Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-11-23)

58 23 November 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113

Technique DISCOVER LUTS

YOU DON’T even need to apply LUTs from

within the Lightroom Develop interface.

Depending on your subscription, you get full

access to the Previewer at preview.lutify.me,

which you can open with any web browser.

Simply enter your account details and you

can apply the full range of LUTs from within

a clean, streamlined interface, and carry out

some basic edits: Exposure, Contrast (new)

and White Balance. These give a good idea of

how an applied LUT can be adjusted. Another

useful feature is the split view (see below).

Even better, you can add several LUTs to one

image via the Applied LUTs feature bottom

left, to get a bespoke look; this can be saved

as a .cube fi le and used in compatible image

editors. Or just add one LUT to an image and

save it out in popular image formats.

can apply a LUT after you’ve made
your adjustments or before, and then
do further editing in the normal way. Also,
LUTs are software independent. You can
use the same LUT in any software that
supports LUT fi les – Adobe Camera Raw,
Lightroom, Affi nity Photo or any other
LUT-enabled program, including video-
editing software. This lets you get the
same ‘look’ each time. For travel
photographers seeking a particular look
for Instagram or a demanding client, for
example, this is very handy.
As mentioned, one of the best LUT
packages available is Lutify.me, which
uses 3D LUTs. These are the preferred
choice as they remap the image colours in
a three-dimensional colour space and are
very much the standard for cinema and
stills use. Lutify.me bundles its LUT fi les
into Adobe-compatible profi les which can
be used directly by the latest versions of
Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom, and
as a set of Capture One Styles.

Lutify.me. No, really...
A big attraction of Lutify.me is its ease of
use, particularly in Lightroom. The Lutify.
me profi les appear under the regular
Adobe and camera-specifi c profi les in the
Basic adjustment tab, and you can select
them from a drop-down menu or browse
thumbnails of your image with each
profi le applied before you make a choice.
It’s pretty straightforward but another
recently upgraded feature, called the
Previewer, makes it even easier to select
and apply LUTs. Rather than squinting at
LUTs in the rather busy Develop section
of Lightroom, the LUT Previewer enables
you to apply LUTs quickly and easily
via your web browser, carry out basic
adjustments and then export the fi le –
either as a fi nished version or for further
adjustments. You can also layer-on
multiple LUTs. As we will see, another
addition to the Previewer is a dedicated
contrast control slider, which sits next to
the exposure and white balance sliders,
along with a handy strength (opacity)
slider. Other improvements in the latest
version include support for sRGB colour-
managed images and a reworked CPU
shader for more accurate results and
speedier performance.
As with Adobe Creative Cloud you pay
for Lutify.me via subscription and we’d say
the best value is the Pro package, which
has a fi rst-year price of $59 (£45.50) and
comes with the full set of 213 3D LUTs,
along with dedicated Lightroom profi les.
It also enables you to save out your
image as a LUT for continued editing in
Lightroom and other programs. After you
have been using the Pro package for a year
the annual price drops to $19.99, but best
of all, you get to keep the 213 3D LUTs
even if you cancel. Full details at
lutify.me/products/3d-luts-packages.

FOR LIGHTROOM users, the integration with

Lutify.me is seamless, making LUTs very easy

to apply. As of version 7.3 of Lightroom

Classic CC, Lutify.me LUTs are applied

through the Profi le Browser option in the

Develop tab. Installation is a cinch (see lutify.

me/docs). Once installed, you can access

the full selection of LUTs under the Profi le

Browser and they are organised into ten

different categories in the Pro package:

Alternative Processes, Black and White Films,

Cine Looks, Cinematic Base Grade, Instant

Films, Contemporary Color Films, Movies

Inspired Looks, Skin Tone Manipulation, Teal

and Orange, and Vintage Films. To preview a

particular LUT, simply hover your mouse over

it. Click to apply to your image (you can vary

the amount via a slider) and then close

the Profi le Browser and carry on editing

as required.

Some LUTs are quite full on, so don’t be afraid to dial down the colour grading as required

If the Lightroom interface feels cramped, LUTs can also be applied via the web-based Previewer

Use split screen to preview a LUT effect, or layer several on your image via ‘Applied LUTs’

Using LUTs in Lightroom

Using the Lutify.me Previewer