How do you use LUT Grading? (after your usual processing, for example?)

DxO PhotoLab
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Hi. I love trying out different presets and LUT grading. It could be I’m using them wrong but they seem like filters to me.

Anyway for presets or LUT - if you use them - do you make all your normal changes and then apply presets?

Or do you process differently (or not at all) because you know you will use a preset or LUT?

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PhotoLab applies edits in its own predefined order. You have an explicit control only over the order in which Local Adjustments masks/corrections are applied (kind of “layers”, if you have several of them). Presets can either override all of your settings (aka “full presets”) or only some (aka “partial presets”). These are applied only to selected Virtual Copies, if you have several of them.

I’m afraid I didn’t understand your question, so this reply is based on my guess of what you had in mind.

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Maybe @rotterdamn8 asks how to get GOOD results with luts.
We can find lot of luts on internet with nice results, and when applied on images results can be disappointing.
So the question is maybe how to get a well balanced image, a kind of neutral state to apply a lut and get expected result ? Like what is done in video and film ?

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I usually do the complex settings first and then do the fine work afterwards. This means Preset, LUT, emulations first, then adjust these to taste.

This makes adjustments more reproducible because the starting point is not different each time with settings that have been made before e.g. applying a LUT. As @Wlodek points out above, DPL selects its own processing order…but that is only playing second fiddle after our own, personal processing.

If you cook soup, you usually don’t start with salt.

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Hi, it’s even simpler than that. I’m just asking in what order you do things with preset filters.

Would you do lighting, color, sharpening, and then a preset? Or preset first, then all those other changes?

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Hi Chuck … You’ve been given two answers to your question;

  1. Technically, it makes no difference;
  1. Practically, tho, it’s probably easier to get the basics right before fine-tuning your required “look” to the image.

John

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