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Instantly add color to any black and white photo using the Colorize Neural Filter in Photoshop!
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Instantly Colorize Any Black & White Photo
Neural Filters in Photoshop
Colorize is one of the latest features introduced to Photoshop’s growing suite of Neural Filters. Powered by machine learning with Adobe Sensei, Neural Filters help to take otherwise complicated workflows and simplify them to just a few clicks.
You can find the Neural Filters under the Filter Menu.
Since many of the Neural Filters are still works on progress, most are located under the Beta Filters tab. Each Filter can be downloaded locally to use at any time, but some require an active network connection as they utilize cloud-based services. Depth-Aware Haze is one such Filter, so make sure that you’re connected to the internet if you want to give it a try.
The Colorize Neural Filter
One of the most commonly requested tutorials we get is how to colorize black and white images in Photoshop. While we do cover it in How to Restore Old & Vintage Photos, the manual process can be time consuming and involve a lot of trial and error.
The Colorize Neural Filter promises to make this complicated workflow as easy as a few clicks.
By simply toggling the Colorize Filter, any black and white photo will be instantly colorized.
However, there are several options and sliders that can help dial in the exact look and colors you want. You can use the sliders to adjust the overall amount of cyans, reds, blues, yellows, magentas, and greens in an image. This is especially helpful if you’re working with a portrait and you want to make sure that skin tones look warm and natural.
Focus Points
Since the Colorize Neural Filter is using A.I. to identify what colors should be present in the image, it might not always hit the mark. But the Focus Point feature can help!
You can select multiple Focus Points in a photo and assign a color to each.
We attempted to use a Focus Point to color the rose in our example photo, but Photoshop had some trouble differentiating the rose from the background. You can try to use multiple Focus Points to dial the right colors in, but we found this feature to be hit or miss.
We recommend using the general adjustments for now and then, if you do want to make further changes to the colors, to combine the Colorize Filter with other Adjustment Layers.
Output the Colorize Filter
Like the other Neural Filters, you can choose how you want to output the effect. This will largely depend on your own preferences and workflow, but we would suggest not outputting the effect to the Current Layer. This will affect the original image and make things difficult, or impossible, to go back and fix later on.
Once the effect is applied, you can continue to edit an image normally using any of the hundreds of tools available in Photoshop.
Since the focus is on color, you might want to use Hue/Saturation or Color Balance Adjustment Layers along with Layer Masks to dial in the exact look you want.
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We know what Photoshop can do for our still images, but what can it do for our videos? The answer might surprise you! Learn how to add beautiful color to your videos using the Video Timeline, Adjustment Layers, and color-grading LUTs.
Download our free sample LUT pack that you can start using to color your photos and videos right away. And be sure to check out our ever-expanding library of LUTs.
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Color Grade Video in Photoshop!
Wait… Video? In Photoshop?
It sounds crazy, we know, but Photoshop has a lot of surprising features that support video editing. While we still recommend sticking with programs like Adobe Premiere for major cutting and editing, Photoshop is a viable option when you want to add some quick color grading to your footage.
Loading a video in Photoshop is just as easy as opening an image. Simple drag and drop the video file into the work area or use the File Menu to open the video from the directory. Once the video is loaded, it will appear as a normal Layer within a Video Group.
Edit Video with Adjustment Layers
When it comes to color grading in Photoshop, Adjustment Layers are the best tools to quickly create a wide variety of looks. And using Adjustment Layers on videos is exactly the same as using them on still images. Create an Adjustment Layer of your choice, make sure that it’s above the video in the Layers Panel, and adjust the settings until you achieve the look you want.
Like images, you can use any number of Adjustment Layers you want to dial in the perfect color grade.
Using LUTs in Photoshop
LUTs are a type of Adjustment Layer in Photoshop that appear in the Adjustment Layer Menu as Color Lookup. While they may sound a little confusing, it’s easiest to think of LUTs as a combination of Adjustment Layers and settings combined into a particular look and then saved as a singular file. For example, you could create a dark and moody look using a dozen different Adjustment Layers, and then save those adjustments out as an LUT. Then, if you wanted to apply that same look to another image, simply load the LUT file and it will apply of the adjustments necessary to create it.
We have a ton of LUTs available in our PRO library and we continue to add new looks every week! But if you want to get started right away, and if you’re not a PHLEARN PRO member, you can grab our free sample pack! Simply import the LUTs using the Color Lookup dialog, and then you can add them to your photos and videos in just a few clicks.
LUTs make the process of applying complex looks much easier and they can help you create a more consistent look across any number of video clips.
Export Videos in Photoshop
Once the look is applied, you’ll want to export the clip with the new color grade. Navigate to the File Menu, open the Export Menu, and select Render Video.
Adjust the export settings to what you need, click Render, and then give Photoshop some time to do the work.
You’ll end up with a new video file with your beautiful coloring applied.
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Going for that dark and dramatic look? Then follow along and learn how to create moody and mysterious coloring in Photoshop. And best of all, it can be done using just a single Curves Adjustment Layer!
If you enjoyed this short tutorial and want to take a deeper dive into dark and moody looks (or just color grading in general), check out our PRO course Dark & Moody Coloring in Photoshop! Or if you’d rather lighten the mood, we also have courses on Bright & Airy Coloring and Film & Vintage Coloring.
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Add Drama & Mystery to Any Photo
Getting Started with Dark & Moody Coloring
Before you can start creating a certain style using the color grading tools in Photoshop, you need to make sure you’re pairing that style with the right image. We’re going for a look that’s dark and mysterious, so it should go without saying that a photo of bright and sunny portrait might be a tough sell.
In our example, one of the images seems to fit the style we’re going for perfectly and the other, while still a great photo, does not.
Before color grading any photo, it always helps to sit back and take a long hard look at an image. Study it and ask yourself some questions. What is the lighting and color like in the scene? What sort of style would enhance the mood that the photo already evokes? Answering questions like these will help you determine a color grade that will ultimately elevate the feelings that are already present in an image.
What Makes Dark & Moody so Dark & Moody?
So what sort of things should you look for to determine if a photo would benefit from dark and moody color grading? Well, it certainly helps if the image is already on the darker side. Images with a lot of shadow and only splashes of light usually works great for this sort of style. We’re going to end up enhancing any contrast so natural contrast in the original image helps.
Taking the content of the scene into consideration, look for subjects that aren’t happy and smiling at the camera. If a subject’s face and expression are hidden, whether in shadow or they’re turned away from the camera, it adds an extra sense of mystery to a scene. And those feelings can be enhanced using color grading tools in Photoshop.
Coloring with Curves
Color grading doesn’t have to involve a ton of tools and adjustments to get the look you want. And oftentimes a single tool is all you’ll need to get the job done. So what’s are do-it-all trick to getting a dark and moody look in Photoshop? Curves!
Curves is a powerful Adjustment Layer that checks a lot of boxes in the editor’s workflow. Exposure adjustments? Check. Coloring? Check. Non-destructive? Check. And the list goes on. How does it manage to do so much? Let’s take a look.
Working Curves Adjustment Layers
You can create a Curves Adjustment Layer by opening the Layer menu, hovering over New Adjustment Layer, and selecting Curves.
The Curves dialog will open and Photoshop will place a Curves Adjustment Layer in the Layers Panel above the background image. While it might look daunting at first, Curves are pretty easy to use once you understand the information they provide and allow you to edit. At the heart of the Curves dialog is a histogram–a chart of the lighting and color information in the image.
The histogram displays information from left to right, or from pure black values through pure values white respectively. Looking at the histogram for our example image, we can see that the majority of the information in the photo sits on the darker side of the spectrum. Running through the histogram diagonally from the lower left to the top right is a line that we can add points to and move to make parts of the image lighter or darker or even adjust colors.
For example, if you create a point near the bottom left corner of the line and drag it lower, it will take those dark shadowy areas and make them even darker. Conversely, if you create a point near the top right of the line and move it up, the highlights in the image will get brighter.
To enhance the dark and moody qualities of the image, this is exactly what we want to start out with. By making the darks darker and the highlights a little brighter, we can carefully increase the overall contrast of the image to get the effect that we want.
But Curves can do more than just change highlight and shadow levels. Clicking on the drop-down box near the top of the dialog that says RGB, you’ll see a list of the different individual color channels.
By selecting each channel and going through a similar process as we did when adjusting the highlight and shadow levels, we can introduce more or less of each color into the highlights and shadows of the image.
If you select the Red Channel, create a point near the top right, and then move it up, you’ll add more reds into the highlights of the image. In this case that’s exactly what we want since it will make sure the subject’s skin tones, which are in highlight areas, will stay warm and natural. If you were to move the red point down, it would reduce the reds in that area and add complementary cyan coloring.
All that’s left to do is to go through each color channel and make subtle adjustments, pushing and pulling color values until you get a dark and moody vibe that you like.
Description
Color grading is one of the most expressive parts of the photo editing process. With the power to make an image feel dark and mysterious, light and airy, cool and tranquil, or warm and kinetic, color can take your images to surprising places.
As a PHLEARN PRO member, you’ll get unlimited access to this course as well as:
- 200+ More Professional Courses
- 500+ Presets, LUTs, Brushes & Actions
- New Content Released Every Week
THIS COURSE INCLUDES
- 4 Sample Images
- 3 Lightroom Presets
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Advanced Color Grading
What is Color Grading?
