Let’s take a look at how you can use Capture on your smartphone to enhance your images in Photoshop.
Getting Started
Before diving in, ensure that you have the Capture app on your smartphone.
Download: Adobe Capture for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)
What Are LUTs?
LUT is short for “lookup table”. In the video world, it’s a color-grading tool. In photo editing, it’s very much the same thing and can be thought of as a filter. LUTs can be applied to images to create subtle or drastic changes, depending on what look the user is going for.
How to Use Adobe Capture
Adobe Capture is an easy-to-use phone app. Once opened on your smartphone, any photo you take will create a LUT that can be saved to Photoshop and applied to any image. Let’s take a look at that process.
On your smartphone:
Sign in to your Adobe account to access Capture. If you don’t have an account, you can create one. Open the Capture app. At the bottom of the menu, scroll to the right and select Looks. Whatever you point your camera at, a color bar representing all colors and luminosity values will appear at the top. Press the round shutter button to take a picture. You’ll be directed to the Edit menu. Use the slider to adjust the intensity of the effect on each sample image. You can also scroll through the images at the bottom to see how each sampled color range would look. When you’re satisfied with the results, press the arrow at the top right of the screen. In the Save menu, rename your new LUT if you want to. Otherwise, a generic name such as “Look 1” will be assigned. In Save To, tap options and select My Library. Press Save at the bottom-right of the screen.
Your LUT has been saved to your Photoshop Libraries and will be accessible for as long as you’re using your Adobe account.
Note that there are a number of saving options for LUTs created in Capture for other Adobe products. You can save your LUT to any of them simultaneously by checking the applicable boxes.
How to Access LUTs in Photoshop
The LUT you’ve just created in Capture is now accessible in Photoshop Libraries. We’re going to walk you through the steps of applying the LUT to an image, as well as using the Opacity slider and Blend If to refine the LUT to perfection.
Here’s how to do that:
With your image already open in Photoshop, go to Window > Libraries. Under My Library, click the filter icon and select Looks. Click on the Look you want. It will become highlighted and a Color Lookup adjustment layer will be added over your image.
That’s all there is to it. To see the before and after, click the eyeball icon.
Use Adjustment Layers and Blend If to Refine
Once the LUT is applied to your image, you may wish to make additional edits, especially if the effect is too strong, like in our example here. There are two common and very effective methods to enhance LUTs.
Opacity and Fill
The fastest way to reduce the LUT effect is to reduce the Opacity slider. Fill can be used too, however, the overall effect is often difficult to distinguish from Opacity, except when certain blend modes are used. The image below has the following values: Opacity 50, Fill 75.
You can experiment with any of the blend modes to see how the LUT transforms—and then play with the Opacity and Fill sliders to reduce the effect. Many of the blend modes will appear overbaked, but reducing the Opacity or Fill to between 10-30 percent will make it a lot more appealing.
The above image was set to the Soft Light blend mode using Blend If.
Blend If
Blend If is another great tool to use for LUTs. It’s quite versatile and has many applications outside of LUTs. That’s because Blend If works on the layer itself and determines how the effect applies to shadows, mid tones, and highlights.
We’re going to take a look at another LUT that’s a bit overpowering and fix it by using only Blend If. To access Blend If, click on the empty space in the box next to the text that says Color Lookup.
Follow these steps to assign which areas the LUT will affect. Moving the sliders will give you a live preview of the condition of the image.
In the Layer Style menu, find Underlining Layer. Click on the white handle and hold in Alt on the keyboard. Now drag the sliders to feather the effect. Do the same thing with the black handle. Essentially, what we’re doing is protecting specific regions from the LUT while dispersing it in others. Click OK when you’re finished.
Below is the side-by-side comparison with the original (left) and the Blend If edit (right).
Because Color Lookup adjustments are non-destructive, you may return to make adjustments at any time. In the above example, the effect may be considered too strong—this is a good time to adjust the Opacity and Fill sliders.
Use Additional Effects
Once your LUT is finished, you can continue the editing process if need be. More adjustment layers can be added, or third-party plugins like Luminar AI can be used for a finishing touch. You can even use a plugin like Anthropics Smart Photo Editor to add an interesting effect and then reduce the Opacity in Photoshop.
Develop Your Editing Style
Using Adobe Capture in tandem with Photoshop to create LUTs is a great way to develop your photo editing style. That’s because working with many images at a time, like with portrait sessions or weddings, your own custom-created LUTs can be applied to the entire batch to create a consistent look.
The magic of the process is that it all begins with your smartphone and your imagination.
