Color Grading with Curves

9 min read · Intermediate · Updated 2026-04-24

Color grading is what gives a movie its mood. The teal-and-orange look of a thousand Hollywood blockbusters, the desaturated greens of a thriller, the warm golden glow of a romance: all of these are color grades, applied after the photo or footage was captured. Photoshop's Curves adjustment layer is the most powerful color grading tool you have, and once you understand the per-channel approach, you can match any look you have ever seen.

This tutorial builds a classic teal-shadows / orange-highlights cinematic grade in three Curves layers. Once you know the pattern, you can flip the colors, dial back the intensity, or push it to extremes for stylized work.

The three-layer color grading recipe

Step 1: Add a Curves adjustment layer for shadow split-toning

[ Screenshot: Curves panel set to the Blue channel with a single point lifted in the shadows ]

Click the Curves icon at the bottom of the Adjustments panel. In the Curves dialog, change the channel dropdown from RGB to Blue. Click on the curve about a quarter of the way up from the bottom (the shadow region) and drag it slightly upward. This pushes blue into your shadows, giving them a teal cast. Lift it just enough that the effect is visible but not cartoonish.

Step 2: Add a second Curves layer for highlight warming

[ Screenshot: Curves on the Red channel with the highlights pulled up ]

Add another Curves adjustment layer. This time set the channel to Red. Click on the curve about three-quarters of the way up (the highlights) and drag upward. Your highlights now have an orange tint, complementing the teal shadows you just added.

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Step 3: Reduce the green channel slightly to lock in the warmth

[ Screenshot: Curves on the Green channel with highlights pulled down a touch ]

Add a third Curves layer. Set the channel to Green. This time, click in the highlights and pull down just a small amount. Reducing green in the highlights enhances the orange tone you added in Step 2 and prevents the warm areas from looking yellow-green.

Refining the grade

Step 4: Group the layers and lower the group's opacity

[ Screenshot: Layer group named Color Grade with opacity slider at 70% ]

Select all three Curves layers, press Ctrl/Cmd + G to group them, and rename the group Color Grade. Drop the group's opacity to 60-80%. Color grading is almost always too strong on the first pass; pulling the whole group's opacity back gives you a tasteful version of your stronger reference look.

Step 5: Add a subtle vignette

[ Screenshot: Curves layer with edges darkened via a circular gradient mask ]

Add one more Curves adjustment layer. Pull the whole curve down slightly. Click the layer's mask, fill it with black (Edit > Fill > Black), then paint a soft white brush over the corners of the image. The vignette pulls the viewer's eye toward the center and finishes the cinematic look.

Pro tip: study the grades you love

Open a still from a movie or photo you love and try to reverse-engineer the grade. Ask: what color is in the shadows, what color is in the highlights, are the midtones warm or cool, is there a vignette? Most grades are simpler than they look. Three Curves layers covers 80% of what you will ever need.

Want to go deeper?

The color grading course we recommend

Domestika has dedicated color grading courses for both photographers and video editors. Worth a look if you want to push beyond the three-curve recipe.

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