Golden-hour glow: warm backlight without orange faces
Golden-orange highlights, deeper shadows and moderate contrast with a faint vignette, tuned so skin stays skin while the light turns gold.
True to cameraGolden-hour glow
Drag to compare. Left of the line is True to camera, the plainest look; right of it is Golden-hour glow at full strength, rendered from the same file.
| What it does | Golden-orange highlights, deeper shadows, a faint vignette, without orange skin |
|---|---|
| Good for | Sunset couples, backlit portraits |
When we'd reach for it
Sunset couples and backlit portraits, with the sun in the frame or just behind the hair.
When we wouldn't
Midday or overcast frames. Sunset added to a flat grey sky looks added.
The recipe
These are the settings stored in the look, drawn rather than listed. They sit on top of your camera's own colour and the exposure and white balance CullTone sets for each photo, so the same look lands a little differently on every frame.
Every look has a strength from 0 to 1.5. At 0 you get the plain camera-matched edit, at 1 the look as drawn here, and above 1 more of everything it does. More on reading curves in tone curves for photographers.
Close to this one
Try Golden-hour glow on your own photos
Start a trial, create a project and pick this look. The studio shows it on your frames, at any strength, before anything renders.