Color grading tools

Color Wheels

Tint the shadows, midtones and highlights separately — the tool behind teal-and-orange, warm highlights and most cinematic looks.

Color Wheels tint three tonal ranges independently: the Shadows, the Midtones and the Highlights. Warming the highlights while cooling the shadows, for instance, is the basis of most cinematic looks.

Three wheels, one for each tonal range, each with a Lightness slider.

Using a wheel

Drag inside a wheel toward a colour to tint that range toward it. The further from the centre, the stronger the tint.
Hold Shift while dragging for finer control.
Double-click a wheel to reset it.
The readout under each wheel shows the hue in degrees and the amount as a percentage. Click it to type exact values.
With a wheel focused, the arrow keys turn the hue (left/right) and change the amount (up/down). Add Shift for bigger steps.

Lightness, under each wheel, brightens or darkens that range without tinting it.

What each range affects

Shadows: the darkest parts of the image. Tints here read as mood: blue for cold or night, green for unease.
Midtones: most of the image, including most skin. Small moves go a long way.
Highlights: the brightest parts. Warm highlights read as sunlight.

Two looks to try

Teal and orange: Shadows toward cyan-blue, Highlights toward orange by about half as much. Leave Midtones alone so skin stays natural. More on this look.
Golden hour: Highlights toward yellow-orange, Shadows held slightly blue. More on this look.

Keep moves small. A tint of a few percent is often enough; faces are the first thing to look wrong when a wheel goes too far.