Photoshop How To

Have you ever photographed a scene that looked pretty awesome through the viewfinder, only to discover on the computer that it’s actually sort of dull? Join the club. All is not lost, however, if you watch the quick video below.

In just 13 minutes German landscape photographer Christian Möhrle demonstrates how easy it is to color grade any daytime image with beautiful, warm sunset tones. All it takes to dramatically change the color and achieve this effect are a few adjustments in Lightroom.

In this episode, Möhrle walks you through the simple color-grading process from beginning to end. He also also explains a number of exposure adjustments that will accentuate the effect.

Möhrle uses a combination of Lightroom sliders and tools to juice up the colors after changing the camera profile to Adobe Standard that he says provides more control. Beginning with a few basic Raw adjustments, he pushes the color balance and tint, opens up the shadows and brings down the highlights, and adds texture and vibrance.

Turning to local adjustments Möhrle places one graduated filter over the sky and another over the foreground, softens up the clouds for a long-exposure look, and gives the clouds a strong sunset color tone.

There are a few more adjustments to complete the sunset effect, including a bit of split-toning to give the highlights, mid-tones, and shadows exactly the look he’s after. To finish the job Möhrle adds a tone curve and luminosity mask to make a couple of subtle adjustments.

After watching the video, take a look at Möhrle’s YouTube channel where you can find more helpful landscape photography tips. And if you missed yesterday’s tutorial, explaining how to maximize sharpness in nature photos, be sure and take a look.