an aperture of f/1.8, on a 50mm lens. This was taken during a short film where I was the photographer. There was a lighting behind the window aiming at the model, we added some fog to create this 1945 look.

What we’re going to do with this image is bring it back to life, by enhancing the contrast between the yellows in the highlights, and the greens in the shadows. We’re going to have a colour scheme based on analogous colours, going from green to yellow.

Let’s start with some basic exposure correction on Lightroom, this will depend on your image, so adjust accordingly.

IMAGE 8

Do basic adjustments in Lightroom, or your program of choice, first.

After the basics are done let’s move the image over to Photoshop to start our colour grading. If you are using Lightroom just right click and choose Edit in Photoshop.

First, duplicate the layer in Photoshop so that you won’t do any destructive editing. You can always go back to the original layer if you don’t like the results.

IMAGE 9

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Make a duplicate layer.

The first thing we’re going to do is to create a new layer adjustment, go to: Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Lookup…

Screen Shot 2016 06 23 at 2 08 13 PM

Pick filmstock_50.3dl and reduce the opacity of the layer to around 20%. You need to reduce the opacity otherwise the effect is going to be too strong.

IMAGE 12

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Next thing we’re going to do is create a curves layer and redo the contrast. This will really depend on your image, so adjust according to your taste.

IMAGE 14

Adjustment layer Curves to add contrast.

Then create another curves layer, go to the blue curve and lower the top right extreme of the layer. This will add yellow to your shadows.

IMAGE 15

Add yellow to the shadow areas using this curve adjustment

Next step is to play around with the colour balance (make another new adjustment layer) to enhance to greens in the midtones and the yellows in the highlights. Once again just the sliders to add green and yellow to both the highlights and the midtowns.

IMAGE 16

Select Midtones from the pull-down menu and add green and yellow.

IMAGE 17

Select Highlights from the pull-down menu and add green and yellow.

Right now, we are basically done with colour grading. Lastly is to quickly dodge and burn, to enhance the light coming from the window, and to darken the image and the background. We are basically doing a manual vignette.

To lighten up the image, create a curves layer, make it brighter, and add a black layer mask (CMD/CNTRL+I to invert the layer mask). Call the layer Dodge, and paint with a white brush (because the mask is black) in the spots where you want to brighten up the image. Pick a brush with an opacity around 40% with and edge hardest of 0%

To create a dark layer, we will basically do the same thing but darken up the curves layer and paint over the spots in the image we want darker.

IMAGE 18

This Curves adjustment layer is for dodging or lightening areas of the image.

IMAGE 19

This Curves adjustment layer is for burning or darkening areas of the image.

IMAGE 20

Rename your layers to identify them easier.

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This is the final result:

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Conclusion

Cinematic portraits rely heavily on great colour grading – but the lighting, model, camera settings and ambience should not be neglected. It all starts with a great image and ends with Photoshop to enhance your vision.

Enjoy the art !

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How to use Color Grading for Effect and Tone Control in Photoshop

07 Nov

Photoshop is a massive tool that can be used to do just about anything on your images. But, knowing how and when to use which tool can be daunting.

In these two videos you can see how to use color grading with adjustments layers to make special effects and add or control color and tone in your images.

This one from Clay Cook shows you how to “Color Grade like a Pro” as he walks you through two portraits as he processes them in Photoshop:

In this second one from SLR lounge photographer, Lauri Laukkanen, goes through how it takes one image from camera to a fashion look using color grading:

Lastly if you really want to put this information to use here’s an in-depth tutorial on using color grading to make a cinematic poster look to an image:

Have you tried color grading before? Please show us your results below in the comments if you follow along and give it a go.

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LAB Color Correction Video Tutorial: Creative Grading Techniques for Images

12 Nov

In this second video on LAB we explore a way to add creative color grading onto a desaturated dusk image. Once again exploring LAB colour mode and curves we get playful to create saturation and color contrast to add life to a dull scene. Don’t miss our first video on the LAB colors tutorial. Before After

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11 September, 2013 – Grading CinemaDNG in Lightroom, Camera Raw and Capture One

11 Sep

It hasn’t happened yet in still photography, but there is a growing movement to adopt a standardized raw format for video. It’s called CinemaDNG.

In my newest tutorial I show how these files can be processed in your favourite raw processing program; Lightroom, Camera Raw or Capture One. But – slowly.

Better alternatives are DaVinci Resolve (free up to 1920X1080), or better yet, the just announced update to Adobe’s Premier Pro CC, which will handle CinemaDNG files natively without the need for rendering or transcoding – coming October, 15.

Find out more about this is Grading CinemaDNG in Lightroom, Camera Raw and Capture One.

"Having been to Antarctica with Michael and Kevin, I would say after having traveled the world and shot nearly my entire life as an exhibiting photographer,  it was one of my highlights in my life and I talk about it, all the time.  The images and experience of seeing something visionary and nearly extinct from the world, to see and experience the wildlife and scenery that does not fear humans is amazing.  The images I shot there won me two Smithsonian awards and nearly 18 other international awards". – Tim Wolcott

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