Quick and easy: Photos with Orange and Teal
The colours orange and turquoise (teal) create a beautiful contrast and have a warm effect. They are somewhat reminiscent of film photography. You can achieve this popular look in Photoshop or Lightroom in two or three simple steps.
I often come across this look in orange and turquoise tones on Instagram. However, it is not an Instagram filter, but rather something that is done in Photoshop Lightroom or another image editing programme.
There are various ways to achieve this effect. One of them is presets, another is to manipulate the colour channels. By chance, I came across a very simple method: Camera calibration in Lightroom.
These instructions refer to Lightroom. However, the same settings are available in Photoshop Camera Raw. The Camera Raw module opens automatically when you open a RAW or DNG file in Photoshop. For JPEGs, you must select "Filter > Camera Raw Filter" in the menu.
Colouring with the calibration
For the very impatient, here is an ultra-short version:
- Select an image and go to Develop mode.
- Scroll all the way down in the section on the right and open the "Calibration" section
- Rotate the colour tone of "Primary values red" and "Primary values green" by about half (+50)
- Turn the colour tone of "Primary values blue" all the way to the left (-100)
Understanding and adjusting the effects
The effect of the sliders depends very much on the image. In the example above, the red tones are too strong. It is therefore an advantage if you don't just blindly follow the instructions above, but understand the effects of the values and can adjust them to your needs.
Note: What comes next is definitely not for people with red-green colour blindness.
Start with the blue colour, as this alone will take the biggest step in the direction you want. The other two tones tend to be fine-tuning. This is what the image looks like when I only use the blue slider:
Now I want the red to be less dominant. The obvious thing would be to reduce the saturation of red first. But then the red tone still doesn't fit - I want orange & teal, not Bordeaux & teal. That's why I turn the red tone strongly towards orange: +80.
Now the image is even too yellowish. I can fix that with the green tone, which I turn away from yellow towards green.
Now it's time to adjust the saturation. I have desaturated red (-40) and green (-50) here, but turned up the blue considerably (+80).
I like the colours so much - but I actually promised a turquoise look. So you ask: where on earth is the turquoise? As I said, the effects of the sliders depend on the colour composition of the image. I can't achieve a turquoise sky in this image with the camera calibration. I have to switch to the "HSL" area in Lightroom. I can get as much turquoise as I want here with the "Blue" colour tone.
I don't think the turquoise colour fits here. It's just about showing that it's possible. And anyway, if you're a right-wing Insta-influencer, you'll put turquoise everywhere. <p
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David Lee
Senior Editor
David.Lee@digitecgalaxus.chMy interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.
