A well-placed light effect can turn an ordinary landscape photo into something vibrant and dynamic. By controlling light and shadows in Lightroom, you’ll achieve a realistic glow that brings out key elements, creating a sense of atmosphere that feels as true to life as being there.
Coming to you from Christian Möhrle - The Phlog Photography, this detailed video shows how to enhance a landscape shot with a realistic light effect using only Lightroom. Möhrle begins with an HDR merge to handle the high contrast, using multiple images with different exposures to create a balanced base. With a good HDR blend, you start with much richer data across the highlights and shadows, which you can manipulate without losing detail. HDR merging in Lightroom is as simple as selecting your shots and choosing “HDR” in the photo merge options.
After merging, Möhrle makes basic adjustments to prepare the image for the light effect. He begins by selecting the “Landscape” profile in Lightroom to bring out base saturation, as it’s ideal for rich, vibrant landscapes. This base edit balances brightness, protecting highlights while lifting shadows and blacks to reveal detail without flattening the contrast. Adjusting the highlights downward also maintains color richness in bright areas like the sky, making sure you start with a balanced look.
Next, Möhrle adjusts the white balance to cool the image slightly, adding a hint of blue to the sky and upper sections. He also introduces texture to sharpen, while reducing clarity and dehaze, creating a soft glow across the scene. A boost to vibrance brings out colors subtly, which works well for this landscape.
To add the light effect, Möhrle uses Lightroom’s masking tool, specifically a linear gradient, to target the landscape. By adjusting the whites and adding clarity to this mask, he subtly brightens and defines the foreground, making it look like sunlight is hitting it. Then, by reducing saturation within this mask, he keeps the colors natural, avoiding oversaturation. He layers another gradient, carefully positioning it on the left to simulate sunlight streaming from that direction. By raising exposure, shadows, highlights, and whites in this second gradient, he adds depth and a warm, directional light.
To further enhance realism, Möhrle adds a radial gradient for a soft, glowing effect. He centers this gradient outside the image to mimic sunlight spilling in naturally. With small adjustments to exposure, blacks, and dehaze, he increases the glow without overwhelming the rest of the frame.
A final mask using the luminance range is applied to selectively brighten the subject (a church) by targeting only the lighter areas. This mask gives the building a subtle, warm glow, ensuring it stands out as the focal point. He refines the mask to exclude shadowed areas, making the lighting appear even more natural. 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!”
Sorry to be negative, but for me is drastically changing of circumstances a no go. The whole idea of landscape photography is working with (telling the story of and playing with) the circumstances, or waiting/ coming back for other circumstances. As a result you often come home with something totally different from the "perfect" (but often cliche) photo you went for, but with originality and a story. Exaggeration is fine because we all know that the camera sometimes can't doe what you experience (no full colors with a certain direction of light for instance). But creating a colored sunset that wasn't there is the same as adding a ball into the frame of a sports photo imo.
Oh dear! With your line of thinking we would have no art to speak of in the world. There are no rules in photography that states thou must only record what is in front of the lens. How dull would the world be if we removed creativity and free thought from photography. Feel free to tread that sack cloth and ashes path yourself as no one will stop you, but please allow others the freedom to see and represent the world as they and not you choose.
KI will be your friend if you don't have it with photography.
Allow me my vision and joy in photography then. I clearly tell this is my personal view.
I'm stunned to hear on a photography forum that a more pure form is boring and without creativity. Funny.. For me "everything is possible in post" very quickly is uninteresting or even boring. I've been on that path, trust me. The more these edits are easily accessible for everyone, the less it's interesting and realness becomes more appealing. Especially the experience of it. Again; imo.
There is nothing wrong with doing it ‘your own way’. Feel free to carry on if you think that works for you. Conversely just because there are examples where some people, in your opinion, have overcooked images does not at a stroke condemn post processing. Like everything else there are people who are skilled and others who are not so. Just because it is accessible to all does not devalue its use.
As I said if you wish to follow sone rules then on you go, but please do not let your opinions limit others.
Just because sone people take poor images should we as a result all stop taking photographs? Should we also all condemn b@w images as they do not truly reflect the real world of colour?
We all have our own version of reality so don’t assume yours is the correct and only one.