You’ve probably heard the terms ‘color correction’ and ‘color grading’ before, but what do they mean? And what’s the difference? Color correction is about helping your images look balanced and natural. It’s important to have a steady, neutral foundation before adding more stylistic adjustments. Color grading, on the other hand, is all about stylistic adjustments. In this course we show you how to use coloring and color tools to give your images a stunning, evocative look.
Color Grading in Lightroom Classic
Lightroom has a robust suite of tools to help you color and tone your images with precision and care. From basic adjustments like white balance and exposure to more advanced options like the Tone Curve and HSL sliders, we break down each and every tool you can use to take your images to the next level.
Professional Color Grading
Professional color grading is all about precision, control, and taking ownership of every color in an image. We show you how to analyze colors, target specific areas of an image to apply color, and use basic color theory to create beautiful looks.
Change Colors in Lightroom
Getting the exact look and feel we want sometimes requires us to completely change the colors of objects in our photos. Learn how to accurately select and change any color in Lightroom
Range Masking
Range Masking is one of the most powerful and advanced editing tools Lightroom has to offer. Learn how to use Range Masking to target specific areas of an image to make extremely accurate, localized edits for a polished and professional result.
The Tone Curve
Similar to Curves in Photoshop, the Tone Curve in Lightroom is a workhorse for making advanced adjustments to exposure and color. By the end of this course you’ll be a master of this important tool and you’ll feel confident using it to make a wide variety of edits to your photos.
Professional Color Grading Tools
The Color Grading Panel
Relatively new to Lightroom Classic, we cover the appropriately-named Color Grading Tool. This tool has everything you need to apply beautiful coloring to an image faster than ever before.
Highlights, Midtones & Shadows
Light and shadow are the defining features of any photograph. We show you multiple tools and techniques that allow you to edit those areas of light and dark independently–carefully sculpting your edits for a more professional finish.
Lightroom Presets
Want to share your looks with others? Try looks from your some of your favorite artists? Apply consistent coloring across an album of images? Speed up your workflow? Lightroom Presets can do it all and more. Learn how to create, save, and load Presets into Lightroom Classic. Best of all, we include 3 exclusive Presets in the course! And if you’re looking for more, check out our growing library of Lightroom Presets and Color Grading LUTs.
Aaron Nace
PHLEARN Founder – Class Instructor
Aaron Nace is a photographer, Photoshop artist and founder of PHLEARN. He is the #1 Photoshop instructor in the world with millions of YouTube subscribers.
Reviews
FAQ
This tutorial includes 5 video tutorials, 4 sample images, and 3 Lightroom Presets.
Download the sample images and assets at the top of the page.
Yes, every tutorial on PHLEARN is included in the PHLEARN PRO Subscription.
We suggest using the latest version of Photoshop, but our tutorials are designed to be compatible with CS4, CS5, CS6 & Photoshop CC. Get the latest version of Photoshop from Adobe.
Download the course files at the top of this page.
You’ll find answers to some of the most common questions in our Help Center. If what you need isn’t covered, you can submit a question to our all-star customer support team and they’ll get back to you right away!
Artist Credit
Special thanks to Maria Orlova, Rachel Claire, Tony Schnagl, Ivan Samkov. Images for this PRO course were sourced from Pexels.
Description
Have you ever looked at the color in a photograph or a movie scene and wished your images could look like that? Well, now they can! Learn how to match the color between photos in both Lightroom and Photoshop.
THIS COURSE INCLUDES
- 8 Sample Images
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Recreate the Color from Any Photo
Match Color in Photoshop
Photoshop has a wide variety of color grading options that we can use to match the color between images. Whether you want to get the job done quickly with an automated tool or take your time with a more careful, manual approach, we’ll show you the tools to make it happen.
Match Color in Lightroom Classic
Lightroom and Photoshop each have their own strengths when it comes to photo editing, but both programs have powerful tools for color correction and color grading. That’s why we also show you the many options Lightroom has to offer for matching colors and creating beautiful styles. And if you’re new to Lightroom, work through our Lightroom Learning Path and learn about all of the major tools and features.
Professional Color Grading
Working with color is both an art and a craft. We show you the tools and techniques that professionals use to create stunning looks while also helping you recreate your favorite coloring from other images.
Understanding Curves
Curves might be the most powerful tool for color grading at our disposal. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed looking at the Curves tools in either Lightroom or Photoshop, we’ve got you covered. Learn how to adjust exposure while precisely adding color to the highlights, midtones, and shadows of any photo.
Hue, Saturation & Lightness
Coloring is all about three variables: hue, saturation, and lightness. We break down how to control and shift these important options while explaining how each affects the overall look of an image.
Lightroom Color Grading Tool
There are a lot of tools that we can use for color grading, but there are only some that are made for it. Come along on a tour of the powerful Color Grading panel in Lightroom which makes coloring and styling images easier than ever before.
Professional Color Grading Tools
Automated Tools in Photoshop
Matching colors doesn’t need to take a ton of time. That’s why there’s quick and easy tools like the Match Color option in Photoshop. Learn how to use this automated tool to instantly match the style of any photograph.
Adjustment Layers
Adjustment Layers are the backbone of photo editing in Photoshop. We show you the most useful Adjustment Layers for color grading and matching color, from Curves and Hue/Saturation to lesser known options like Color Balance and Selective Color. Want to learn more about Adjustment Layers? Check out our PRO tutorial that covers each and every one!
Recreate Popular Styles
These techniques will help you recreate the color from any reference photo or video. So whether there’s a photographer whose style that you’ve been dying to try, or it’s a scene from one of your favorite movies, we show you how to replicate any look using a single image and some photo editing savvy.
Aaron Nace
PHLEARN Founder – Class Instructor
Aaron Nace is a photographer, Photoshop artist and founder of PHLEARN. He is the #1 Photoshop instructor in the world with millions of YouTube subscribers.
Reviews
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Aaron is really . . . what’s the word? . . . . like a savant. that’s the best way to describe him. Pro grade PS lessons? Check. Handsome, engaging host? You bet your ass.
FAQ
This tutorial includes 5 video tutorials and 8 sample images.
Download the sample images and assets at the top of the page.
Yes, every tutorial on PHLEARN is included in the PHLEARN PRO Subscription.
We suggest using the latest version of Photoshop, but our tutorials are designed to be compatible with CS4, CS5, CS6 & Photoshop CC. Get the latest version of Photoshop from Adobe.
Download the course files at the top of this page.
You’ll find answers to some of the most common questions in our Help Center. If what you need isn’t covered, you can submit a question to our all-star customer support team and they’ll get back to you right away!
Description
If you want colors that pop off the screen, you came to the right place! Join as we show you how to create bold and vibrant looks in both Lightroom and Photoshop.
Learn how to target and enhance specific colors, make subtle adjustments to exposure, and protect delicate skin tones so that your subjects look their best while you dial up the colors around them. We even include Lightroom Presets so that you can get started right away!
THIS COURSE INCLUDES
- 4 Sample Images
- 2 Lightroom Presets
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Color That Stands Out
Bold & Vibrant Coloring in Lightroom & Photoshop
This course is all about finding the colors in our images and using Lightroom and Photoshop to bring them to life. Learn to use powerful tools to target specific colors and then control hue, saturation, and lightness to help them stand out. Best of all, these techniques will work no matter what kind of photos you work with!
Lightroom Presets Included
Lightroom Presets are a great way to find inspiration while also saving some time. We include two Lightroom Presets that you can use to get a jump start on your edits. Learn how to use the included Lightroom Presets to quickly add beautiful coloring to any photograph!
Create Beautiful Looks from Scratch
Coloring is one of the most creative processes in a photo editing workflow. Follow along as we show you how to take any photo and build your own beautiful looks from scratch using a combination of professional tools and techniques in both Lightroom and Photoshop.
Bold Looks in Just a Few Minutes!
More images are taken now than ever before and when you need yours to stand out from the crowd, coloring is a great place to start! We show you how to create looks that take advantage of the naturally-occurring colors in a photo by enhancing them and making slight shifts in hue. This allows you to create beautiful, eye-catching palettes that are equal parts bright and bold.
Basics of Color Theory
Colors are at their best when they work together. We show you some basic approaches to identifying and creating looks that take advantage of some of the most powerful color combinations. Want to learn more? Build a foundation in color and color theory in How to Master Color & Tone in Photoshop!
Brighten Images, Lift Shadows
Most images can benefit from some level of general brightening or just lifting up the shadows. We show you how to brighten any photo in Lightroom and Photoshop using precise, non-destructive tools. Learn how to target just the shadows to recover important details that were lost, or brighten a specific part of an image to draw more attention to the things that matter most.
Enhance the Colors in Your Photos
Warm Skin Tones
Skin is one of the most beautiful things to photograph, but one of the most delicate things to handle in the editing process. We show you how to enhance the colors in an image without damaging the natural oranges and reds in skin so that your subjects look great and the colors jump of the screen.
Tone Curves in Lightroom
Learn all about the most powerful coloring tool in Lightroom Classic: the Tone Curve! From targeting the highlights and shadows of a photo to targeting specific colors and color ranges, this amazing feature can help you dial in the perfect look with professional results.
Adjustment Layers in Photoshop
When it comes to general photo editing in Photoshop, Adjustment Layers should be your go-to tools. Allowing everything from exposure adjustments to detailed coloring, they can be combined and mixed in ways that can create beautiful, unique looks. And best of all, they’re entirely non-destructive, meaning you can get back to your original, unedited image in a snap.
