10 Essential Color Editing Techniques in Lightroom

For me, color is easily one of the most frustrating and challenging aspects of digital raw photography. I still struggle with it, but along the way have learned some useful tips and techniques to get better color when editing raw files in Adobe Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw.
✍️ Blog post version of this video:
www.todddominey.com/2023/08/2...
📦 PRODUCTS MENTIONED
Adobe Lightroom
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📕 CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:58 Color profiles
2:53 Edit color separately
4:46 Editing white balance
9:05 Creative calibration
14:01 Avoid global saturation
15:43 Auditing color
17:01 Use negative luminance
19:07 Reduce color complexity
22:10 Mix complementary colors
24:19 Refine saturation slider
26:31 Outro
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[@danevarkevisser4670]

Todd, what a great video! Agree, colour is one of the hardest things to come to grips with in RAW editing, and you have just made it a good bit easier. Thank you.

[@branchscope]

super useful video, thank you Todd

[@danicatala]

Love when people REALLY share their way of doing things. Amazing insights in color grading. Thanks Man.

[@moozarksphotos458]

I've been using Lightroom since it's inception, and this is one of the best videos I've come across. I'm a retired civilian army, photographer, and I really enjoyed this video. You can teach an old dog new tricks.

[@melissahall7009]

I LOVE your editing videos. One of the best I’ve found out of watching hundreds over the years. Love the tip about bending the colors together. Thank you!

[@rogalaphotography]

I switched to linear profiles and not switching back! I used them with my EOS R and now with my R5….it’s completely changed how I edit in Lightroom! Put the linear profile on and click Auto to get my starting point! Saves so much time! I’ll be doing a basic video on them soon!

[@ralphpayne6259]

Great to watch and think of different approaches to try. Can't wait to see your video on the new point colour tool in LR!

[@doronnadav5224]

WOW - after more than 10 years of working with Lightroom realized a lot of new things through your video. Great tips, very well explained. Thank you!

[@Xo1ot1]

Excellent video.

[@dreamship563]

Really good explanation. Hands down this is one of the best🙌 very informative, defo will watch many times and make notes. Very good job👍

[@NegeriFilms]

Thank you. After watching numerous KZbin videos discussing color in Lightroom, this one stands out as the best

[@JAS4BG]

I love your opening frustrated comment. I have said this to myself so many times. These are all good tips. A couple I haven't thought of. Thank you.

[@sholaallen4873]

I have to admit, this video has added more ways to edit my images in ways I never knew. The tip to switch to b/w and adjust tones before going back to colors is something I will start adding to my workflow... Thanks Todd!!!

[@jasonf2252]

One of the best videos for photography I have seen with fantastic tips. Absolutely brilliant. Thanks Todd!

[@weakheadone]

That was one of the most useful and well explained set of Lightroom tips I've seen on KZbin. Great stuff.

[@warricksmith5178]

Thank you for a truly excellent tutorial, Todd. The best treatment of color editing I've seen on YT over several years. Lots of useful tips and tricks -- I expect to return to this vid again and again. Cheers

[@avcle]

This has easily been the most helpful tutorial I’ve watched in regards to color grading in Lightroom, thank you!

[@PMCN53]

Another great session in how to use the multitude of LR Classic editing tool. Looks like I'll have to watch this again a few times to digest so many new editing tools. Thanks Todd 😀

[@GrahamHolmes]

Great information

[@vittorioperfetti6327]

Excellent video. I have been watching hundreds of video about color, but you really revealed new tips, and most importantly, you made me understand what it is underneath the profiles and slides. Thank you so much!!!

[@AlecJulianGarza]

One of the most helpful videos I’ve seen as a photographer thank you

[@alexeijz]

May be one of the best videos on lightroom. Really helped me out a lot, thanks!

[@pll66]

Phenomenon information - changed the way I will be editing moving forward.

[@antondymkovych6150]

Thank you))

[@paulgarner3364]

Fascinating !! I’ve never seen anyone explain it that way before so thank you, I will use all of these tips. Much appreciated

[@malcolmpaterson8737]

Excellent and clear, and so much more practical and encouraging than almost anything I have looked at when trying to wrap my head round this. Thanks Todd!

[@ren11479]

Amazing explanation of every aspect, it was one of the best I saw in terms of merging the technicalities with the artistic side of photography. Thank you.

[@alexlford]

This is the best video I’ve seen in a long time - so practical - thanks

[@jordanking7711]

These are excellent tips, Todd. Thank you so much. I almost NEVER use Saturation in my photos and use Vibrance instead, because as you pointed out, when you use Saturation it applies it to EVERYTHING regardless of whether it's already saturated or not, but when you use Vibrance, it only applies it to the dull parts of the image. Love the tip especially about bending the colours together. Keep up the great work Todd.

