Photoshop: How to Color Grade Raw Photos in Adobe Photoshop,
Therefore, Color grading RAW photos in Photoshop is a powerful way to enhance your images and set a specific mood or tone. In other words, here’s a step-by-step guide to help you through the process:
🔧 Step 1: Photoshop: How to Color Grade Raw Photos in Adobe Photoshop, Open the RAW Photo:
- Open Photoshop and drag your RAW photo into it.
- Therefore, Photoshop will automatically launch Camera Raw—this is where you’ll start the color grading process.
🎨 Method 2: Basic Adjustments in Camera Raw:
Therefore, these set the foundation before you move to more creative grading.
- Exposure: Adjust overall brightness.
- Contrast: Add or reduce contrast.
- Highlights/Shadows: Recover detail in bright or dark areas.
- Whites/Blacks: Fine-tune the brightest and darkest tones.
- Texture/Clarity/Dehaze: Adjust for presence and atmosphere.
- White Balance (Temp & Tint): Crucial for setting the mood.
🎛️ Step 3: Color Grading Panel:
In other words, this is where the creative color work starts.
- In other words, navigate to the Color Grading tab (looks like three overlapping circles).
- In other words, you can color grade in Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights separately:
- Use the Hue wheel to pick a color.
- Use the Saturation slider to control intensity.
- Adjust Luminance to lighten or darken specific tonal ranges.
📌 Pro Tip: However, use complementary colors for highlights and shadows to add cinematic contrast (e.g., teal shadows + orange highlights).
🎯Method 4: Photoshop: How to Color Grade Raw Photos in Adobe Photoshop, HSL Adjustments (Hue, Saturation, Luminance):
- However, go to the HSL Adjustments tab.
- Above all, adjust individual colors (like making the sky more teal or skin tones warmer).
- However, very helpful for fine-tuning specific colors without affecting the whole image.
🧪 Step 5: Calibration (Optional):
- However, The Calibration panel at the bottom lets you tweak primary colors in a way that changes the entire image subtly.
- For instance, Great for a filmic or stylized look.
✅ Method 6: Open the Image:
However, once you’re happy, click “Open” to bring the image into the main Photoshop workspace.
✨ Optional: Photoshop: How to Color Grade Raw Photos in Adobe Photoshop, Final Touches in Photoshop:
- For instance, use Curves or Levels for more contrast and tonal control.
- Above all, apply Selective Color or Gradient Maps for additional creative grading.
- For instance, use Layer Masks for local adjustments.
Would you like a quick example or preset look, like a moody film style or bright commercial look?
