An Introduction To Color Grading by Caroline Julia Moore

Using Auto features to correct images is all well and good, but you can manually adjust an image to create exactly the color and emotional impact you want. We have looked at Auto Contrast, Color and Tone and the Auto Options within Levels and Curves. These can be a useful starting point in correcting an image. But what if you want to Color Grade your image?

Color Grading has a massive impact. For example, an image can be made to look cold, desaturated and desolate. The same image would have a completely different artistic and emotional weighting if it were to appear warm and vibrant. There are lots of presets you can use that run as actions to alter your image. You can also use LUTs, as we looked at here. There are many ways within Photoshop that you can manipulate color, contrast and saturation. In this tutorial, we are going to look at how you can Color Grade an image using four adjustments: Saturation, Levels, Curves, and Color Fill.

This tutorial contains both a written and video component.