If You Use Photoshop with Lightroom, You’re Just a Couple of Clicks From Fall Color

Hi gang: This is quick trick where jump over to Photoshop for a few clicks, and it turns your outdoor photo in a real fall-look in just a couple of click (couldn’t be easier), and which we can use the HSL here in Lightroom to get close, this method has it’s own “look” and it’s one you really might like. Here’s how it’s done.

STEP ONE: Select and tweak the image the way you want to in Lightroom. This was a really flat-looking image to start with (taken a few years ago at the top of Paris’s Notre Dame. By the way — it’s 387 stairs to get to the top. By the time I got up there, I was considering throwing myself off. 😉 — so I had to make quite a few tweaks in Lightroom before heading over to Photoshop. Anyway, when it looks OK to you in Lightroom; press Command-E (PC: Ctrl-E to jump over to Photoshop.

STEP TWO: When your image opens in Photoshop; go under the Image menu, under Mode and choose “Lab Color” as shown here. The image will look the same at this point.

STEP THREE: Go under the Image menu again, and this time choose Apply Image (as shown here).

STEP FOUR: When the Apply Image dialog appear (seen above) from the ‘Channel’ pop-up menu, choose “b.” Then, under blending choose “Soft Light” for a more subtle effect or choose “Overlay” for the full monte (I usually use Soft Light, but of course it all depends on the image). Now click OK to apply the fall-color look. Lastly, go back up to Photoshop’s Image Menu, under Mode, and choose RGB to return to good ol’ RGB mode.

STEP FIVE: Now just Save and Close the image in Photoshop and it goes right back to Lightroom, with the fall color image shown here on the right. Notice how the trees get that fall color look, and the blues have that “fall” look, too. Try this on an image with lots of trees and you’ll be amazed at the results.

Above: Here’s another example. Crappy photo, but you can really see the effect it has on trees and the ground to create that fall color effect. 

Hope you find that helpful, and here’s wishing you a fantastic Thursday!

Best,

-Scott