Oftentimes the weather gods aren't kind to landscape photographers. It's part of the thrilling aspect of the genre. This handy video shows you how to use split toning in Lightroom to rescue your landscape images.
Thomas Heaton is a well-known landscape photographer with a series of terrific videos documenting his photographic endeavors. In his latest video, he demonstrates how he uses the split toning features in Lightroom to enhance a recent image he took on a rainy, gray day. While interesting, the image lacks color and is relatively flat even after an initial Lightroom edit.
Heaton walks us through his workflow with some initial basic edits including adjusting the whites and blacks and controlling the highlights in the sky. The next step is incorporating the "Tone Curve" in Lightroom for split toning.
Split toning adds color cast to the highlights and shadows of an image. The idea is that the color casts for the highlights and shadows are different, usually complementary colors depending on the look or style you are aiming for. Heaton uses this concept to create a warmer yet still muted look to his final edit.
Split toning is a simple yet powerful tool for controlling color in your highlights and shadows. As with all things Lightroom and Photoshop, the key is subtlety and balance. How do you use split toning in your workflow?
