How to Create a Golden Hour Effect in Lightroom

How to Create a Golden Hour Effect in Lightroom

Golden Hour is well known among photographers for its enchanting warm glow, captivating highlights, and rich color saturation.  However, the transient nature of golden hour often presents a challenge, as photographers have a narrow window to take advantage of its incredible lighting.  Fortunately, with Adobe Lightroom's powerful features, you can replicate this desired effect anytime.

By adeptly adjusting lighting, color, and effects in Lightroom, you can transform your photos into breathtaking images that beautifully capture the magical ambiance of golden hour lighting.

In this tutorial, I will guide you step-by-step on how to transform a photo taken during the day to achieve a subtle yet impactful golden hour look.

We'll begin with a photo I captured of myself at the park, taken during the day, around 4 pm:

Step 1: Lighting Adjustments

In this image, the sky and background are significantly more exposed than the subject.  To create a more balanced starting point, I'll make a few targeted masking and lighting adjustments.

I began by cropping the image to better center the subject.  Then, I applied separate masks for the background and the subject, adjusting the lighting and color for each.  To mimic the warmth of the golden hour, I increased the temperature of the background by 15-20.

Next, to refine the overall lighting, I reduced the exposure and highlights.

I also added a slight S-curve by lifting the highlights and darkening the shadows.  This will enhance the warm tones and also add some depth to the image.

Step 2: Color Adjustments

Our objective is to achieve a soft, warm lighting effect, so I'll begin by adjusting the white balance to add warmth and boost the vibrance to make the colors pop without causing over-saturation.

Next, I'll amplify the golden hues using the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) adjustments.

In the HSL panel, I'll specifically increase the saturation and luminance of warm colors like oranges and yellows to make them pop.

I also boosted the saturation of the greens and teals to enrich their tones.

In the color grading panel, we can apply split toning to manage the colors in the highlights and shadows independently.  By adding a warm tone, such as orange or gold, to the highlights and a complementary cool tone, like blue, to the shadows, we effectively simulate the nuanced lighting of the golden hour.

Step 3: Adding Effects

To enhance the image, I increased the amount of the dehaze slider to reduce some of the haziness that was present.

I also added a subtle vignette to frame the subject, focusing the viewer's attention more effectively.

Step 4: Detail Enhancements

To further refine our image, let's enhance the masks with some lighting effects and linear gradients.  We will also adjust the color of the sky

I added a linear gradient at the bottom of the image to subtly guide the viewer’s attention towards the subject.

Noticing some teal-colored spotting in the sky, I employed a color-selected mask to achieve a more balanced and uniform color distribution throughout the sky.  After setting up the mask, I slightly raised the exposure and increased the highlights, while reducing the whites and blacks.

To correct the teal tint, I enhanced the warmth and reduced the vibrance, resulting in a more consistent sky tone.

Additionally, I created another mask for the entire sky to slightly reduce the highlights, further balancing the image's overall lighting.

Step 5: Finishing Touches

To further accentuate the warm glow reminiscent of golden hour, you can experiment with various lighting adjustments, like using radial gradients to adjust where the light falls in your image, or adding extra light sources for added depth and warmth.  These adjustments can significantly enhance the golden hour effect, even under less-than-ideal shooting conditions.

For this specific image, I wanted to emphasize the hanging lights and the street light in the background by adding a realistic glow effect to them.

To achieve this, I used two separate masks:

• The first mask was utilized to isolate the center of each light, allowing for targeted enhancements to the highlights and color.  I increased the exposure, reduced the shadows, and boosted the highlights, with a key adjustment being an increase in the temperature to make the lights stand out.

• The second mask was used to add a soft, diffused glow or halo around the lights.  I applied similar adjustments here, boosting the exposure and temperature, to simulate the gentle radiance of light during golden hour.

Conclusion

Here is a comparison of the before and after images:

Mastering the golden hour effect in Adobe Lightroom opens up a world of creative possibilities.  By skillfully manipulating light, color, and various effects, even the most ordinary photos can be transformed into stunning visual narratives that capture the essence of golden hour.

Using the powerful tools available in Lightroom, you can make adjustments regardless of the time of day you took your photos.  From refining exposure and highlights to enhancing color tones and adding effects, each step plays a role in creating your vision.

Remember, mastering these effects often requires practice and experimentation.  With persistence and dedication, you will develop the skills to bring your unique photographic visions to life.

So, the next time you want to add a realistic golden hour effect to your image, give these steps a try.  Happy editing!

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