How to Add a Basic Warm Look to Any Photo in Lightroom

Lightroom Post Processing

Warm tones can instantly add a sense of comfort, nostalgia, and natural light to your photos. While dramatic edits often get the spotlight, a subtle warm look is a versatile and timeless way to enhance your images without overdoing it. Today, I’ll show you a simple process in Lightroom to create a soft, inviting warmth using just a few key adjustments. By changing only a few settings, you’ll learn how to give any photo a gentle sunlit glow that works beautifully across different styles and subjects.

Step 1

Open your image in Lightroom.

Step 2

Go to the Develop tab.

Step 3

Expand the "Basic" tab and apply the following settings.

Step 4

Expand the "Color Mixer" tab and apply the following settings.

Step 5

Next, expand the "Color Grading" tab.

Step 6

Select the "Midtones" and apply the following settings.

Step 7

Now expand the "Detail" tab and apply the following settings.

Step 8

If you plan to use this effect on more images, a good idea is to save all of these settings as a new Preset. To do that, on the left panel, click on the "Add New Presets" icon and from the dropdown menu select "Create Preset".

Step 9

In the "New Develop Preset" window, give your preset a name and click the "Create" button. This will create a new preset that you can later use over any other image you want.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve learned how to add a basic warm look to any photo in Lightroom, you can bring a cozy, inviting feel to your images in just a few steps. Play around with contrast, highlights, and subtle color shifts to fine-tune the warmth and match your desired mood. This simple warm tone works beautifully across portraits, landscapes, and lifestyle shots, enhancing the mood and adding a natural, sun-kissed glow to your photos.