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lightroom is the photo editing app of
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choice for many photographers and the
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color tools are some of the strongest in
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the software in this filter grade video
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we're going to take a look at
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lightroom's color tools and how to color
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grade your photos kind of like a video
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editor before doing anything else you
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need to set up your photo for grading go
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through the light panel to get exposure
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highlight shadows and all of those basic
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adjustments so that we can get into the
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coloring this process is called color
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correction it is distinct from color
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grading which involves adding your
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personal flair to the image we have
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other guides on our channel about color
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correction so we'll assume you already
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know this fairly basic process of photo
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now let's take a look at the color
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grading tab in lightroom you'll be able
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to find this in both lightroom cc and
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lightroom classic this panel unlocks
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some color grading wheels very similar
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to the tools you might find in premiere
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pro and will let you adjust mid-tones
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shadows and highlights
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to use these circles you can select the
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color saturation and luminance the
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position around the circle determines
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the color and the distance from the
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center determines the saturation of that
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color or the overall strength
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you can select the color with the outer
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selection circle then hold shift on your
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keyboard to select the saturation while
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keeping the color selection tool locked
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the slider under the color circle is the
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the way you use the color grading tool
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is going to depend on your photo subject
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of course however one constant rule of
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thumb is using opposite colors your
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photo will tend to look pretty good if
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your shadows or highlights are an
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opposite color on the color wheel as
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compared to your mid-tones
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in portraits mid-tones are generally
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going to be the skin tones so going
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opposite with the shadows can make your
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subject really pop from the background
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in this first example i have a landscape
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shot that i took for the shadows i know
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that i want some green because the trees
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aren't nearly as rich and dark as i want
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them to be since there is already plenty
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of green in the image i don't really
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need to add a lot the mid-tones are
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going to affect a good portion of the
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image and it's difficult to dial them in
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here i know i want to enhance the greens
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but if i go too far to the green side
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then it just becomes way too much and
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the yellow grass becomes
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indistinguishable from the trees but if
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i bring them too far towards yellow then
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they seem too crisp and dry when instead
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i want the image to appear a little bit
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that leaves the highlights i want either
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the shadows or highlights to be opposite
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of my midtones and i've already set my
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shadows to green that means i'm going to
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try to push the highlights into the
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violet blues notably in my color
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correction i did turn down my highlights
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all the way because the top of the image
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was completely blown out
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so the highlights in this image won't be
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super impactful it's going to be a
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subtle look i'm also going to keep the
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saturation down but this should still
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add a little bit of blue to the sky and
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make it slightly more realistic
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now let's do more of a portrait photo
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this is just a selfie of me working on
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some filter grade videos the original
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image is pretty flat and boring but we
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can turn this into a dramatic image that
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looks like i've been working in the dark
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all night by the glow of the monitors
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which i definitely wasn't
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some simple color correction does go a
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long way in making this image look
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better as the biggest issue was the low
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contrast and the light shadows but it
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still feels kind of gray and lifeless
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skin tones can often benefit from a
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boost in the red region but as you can
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see the mid-tones are going to adjust a
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good chunk of the light in this color
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range so i need to be careful
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i like how this looks when i bring it to
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orange and about halfway saturated
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i'm going to go into the deep blues for
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my shadows but i don't need to go too
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far to get a nice look for the
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highlights it doesn't really need too
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much but i'm going to reduce some of the
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magenta in the background by adding some
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teal into the highlights but again i
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don't need to go very far to balance it
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the color grading panel in lightroom is
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incredibly powerful and enables video
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editors to adjust their photos in
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familiar ways just remember that before
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color grading you should always go
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through the color correction process and
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get your photos to a presentable state
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your photo should be perfectly fine
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without any color grading at all color
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grading is a way of creating personality
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and making your already great photo
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if this helped you learn color grading
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in lightroom be sure to leave a like on
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if you enjoyed this video be sure to
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like and subscribe and leave a comment
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down below and if you're looking for
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professional lutz lightroom desktop and
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mobile presets premiere pro templates
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and more photo and video education visit
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filtergrade.com today
