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Step-by-Step Workflow Guide

How to Grade Golden Hour Portraits in Lightroom

Step-by-step breakdown of balancing warm backlight with natural skin tones in Lightroom Classic.

Mukesh Mack Academy•Published 10 Oct 2026
How to Grade Golden Hour Portraits in Lightroom

Shooting against a low setting sun creates spectacular rim lighting, but frequently causes camera meters to underexpose your subject's face.

Step 1: Balance Exposure Using Linear Gradients

Instead of raising the global exposure slider, apply a Linear Gradient mask pulling from the bottom edge to lift shadows only on the subject.

Step 2: Color Calibration

In the Calibration panel, slightly increase the Red Primary saturation and hue towards orange, while dropping the Blue Primary saturation to retain clean shadows.

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