[@malcolmmacgregor1406]

Excellent and informative video - a lot of aspects of Lightroom classic that I had not appreciated. Many thanks

[@jamesss1953]

I've been a Nikon & Lr user now for a few years > only very recently switched to Fujifilm. Just watching this video and have found it extremely useful and it has altered the way I edit .... thank you

[@richardcoomber925]

Only just found this. It’s brilliant. Been using the black and white tip all day and it works! Downside is that I now want to re-edit my whole catalogue 😂

[@andrewherbert9938]

Absolutely brilliant video Scott , so helpful . I will have a whole new editing approach from now on

[@ZombieRofl]

One of the first time I actually learned something regarding to color editing. Thank you so much Todd! 😀

[@robertlavers1121]

I thought I was pretty proficient in Lightroom but there were things I learned here, very clearly explained without rushing. One thing from the start about colour settings, I couldn’t find the camera settings option although there were lots of effects options. However the camera setting was in the Preferences route so I was able to load my different camera bodies instead of Adobe which is great, so thank you.

[@carlpalmer6095]

I've learnt a great deal about colour in this video, thanks Todd. Can't wait to try these tips out.

[@luisjg2628]

This video along with 10 Step RAW Photo Processing / Where to Start, What To Do Next, Where to Finish, are very helpful. Sometimes I think that if you master the techniques well, plugins or programs related to luminosity and chromance are not necessary. Particularly sometimes I start from a neutral profile and Adobe's is better than Canon's neutral profile in my opinion.👍👍

[@Tru_Studios]

Masterclass! Thanks Todd.

[@livingahumanlife2651]

You have some serious skills. Thanks for sharing the knowledge😊🙏🏼

[@geronimoflyingfree]

Really good tutorial, calm and really understandable! loved the part about reducing the complexity of color to help the viewer focus on the subject! Thank you! :)

[@JonathanRobinson11]

Excellent breakdown! Nicely explained and good pacing. Thank you.

[@Leadmeoutdoors]

Wow, your detail is pretty amazing in this video. Thank you for help!

[@PaulFoley]

Thanks for this video - it was very insightful and helpful. I’ve got a bunch of people to share it with.

[@cartercooper9288]

Appreciate your help in sorting all this out. It's so important to reproduce the striking colors seen in real life! You've helped me yet again!

[@G.Menounos]

Fantastic video!❤ No only one tip, but all of them sooo helpful..!!! Thank you so much!

[@dominey]

Glad it was helpful!

[@TriciasLovelyGames]

This video was fantastic!! Thank you! You really helped me understand color grading better.

[@brucesorrell3647]

Exceptionally well done, Todd. I thought I had a pretty good handle on color editing before watching your tutorial, and I'm glad to say I was wrong. There are any number of gems in your presentation that I'm anxious to put into practice. Kudos too for your teaching skills, especially your gift for making the complex simple and easy to grasp. Can't wait to see what you'll be doing as AI infiltrates more and more of the photo editing realm. Slainte !

[@jordanking7711]

That being said though, just because those AI features are there in that program, that doesn't necessarily mean you need to take advantage of them. If you find that you would be better served, by editing the normal way without using AI, well then do it. Just don't touch those features. Adobe isn't necessarily putting a gun to your head (so to speak) and saying you HAVE to use those AI features. And for the record, I HATE AI for the most part, so I'm not going to use it. It's like the Beta that came out for Photoshop for Generative AI. People are going to say 'oh but it will have its uses', but from what I've seen so far, it's taking away the creative thought that you as the photographer would need to make, so I'm never going to touch it even if it's there.

[@mariolombardi4766]

One of your best tip videos Todd and an excellent mini guide to adjusting and refining color! You also addressed using camera matching profiles which makes a big difference and hardly anyone addresses this critical first step in the edit process. Thanks Todd for an excellent tips and info. One question, I often try to use the free Linear Camera Profiles from Tony Kuyper to get try and get a good starting point; however, most of the time I don’t like the results. Have you used linear profiles and do you have any thoughts on using them?

[@norrinRadd026]

Excellent tutorial Todd. Thanks.

[@goldfinch2283]

Helpful and good advices; thanks. Colour is a complicated topic in image editing.

[@pawelmod3292]

This is one of the most informative video related to photo editing I've been watching so far. It is not really about Lightroom. I believed that it is software agnostic knowledge about colors in general. 1) Content. Wow. I've learned so much. I'm a hobbyist, but after that video I've realized that I know nothing about colors. I would like to "print" that video and put it on the wall next to my desk. The bad thing is that now I would like to re-edit hundreds of photos I was editing "mechanically" ;-) 2) Video quality wise, it is almost perfect, audio/voice, edit - top quality. Camera was missing a focus a few times but it does not matter at all - content always wins! 3) I'm finding the video really unique in the on YT. I was able to find your channel just last week. I need invest some time and explore your past videos! Thank you very much Todd. Please continue. I'm more that sure that it will be appreciated and I hope that YT platform is and will work for you.

[@carolyn9996]

Thank you for explaining so clearly.

[@matthewhewitt8307]

Thank you, this is an excellent tutorial. I have watched a fair number videos on colour, a few have been really useful but this definitely tops them. The negative luminance tip is great, I have often struggled to achieve a natural green in flora which I am happy with.

