of the easiest ways to Color Grade in Photoshop.

We are going to explore some essential Photoshop and Camera Raw tips and tricks to create drama

with color.

Also, if you want to go a little more advanced, you will also learn some lighting techniques

to bring life to your images.

So without any further ado, let's get started.

Before we begin, I have something special for you.

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Back in the magical world of Photoshop and if you want to go ahead and download this

photo and follow along, you already know what to do.

Check the links in the description.

Now let's get started.

What we're going to use here is Adobe Camera Raw, but as a filter.

Now anytime you apply any filter, you want a backup.

So first of all, let's make a copy of the Background layer by pressing Ctrl or Command

+ J. Make sure that the Background layer is selected, then press Ctrl or Command + J.

Now you have a copy.

You can actually name this Color Grade if you wish to keep it organized.

Before you apply any filter, keep in mind to convert this into a Smart Object.

Why?

So that any filter you apply, you will be able to change the values later and it's completely

non-destructive.

So with the Color Grade layer selected, go to Filter - Convert for Smart Filters and

hit OK.

You can always click on 'Don't show this message again' so that the second time you do it,

or the next time you do it, this message won't show up.

Hit OK.

But, I keep it off because I teach you and I teach people, so I got to tell them.

So, once this layer is converted to a Smart Object, which you can tell by the symbol right

there, you can go to Filter and then Camera Raw Filter and inside of this, we want to

apply some colors to the highlights and the shadows.

That's it.

And the easiest way to do it is going to Split Toning right there.

You see this icon right there.

It's called Split Toning.

If you hover over it, it will say Split Toning, self explanatory.

Now, in here, we're going to talk about Balance later, just focus on Highlights and Shadows.

So, what color you want in the highlights and what color you want in the shadows?

However, if you just change the Hue, if you just select a color, let's say I want blue

in the shadows, it just won't show up.

Why is that?

Because the Saturation is zero or the amount of color is zero.

You need to push it.

But, what's the best way to check which color will suit the best?

Well, I've got a trick for you.

All you got to do is to hold the Alt key, or the Option key on a Mac, when you move

through Hue.

So, when you hold the Alt key or the Option key and then when you drag this, it will assume

momentarily that the Saturation is at 100%.

So, let's say, if we stay at 185, this is the look, if we hold the Alt key.

So finally hold the Alt key and if I click and drag in here at 189, this is the look.

If I increase the Saturation, it's the same look.

So temporarily, it will assume that the Saturation is at 100.

So it helps you choose the right color.

But you can later control the Saturation anyway.

So let's decrease the Saturation all the way to zero.

And you can use this trick by holding the Alt key or the Option key, just drag and see

which color suits the best in the shadows.

So I'm going to go with somewhere about this Cyan-ish kind of color, or more bluish, let's

go for 222.

That suits best.

Now, let's control the Saturation.

How much of this color do you want?

So I'm going to go for, let's go for a little higher number in here.

We're going to make it moody.

All right, this is fine.

Let's choose the Highlights.

So hold the Alt key or the Option key again, and then click and drag on this slider and

we're going to go for a yellowish color.

Let's go for 65-ish.

Yes, that looks nice.

But it's kind of too much, of course, because it assumes the Saturation to be at 100.

So we're going to choose the Saturation of, let's say, let's go for about 70-ish / 74-ish.

And there we have a kind of look.

It's not absolutely amazing, but you've got a good starting point.

Now, what is balance?

Balance determines what is shadow and what is highlight.

So, it is that kind of borderline.

So, let's suppose this is shadow, half of this table, this is shadow, and half of this

table is highlight.

And if we choose blue for the shadows, it's going to apply blue to half the table on the

right hand side, or your left hand side, and it's going to apply half the table as yellow.

Now, if you change the Balance, this border between the highlights and the shadows, or

I don't know which side was which, will change.

That's it.

So if we change the Balance, see, the Highlight border is moving towards the dark area, meaning

now you have less color in the shadow, and more of the color in the highlight.

If you move it towards the left hand side, the opposite will happen.

So for me, I'm going to keep it at about, let's go for, how about we take it to the

negative side, just a touch, -2 or -3 is good for us.

