4 Steps for Nature Photos with Eye-Popping Color (VIDEO)

Sometimes our nature and landscape photos fall shot of the beauty we witnessed through the viewfinder, either because our camera settings were incorrect or we used the wrong approach during post processing. The video below from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel addresses the latter concern with a straightforward color-grading technique that anyone can master in minutes.

Instructor Christian Mohrle is an outstanding landscape photographer and popular educator based in Southern Germany near beautiful Lake Constance. Here’s how he describes today’s comprehensive episode: “This is my four-step Lightroom color grading workflow for making realistic photos that really pop!”

First on the list are a bunch of basic adjustments to the image as a whole that significantly improve exposure and white balance. He begins in Lightroom’s Basic panel and changes the profile to Adobe Landscape which immediately boosts base saturation to reflect his goal of a more colorful result.

The next step involves modifying exposure to achieve a much more accurate balance between highlights and shadows. The necessary changes include increasing overall exposure, opening the shadows, and adjusting the blacks. He also brings down highlights and whites to retain details in the brightest areas of the clouds.

Now it’s time to improve white balance, which Mohrle says is an essential components when editing images like his example. His goal here is to push color temperature in a way that significantly warms up the strong blue tones to convey the sunrise appearance he desires. A simple shift in tint also makes a noticeable difference.

With his original shot greatly improved, Mohrle turns his attention to targeting selective colors in different areas within the frame using masking techniques that are super easy to follow. Then come a few important HSL adjustments that blend these enhancements together.

The remarkable transformation concludes by introducing a very compelling split-toning effect. The instructional PHLOG Photography YouTube channel is a great resource for everyone who shoots in the field, so be sure to take a look.

We also recommend watching last week’s tutorial from another post-processing specialist who demonstrates a straightforward Lightroom technique for transforming ho-hum daytime scenes into breathtaking sunset photographs.