Creating a magical, dreamy golden hour effect in your photos can be achieved with a simple Lightroom trick.
Coming to you from Christian Möhrle of The Phlog Photography, this insightful video demonstrates how to achieve this stunning effect using Lightroom. Möhrle begins by merging multiple raw files into an HDR Panorama. This process, though time-consuming, is straightforward. Select all raw files, right-click, go to Photo Merge, and choose HDR Panorama. After waiting for the merge, Möhrle recommends using the cylindrical projection method and avoiding the boundary warp tool to prevent distortion.
Once the panorama is merged, cropping is the next step to remove unwanted edges. Möhrle suggests cropping slightly from all sides and leaving gaps that can be filled later in Photoshop. Adjust the profile to Adobe Landscape in the Basic panel. This increases saturation and lightens the darkest parts of the image. Raising the shadows and blacks reduces contrast, creating the soft, dreamy effect.
Adjusting the white balance temperature to a warmer tone enhances the golden light effect. Adding texture and clarity sharpens the image. Negative dehaze is crucial for the dreamy effect, and adjusting it carefully ensures the image doesn't lose too much saturation. Increasing vibrance can also help to enhance the colors.
Masking is another critical step. Möhrle uses a linear gradient to adjust the foreground, increasing contrast and clarity to make it sharper. A color range mask targets specific highlights in the foreground to brighten them, adding contrast where needed. Using a radial gradient around the sun area helps enhance the golden light effect. Adjusting highlights, temperature, and dehaze in this area can add more glow.
For color grading, Möhrle increases the saturation of yellow and green tones. Split toning in the Color Grading panel adds to the golden hour effect by setting the hue in the yellow range. The Calibration tab can further enhance green tones by adjusting the blue primary slider.
That's just the start, so check out the video above for the full rundown from Möhrle.
And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out our latest tutorial, "Photographing the World: Japan With Elia Locardi!"