Adjust Exposure
The brightness and exposure in a photo has a lot to do with how the colors turn out. If an image is underexposed, the colors will look muted and desaturated. If an image is overexposed, the colors will look a little too intense. We show you how to balance exposure and then dial in the coloring for a balanced and powerful final image.
Vibrance & Saturation
You might have noticed that some photo editing programs offer two different tools that give you control over the intensity of colors: saturation and vibrance. Learn the differences between saturation and vibrance and when to use each when you want colors that look both amazing and natural.
More Coloring Styles
If you enjoyed this course, we have an entire series on creating different styles and looks in both Lightroom and Photoshop. From Dark & Moody, to Bright & Airy, to a little more old-school feel, we’ve got stunning looks and techniques for everyone!
Aaron Nace
PHLEARN Founder – Class Instructor
Aaron Nace is a photographer, Photoshop artist and founder of PHLEARN. He is the #1 Photoshop instructor in the world with millions of YouTube subscribers.
Reviews
FAQ
This tutorial includes 5 video tutorials, 4 sample images, and 2 Lightroom Presets.
Download the sample images and assets at the top of the page.
Yes, every tutorial on PHLEARN is included in the PHLEARN PRO Subscription.
We suggest using the latest version of Photoshop, but our tutorials are designed to be compatible with CS4, CS5, CS6 & Photoshop CC. Get the latest version of Photoshop from Adobe.
Download the course files at the top of this page.
You’ll find answers to some of the most common questions in our Help Center. If what you need isn’t covered, you can submit a question to our all-star customer support team and they’ll get back to you right away!
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Creating your own duotone looks has never been easier! Learn how to use Channels to select both the highlights and the shadows in an image, and then use simple Solid Color Fill Layers to change the color of each for the perfect duotone effect.
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Convert Any Photo Into Two Colors
What is Duotone Coloring?
Duotone coloring is a popular style that involves simplifying the colors in an image down to only two hues; one hue present in the highlights, and another in the shadows.
This is a great technique when you want to create something both graphic and eye-catching, like an image for a banner, advertisement, or poster. It’s also a great way to integrate a client’s color scheme into an image if you’re working on promotional photos for them.
Duotone Coloring in Photoshop
There are a lot of ways to approach duotone coloring in Photoshop. But all of them will involve some method for coloring the highlights and shadows independently from one another. When it comes to making detailed selections of highlights and shadows, Channels are our tool of choice.
Making Selections with Channels
Channels might be one of the most underrated and underutilized tools in Photoshop. Capable of making ultra-detailed selections, they’re great for everything from coloring to cutting out hair from a background. You can find Channels next to the Layers tab in the Layers Panel. Clicking on the Channels tab will open a list of all of the available color channels in the document you’re working on. Since we’re working in RGB, there’s an RGB Channel and then individual Channels for red, green, and blue.
Viewing each Channel individually will show you a black and white version of the image. Not only that, the black and white preview also shows how much of that color is present in the image, where lighter areas mean there’s more of that color in an area and darker areas mean there is less of that color present. Say, for example, you had an image of a pure blue sky over a wheat field. If you were to look at the blue Channel, the sky would appear almost pure white and the ground would be a deep dark gray. Why? Because the blue channel is showing you where blues are present in the image, representing them as lighter areas in the black and white preview.
So how does this help us with duotone coloring?
Since we need an accurate way of selecting the highlights and shadows in an image, we can use the RGB color information in Channels to help us out. Loading the first example portrait we’ve provided, we need to go through each Channel and determine which one has the most contrast while also displaying the highlights and shadows in a way that looks most natural. Since we’re using this for coloring, choosing the right Channel is more of a subjective process, so choose the one that you think looks the best.
We decided to go with the blue Channel since it struck the right balance between contrast and having a more balanced look between the highlights and shadows. Now we just need to convert the blue Channel into a Selection.
You can do this by holding CTRL or CMD and clicking on the thumbnail of the blue Channel. Perfect! Now that we have our selection ready, let’s get into process of coloring our image!
Duotone Coloring with Solid Color Fill Layers
You might think that detailed and accurate coloring requires a full suite of ultra-detailed tools. In reality, once we have an accurate Selection of the highlights, we only need very basic tools to add a beautiful duotone effect to the image. Enter the Solid Color Fill Layer.
Solid Color Fill Layers are, by default, large blocks of a single color. But since we have a Selection active, it will automatically load as a Layer Mask in any Solid Color Fill Layer we create.
That means that the Fill Layer will only appear in highlights we isolated with Channels. Create a Solid Color Fill Layers and choose any color, but make sure it’s a lighter color since we’re working on coloring the highlights of the image first.
Once the highlight color is set, we need to color the shadows. Create another Solid Color Fill Layer underneath the first, choosing any color you want (just remember to keep it on the darker side). And that’s it!
Since we’re using Adjustment Layers, it’s easy to go back and change the colors at any time, or get back to our original image. Duotone coloring made easy!
Description
Give your photos a timeless feel with soft and subtle coloring in Lightroom and Photoshop. Learn how to lift shadows to recover detail, reduce contrast for a softer look, and add subtle color toning to the highlights and shadows with our included presets and LUTs.
And best of all, we show you how to do everything in both Lightroom and Photoshop! So no matter what program you call home, you’ll be able to create soft light looks in an instant.
THIS COURSE INCLUDES
- 4 Sample Images
- 2 Lightroom Presets
- 5 LUTs (from our Film Looks Premium LUT Pack)
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Coloring in Lightroom & Photoshop
Soft Light Coloring in Lightroom & Photoshop
Join as as we show you how to create 4 soft light looks! You’ll learn how to use powerful photo editing tools like the Tone Curve in Lightroom, Adjustment Layers in Photoshop, and even take advantage of our growing library of Lightroom Presets and custom LUTs to create your own beautiful styles.
Lightroom Presets & LUTs Included
Whether you’re looking for some inspiration, want to save some time, or just want to preserve a look that you’ve created, Presets and LUTs are amazing tools for any photographer and photo editor. Learn how to use the included custom LUTs and Lightroom Presets to quickly add beautiful coloring to any photograph!
Create Beautiful Looks from Scratch
Coloring is one of the most creative processes in a photo editing workflow. Follow along as we show you how to take any photo and build your own beautiful looks from scratch using a combination of professional tools and techniques in both Lightroom and Photoshop.
Reduce Contrast
Contrast can be great for enhancing details and adding drama to an image. But that’s not what we’re going for with these soft and subtle styles. Reducing contrast can give a photo a softer, more intimate feel. Learn how to control the highlights, shadows, and overall contrast in a photo to create the look of soft film.
Brighten Images, Lift Shadows
Most images can benefit from some level of general brightening or just lifting up the shadows. We show you how to brighten any photo in Lightroom and Photoshop using precise, non-destructive tools. Learn how to target just the shadows to recover important details that were lost, or brighten a specific part of an image to draw more attention to the things that matter most.
Subtle Color Toning
Sometimes you want coloring to be bold and vibrant. And sometimes you want just a hint of color to help tell a softer, quieter story. Learn how to add coloring to the highlights, midtones, and shadows of an image, and then dial it back for the perfect balance of style and subtlety.
Soft & Subtle Looks
Split Toning
Split toning is a great way to give any image stunning color. Learn how to independently color the highlights and shadows of a photo using Adjustment Layers and Blending Options in Photoshop, and the Split Toning tools in Lightroom.
Tone Curves in Lightroom
Learn all about the most powerful coloring tool in Lightroom Classic: the Tone Curve! From targeting the highlights and shadows of a photo to targeting specific colors and color ranges, this amazing feature can help you dial in the perfect look with professional results.
Adjustment Layers in Photoshop
When it comes to general photo editing in Photoshop, Adjustment Layers should be your go-to tools. Allowing everything from exposure adjustments to detailed coloring, they can be combined and mixed in ways that can create beautiful, unique looks. And best of all, they’re entirely non-destructive, meaning you can get back to your original, unedited image in a snap.
Recover Details
Sometimes important details can get lost in the darkest shadows and brightest highlights of a photograph. Whether you’re working with dark hair or a bright sky, we’ll show you how to use exposure adjustment tools to rescue those details and restore natural textures to your images.
Warm Skin Tones
Coloring is a powerful creative tool, but it can easily cause skin to look unflattering and unnatural if it’s not used carefully. These looks use a combination of reds and oranges, colors that naturally occur in skin, as well as precision coloring techniques to make sure yellow, greens, and blues don’t interfere with your subjects.
Customize Presets & LUTs
We use a combination of looks built from scratch and looks created from pre-made LUTs and Lightroom Presets. So whether you want to create coloring that’s truly original, or you want to modify an existing look that you love, we’ll show you how to do it.

Aaron Nace
PHLEARN Founder – Class Instructor
Aaron Nace is a photographer, Photoshop artist and founder of PHLEARN. He is the #1 Photoshop instructor in the world with millions of YouTube subscribers.
Reviews
FAQ
This tutorial includes 5 video tutorials, 4 sample images, 5 custom LUTs, and 2 Lightroom Presets.
Download the sample images and assets at the top of the page.
Yes, every tutorial on PHLEARN is included in the PHLEARN PRO Subscription.
We suggest using the latest version of Photoshop, but our tutorials are designed to be compatible with CS4, CS5, CS6 & Photoshop CC. Get the latest version of Photoshop from Adobe.
Download the course files at the top of this page.
You’ll find answers to some of the most common questions in our Help Center. If what you need isn’t covered, you can submit a question to our all-star customer support team and they’ll get back to you right away!
