Editing skies in landscape photos can be challenging, especially when you want to create a vibrant, natural look. Using Lightroom’s tone curve is an effective way to add depth and color without overcomplicating your workflow.
Coming to you from Christian Möhrle - The Phlog Photography, this insightful video demonstrates how to use Lightroom’s tone curve and masking tools to enhance sky colors. The process starts with basic adjustments to exposure, contrast, and white balance. Möhrle brings down the overall exposure, lifts the whites, and adjusts the blacks to create a balanced base image. He carefully tweaks the temperature slider to correct the blue tint in snowy areas, ensuring the image appears natural and inviting. Small adjustments like these not only improve contrast but also set the stage for more refined edits.
Möhrle introduces the tone curve to target specific sky tones. He creates a mask for the sky and uses the red, green, and blue channels within the tone curve to intensify warm hues. By carefully adjusting the red channel, he introduces richer reds to the highlights. Then, subtle tweaks to the blue channel add a touch of yellow, balancing the overall warmth. The precision offered by this approach allows you to enhance skies without making them look artificial. Möhrle also adds an S-curve for contrast, making the sky stand out further.
Expanding on this technique, Möhrle uses additional masking tools to refine specific areas. A linear gradient darkens the top portion of the sky, creating a natural vignette effect that draws the viewer’s eye toward the center. He adds cooler tones to the upper sky, creating a gradient that transitions smoothly from warm to cold. This interplay between warmth and coolness adds depth and realism. Möhrle also uses radial gradients to brighten and warm sections near the horizon, mimicking sunlight.
The tutorial goes beyond just the sky, with adjustments to the landscape and foreground. Möhrle uses masking to emphasize a hill in the foreground, carefully isolating it from the rest of the image. This step adds dimension and guides the viewer’s attention. His systematic approach to masking and local adjustments highlights how small, targeted changes can significantly enhance an image’s composition and color balance. 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!”
