Lightroom Color Grading Tutorial — Step-by-Step for Beginners

This is a hands-on Lightroom color grading tutorial you can follow along with on your own photos right now. We’ll build three complete grades from scratch — a cinematic portrait look, a film-emulation landscape, and a clean wedding-day style — and explain the why behind every step so you understand the principles, not just the recipe. All of this works in Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC.

Before You Start: Set Up Your Workspace

Open a RAW file in Lightroom’s Develop module. Reset all adjustments to zero (hold Alt/Option and click Reset at the bottom right). You want a clean starting point. Make sure your panels are visible: Basic, Tone Curve, HSL/Color, Color Grading, and Camera Calibration.

If you don’t have a RAW file to work with, shoot something today. JPEGs work too, but RAW files give you significantly more color grading range — especially in the shadow and highlight areas where most grading happens.

Tutorial 1: Cinematic Portrait Grade

This is the teal-orange split that defines modern portrait and travel photography. It creates deep, cinematic shadows and warm, glowing skin tones.

Step 1: Correct Exposure and White Balance

1. Set Exposure so the face is well-exposed (use histogram to avoid clipping).
2. Set White Balance: Use the eyedropper on a neutral area (white shirt, grey wall). Or set Temp manually to approximately 5,500K for daylight portraits.
3. Pull Highlights down to recover any near-blown areas. Lift Shadows slightly to open up the dark areas without crushing shadow detail.

Step 2: Camera Calibration (Foundation)

1. Open the Camera Calibration panel (bottom of the panel stack).
2. Blue Primary Hue: drag to +40. This shifts blues/cyans toward a deeper, richer teal.
3. Red Primary Saturation: drag to +15. This enriches the warm skin tones.

You may not see a dramatic change yet — Calibration is a foundation, not a surface effect. It changes how all subsequent adjustments interact with the color.

Step 3: Color Grading Panel

1. Open the Color Grading panel.
2. Shadows wheel: Drag the point toward the teal/cyan area (roughly 2 o’clock on the hue circle from center). Add Saturation to about 30. You’ll see the shadows shift to a deep blue-green.
3. Highlights wheel: Drag the point toward warm orange/amber (roughly 11 o’clock). Add Saturation to about 20. Skin tones and bright areas will warm up.
4. Blending: Set to 60. This creates a smooth, natural-looking split rather than a harsh line between warm and cool zones.
5. Balance: Set to -10. This slightly emphasizes the shadow treatment.

Step 4: HSL Skin Tone Refinement

1. Open the HSL panel.
2. Click the Targeted Adjustment Tool (circle icon at panel top).
3. Hover over the skin of your subject. Drag up gently — this lifts the Luminance of the dominant skin tone channels (usually Orange and/or Red), making skin glow without affecting other areas.
4. If skin looks too orange: Drag the Orange Hue slider toward +10 (toward yellow) to desaturate the orange cast slightly.
5. If skin is too red/flushed: Reduce Red Saturation by 10–15 points.

Step 5: Tone Curve

1. Switch to the Point Curve view.
2. Add a gentle S-curve: click in the lower-quarter of the curve and drag down slightly; click in the upper-quarter and drag up. This adds contrast.
3. Check the result — if the grade feels too strong, reduce Color Grading panel saturation values by 5–10 points each.

Step 6: Save as Preset

When happy with the result, press Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+N (Mac) to create a new preset. Give it a descriptive name (e.g., “Cinematic Portrait – Daylight”). Check Color Grading, HSL, Camera Calibration, and Tone Curve but leave Exposure and White Balance unchecked — those need to be set per image.

Tutorial 2: Film Emulation Landscape Grade

This grade emulates the warm, slightly faded, grain-kissed look of a Kodak Portra 400 film scan — lifted shadows, gentle warmth, rich greens, deep but not crushed darks.

Step 1: Base Exposure and White Balance

1. Set White Balance to approximately 5,200–5,500K for daylight (neutral start).
2. Expose so the sky has detail — pull Highlights down as far as needed to bring back clouds. Lift Shadows to +20–30 to open the darkest areas.
3. Set Blacks to +15 — the signature “lifted shadow” of film emulation. True blacks become dark greys; the image gains a matte, organic quality.