Download Sample Images
description
When we’ve needed to make precise color changes in the past, Photoshop has been our go-to software for both its accuracy and flexibility. But with the latest updates to Lightroom Classic, Adobe’s photographer-friendly program has a brand new tool that makes it possible to change the color of almost anything in a photo.
Learn how to use the new Hue Slider in Lightroom Classic alongside Graduated Filters, Radial Filters, and the Adjustment Brush to precisely target and change colors in just a few easy steps!
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Change the Color of Anything in Lightroom
New Tools in Lightroom Classic 2020
The latest round of updates to Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite has brought some new, powerful tools to their flagship programs. Lightroom Classic continues to see major improvements and overhauls, making this photographer-friendly software even more versatile and robust. While Photoshop certainly has its place in a Lightroom-centric workflow, we always get excited to see tools that help us get the job done without leaving Lightroom.
Changing colors is a relatively common request for photo editors. You might be working on product photos where the products come in a wide range of colors. As a photographer, you don’t want to have to photograph each and every color option from each and every angle. It’s often much more effective and efficient to photographer one of the neutral color options and then create the color variety in post-production. It’s relatively easy to use color change tools to carefully match the color options to their real-life counterparts.
Until now, this has mostly been the sort of job best handled in Photoshop. With precise selection tools, Adjustment Layers, and Layer Masks, targeting colors and changing colors is extremely precise, flexible, and non-destructive. But wouldn’t it be great if we could tackle color changes in Lightroom Classic?
Enter the new Hue Slider!
The New Hue Slider in Lightroom Classic
At first glance, the new Hue Slider could be an easily overlooked edition to Lightroom. Located under the Develop Tap in the right-side tool panel, and only with a local adjustment filter applied, it appears below all of the basic adjustments options. Move the slider to the left or right, and all of the hues in the selected are will change.
Great! Now we just need a way to make it as precise as the process would be in Photoshop. So let’s take a deep dive into Lightroom Classic’s tools for making changes to smaller, specific parts of a photo.
Local Adjustments vs. Global Adjustments
Let’s quickly talk about what local adjustments are. When we first described the Hue Slider as being able to change the hue of everything in a photo, we described a global adjustments. That is to say, an adjustment that effects every single pixel in an image. Sometimes we want global adjustments to make subtle shifts in exposure and light levels, and maybe color temperature, but the art of photo editing usually happens in the local adjustments. And some adjustments, like color changes, are just not helpful as global adjustments.
So what are local adjustments? If global is about editing the whole shebang, local editing is about the individual elements and smaller pieces that make a up a photo. If you want a subject’s face to be brighter and then use tools to lift the shadows and exposure of only their face, then you’re editing locally.
Local adjustments are how we can separate different elements in our photos, create clear focal points and subjects, and add depth and definition. And when you have a photo where you need to change the color, of let’s say a small product, local adjustments allow us to do that without damaging the colors in the rest of the image.
Local Adjustment Tools
In order to make local adjustments, you need a set of tools that allow you to select precise areas of an image. If you want to make adjustments to a subject’s face, you need a tool that will let you select and work on only their face. If you want to change the color of a product or object, you need a tool that will let you select or the object or product (or even just parts of the object or product) to change the colors.
Luckily, Lightroom comes equipped with some flexible selection tools that help you to break your images up and adjust different areas separately. They are:
- The Graduated Filter
- The Radial Filter
- The Adjustment Brush
- Range Masks
The names may sound a little cryptic, but they’re pretty easy to understand once you try them out. The Graduated Filter and Radial Filter allow you to adjust areas either along straight lines (graduated) or within elliptical areas (radial). You simply create your line or ellipse, add some feathering to help blend the effect, and then apply your adjustments. In one of our color change examples, we have a relatively circular piece of candy that we want to change the colors of. This is the perfect time to use a Radial Filter since we can create an adjustment area in almost the exact same shape as the item we’re trying to adjust.
When the Graduated Filter and Radial Filter aren’t precise enough, you can always turn to the Adjustment Brush. Whereas the Graduated and Radial Filters are constrained by using lines and ellipses, the Adjustment Brush simply allows you to paint over anything you want to apply adjustments to. In our candy example, the Radial Filter got us most of the way there, but not entirely since the candy is not a perfect circle or ellipse.
Fortunately, we can add to the selected area using the Adjustment Brush to paint over any areas of the candy that were missed. In the image below, we’re painting over areas of the candy that were missed by the Radial Filter. This will apply the color adjustments we made to those areas.
And when you need maximum precision, look no further than the Range Masking Tool. Range Masking allows you to only apply adjustments to certain areas within a selection, determined by light and color values that you can set.
In this example, we want to change the color of a flower, so we made a quick selection of the area we want to change by painting over it with the
Adjustment Brush. Now we can use the Hue Slider to shift the color to anything we want.
We’ve turned the red into a deep blue, but there’s a small problem. Notice that the center of the flower has also changed color. We could take the time to carefully paint around the areas we don’t want to affect, but Lightroom offers a much faster and more precise tool: Range Masking!
The Range Masking option allows us to set a specific color range that we want to adjust. So not only will our adjustment only appear within the area painted by the Adjustment Brush, it will also only affect the selected reds of the flower pedals. Now we have a perfect color change that only affects the specific areas we want.
You can mix, match, and combine these three tools to select almost anything in a photograph, making it easy to isolate and edit different elements as you need to. They also are the the tools that make changing colors with the new Hue Slider so effect!
Using the Hue Slider
So you’ve used the selection tools to define the areas in a photo you want to change the color of. So how do you do it? Well, the Hue Slider couldn’t be easier to use. Simply drag the slider to the left or the right and watch the colors change. Magic!
There is a checkbox below the slider labeled Fine Adjustments. If the area you’re working with has a lot of tiny details, checking this box will help Lightroom make more nuanced color changes. Otherwise, the default adjustments should work great for you.
And that’s it! It’s now possible to quickly and easily change the color of almost anything in a photo using Lightroom Classic! Will we still use Photoshop for this on occasion? Of course. But we’ve found this tool to be capable of handling a lot of the most common color change work that we come across. So if Lightroom Classic is where you spend most of your time, we recommend getting to know the brand new Hue Slider!
Whether you’re a film buff, professional photographer, or color enthusiast, you’ve probably heard about color grading with LUTs. Although the inner workings of this process are deeply technical, don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s outside your reach. What sounds like a complex technique is actually no more complicated than applying presets in Lightroom or actions in Photoshop, once you know what the steps are.
Here, we’ll explain what LUTs are on a basic level and talk about how they work, how you might use them, and where to find a few good ones. Then, we’ll walk you through the steps to apply an LUT to a video or photo in 13 common editing programs.
And make sure to check out our growing library of premium color grading LUTs! From dramatic film looks, to warm and cool toning, we’ve got you covered with a wide variety of versatile styles. We even have a sample pack that’s complete free!
LUTs 101: What Are They, Anyway?
LUT is an acronym for Lookup Table. To say it out loud, rhyme it with “cut”, “but”, or “strut”. In basic terms, a LUT is a cheat sheet for your image editing device. It tells your editing program how to make specific changes to certain colors to achieve a stylistic effect or apply ongoing color correction. You may have heard this referred to as color grading.
Color grading is something you’ll hear a lot about in terms of cinema. It’s used to get a cohesive look across multiple clips where the colors don’t originally have a lot of consistency. That way it’s a smoother transition for your viewers between scenes and you’re able to maintain a mood throughout your video.
Color grading is, however, also becoming very common in still photos. As a result, LUT functionality in programs for still editing is getting better every day. (We’ll show you how to apply them in Photoshop and Lightroom in just a bit.)
Finding a LUT
When you’re starting out, our free LUT pack is a good option for playing around with different looks. Then, when you’re ready, you can browse through our growing library of beautiful looks (we recommend our Cinematic Color Grading LUT pack is a great starting point.)
Once you get more comfortable with the process, you can create your own LUTs by making the desired changes yourself and then saving them in the correct file type.
Why LUTs and Not Presets or Actions?
Why not all of the above? Lightroom’s way of managing a LUT, for example, doesn’t change the sliders in your color settings. You can combine a color grading LUT with one of your favorite presets and actions (or other, independent edits) to get the desired atmosphere with a few targeted changes.
LUTs are different from the type of presets you’re used to seeing in another way: the same LUT can be used to apply color grading in different editing softwares, whereas presets, actions, and their ilk are usually designed to work only with a specific program.
Get the Most Out of Your LUT
When you’re working with multiple clips, be sure to also fiddle with the lighting in each of your clips for a consistent balance. Although your LUT will give stylistic continuity to the colors in your film, there may still be differences in contrast or exposure that could be jarring when you go from one clip to the next.
Speaking of jarring, when you first apply your LUT it may seem a little over the top. Any application that will accommodate a LUT should have an option to reduce the intensity of your LUT, usually with a slider. Look for this feature if you feel like your LUT is stealing the show from your image or clip.
How to Apply a LUT in 13 Different Programs
Now you understand what LUTs are and you may even have one or two you’re dying to try out. The only thing standing in your way is actually applying it to your image or video. Here’s how you can do just that in 13 commonly-used editing software:
Adobe Photoshop
Applying a LUT in Photoshop is as simple as adding a new adjustment layer. Literally. To begin:
- Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Lookup. (You can also pull this option up directly from the Layers menu, just like any other adjustment layer.)
