But as any photographer thats used it before will tell you, the featurewhile usefulhad its limitations.

Since then, however, Adobe has replaced split toning with color wheels.

These existed in Adobe Premiere Pro long before making their way to Lightroom, and they work similarly.

Man working on a computer in front of a window

What Does Color Grading Do in Adobe Lightroom?

Color grading adds more of the colors that you want into your photo.

It differs from individual color sliders, which focus largely on increasing those particular colors within the image.

Screenshot of an oversaturated photo in Lightroom

Color grading is useful in multiple scenarios.

Should You Color Grade Before Making Other Edits?

Because if you dont, your edit will often look sloppierand youll spend more time correcting these errors.

Screenshot of the color wheel in Adobe Lightroom

In particular, using the HSL sliders for each color is a good idea before color grading.

Besides using the sliders, its also worth making other corrections before you color grade your pictures in Lightroom.

For example, you should ensure that you pick the right camera profile.

Similarly, the early stages are a good time to make lens corrections and crop your photo.

What Color Wheels Are Available in Lightroom?

In Adobe Lightroom, you will see three main color wheels:Midtones,Shadows, andHighlights.

You will also see a color wheel that changes the colors for the entire photo.

Its calledGlobal, and youll find it on the last circle in theColor Gradingsection on your Lightroom app.

Regardless of whether youuse Lightroom Classic or Creative Cloud, you will have access to the color grading wheels.

And if you use Adobe Lightroom on your smartphone or tablet, you will also see them.

This is different fromPhotoshop Express for mobile, which still uses the split toning feature.

First, youll need to go to theColor Gradingtab.

If you want to change thehue, you could move the circle around to different colors on the wheel.

When color grading your photos in Lightroom, you might also want to change the view.

Once youve finished color grading your photos in Lightroom, you might save and export them.

Alternatively, you’re free to make more advanced adjustments in another app.

If youre new to color grading, spend a little time playing around with each wheel.

you might, to improve your workflow in the future, preserve your favorite edits as presets.