Video: Color grading with professional photographer Emily Teague

 

 

Professional photographer Emily Teague has an ongoing video series for Adorama, "The Creative Process with Emily Teague." Teague's latest video is all about color grading and how the photo editing technique allows you to change the look and feel of your images creatively.

Teague primarily uses Capture One for color grading, although you can use just about any photo editing software with the techniques she outlines in the video below. As part of her workflow, Teague performs global adjustments and color corrections before color grading. It's important to understand that color correction and color grading are different. Color correction is about fixing colors to match what we see in the real world. For example, if your image has a color cast that wasn't present when you captured the photo, that's something you'd want to address with color correction. Unlike color correction, color grading is where you can get creative.

Once Teague begins color grading, she starts with a global ("master" in Capture One) grading adjustment. This means that she gives the entire image a singular color change. Subtlety is key here, as there will be additional adjustments that ultimately add up to a more meaningful, noticeable change to the image. Once the global adjustment is complete, Teague can dial in color grading for shadows, midtones and highlights separately. This is where you have the most flexibility and opportunity to be creative.

To see more of Emily Teague's work, visit her website and follow her on Instagram. Click here to see all her "The Creative Process" videos on Adorama. She has created videos covering lighting styles, lighting setups with a single umbrella, studio gear basics, and much more.

(Via Adorama)