- Now you’ll see the Color Lookup options. Check 3DLUT File, then click the dropdown box for that option.
- You may see some preloaded LUTs. You can select any of those you like, or you can select Load 3D LUT to browse your device for the LUT file you want.
The beauty of adjustment layers in Photoshop is that if you change your mind later, you can just go back into the layer options and choose a different LUT!
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Using LUTs in Lightroom is a little tricky, but doable. The first thing you need to understand is that LUTs are used as profiles in this program. That’s not going to fly if your LUT is in a .cube file format, so here’s what you need to do first:
- Go to Photoshop and open an image.
- Go to Camera RAW Filter.
- Click the Presets icon.
- Press Alt while clicking the New Preset icon.
- Check Color Lookup Table and give your new profile a name.
- Load your LUT file (the .cube one).
- This profile will now show up in Lightroom, as well.
Now you’ve got your LUT-turned-profile formatted correctly, it’s time to switch over to Lightroom. Open your image in the Develop module. In the Basic panel, beneath Treatment, you’ll see Profile. (Note: Profiles – and therefore, LUTs – are relatively new to Lightroom, so do a quick update if you don’t see this option.)
- Click the icon that looks like a square made of four rectangles to open your Profile Browser.
- Scroll down to User Profiles.
- You should see the profile you just made! If you have any other profiles, they’ll be in here as well. Click the one you want to apply to your image.
Adobe After Effects
Moving on to Adobe’s video and motion editing programs, things get a little more straightforward. We’re all non-destructive editors here, so we’re going to use an adjustment layer once again to apply our LUT.
- Start a new project or open an existing one in Adobe After Effects.
- Right click on the timeline and select New Adjustment Layer.
- With the adjustment layer selected go to Effect > Utility > Apply Color LUT (or drag and drop Apply Color LUT if the Effects and Presets panel is visible).
- Browse in the dialog box to find and select the desired LUT.
You can modify the intensity of the LUT after that point in the Effects panel.
Adobe Premiere Pro
Premiere Pro’s workflow is similar to After Effects, but not identical. We’ll still start off with an adjustment layer, so that any changes needed later on can be made non-destructively.
- Open your footage in Premiere Pro.
- Right click within the Project panel.
- Select New Item, then Adjustment Layer. Click OK in the dialog box.
- With your new adjustment layer selected, go to the Color menu (at the top of the program).
- Open the Creative tab in the Lumetri Color panel.
- Click the dropbox next to Look to open the menu.
- You can now select a LUT from the menu or click Browse to find one you’ve saved on your device.
To change the intensity, use the slider immediately below the thumbnail beneath the Look dropdown.
Avid Media Composer
If you’re not an Adobe subscriber, there are many other editors that support LUT use. We’ll start here with Avid Media Composer. First, you’ll need to install your LUT:
- Go to Settings > Color Management.
- In the dialog box that opens, click Select LUT File.
- Browse to find the file you want to use, select it, and click Open. (You may see a message that it installed correctly. You can dismiss it and close out the Select LUT File dialog box.)
Now you can apply it to your footage:
- Go to Effects > Image
- On the right side of the screen you’ll see the available effects. Drag and drop Color LUT to your footage.
- Select Effect Mode (the leftmost icon right above your timeline).
- Beneath Available LUTs in the menu that opens, you’ll see a blank box. Click the box to find and select the desired LUT.
DaVinci Resolve 16
DaVinci Resolve is gaining ground quickly as an alternative to Adobe, with advanced options for color grading and video processing in general. Applying your LUT in this program is simpler than it seems at first glance:
- Open your project in DaVinci Resolve.
- At the bottom right of the program you’ll see the Settings icon. Click on it.
- Under Color Management, select Open LUT Folder.
- You can now open a Finder window containing your LUT. Drag and drop the correct file into the open DaVinci Resolve folder.
- Close the folders and refresh your options by clicking Update Lists.
- Select your LUT from the 3D Input Lookup Table dropdown menu and click Save.
Final Cut Pro X
Final Cut Pro X is a good solution for macOS users who shy away from Adobe products. To apply your LUT in this program:
- Select your footage in the Final Cut Pro timeline.
- Open the Effects browser, select the Color category on the left, then select Custom LUT.
- Click the Video icon (it looks like a short film strip).
- In the Custom LUT tab of the Video inspector, click LUT > Choose Custom LUT.
- Find and select the desired LUT and click Open.
You can now select the input and output color spaces and use the Mix slider to adjust the intensity. Final Cut Pro will apply your LUT.
Sony Vegas
Sony Vegas needs to be in the default workspace before you begin. To make sure it is, go to View > Window Layouts > Default Layout.
- With your clip on the timeline, click the Video Effects tab.
- Expand the All folder.
- Scroll down until you see LUT Filter. Drag it to your footage on the timeline.
- In the dialog box that opens, click Browse.
- Select your LUT and click Open.
- Use the Strength slider to adjust the intensity.
Capture One
As with Lightroom, Capture One has its own special way of dealing with LUTs. The easiest way to get your LUTs Capture One-ready is to use a LUT transformer like 3D LUT Creator or Briz LUT Converter to create an ICC profile. If you’re using Lutify.me, you’re good to go, but may need to access your LUT through styles instead of profiles.
Once your LUT is in ICC profile form:
- Go to the Color tab.
- Expand the Base Characteristics panel and open the dropdown menu next to ICC Profile.
- Select Import to import your LUT-turned-ICC-profile.
Affinity Photo
Applying a LUT in Affinity Photo is very similar to the process in Photoshop. You’ll open your image in the program, then:
- Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > 3D LUT.
- In the dialog box that opens, select Load LUT.
- Browse to find and select the LUT you’d like to load.
Adjust the opacity in the 3D LUT adjustment layer dialog box or choose a blend mode to change the intensity of the effect.
Video LUT
To apply your LUT in the Video LUT app, you’ll first need to find the LUT in Files, tap it and select Open In, and select Copy to Video LUT. (You will, of course, need to have installed the Video LUT app before this so that it shows up in your options.)
- The Video LUT app will open with an import dialog box. Tap OK.
- Tap Open (in the top left corner) and use this menu to find the video or photo you want.
- Tap Select, then Imported.
- You can now use the options above the image preview to find the file format your LUT is in, then select the specific LUT you want to use from the thumbnails across the bottom of the app.
LumaFusion
LumaFusion is a mobile video editor with some professional capabilities, including the use of LUTs. To import and use a LUT in this app:
- Open your clip and double tap it in the timeline.
- If any LUTs are already loaded, you’ll see thumbnails of them. Below those thumbnails, you’ll see an arrow pointing to the right, into a rectangle. Tap that icon.
- Now you will see a menu of supported places to import from. Browse to find and select the LUT you wish to import and use.
3DLUT mobile
Remember that shout out to 3D LUT Creator earlier? You can also use the LUTs you create there to edit your smartphone photography in 3DLUT mobile. Or, you can use one of their many, many ready-to-go LUTs to get cinema-esque edits to your everyday images.
- Open your image in 3DLUT mobile.
- You’ll see several options across the top of the app. Select LUT.
- At the bottom of the app, you’ll now see several folders of LUTs to scroll through. Select the desired LUT.
- A vertical slider will appear across the right side of your image. Use it to adjust the intensity until you are satisfied.
LUTs may seem like a technique for seasoned editors, but they’re actually quite simple to use once you understand what they are. Used in combination with a non-destructive workflow, they are a great way to get consistent, stylistic looks in your photos and videos (or correct color that is a little off due to color profile woes).
Remember to use opacity and intensity settings if you believe your LUT is a little too “in your face.” Most LUTs are not necessarily intended to be used at full blast! You will also need to make adjustments to lighting, contrast, etc. independently, and may wish to do some pre-LUT color editing to make sure the effect is balanced once it has been applied.
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Gradients may sound simple and out of place in a photo editing workflow, but there are actually a ton of great uses for gradients you may never have heard of! You can add light rays to your image, brighten your subject, create interesting backgrounds, add color to your sky, and create sunset effects and colorings. In this video, Aaron will show you how to do all of that with just the gradient tool, gradient noise, and gradient fill effect in Photoshop.
We can create a bunch of cool effects with just gradients. Effects like:
- Sunset Coloring
- Image Brightening
- Background Coloring
- Enhancing Sky Detail
- Creating Light Rays
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More than Just a Graphic
Sunset Coloring with the Gradient Tool
There are in fact a bunch of different tools within Photoshop related to gradients, and we’re going to use 3 different tools today to create these effects. The first is the aptly named Gradient Tool. You can access this one from your Toolbox on the left side of the screen. The Gradient Tool is very powerful and is just the right tool for creating the radial gradient that we’re going to use to enhance our image’s sunset.
Linear vs. Radial Gradients
The Gradient Tool has 5 different modes that can be accessed from the Tool Options at the top of your screen. While each mode has its uses, we find that we usually use either the Linear Gradient or the Radial Gradient. The difference between the two is just in the shape that your colors fade from one to another. You can think of the Linear Gradient as a line, and the Radial Gradient as a circle.
The Power of the Gradient Fill Layer
Let’s say you draw your radial gradient and it looks great, but later on you realize that you made one of the colors a bit too dark or not quite saturated enough. Unfortunately, because the Gradient Tool draws directly onto your layer, you’re going to have to start over if you want to change it, and that’s no fun. That’s why we always recommend using a Gradient Fill Layer. You can think of a Gradient Fill Layer as exactly the same as the Gradient Tool, except it allows you to make adjustments to your gradient at any point in time.
With those foundations out of the way, we can start making our sunset effect. Start by creating your Gradient Fill Layer by going to Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient… You’ll see settings similar to the Gradient Tool, and we’re going to want to select Radial. Clicking on the gradient will allow you to choose from a bunch of gradients already built into photoshop, import additional gradients, or create your own! It doesn’t matter which gradient you choose to start with, because at the bottom of this window, we’re going to be adding our own colors and adjusting to fit our needs.
You can click on the color swatches to change them, drag them around to adjust how quickly they fade, and even click on the line itself to add additional colors. For this example, we’re going to start with a pale yellow, fade that into a golden color, then into a reddish-orange, and finally to black. We’re nearly done, but of course we need to see the image underneath. That’s where Blending Modes come in.
Using Blending Modes
Blending Modes allow you to change how the computer chooses to superimpose two layers together, and they are super powerful in effects work. You can tell the computer to ignore or pay more attention to different data sets in your image, like ignore the whites when blending, or only blend the colors, or don’t darken at all. For this we want to capture the brights but don’t want any of the black background, meaning the best blending mode for us is Screen.
Watch as all the black will disappear! Then just move the layer to where you like and adjust opacity to the desired levels and you did it! A beautiful sunset effect with gradients.
Brightening with Layer Masks
Gradients aren’t just useful in coloring: when you combine them with layer masks you can use them for lighting too! In this example we’re going to grab a curves adjustment layer to both brighten and darken our image, then use the Gradient Tool to mask those effects. This will create a darkened background and draw our focus to the subject of the photo.
Understanding Curves
The Curves adjustment layer is a great tool for adjusting light levels, and we at PHLEARN use it all the time. If you want to do a deep dive into all the curves adjustment layer can offer, we recommend checking out The Amazing Power of Curves. For now we can cover the basics. Once you’ve created a new curves adjustment layer, click on the middle of the diagonal line to create a new point. Drag that point to the bottom right corner of the graph to make your image darker, or drag it to the top left to make your image brighter.
We’ll start by making a brightening curves adjustment layer by dragging the center point to the top left. Click on the adjustment layer’s mask in the Layers panel and Invert it by clicking Control/Command I. You’ll see that your adjustment has disappeared from your image, but that’s what we want. Now grab your Gradient Tool and draw on the mask directly using a white to transparent gradient. If you need to see your mask, you can Alt/Option click on the mask to view it fullscreen. Where the mask shows white the curves layer will be visible, but where the mask shows black the curves layer will be invisible.
You did it, your subject is now naturally brightened! Next we’re going to do this process again, this time creating a darkening curves adjustment layer and selecting Reverse on our Gradient tool. We recommend drawing a really large circle here, again centered on your subject, so just the corners of your image have some grey on them. Alt/Option click your layer mask again to see your image, and your brightening is complete.
Background Coloring with Gradient Fill
Perhaps the most straightforward of examples is next, but with these tips you can color a background with gradients in just a few steps. First we’ll need to select just our background, turn our selection into a layer mask, and then go to town with a gradient fill that will let us be as creative as we want!
Selecting your Background
This step is easiest when your background is nice and clean, which luckily we have. If your background is more complex we recommend checking out our PRO tutorial How to Remove Backgrounds in Photoshop. For this image, we’re going to use our Magic Wand Tool. Click anywhere on your background and the Magic Wand tool will try to select all the adjacent pixels of the same color. Turn off Contiguous and the tool will select every matching pixel in the entire image. You may have to make several selections to get everything, but you can hold shift each time you click to add to your base selection. Don’t forget to play with your tolerance level if the tool is selecting too little or too much.
With your selection active, create a new Gradient Fill layer and Photoshop will automatically apply your selection as a mask. You’re now free to edit your gradient fill layer as much as you’d like. We went with a purple to light blue, but you have complete freedom to try any color combinations, don’t be afraid to play around.
Sky Detail with Gradient Fill
Detail in your sky is often hard to photograph. In order to capture the ground, your sky will often come out overexposed. But with a quick gradient fill, you can bring some color back into your sky in no time at all!
Start by laying a gradient fill over the entire image. Double click on your gradient to open the gradient editor and give your gradient a nice blue-to-white transition. We’ve only been working with swatches below the gradient preview so far, but you may have noticed swatches above the gradient preview as well. Those swatches above are for transparency, and in addition to the colors, you can adjust them to have your gradient go from a color to nothing at all. Make sure the right most swatch is completely transparent, and that will give you a nice fade from blue at the top to your image below.
If your gradient is lightening your image in a weird way we recommend changing the blending mode to multiply. And just like that, your image has a colorful sky without having to mask or select anything at all!
Light Rays with Gradient Noise
Our final example is perhaps the most impressive, and uses a type of gradient we haven’t used yet: gradient noise. It’s easy to get to, but maybe a bit hidden. Create a new gradient fill, and within the gradient editor, under Gradient Type, select Gradient Noise. Your first thought is probably “What is this, this isn’t helpful at all!” But with just a few setting adjustments we’re going to be able to turn this into realistic light rays.
Play around with randomizing the pattern until you get something you like, but the goal is to have the most variation possible. When that’s done, exit the gradient editor and change your style to Angle. We haven’t used Angle yet because it doesn’t have a ton of applications, but this will cause all those little lines to spread out from a single point. The next step is to desaturate those lines, and for that we’ll need to use clipping masks.
Clipping Masks
A clipping mask is easy to make, just right click on any adjustment layer and select Create Clipping Mask. An arrow will appear pointing to the layer below, and this means your adjustment layer is now only affecting the layer right below it, not all the other layers below it as well. In this case we’re using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, but we have to clip this to our gradient and not to our background. Clipping masks are incredibly powerful, and this only scratches the surface of what they can do: if you’d like to learn more, check out
You should now be looking at black and white lines radiating from a point in your image, and this is where blending modes come in (see, we told you those are powerful!) We want only the brights of this gradient noise to show up over our image, not the darks, which means a Screen blending mode is in order.
We’re almost there, but it’s definitely too bright. Make a levels adjustment layer and be sure to turn it into a clipping mask so it only affects our gradient. Lower those levels to hide more of your light rays. And remember, because we used a gradient fill, you can double click on that layer at any time to make adjustments to your light rays effect.
Smart Objects
The next step for our effect is going to involve some filters, which means this is the perfect time to convert our gradient fill into a smart object. A smart object is sort of like a photoshop file within a photoshop file, and it will allow you to apply smart filters, meaning, you guessed it: Non-Destructive Workflow! With smart objects and smart filters you can go back and make adjustments at any time, which is a must have for this – and any – project.
We recommend grouping your filter with its clipped adjustment layers and right clicking on the group. Select Convert to Smart Object and the deed is done. You can double click on your smart object at any time to enter into the group and make adjustments to your gradient.
Iris Blur
We’re nearly done! What will really sell this effect as light rays is a blur that increases in intensity the further out from the center the rays get, and Iris Blur is up to the task. Navigate to Filter > Blur Gallery > Iris Blur, then drag the center of your blur over the center of your rays. Expand the edges to fit the overall shape of your rays and use the radial slider to adjust how much blur you want. This will cause the center to remain in focus, but the blur to increase as it moves farther away, just like real light.
If you need to increase the overall blur as well, we recommend a simple Gaussian Blur on top of it all. And be sure to check out 5 Awesome Effects with Blurs to learn more about using blurs in your images.
Lightroom Preset Downloads
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Help colors pop in any photo with our Vibrant Color Lightroom Presets! Brighten up your images, increase vibrance, and protect skin tones.
INCLUDED PRESETS
- Soft Veridian
- True Rose
- Rose Madder
- Bryant Gold
- Soft Caramel
- Crisp Bubble
- Light Osage
- Crisp Camelia
- Summer Skies
- Peachy Please
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Candy-coated Looks
Vibrant Colors
Color is the spice of life! These presets are built to enhance the colors in your photos while reducing shadows and protecting delicate skin tones. Whether it’s the citrus tones of a summer wardrobe, or the pinks and blues in an epic sunset, these looks can help the colors shine.
Instant Color Toning
Feel like yours photos are missing something? Add a little light and color in just a few clicks! These easy-to-use presets can help take any image to the next level by adding brightness and more vibrant color.
Lift Shadows
Harsh shadows can be a big-time distraction. Help reduce distractions, draw more attention to your subjects, and create more even, balanced exposures. Best of all, these presets reduce shadows without affecting the highlights, making absolutely sure that you don’t lost any detail.
Cotton Candy Looks
Inspired by the bright colors of summer, these presets will help to bring out the teals, pinks, yellows, and reds in any photograph. Most importantly, they work around delicate skin tones so that your subjects look bright and natural!
Change Hues
Turn blue into a refreshing teal or red into soft peach. Changing and adjusting color in a photo has never been easier! Give your images a totally new look with brighter, more interesting color palettes.
Vibrance vs. Saturation
Vibrance and Saturation work almost the exact same way, except Vibrance enhances color without damaging skin tones. That means you can ramp up the color of backgrounds and environments without damaging the beautiful skin tones of the people in your photos.
Custom-made Looks
Designed by a team of professional image creators, our presets will provide powerful looks with polished results–and all in just a few clicks!
Lightroom Classic & Lightroom Mobile
Our Preset Packs are designed to work with Lightroom Mobile and any version of Lightroom Classic. No matter what you use to create great images, our presets can help!
New to Mobile?
