Color Grading LUTs for Photo & Video

What You’ll Learn

A LUT is a color recipe that works the same in every program, which is why one pack can grade both your photos and your video. These tutorials teach what is inside a LUT, how to install and adjust one, and how to build your own.

• What a LUT is. How a lookup table maps color, why it works across photo and video apps, and what it cannot do.
• Installing and applying. Photoshop’s Color Lookup layer, Lightroom profiles, and thirteen different video and photo programs.
• Adjusting to the shot. Opacity, blend modes, masking a LUT to skin or sky, and correcting exposure and white balance before the LUT so it lands right.
• Signature looks. Cinematic teal and orange, ice-cold and warm-summer grades, vintage film, and turning day into night.
• Making your own. Building a grade in Photoshop and exporting it as a LUT you can reuse anywhere.

Where to Start

Download the free LUT sample pack to try the workflow on your own photos, then watch How to Master LUTs for Photo & Video for the complete method. If you want to understand the grades rather than just apply them, the Color Grading tutorials teach every adjustment a LUT contains.

Free and PRO Tutorials

The free sample pack contains complete, usable LUTs. The PRO packs are larger, cover more lighting situations, and are included with a PHLEARN PRO membership along with every PRO tutorial. Individual packs can also be purchased on their own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do LUTs work on photos as well as video?

Yes. In Photoshop a LUT is applied with a Color Lookup adjustment layer, in Lightroom and Camera Raw as a profile. The same file grades a video clip in Premiere or Resolve, which is why they are useful for anyone who shoots both.

Why does a LUT look wrong on my photo?

A LUT assumes a normally exposed, neutral image. Correct exposure and white balance first, then lower the LUT’s opacity if the look is too strong. The adjusting tutorials here cover the fixes.

LUT or preset: which should I use?

Presets live in Lightroom and can include exposure, detail, and masking; LUTs are color only and portable across programs. Use presets for whole-shoot Lightroom work and LUTs when you want the same color on photos and video.

Where to Go Next

LUTs are one-click color; the technique lives in Color Grading. For Lightroom equivalents see Lightroom Presets, for Photoshop automation Photoshop Actions, and for building a consistent look Styling.