What Is Color Grading?

Color grading is the process of altering and enhancing the colors in a photograph to achieve a specific aesthetic or mood. Unlike color correction — which aims to make a photo look accurate — color grading is a creative choice that gives your images a recognizable style.

From the warm, filmic tones of travel photography to the cool, desaturated look of editorial fashion, color grading is what makes a photo feel intentional.

1. Split Toning (Color Grading Shadows & Highlights)

Split toning adds different hues to the shadows and highlights of an image. A classic example is adding warm amber to the highlights and cooler teal to the shadows — popularized by cinema and lifestyle photography.

  • In Lightroom, find this under the Color Grading panel (formerly Split Toning).
  • In Photoshop, use a Color Balance adjustment layer set to affect Shadows and Highlights separately.
  • Keep saturation subtle (5–15%) for a natural look; push higher for stylized results.

2. HSL / Color Mixer Adjustments

The Hue, Saturation, and Luminance (HSL) panel lets you manipulate individual color channels. This is incredibly powerful for making targeted changes without affecting the whole image.

  • Hue: Shift a specific color's tone (e.g., make grass greener or sky bluer).
  • Saturation: Boost or mute individual colors without a blanket desaturation.
  • Luminance: Darken skies or brighten skin tones selectively.

A popular technique is desaturating all colors except one — called selective color — to make a single element pop dramatically.

3. Curves: The Most Powerful Grading Tool

The Tone Curve (or Curves adjustment in Photoshop) gives you granular control over brightness and color simultaneously. The S-curve is a staple grading move:

  1. Add a point in the upper quarter of the curve and drag it slightly upward (brighter highlights).
  2. Add a point in the lower quarter and drag it slightly downward (deeper shadows).
  3. This increases contrast while retaining a natural feel.

For color grading with curves, switch to individual RGB channels. Lifting the bottom of the Blue channel adds a blue-teal cast to shadows; reducing the top of the Red channel cools your highlights.

4. Using LUTs (Look-Up Tables)

LUTs are pre-built color transformations that apply a complete grade in one step. They're widely used in video production but equally effective for photo editing.

  • In Photoshop: Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Lookup, then load a .cube or .3dl file.
  • In Lightroom: Import LUTs as Profiles via the Camera Calibration panel.
  • Reduce the opacity or intensity of the LUT layer to blend it naturally with your image.

5. Camera Calibration for Base Color Science

Before any grading, setting the correct camera profile in Lightroom can fundamentally change how colors render. Try switching from the default Adobe Color to options like Camera Vivid or Camera Standard — you may find a much more pleasing starting point that requires less grading work.

Building Your Own Signature Style

The best color grades feel consistent across a body of work. Try this approach:

  1. Edit one hero image until you love how it looks.
  2. Save those settings as a Preset (Lightroom) or Action (Photoshop).
  3. Apply it as a starting point to all images in the series, then make small image-specific tweaks.

Consistency is what separates a random collection of photos from a cohesive, professional portfolio.