Step 2: Tone Curve — Create the Matte

1. In the Point Curve, click the bottom-left anchor point and drag it up to approximately Y=15–20. This lifts the shadow toe, creating the matte/faded look characteristic of film.
2. Add a very gentle S-curve above it for subtle contrast.
3. In the Blue channel curve: Click the bottom-left point and drag up to about Y=10. This adds blue/teal into the deepest shadows — a Kodak characteristic.

Step 3: Color Grading Panel

1. Shadows: Very gentle warm amber push (Hue 40°, Saturation 12).
2. Highlights: Slight cool pull (Hue 210°, Saturation 8). This desaturates highlights slightly in the warm direction — Kodak’s highlights feel slightly “cream” rather than brightly warm.

Step 4: HSL — Greens and Blues

1. Green Hue: Shift toward yellow (+10–15). Makes foliage look warmer and more organic, less the digital artificial green of uncorrected RAW files.
2. Blue Luminance: Reduce by -15 to -20. Deepens the sky without over-saturating it.
3. Blue Saturation: Reduce by -10. Calms the digital blue sky to feel more film-like.
4. Yellow Hue: Shift toward green (-5 to -10). Makes any golden grasses or sunlit areas feel more earthy.

Step 5: Add Grain

Film emulation without grain feels like a digital approximation. In the Detail panel, add Grain: Amount 20–30, Size 25, Roughness 50. Grain completes the analog feel — but keep it subtle for web output; it becomes more apparent at print sizes.

Tutorial 3: Clean Wedding Day Grade

Wedding clients want warm, bright, and timeless — not cinematic or moody. This grade creates the clean, airy, golden look that defines contemporary wedding photography.

Step 1: White Balance — Lean Warm

1. After correction, push Temp to be approximately 200–400K warmer than neutral. Wedding images benefit from a slight golden warmth — it reads as celebratory and intimate.
2. Tint: Pull toward +5 (slight magenta). This warms skin tones and counteracts any green cast from outdoor foliage light.

Step 2: Lift the Shadows

1. Shadows: +25 to +35. The “airy” wedding look requires lifted, glowing shadows — no crushed blacks.
2. Blacks: +15 to +20. Lift the entire shadow range for a soft, bright feel.
3. Whites: +20 to +30. Keep the whites bright but not blown — use the histogram to check.

Step 3: Color Grading — Gentle Warmth

1. Shadows: Hue 35° (warm amber), Saturation 10–15. Just enough to warm the shadows without creating a teal-orange split.
2. Highlights: Hue 38° (golden amber), Saturation 8–10. Consistent warmth throughout.
3. Blending: 80. Very smooth — this grade should feel cohesive, not split.

Step 4: HSL Skin Tones

1. Orange Hue: +8 (toward yellow). Prevents skin from looking overly orange against the warm grade.
2. Orange Luminance: +10. Brightens skin slightly to maintain the “glow.”
3. Yellow Saturation: -10. Reduces any yellow cast in skin from the warm white balance push.

Step 5: Global Vibrance/Saturation

1. Vibrance: +10. Vibrance selectively increases saturation on less-saturated colors while protecting already-vivid tones (including skin) — safer than global Saturation.
2. Saturation: +5 maximum. For clean wedding grades, restraint is everything. Over-saturated wedding images date very quickly.

Applying Your Grade to a Series

Once you’ve built a grade you’re happy with:

1. Right-click the image in the Filmstrip → Develop Settings → Copy Settings
2. Select the settings you want to copy (Color Grading, HSL, Camera Calibration, Tone Curve — not Exposure or White Balance)
3. Select the target images in the Filmstrip and paste settings
4. Use Auto Sync to fine-tune exposure and white balance per image

Further Reading

• Color Theory for Photographers — Complete Guide
• Lightroom Color Grading — Complete Guide
• How to Color Grade Photos
• Teal and Orange Color Grading
• Skin Tones Photography
• Lightroom Tutorial — Complete Guide