Color Lookup Tables — LUTs — are the film industry’s approach to color grading, and they’ve quietly become one of the most powerful tools in Photoshop for photographers. A LUT remaps every color in your image according to a predefined table, applying complex color transformations in a single step.
What a LUT Actually Does
Think of a LUT as a translation dictionary for color. For every possible input color (defined by its red, green, and blue values), the LUT specifies an output color. When applied, Photoshop reads each pixel’s color, looks it up in the table, and replaces it with the mapped output color.
This means a single LUT can simultaneously shift shadows cool, push midtones toward orange, desaturate highlights, and add a subtle color cast — all things that would require multiple adjustment layers to achieve manually.
Applying LUTs in Photoshop
Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Lookup. In the Properties panel, you’ll see three dropdown menus: 3DLUT File, Abstract, and Device Link. For photographic color grading, you’ll use 3DLUT File almost exclusively.
Click the 3DLUT File dropdown to see Photoshop’s built-in LUTs. Names like “Crisp_Warm” and “FoggyNight” give rough descriptions, but the only way to evaluate them is to try them on your image.
Photoshop’s Built-In LUTs Worth Knowing
Crisp_Warm.look — Adds warmth and mild contrast. A good starting point for portrait work when you want a warm, inviting feel without going orange.
FallColors.look — Shifts greens toward yellow/orange. Despite the name, it’s useful beyond autumn — any time you want to warm up foliage without affecting skin tones.
TealOrangeContrast.cube — The popular cinema color grade that pushes shadows teal and highlights orange. Overused in Hollywood but effective when dialed back to 30-40% opacity.
FoggyNight.3dl — Lifts blacks and desaturates slightly. Creates a matte, faded film look. Works well for moody street photography and editorial work.
Creating Custom LUTs
The real power of LUTs is creating your own. Here’s the process:
- Open a well-exposed image with a full range of colors
- Apply all your color grading adjustments using adjustment layers — Curves, Color Balance, Hue/Saturation, Selective Color
- Once you’re happy with the look, go to File > Export > Color Lookup Tables
- Choose CUBE format (most compatible) and 3DL for additional compatibility
- Set the grid points to 64 for a good balance between accuracy and file size
The exported LUT captures all your adjustment layers as a single color transformation that you can apply to any image with one click.
Building LUTs That Work Across Images
The challenge with LUTs is that a color grade that looks perfect on one image may look terrible on another. To build versatile LUTs:
Start with a neutral image. Grade an image that isn’t already heavily stylized. A properly exposed image with natural color is the best canvas for building transferable looks.
Avoid extreme adjustments. Subtle shifts translate better across images than dramatic ones. If you need a strong look, build it from a moderate LUT at reduced opacity plus a few targeted adjustments.
Test on variety. Apply your LUT to portraits, landscapes, indoor scenes, and night shots before considering it finished. A good LUT enhances all of them, even if the strength needs adjusting.
LUTs vs. Adjustment Layers
LUTs are faster to apply but less editable. Once created, you can’t go back and tweak individual curves or color balance settings — you’d need to recreate the LUT from scratch. Adjustment layers are fully editable but slower to apply across many images.
The practical approach: use adjustment layers when developing a look, export it as a LUT when it’s finalized, and apply the LUT across your remaining work. If a specific image needs tweaking, add targeted adjustment layers on top of the LUT.
Organizing Your LUT Library
Store custom LUTs in Photoshop’s LUT folder so they appear in the Color Lookup dropdown. On Windows, that’s Program Files > Adobe > Adobe Photoshop > Presets > 3DLUTs. On Mac, it’s Applications > Adobe Photoshop > Presets > 3DLUTs.
Name your LUTs descriptively — “Warm Portrait Matte” tells you more than “Look_03.” Group related LUTs in subfolders by style: cinematic, film emulation, black and white conversion, seasonal, etc.