There’s something undeniably magical about how films whisk us away to entirely new worlds.
As a photographer, I’ve always been mesmerized by cinema’s power to frame life’s beauty with an almost dreamlike quality. Whether it’s the whimsical, pastel-hued symmetry of The Grand Budapest Hotel, the raw, grungy textures of Fight Club, or the awe-inspiring cosmic vistas of Interstellar, I find myself endlessly inspired by the rich visual palette of movies.
Step 1: Adjust the Lighting
Beginning with the Light section in the Edit tab of Lightroom, the first step is to adjust the values of the photo. Remember, depending on the photograph, your adjustments can (and most likely) will be different! The settings used in this tutorial pertain particularly to night photos but can be used as a base for most edits.
Using the sliders, I adjusted the exposure, contrast, highlights, and shadows, bringing more brightness to the photo but still keeping the overall feel dark. I also slightly decreased the blacks to maintain a good contrast between the subject and the environment.
Step 2: Make Color Adjustments
Moving on to the next step, color is the most exciting part of the editing process! What often separates a cinematic image visually is its distinct look created through color grading. This post-production step of color manipulation can transform films to look more dramatic, romantic, industrial, etc.
In this photo, the colors are all over the place, making it rather unappealing. Often, movies are more cool-toned, but for this image, having more warm-colored hues would be more fitting for the subject.
To enhance the warmth, I adjusted the temperature to increase the yellow tones and shifted the tint toward the magenta side to eliminate some of the green hues in the background. I also slightly increased the vibrance to make the colors pop!
Step 3. Add Cinema-Like Color
Moving on to the Color Mixers, I want to make the colors around the lights flow more smoothly with each other, so I made some adjustments to the HSL (Hue, Saturation, and Luminance) of the red, yellow, green, aqua, and blue colors.
A general rule of thumb is to be moderate with these sliders and try to maintain a balance of colors and values.
Then in the Color Grading panel, you can use the color wheels to change the predominant colors in your image. Personalization is essential in this process, as you can choose various colors to make your image unique.
For a cinematic look, it’s better to stick to complementary or analogous color schemes, especially if there is visible skin in your photos. You will also want to ensure that the colors are cohesive and imitate realism (for the most part).
As mentioned, I want to maintain a warm look for this photo, so I primarily use yellows/oranges to reflect the red and yellow street lights. With the top traffic lights being an aqua tone, using yellow in the shadows helps subdue the contrast between those lights and the rest of the photo.
I also adjusted the balance and blending to combine the adjustments with the original colors.
Step 4: Make Effect Adjustments
Movies tend to be crisp and rich in detail, so I increased the texture and clarity to make the subject and primary light sources appear more evident.
The dehaze tool is helpful when shooting in misty or foggy conditions as it can remove the haze, but I liked the atmosphere created by the fog in this image, so I slightly decreased this slider.
Step 5. Add Grain
Moving on to grain, it’s totally up to you how much to apply to your image, but remember that the bigger the grain size, the less detail in the photo will remain.
I like to use the following grain settings to give my cinematic images a nice overall texture:
Optional Step 6: Add a Vignette
As a finishing touch for this image, I added a manual vignette around the edges of the photo to help draw focus to the man walking across the street.
To do this, I used a Brush tool to make a mask around the edges of the photo. Then I adjusted the light settings to create the dark vignette.
Optional Step 7: Crop to a Cinematic Format
To complete your cinematic look, you can crop the image to get the classic 2.35:1 ratio (the one used in commonly used in theatrical releases) or the standard 16:9 (screen types).
Image 1—2.35:1 Ratio:
Image 2—16:9 Ratio:
