The amount of snow that we receive every year has left me constantly taking winter photos. I am going to show you my step-by-step process on how to edit winter photos using the color grading tool within Lightroom.

First, you will want to import your photos into Lightroom. Ensure that you are in the Library Module and then select the bottom left “Import” button. Find your photos and select them to bring them into Lightroom.

Color Grading

When you edit your photos, do not adjust any coloration to account for the coolness of your subject’s skin. This is what we will use the color grading tool for.

Color grading will allow us to adjust our photos through color tints in our highlights, midtones, and shadows.

There are 4 circles available to choose from: Shadows, Midtones, Highlights and Global. Global means that all three shadows, midtones, and highlights are being adjusted at one time.

There are two ways that you can adjust each.

First, choose which one you want to adjust by using the large circle OR by choosing Shadow (small black circle), Midtones (small grey circle), Highlights (small white circle), or Global (small circle with all three colors). Once you choose which one you are going to start editing with, then you can either use the large colorful circle and drag the center circle in any direction OR you can use the slider bars: Hue + Saturation.

Typically, I find my settings to be roughly 20-30 on the Hue and 5-15 on the Saturation.

You want to make sure to watch your subject’s skin as you make the adjustments and continue playing around with it until you feel their skin tone to be nice, warm, and natural.

If you want my FREE WINTER PRESET, click here.

If you struggle with shooting in manual mode, this post is for you!

For additional questions on how to edit winter photos or if you would like me to cover something specific, please comment or email me at info@nicoleanne.ca

Keep snappin’ my friends!