With fall just around the corner, you might be wondering how to make the most of the changing foliage in your photography. One way is through some simple adjustments in Adobe Lightroom that can enhance the natural colors and give your images that warm autumn feel.
Coming to you from Christian Möhrle – The Phlog Photography, this detailed video walks through a step-by-step process for editing a fall landscape photo in Lightroom. The tutorial begins by adjusting the exposure and white balance to set the foundation for the edits. By changing the profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Standard, Möhrle creates a more balanced contrast to work with. He then tweaks the exposure by raising the highlights, shadows, and blacks. This softens the overall contrast, making the image look more subdued and preparing it for the color enhancements that follow.
Next, Möhrle dives into the masking adjustments to bring out specific colors. Using the color range mask tool, he targets the greens and yellows separately. By increasing the whites and saturation within these masks, he makes the foliage stand out without affecting other parts of the image. This careful adjustment ensures that the greens pop and the yellows gain a warm, rich tone that enhances the overall autumn feel. For additional depth, he uses a linear gradient to darken one side of the image, simulating light fall-off and giving the photo a sense of three-dimensionality.
One of the most interesting parts of the tutorial is how Möhrle works on the color grading. By using the color mixer panel, he adjusts the hues, saturations, and luminance values of the oranges, yellows, and greens. This further separates the colors, making the leaves look more varied and dynamic. He then introduces split toning to the midtones, adding cooler colors to balance out the warmth. This approach keeps the highlights and shadows intact while subtly shifting the color balance, giving the image a more polished and natural look.
Möhrle also focuses on fine-tuning the image using the calibration tab. By adjusting the primary color channels (red, green, and blue), he ensures the overall color harmony is maintained. Finally, he applies some sharpening in the details tab, refining the texture and making sure that no part of the image looks overly soft. This combination of targeted masking, color grading, and sharpening results in an image that is both vibrant and natural-looking, with the perfect amount of autumn warmth. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Möhrle.
And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out our latest tutorial, "Photographing the World: Japan II - Discovering Hidden Gems with Elia Locardi!”
