Color match photos

When colour matching helps

Photos from one shoot often drift: a different camera, a cloud over the sun, a white balance that changed between frames. Matching every photo to your best one makes a set look like it belongs together, which is what a client gallery, a carousel post or a product page needs. The other use is borrowing a look: match a photo to a film still or a reference you love, and the palette comes with it.

Getting a good match

• Pick a reference with similar light. Daylight to daylight and night to night match cleanly; a sunset matched to a studio portrait won't.
• Similar subjects match best. Lots of sky in one photo and none in the other skews the result.
• Start at full strength, then pull back. Most matches look most natural somewhere between 60 and 90%.
• Fix exposure first. A match copies colour and contrast; it can't recover a blown-out sky.

From a match to a LUT

The match is a 33-point 3D LUT, so it can leave this page as a .cube and colour a whole video the same way. In the Luttie editor you can go further: match a frame of log footage, then adjust curves and wheels on top before exporting. For the method in detail, see how to colour match photos online.

Questions

How do I match the colors of two photos?

Choose your photo, then the photo whose colours you want: one of the reference looks or your own picture. The match appears at once; set the strength, hold the image to compare with the original, and press Download photo.

Is it free?

Yes. Matching and downloading the photo is free with no account and no sign-up, full size up to 4096 pixels, with a small luttie.app credit in the corner. Saving the match as a .cube LUT, to use the same colours on video, is part of Luttie Pro.

Are my photos uploaded?

No. Both photos are read and matched in your browser and never leave your device.

How does the colour match work?

It measures the average colour and the spread of brightness and colour in each photo, in the Lab colour space, and shifts your photo so its averages and spread match the reference's. That's the Reinhard colour transfer, the method most photo matchers are built on. It matches the overall palette, not individual objects: a red jacket doesn't become the reference's blue jacket.

Why does the match look too strong?

When the two photos are very different, say a bright beach and a dark street, matching their full spread can push colours too far. Lower Strength to 50 to 70%, or pick a reference with similar light to your photo. The result is best when both photos have a similar range of subjects.

Can I use the match on video?

Yes, with the .cube LUT (Luttie Pro). Apply it in DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or CapCut desktop and every frame gets the same colours. To match from a frame of your own footage, open it in the Luttie editor, where colour match also works on log footage.

How is this different from Photoshop's Match Color?

Photoshop's Image › Adjustments › Match Color does a similar statistical match and gives a few sliders. This runs in any browser without Photoshop, and the same match can be saved as a LUT for video, which Match Color can't do.