Now that we are here in Camera Raw, why not explore more sliders other than the Split

Toning.

So, let's explore the Basic tab.

So this is actually the Basic tab.

Select that and play with the Exposure a little bit.

So let's set the Exposure in here to..let's decrease the Exposure to create the mood in

this case.

This looks nice to me.

Now, to make anything impactful, we increase the contrast.

So let's bump it up a little bit to about, say somewhere about.. let's go a little higher.

So we are going a little higher.

I know it's crushing the shadows, but we're going to increase the shadows later.

That doesn't matter.

So we're going to go for about 30.

Okay, so let's set the Highlights.

So how much Highlights do you want?

Do you want less of it, more of it?

I think Normal was fine, maybe just a hair to the right hand side.

Now, as I said, since we increase the Contrast, it crushed the Shadows a little bit.

So let's increase the Shadows.

So we're going to increase it to about 40.

What do you think?

Even more if you want to add some more brightness in the shadows, So let's go for about 50%

or 50 number, whatever you want to call it.

Now Whites.

I'm going to keep it the way it is because if I increase it, it looks good, but later,

we're going to add some lighting effects.

So let's save it for that.

But anyway, I'm going to just increase it a touch about 13% / 14%.

Blacks, let's decrease it.

Now, if you hold the Alt key or the Option key, it's going to show you which areas are

losing details, but we are not worried about that.

It's all about creating that mood.

As long as it looks beautiful, as long as the results are amazing, the client is not

going to look at the image and say, 'Oh, that area is clipped.

I'm worried about that.'

Don't worry about anything.

Just go to a Photography Art Gallery, you will find some international award winning

images and also some historic, most important images with the background completely clipped

out, and maybe the sky clipped out.

It does not matter.

Photography, in my opinion, is an art.

As long as it looks cool, we're good.

All right.

Anyway, so this is all right.

So do you want a little bit of Clarity?

Let's just give a little touch of it, Dehaze a little bit.

Wow.

Dehaze does bring a little difference in there.

So let's go for 12.

Yes, that number looks good.

Now, there's a difference between Vibrance and Saturation.

Saturation amps up the color of every single pixel, doesn't matter if it's a highlight

or shadow.

Doesn't matter if it's the darkest pixel of the image or the brightest one.

Unless it's black or white, exactly completely black or white, it will amp up the saturation

or the amount of color of that pixel.

We do not want that.

We just want to increase the color of the midtones and the areas that are already saturated

a little bit.

So for that, we need to just bump up the Vibrance.

So, let's increase the Vibrance to about, usually I don't go beyond 45, so for this

example, 33 or 30 is good.

So let's keep it at that.

And keep in mind, anytime we can come back to this and change the value, so that's cool.

Now that we're here, let's go ahead and apply some Sharpening to it.

So let's go to the Sharpening tab, which is the Detail tab right there, and increase the

amount all the way to the right first, that's the one thing that I do all the time, then

control the Radius and then, in the end, we adjust the Amount.

So, when you control the Radius, hold the Alt key or Option key and keep on increasing

it and stop at the moment where you begin to see these halos around the edges.

So, from the left hand side, keep on increasing it.

Just when you begin to see the halos, stop.

For me, it's going to be about 1.3/1.4.

Little bit halo here and there is fine.

And how much details you want?

Hold the Alt key or the Option key, if you take it to the right, you'll have more, if

you take it left, you'll have less.

If you hold the Alt key, it will show you where the details are.

I'm not really sure if you can see it on your screen because I'm working on a 4K monitor

right now.

So watch in 4K if you can.

So, there we go, and let's just control the Amount.

So we're going to keep the Amount somewhere about 70/71.

That's fine.

I want you to have a close look at the lipstick.

It's not popping enough.

We really want it to pop.

We just add some Saturation to it.

We just add some Saturation to the reds.

So, let's go to the Saturation tab or HSL, let's go there, and we just want to play with

the Saturation of the reds.

So, we simply increase it.

And have a look.

Lips become interesting.

So here's the before, here's the after.

Interesting, isn't it?

So we're going to keep it at about 53.