[@karimlahlou132]

You explain everything so clearly....very instructive. I definitly subscribe to your channel

[@rickfarber4243]

Thanks for a really good tutorial. I happen to use Capture One, but many of the principles apply whichever program one uses.

[@DanielSTeixeira]

Thank you for the amazing video!!! Simple and very informative 🙌🏻

[@ivantusevljak]

wow. thank you. so many effective advices, and all easily explained!

[@ArnieStein]

Well done Todd. Thank you!

[@MsOnce4all]

Another excellent tutorial! Thank you.

[@MDanceInc]

this was the tutorial I needed to see...!!

[@alanp253]

Great vid, as usual. Validates what I have learned on my own, but wish I knew years ago. This style of editing is why I left Adobe and now use Capture One. Thanks Todd.

[@ashvarma2486]

Excellent video Todd. Many thanks for sharing.

[@Morolag13]

Love the way you explain things. Great video

[@OlliMrsD]

Thank you for all these Tipps! They are great!

[@davidmcintyre7254]

This was excellent. Thank you.

[@J5388T]

An excellent video, particularly point 9 thanks!

[@thomasfalkowskiphoto]

Great Video Todd! Very helpful.

[@sarahbatsford4791]

Fabulous tips. Thank you so much😁

[@WilliamWatt]

Wish I had discovered your videos years ago!

[@madskrabbefotografi]

Couldn’t agree more 😊 Keep up the good work 😊

[@i35photo]

I use the camera calibration sliders a lot, Once I understood how they work... I don't touch the global saturation/vibrance any more as I feel they aren't needed... If I need to fine tune a color I'll use the HSL panel to do that works great. Each image I dial up something different as no 2 images are the same... I don't go over board, I start with Green, then Red, and Blue... Just a little plus the tone curve to add or subtract contrast...Don't use the global contrast slider anymore either... Tone curve is more powerful way to control contrast along with the brightness slider can really make things punch as much as I want depending on the image.

[@kapurar]

Lots of great tips. Thank you!

[@jimrookphotos]

You have a great way of demonstrating the whys and hows of doing things, Todd. I've used LR for many years but upon watching the video a couple of times and experimenting with a few of the "new to me" things you mentioned, I see some interesting ways to improve my developing routines. Thanks much!

[@manuelamanaraguarneri]

very informative and well explained, thanks!

[@keyoguitar]

Very useful info, thanks. I've been trying to get my head around colour grading for a while and generally finding that I don't know what I'm doing, although I did figure out the colour opposites affecting the colours as you mentioned, so I got that right. The calibration looks more instinctive to me so I'll be experimenting with that. Thanks again.

[@likelight6495]

Great content! I hope someday LrC will add Curves with the Lab colour model like in Affinity where it switches momentarily to Lab for the adjustment... Lab is so much more powerful when it comes to luminance adjustments

[@vanoccupant]

Nice one, Todd!

[@kapilbhallafoto]

very informative and useful

[@AxionFong]

Learnt so much. Thank you

[@RaphaelMatto]

Super friendly & engaging video, thanks! A couple comments: when you recommend editing in b&w w/o color, you click the BW button, but that changes the color profile to Adobe Monochrome, which has a TOTALLY DIFFERENT tonal map-so edits you make there will make no sense tonally when you switch back to the camera matching profile. Instead, you should just set the desaturation to -100, make your edits, & then set Sat back to 0. Next, the calibration panel (formerly Camera Calibration) is there as a stopgap in case there are no camera matching profiles, like with unsupported cameras or jpegs w/o metadata. If there is a camera matching profile, choose that & your image is correctly calibrated, & all you're doing by messing w/those sliders is breaking the profile. Of course there's lots of ways to skin a cat & you can get something nice looking by randomly moving sliders all around-but imho folks would be better using the Color Mixer / Temp/Tent / Color Grading / Color Curve tools, since that's what they're meant for ... & using tools in ways they aren't intended to be used can bite you; the calibration tool, for example, is excluded when using masks. Also, when you warn peeps against using the global saturation slider, that's essentially what the calibration Sat sliders are, so mixed messages there.

[@alexono88]

great video, as always!

[@kcajay]

Nice video 😂❤❤

[@cartercooper9288]

for the midnight shot in Iceland, what did you set your camera white balance to, so that your camera didn’t try to correct it in your original raw file?

[@brianlemke6017]

IMO, WB ain’t simple. Great tips, especially doing tonal/contrast/clarity edits in BW. Thank you.

[@jerryrichards8172]

I'm new to digital what's you opinion on wich program that I shstart with ?

[@lavrentyevmaksim]

4:35 But why do you think that colors should not influence decisions on the lightness/contrasts of the whole photo? Yellow looks best in light areas, cold colors are deeper in shadow areas. Not to say that the black and white photos naturally tend to be more contrasty.

[@jacobusdegroot7557]

You must live near to where I do based on your shots you edited.