Color grading transforms the mood atmosphere and storytelling of an image. Professional photographers and designers use color grading to create consistent visual styles across their portfolios.
Curves Adjustment Layer
Curves is the most powerful color grading tool in Photoshop. Switch to individual RGB channels to adjust color balance of shadows midtones and highlights independently. Lifting the blue channel in shadows while reducing it in highlights creates the classic cinematic teal-orange split tone.
Color Balance
The Color Balance tool provides a more intuitive interface for shifting colors in shadows midtones and highlights separately. It is less precise than Curves but faster for quick tonal adjustments.
Selective Color
Selective Color lets you adjust CMYK values within specific color ranges. This is powerful for fine-tuning skin tones adjusting sky color or modifying foliage without affecting other colors.
Creating LUTs
Once you develop a color grade you like export it as a LUT for reuse. Go to File then Export then Color Lookup Tables. Save your LUT and apply it to other images using a Color Lookup adjustment layer for consistency across photo sets.