If you’re a long-time user of Lightroom Classic like us, you’ll love the power and flexibility of Lightroom for Desktop & Mobile. Learn all about Adobe’s powerful mobile platform for RAW editing in our PRO tutorial The Ultimate Guide to Lightroom for Desktop & Mobile!
Install & Get Started
Follow along with the video tutorial where Aaron guides you through the process of installing and using our PHLEARN Lightroom Presets into both Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Mobile.
Actions, Presets & LUTs
This is just a small part of our extensive library of Photoshop Actions, Lightroom Presets, and custom LUTs. Best of all, everything is included in your PHLEARN PRO subscription.
Learn all About Lightroom Classic
Lightroom Classic is one of the most powerful tools for the modern photographer and now learning how to use it has never been easier. The Beginner’s Guide to Lightroom Classic is the most comprehensive, easy-to-follow tutorial out there. Learn how to stay organized, edit your photos, create presets, and much more!
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FAQ
Yes! Subscribe today to get instant access to PRO Tutorials, Lightroom Presets, Photoshop Actions, Photoshop Brushes & more.
We suggest using the latest version of Lightroom Classic.
Watch and follow along with included installation video. This installation process will work for any of our PHLEARN Lightroom Presets.
Lightroom Presets apply custom-made coloring and effects to your images. They are a great way to finish an edit by quickly adding style and color. Each preset is also completely customizable, allowing you to make adjustments to fit your personal style.
A basic understanding of Lightroom Classic is suggested although we designed our Lightroom Presets to be as simple as possible. Follow the instructions in our installation video and you'll be ready to apply presets any time!
All of our PHLEARN Lightroom Presets are created by PHLEARN founder, Aaron Nace.
Due to the downloadable nature of this product, there are no refunds. All sales are final.
You may only use these products for personal or professional use. This license extends to the single, individual purchaser. This license does not extend to companies or partner- ships and may not be resold, loaned, and/or gifted to another individual and/or party. You may not share, loan or redistribute/sell or copy any of these files in any way. All Actions by PHLEARN are copyright protected.
Description
Use Photoshop to turn any photo into a work of art! Join us and learn how to recreate an image using the bright colors, subtle details, and natural variations of a watercolor painting. Create realistic paper textures and an authentic painterly look with our one-of-kind technique and workflow.
THIS COURSE INCLUDES
- 5 Sample Images
- 3 Photoshop Brushes
- 1 Photoshop Action
- 1 Sample PSD
- 1 PDF How-To Guide
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Course Downloads
Beautiful Watercolor Images
Watercolor Effect in Photoshop
This is the most realistic watercolor effect out there! We show you how to use a combination of brushes, blurs, and filters to create soft, watercolor brush strokes and natural-looking paper textures. Create your own works of art in Photoshop!
Included Watercolor Paint Brushes
We include 6 custom Watercolor Photoshop Brushes that will help you create a hand-painted look. From soft edges to subtle details, these brushes provide all the variation you’ll need to create a convincing painterly effect. Learn more about everything that the Brush Tool can do in The Amazing Power of the Brush Tool.
Create Custom Paper Textures
Since watercolor paints are thin and translucent, the texture of the underlying paper plays a big part in the overall look. Rather than using a stock image of paper, we show you how to use Filters to create custom paper textures from scratch!
Recreate Any Image
These techniques are designed to work on any photograph. Whether it’s a photo of the family dog, a studio portrait, or an epic landscape, we’ll show you how to turn it into beautiful watercolor art.
Cut Out Subjects & Remove Backgrounds
Watercolor art will often have a subject painted over a relatively simple background. To recreate this style in Photoshop, we show you how to make quick cutouts of people, plants, and animals. Learn how to use the Pen Tool, Lasso Tool, Select Subject, Select Color, and more to quickly remove a background and replace it with watercolor patterns.
Landscapes, Still Life & Portraits
We take you through 5 examples that cover some of the most common styles of watercolor art. Learn how to create soft and flowing landscapes, colorful still-life, and stunningly detailed portraits, all with natural brush strokes and textures.
Realistic Painterly Effects
Included PSD
We include a sample layered file that will show you exactly how this watercolor effect is assembled in Photoshop. See every adjustment and Layer in action!
Smudge Tool & Blurs
Learn how to use the Smudge Tool and Blurs in combination with the included Photoshop Brushes to create the look of soft paintbrushes and watercolor paint.
Painterly Effect
Creating a believable painterly effect in Photoshop is tough. We spent countless hours designing our own workflow and original techniques to make the most authentic paint effects possible. And now they’re yours!
Natural Variation
Getting a realistic watercolor effect is all about recreating the natural imperfections and variations that occur when we paint by hand. Using a combination of Photoshop tools and hand-painting with the Brush Tool, you’ll learn how to create an organic, original piece of art that’s all your own.
Layers & Layer Masks
As with most Photoshop techniques, this effect relies on careful use of Layers and Layer Masks to hide and show parts of a photo, paint with precision, and seamlessly combine multiple elements. Learn more about how Layers work with our PRO course: How to Master Layers & Groups in Photoshop!
Filters & Filter Gallery
Learn how to use Filters or create realistic paper textures from scratch! We take you through the Filter Gallery, using Filters like Texturizer and Dry Brush to recreate the look of paper for a natural and tactile watercolor feel.

Aaron Nace
PHLEARN Founder – Class Instructor
Aaron Nace is a photographer, Photoshop artist and founder of PHLEARN. He is the #1 Photoshop instructor in the world with millions of YouTube subscribers.
Reviews
FAQ
This tutorial includes 6 video tutorials, 5 sample images, 3 Photoshop Brushes, 1 Photoshop Action, 1 PDF How-To Guide, and 1 sample PSD. Download the sample images and assets at the top of the page.
Yes, every tutorial on PHLEARN is included in the PHLEARN PRO Subscription.
We suggest using the latest version of Photoshop, but our tutorials are designed to be compatible with CS4, CS5, CS6 & Photoshop CC. Get the latest version of Photoshop from Adobe.
Download the course files at the top of this page.
You’ll find answers to some of the most common questions in our Help Center. If what you need isn’t covered, you can submit a question to our all-star customer support team and they’ll get back to you right away!
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description
Add beautiful coloring to your photos with Gradient Maps in Photoshop! Learn how to use a Gradient Map to apply different colors to the highlights, midtones, and shadows of an image, and then use Blend If to protect skin tones and dial-in the perfect look. We even include several custom Gradients that you can download and try on your own photos.
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Pro Color Grading Made Easy!
What are Gradient Maps?
Gradient Maps are just one of the many useful Adjustment Layers that Photoshop offers. Adjustment Layers are powerful, not only because they allows us to precisely adjust things like color and exposure, but because they’re also 100% non-destructive. That means we can use as many Adjustment Layers as we want while editing, then adjust, disable, or delete them at any time without damaging the original image.
If you’ve watched PHLEARN before, you’ve probably heard use rave about how great Adjustment Layers like Curves and Levels are. While Curves and Levels are very powerful for both color grading and exposure changes, sometimes there’s an easier and more effective way to get the job done. This is especially true for those moments when you just want to apply professional-grade coloring as fast as possible. This is where Gradient Maps shine!
Gradient Maps allow us to assign the colors of a gradient to the highlights, midtones, and shadows of an image.
When you first create a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer, you’ll notice that it converts your photo to black and white. Now, you can use Gradient Maps to change an image into black and white (among other tools), but that’s not how we want to use them today. We need some color! Let’s take a look at why the image changed to monochrome and how we can add a splash of color.
How to Use Gradient Maps
The heart of working with Gradient Maps is in the Gradient Editor, which you can open by double-clicking on the gradient bar in the Gradient Map properties window. Looking at the default gradient will explain why our image is now in black and white. A Gradient Map will assign color to the highlights midtones and shadows of a photo. By default, the gradient is set to convert the shadows to black, the highlights to white, and the midtones will be converted to various shades of gray depending on their lightness.
So how do we get color?
The Gradient Editor allows us to do a number of things. We can choose a premade gradient (either one of the many offered with Photoshop or the custom PHLEARN gradients available in the download of this tutorial), we can create our own custom gradient using the tool at the bottom, or we can combine the two options, choosing a premade gradient and then adjusting it to our taste. Let’s take a closer look at how to create and customize gradients.
The Gradient Editor & Color Picker
Select a gradient with some color. We recommend one of our custom PHLEARN gradients since they’re made with portraits in mind, but any will do. Here we’ve selected PH Color Tone 04:
This gradient is applying dark purples into the shadows, rich shades of copper and rust into the midtones, and creamy yellows into the highlights. Notice that there are additional markers along the gradient as well! The magic of gradients is that you can add any number of colors that you want!
Now let’s try making our own gradient.
Select one of the default gradients and then click the leftmost marker near the shadows of the gradient bar below. The Color Picker window will open, allowing you to select any color you want to assign to the darks of the image. Choose a dark blue, and then continue adding a couple more colors to the gradient. Keep in mind this important tip: if you want realistic results, colors should progress from darkest to lightest going from left to right along the gradient bar. So if you’re choosing a color for the brightest highlights, keep the color bright (near white). If you’re choosing midtones that are brighter and more near the right side of the bar, choose a lightness that matches.
In our example, we added various shades of blue that get progressively brighter towards the highlights.
So now we know how Gradient Maps work, but the effect is way over the top. You could use this effect if you want an image that’s heavily colored and stylized, but how can we make this more subtle?
