Cinematic HD is a premium Lightroom preset that we designed to make outdoor photos warm and dramatic. It has deep earthy tones that give images a cinematic look.
Collection: Warm Presets, Cinematic Presets
Best for: Outdoor, Natural Light
Style: Warm Golden Browns, Deep Warm Hues, Balanced Tones, Clear
This preset is ideal for photos taken under diffused natural light. The effect is most prominent in photos with a lot of greens and warm sunlight hues.
As with most of our presets, this one is perfect as an Instagram filter. We made sure that it would give your feed an unforgettable cohesive look.
Produces Dim and Dramatic Lighting
Overcast Drama. We set Cinematic HD’s mood by creating dramatic lighting. We do not add special effects for this to keep a natural look; instead, we lower exposure and draw out tones using clarity and contrast.
You can examine the balanced result in the After photo above. Try to observe the difference in lighting: the lowered exposure emphasizes the gleam of sunlight directed at the subject. We just love the resulting cinematic look and feel.
Tints and Darkens Tones for a Classic Film Look
Dark and Defined. To more finely produce natural yet dramatic lighting, we darken all tones at varying levels. The trick here is to create a seamless blend, mixing light and dark tones without flattening them out. As you can see in the image above, the enhanced tonal range retains much of the photo’s definition.
Tip: Adjust the highlights depending on your photo’s needs. This may be necessary if your image had harsh light regions.
We then create cinematic hues by applying subtle tints. There’s dusty blue in highlights and warm grays in shadows. This, together with our extensive color settings, can make a scene look like a movie still.
Sets a Cinematic Aesthetic Using Earthy Tones
Warm and Earthy. The appeal of this preset is largely on its color motif. We apply a lot of tweaks for this, using granular settings in camera calibration and the HSL panel. Simply put, we adjust every color — in different aspects and varying degrees.
Let us talk about the hues first. To set the look, we define the color range that the preset would apply to the image. First, the most noticeable: we pull green hues towards deep yellows. Second, we deepen all warm hues, by drawing them towards their darker shades.
Balanced Intensity. We balance the intensity of colors by blending saturation and luminance. We desaturate most of them and reinforce cool colors. As you may notice in all our examples, yellow and green hues are desaturated the most. This setting not only sets the look but also highlights the added brilliance.
Our favorite visual effect for this preset is its golden tones — as though the photo was shot during the golden hour. This effect is instant, as you can see in the After photo. It makes the girl’s photo even more magical.
Recreates the Look of Movie Stills with Crisp Textures
High Definition. With tones, colors, and lighting covered, we now focus on textures. As we all know, every detail is important whenever we want to create an immersive feel; this is, of course, important for any cinematic preset.
For this effect, we moderately increase sharpening settings to refine textures. Then, to make sure that everything looks polished, we amplify noise reduction as well.
Try to examine the After photo above. Look at the man’s clothes, his bag, and the terrain around him. Elements pop out more now. See how all their textures are much more visible.
Cinematic HD preset is for Lightroom Mobile, Desktop, and…
You can absolutely use Cinematic HD as is, right out of the box. With any preset, you might need to make adjustments to accommodate your specific camera, settings, lighting, and subject matter. We have more cinematic Lightroom presets for you in our full collection here.
Need help with the presets? You can visit our guide to learn how to add presets to Lightroom.
- Entirely Adjustable
- Compatible with Lightroom 4, 5, 6 and CC
- Performs with both PC, Mac, and Mobile
- Applicable to both RAW and JPG images
