Unlock Cinematic Color: Your Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide to Using LUTs in Premiere Pro

How to Use LUTs in Premiere Pro: a practical, creator-friendly guide

If you’ve ever wondered how to use LUTs in Premiere Pro to get a cinematic look fast, you’re in the right place. In this guide, we’ll apply and fine-tune LUTs in the Lumetri Color panel, use adjustment layers for consistency, and avoid the most common pitfalls. Along the way, we’ll touch on essentials like apply LUT in Premiere Pro, Lumetri Color, creative LUTs, Log to Rec.709, intensity slider, and color grading basics—so your footage looks polished, consistent, and on-brand.

I’ve field-tested these steps on a sun-drenched beach wedding and a moody studio interview; in both cases, a solid LUT workflow cut grading time by half and made shot matching far easier.

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What is a LUT—really?

A LUT (Look-Up Table) remaps color and tone from your source clip to a target look. Think of it as a smart, repeatable color recipe: you can emulate film stocks, match camera color science, or apply stylized looks (teal-and-orange, vintage fade, monochrome drama) without rebuilding complex grades from scratch.

Speed: Drop a LUT to establish a base grade in seconds.
Consistency: One look across many shots, scenes, or episodes.
Camera matching: Use technical LUTs to normalize Log footage to Rec.709, then add a creative LUT for style.
Creative direction: A LUT is a starting point—dial it back and refine with curves, wheels, and secondaries.

For a clear overview from Adobe, see Adobe’s guide to Looks and LUTs in Premiere Pro.

Install LUTs so they’re always at your fingertips

You can load LUTs ad-hoc for a single project or install them so they appear in Lumetri’s menus every time.

Option A — Install once, use everywhere

Find the correct folders: Premiere Pro reads LUTs from specific “Technical” (Input LUTs) and “Creative” (Looks) locations. See Adobe’s official instructions for installing custom LUT files.
Organize: Create subfolders like Cinematic, Camera-Specific, or Client to speed up selection later.
Restart Premiere Pro: Premiere needs a full relaunch to index new LUTs.

Option B — Load on the fly per project

Open Window > Lumetri Color, select your clip.
In Creative, click Look > Browse…, pick a .cube or .3dl file, and apply.

Apply a LUT in Lumetri Color (step by step)

Select the clip in your timeline that needs grading.
Open the Lumetri Color panel (Window > Lumetri Color).
Choose where to apply:
- Basic Correction > Input LUT for technical conversions (e.g., Log → Rec.709).
- Creative > Look for stylized, creative LUTs.
Dial the Intensity to blend naturally—rarely 100%; try 30–70% for realism.
Refine with Curves, Color Wheels, and HSL Secondary to shape contrast and isolate hues.

New to scopes? They’re invaluable for accuracy. Review Adobe’s Lumetri Scopes overview (Waveform, Vectorscope, Parade) to keep highlights, shadows, and saturation in check.

Build consistent looks across many clips

Use an Adjustment Layer

For series, interviews, talking-head content, or any multi-clip timeline, apply the LUT and your tweaks on an Adjustment Layer above your sequence. This keeps clips consistent and makes global tweaks painless. (If you’re new to this, search Adobe’s tutorials on adjustment layers.)

Project panel > New Item > Adjustment Layer
Place it on a track above your clips; add Lumetri + your LUT to the layer.
Trim, duplicate, or stack layers for alt looks (e.g., Act I vs. Act II mood).

Use a two-LUT stack (technical + creative)

When you shoot Log (S-Log3, C-Log, D-Log, BMD Film), normalize first, then stylize:

Stage 1: Apply a technical Log-to-Rec.709 LUT (often under Input LUT or on a bottom Adjustment Layer).
Stage 2: Add a Creative LUT for the vibe. Lower intensity and finesse with curves.

Pro tips that make your LUTs look expensive

Fix exposure & white balance first: LUTs won’t rescue underexposed or mis-balanced footage. Do a quick technical pass before stylizing.
Intensity is your blend knob: Start at 100%, roll back until it feels integrated. Subtlety sells the illusion.
Protect skin tones: Use Hue vs Sat/Hue vs Hue to keep skin natural while pushing skies/foliage.
Compare like a pro: Toggle Lumetri on/off or use Comparison View to confirm you’re improving, not drifting.
Mind your source: Don’t throw a Sony S-Log LUT on Canon C-Log; use camera-appropriate technical LUTs.
Create your signature: Once you’ve dialed a killer look, export a LUT so you can reuse it on the next project.

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Troubleshooting common LUT issues (and quick fixes)

LUTs not showing up: Did you install to the correct Technical/Creative folders and restart Premiere? See Adobe’s “Install custom LUT files”.
Weird colors/banding: Wrong LUT for your camera or applying creative LUT directly to flat Log. Normalize first, then style.
Look is too strong: Pull down Intensity, then rebalance contrast with Curves.
Performance stutters: Render heavy sections, reduce playback resolution, and keep your stack lean (one technical + one creative LUT is usually enough).
Crushed shadows/blown highlights: Use Waveform and Parade to keep levels legal; reference Lumetri Scopes.

Presets vs. manual grading: which should you use?

Presets/LUTs are fast, repeatable, and perfect for establishing a strong baseline, matching episodes, or delivering on tight deadlines. Manual grading gives you absolute control for hero shots, product close-ups, or tricky lighting. In practice, pros combine both: normalize & stylize with LUTs, then hand-tune key shots so faces, brand colors, and product tones are perfect.

Practical mini-workflow (10 minutes to “client-ready”)

Normalize: Technical LUT in Input LUT (or Basic Correction settings appropriate to your footage).
Style: Creative LUT in Look, Intensity 30–70%.
Balance: RGB Curves for contrast; Hue vs Sat to protect skin.
Match: Use Comparison View and scopes to align shots.
Finalize: Subtle vignette/roll-off (if needed), confirm levels on Waveform.

Tip: For color palette planning before a shoot or to align wardrobe/props with your grade, try the Adobe Color harmony rules tool to explore complementary/analogous palettes.

Real-world notes from the field

Wedding doc (golden hour): I normalized S-Log3 to Rec.709, added a warm cinematic LUT at ~55% intensity, then pulled back orange saturation in midtones to preserve skin. The look held across changing sun levels without regrading every clip.

Studio interview (mixed LEDs): I used a neutral technical LUT, then a cool-leaning creative LUT at 35% for modern contrast. Hue vs Hue recovered the brand’s exact teal in the background panels, and the Vectorscope kept skin from drifting magenta.

FAQ

Should I apply a creative LUT before or after basic correction?

After. Correct exposure and white balance first, then apply a creative LUT and refine with curves/wheels.

What intensity should I use for a natural look?

There’s no universal number, but 30–70% often blends best. Use scopes and toggle before/after to sanity-check.

How do I use one look across an entire edit?

Put Lumetri + your LUT on an Adjustment Layer above the timeline. Trim or stack layers for scene changes.

Can I combine more than one creative LUT?

It’s possible, but keep it simple. One technical LUT (if needed) + one creative LUT, then fine-tune with tools.

Why do my skin tones look strange after applying a LUT?

Likely over-saturation or a camera-mismatched LUT. Reduce intensity, protect skin with Hue vs Sat/Hue vs Hue, or swap to a better-matched LUT.

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For deeper reading from Adobe: Looks and LUTs in Premiere Pro, Lumetri Scopes explained, and Install custom LUT files.

Written by Asanka — creator of AAAPresets (10,000+ customers).