Coloring Your Photos
The key to great coloring is preserving the natural tones and character of an image. We don’t want to completely transform a photo, we just want to make some subtle shifts to the colors to help express a particular tone or mood. This is a coastal portrait, so blues and cyans work well at giving it more of a seaside feel. Let’s take a look at a couple of methods to help blend our new Gradient Map into the image.
Blending with Opacity
The tried and true method of blending in Photoshop is just simply lowering the opacity. Select the Gradient Map layer, locate the Opacity box above the Layers Panel, and dial it down to your taste.
Easy, right? Well, we’re not done yet. This is great, but another key thing to keep in mind when color toning is protecting and preserving the natural skin tones of any people in the photograph. You certainly can apply coloring to skin, but colors like greens and blues can make skin look unnatural and create an unflattering effect.
Fortunately, Photoshop makes it easy to target skin tones separately so our subjects always look their best!
Blending with Blend If
Blend If is a powerhouse. If this is your first time using it, we recommend checking out this free tutorial that breaks down the basics. Blend If gives us the ability to affect where a Layer appears in any underlying Layers. To access Blend If, click on the Layer Style (fx)) icon below the Layers Panel and select Blending Options. You’ll find the Blend If sliders in the bottom box of the Blending Options dialog.
For our purposes today we’ll be focusing on the Underlying Layer slider, which will help us blend the Gradient Map Adjustment Layer into the image below it. By default, Blend If works based off of luminosity levels, allowing us to target and blend the Gradient Map into the highlights or shadows of the image. To use Blend If, hold ALT or OPTN, click on either of the Underlying Layer Sliders, and then drag them along the bar to see the effect. Dragging from right to left will remove the active Layer from the highlights of image below. Left to right will remove the active Layer from the shadows.
So if we didn’t want the Gradient Map to appear in the highlights of photograph, we would split rightmost slider and drag it to the left. This removes the color from the highlights while feathering the effect so that it blends more naturally.
Great! Well, sort of. Again, this is only letting us affect visibility based off of highlight and shadow information–if we need to target skin tones, we’ll need another way.
Protecting Skin Tones
All human skin tones are mixture of reds and oranges. Knowing that, whenever you need to target (or avoid) the skin tones in a photo, you should look to the Red Color Channel for some help. Blend If allows us to select Color Channels for blending using the drop-down box next to the Blend If title.
Click on the drop-down box and select the Red Channel. You’ll notice the colors of the sliders will change to reflect the color channel we’ve selected.
Now hold ALT or OPTN, click on the rightmost slider to split it, and drag it left towards the middle of the bar. This will start to remove the colors from the Gradient Map from the reds in the image. As you adjust the slider, watch the image while paying close attention to the skin tones. You should see them shift from the blues and cyans of our coloring, back to a normal healthy red!
Gradient Maps have all the qualities of a great Photoshop tool. They’re fun and easy to use, allow for a high degree of precision, are non-destructive, and provide a seamless, professional result. We hope this opens up a whole new world of color grading for you and your work!
If you want to learn even more, take the next step with our most popular PRO course on lighting and coloring: Advanced Lighting & Coloring in Photoshop.
description
Give your photos some analog love in Photoshop! Learn how to apply vintage coloring, realistic noise and grain, and subtle light effects like lens flares and light leaks that will give your images that classic 35mm feel.
this course includes
- 9 Sample Images
- 3 Textures
- 1 Custom Gradient
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Table of Contents
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01 - Levels & Curves13:46m
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02 - Black & White6:13m
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03 - Gradient Maps11:26m
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04 - Blending12:22m
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05 - Noise, Blur & Filters21:04m
Course Downloads
Vintage Style. Analog Love.
Film & Vintage Coloring in Photoshop
Perfect for wedding, nature, and lifestyle photos, adding a film and vintage look to your images can help those memories last a lifetime. From sepia tones, to black and white, to natural-looking grain, we show you how to create classic analog looks in Photoshop.
Professional Color Grading Tools
Learn all the professional Photoshop tools and techniques to add stunning vintage coloring to your images. Learn about Levels and Curves, Gradient Maps, the power of Blend If, and much more!
Noise, Blurs & Filters
The charm of classic film comes from the subtle imperfections in the images. Light leaks, noise, soft edges and blurs. We show you how to recreate each of these qualities to give your images an aged and faded look.
Soft Lighting Effects
From light leaks, to lens flares, we break down the tools and techniques that you can use to create convincing light effects from scratch!
Natural Vignettes
Vignettes can help to simplify an image while drawing more attention to the subject. They’re also a recognizable quality of old-school film photography. We show you how to add natural-looking vignettes to any photo.
Portraits & Landscapes
Film and vintage effects are great, but they’re not right for every photo. While these techniques are fantastic for portraits, landscapes, and everything between, we show you how to identify images that match perfectly with these classic looks.
Sepia Tone
It wouldn’t be a vintage coloring course with the browns and golds of sepia tone. We show you how to add your own sepia coloring from scratch, creating creamy skin tones, rich landscapes, and a classic look.
Adjustment Layers
Adjustment Layers are the key to professional color grading in Photoshop. Learn how to use a variety of Adjustment Layer to blend colors into an image and work non-destructively so that you can get back to the original photo at any time. And we think these tools are so important that they have their very own PRO course: How to Master Adjustment Layers in Photoshop!
Coloring with Gradients
Gradients are a great way to seamlessly blend effects into an image. From soft lighting effects on a shimmering sunset, to subtle color grading on a powerful portrait, we show you how to take full advantage of gradients in Photoshop. Best of all, we include a custom gradient that you can download and use on your own photos!
Film & Vintage Style
Levels & Curves
Levels and Curves can do it all! From detailed exposure adjustments, to flawless color grading, we show you just how much these powerful tools can accomplish.
Natural Skin Tones
Stylistic color grading can take an image to the next level, but unnatural skin tones can ruin an otherwise beautiful portrait. Learn how to apply coloring effects in Photoshop while preserving the natural warm tones found in skin.
Blend If
If you came here for professional techniques, Blend If is sure to satisfy. Blend any effect into an image based on highlight, midtones, and shadow levels for unparalleled control and precision.
Coloring in Photoshop
Coloring is one of the most subjective parts of the editing process, and this is just one of many styles out there. We show you how to let the content of an image guide your creative process so you can quickly decide if an image is right for a classic film look, a Bright & Airy feel, or if it’s on the Dark & Moody side.
Realistic Light Rays & Light Leaks
Learn how to use tools like Gradients and the Brush Tool to create realistic lighting effects! Whether you want some light rays shimmering through a window or light flares from a beautiful sunset, we’ll show you how to do it.
Vintage Textures
Learn how to apply worn paper textures to your images in Photoshop! This course includes 3 high-resolution textures that you can use to give your photos an authentic vintage feel.
Black & White
Black and white can help simplify an image while putting more focus on the content and composition of a scene. We show you how to convert any photo to black and white with just the right amount of texture and contrast.
Gradient Maps
Gradient Maps are one of the best ways to quickly color grade a photo with stunning results. Learn how to use Gradient Maps to assign colors to the highlights, midtones, and shadows of an image and then blend them in for a stunning, natural feel.
Class Instructor

Aaron Nace
PHLEARN Founder – Class Instructor
Aaron Nace is a photographer, Photoshop artist and founder of PHLEARN. He is the #1 Photoshop instructor in the world with millions of YouTube subscribers.
Reviews
FAQ
This tutorial includes 9 Sample JPEG Images, 3 textures, and 1 custom Gradient. Download the sample images at the top of the page.
Yes, every tutorial on P
Thank you so much. I love and learn a lot from it.
Wonderful and to the point. Everything you need when it comes to color grading in LR and managing your presets!
Great and up-to-date section in Phlearn. It was my excuse to subscribe for another year 😉
Perfect quick explanation of the tools and always something new to learn.
Another great tutorial! It has made me want to learn more about color theory now. Would love to learn about cinematic colors like teal and orange and why they work so beautifully together.
Great tutorial as usual. I actually prefer to use LR to PS. I get that PS is much more powerful than LR and I do use it for individual edits but I just find LR so much more intuitive and user friendly. Looking forward to more LR tutorials as this has improved my workflow greatly. Thanks a lot Aaron,
Thanks a lot Aaron. Clear and essential.
Excellent demonstration of latest LR capability.
Hi Aaron, Thanks for a great tutorial. I’m a big fan of your way of teaching. Personally I don’t use Lightroom a lot, but I picked up a few great skills that I intent to use. One tip (you probably figured out yourself by now or already know): When you double-click a slider it resets. It’s faster than right clicking. Jurjen de Boer (Netherlands)
Thank you for this! Learned a ton just in the first section. It’s an eye opener!
You the best, Aaron Nace! This is so well explained that I have no problem understanding even though I’m not a native English speaker. Awesome job!! I’m off to the next lesson!
Great…as always! Short, concise, with examples. 3 different techniques to gain assurance with colour grading.
Wow Aaron! This is gold!!! I had a basic understanding of some of these tricks before, but you filled in all of the puzzle pieces for a complete picture. I love how you relate it to Photoshop as well. I am probably in Lightroom more often so I greatly appreciate these tutorials. Ultimately I want to be proficient with both programs. Your way of teaching has really enhanced my editing!
Great class, Aaron! With Lightroom Classic’s new color grading capabilities, what are the scenarios that you would still color grade in Photoshop? A better way to ask this: Are there limitations in using Lightroom for color editing? Thanks!