Lightroom Color Grading 101 (+ A FREE Tutorial)

In this blog post, I’ll be teaching you about Lightroom color grading aka the process of altering the colors on an image.

We’ll be covering everything from temperature and tint to tone curve and HSL/Color but before we get into all of that I want to make sure you know that I have a FREE Lightroom Color Grading Class! So if you are more of a visual learner – this free class might be for you. If you prefer to read step-by-step I’ve also got you covered below!

What is color grading?

Let’s start with the basics. Color grading is the term used to describe the process of altering the colors on an image or video.

Technically, things like exposure, contrast, and grain are part of the editing process, where color grading, although also part of the editing process, is its own thing.

You want to think about post-production in steps:

1. The first step is your basic corrections and adjustments
2. The second step can be your color grading
3. The last step is your localized adjustment (such as skin retouching, and other specific edits).

I would say that the second and third steps can be done interchangeably, but your basic settings should always be adjusted first. It is quite fun to do color grading in Lightroom, and although photoshop offers some more localized and specific tools, I find Lightroom better for color grading, as you can quickly see your before and after by just clicking the “\” key, and each one of the tools you can use, is easily accessible.

Color grading can seem overwhelming and confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. The easiest wat to approach Lightroom color grading is to use an image as a reference and build your look from there. I find that by doing this, you have a clear understanding of where you want your image to end up like, and it makes the road there a lot clearer.

If you want to learn how to use this technique, make sure to check out my FREE Lightroom Color Grading Class.

Are presets a way to color grade?

Yes, and no. 

Presets are a pre-recorded set of commands, that give specific instructions to Lightroom on how to adjust the values on different controls of your image. A Lightroom preset can adjust things like contrast, white point, tone, tint, hues, and saturation, highlights and shadows, curves, grain, and much more. Each of these elements brings the final picture to a look.

If you want to learn more about presets, you can read my blogpost on How to Make Lightroom Presets & Why It’s Better Than Buying.

So some preset might have information recorded on color grading tools such as your tint, tone curve, and split toning. But often they come mixed in with other adjustments like contrast, exposure, etc…. So it is possible that you see an image you love, and it used a certain preset, but when you use it, you get a different look. This is due to the different characteristics of your original image, and honestly, it’s rare to get the desired look out of a preset. As I said, often it is just easier to use the image you like as a reference, and build manually the look you want to achieve. In short, presets are NOT a one-click solution like you may have thought.

Lightroom Color Grading: TOOLS

Lightroom provides an array of different tools for your post-production process. Each small adjustment will contribute to the final look.

But there are a few specific tools that affect color directly, and work in different ways. You can test out all these tools without fear of ruining your image, as Lightroom is a non-destructive software, and everything you do is only applied virtually to the image, and will not modify your original file.

Slide the handle left to right to test out the tools, and you can double click on the Handle to reset it, or on your left panel, at the bottom, you can find your history, and back up to a previous step. You can also reset the entire image, with the reset button on the bottom right of the screen.

Temperature and tint

Although these two settings are found under your “basics” menu, they are very much directly related to color grading.

Temperature

Temperature refers to the degree or “coolness” and “warmth” your overall image has. Cool being a blue hue, and warm being an orange hue. You can test it sliding to the left for cooler tones, and to the right for warmer tones. As with most of these tools, little adjustments go a long way. Your temperature slider will adjust the overall look of the image.

Tint

The tint slider will add or subtract a hint of color in your image. It’s mostly used to correct and adjust a cast of color that is unwanted. Generally speaking, you want to adjust your temperature first, and once that is done, use the tint slider to get rid of any green or magenta cast.

Again, small adjustments go a long way. Creatively, you can use your tint to add a hint of color, not always just to correct.

Your combination of temperature and tint results in the white balance of your image. If you want your image to clearly represent exactly how colors looked when you shot the photo, your aim is to get your white to look pure white. Rather than sliding your temperature and tint, you can always use the droplet to select a white point in the image, and Lightroom will adjust both settings to make that look white.

Tone curve

The tone curve is SO important and useful that it is its own section! It can look confusing and intimidating, so let me explain what this tool does.

Tone is the modification of color when it’s mixed with white, grey, or black. When working digitally, we work in RGB, or red green and blue.

The hue is the color itself, while the tone is the difference in shade and tint within that hue.

Curve is just the way of adjusting said tones. To understand how to use it, you need to know that the diagonal line crosses through the quadrants that represent shadows, mids, and highlights. To properly use the tone curve you select the point curve (the grey circle) and you want to put points to separate each quadrant. Once you do, you adjust each section. Remember, small adjustments go a long way.

You can also adjust each color individually.

When you pull the curve to the top, you are increasing that certain color. When you pull it to the bottom, you are decreasing the color, and with that, increasing the opposite color. Just like your tone curve, with each color, you separate it into quadrants to affect each shadow, midpoints, and highlights separately.

HSL\COLOR

This section is my favourite. HSL/Color stands for Hue, Saturation, and Luminance.

With these sliders, you can affect each color channel individually. You can choose to work per color (using the color tab) or you can choose to do your editing on HSL which divides the tabs into each hue, saturation, and luminance, for each color. Both tabs do the exact same.

I use this feature quite a lot, as it helps me achieve the looks I want with more control. Keep in mind that each color isn’t absolutely localized, so if you are adjusting the reds of a building, for example, you gotta watch out for the reds in the skin of your subject. Color is great for adjusting skin tones, sky, water, and other specific elements of your image.

Hue refers to actual color and its tonality, so if we are working with blue, it can go from deep marine blue, all the way to turquoise. Saturation works on the vibrancy of the color, the more saturation, the more vivid the color is. Without any saturation, the color turns greyscale. Luminance is related to the brightness of the color. The more luminance, the brighter, the less luminance, the darker the color goes.

Split toning

Split toning affects your highlights and shadows separately. You chose the color that you want to introduce by dragging the slider, or clicking in the grey box and selecting the color, and you watch it take effect by sliding the saturation tab. The more saturation, the more the color will show. You can do this for both highlight and shadows, and then blend the mix with the balance slider.

Conclusion (+ FREE Lightroom Color Grading Class!)

After teaching editing to a lot of new photographers, I realized that they had a hard time understanding what each tool does and how to use it. Hopefully, this blog post helps you really identify the tools that are exclusively dedicated to color grading, and start polishing your skills!

Although colors and digital editing is a science, Color grading is a creative process. There really isn’t a right or wrong way to do it, but it can be hard to not overdo it and land on settings that complement each other and build to a subtle but effective final look.

In my FREE Lightroom color grading class, I go through all of these tools, explaining them step by step and showing you how they work. I find that the best way to learn how to create a look is to build it step by step and adjusting as you go. When using an image as a reference, it is a lot easier to see how there are many ways to achieving a look and feel and an even better way to arrive at a look that you like, without the unwanted effects of presets.

Happy editing!

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