Elevate Your Drone Footage: Mastering Cinematic LUTs for Foliage

Cinematic Drone LUTs for Foliage: Turn Aerial Nature Shots into Cinema

If you love flying over forests, valleys, and tree-lined coasts, cinematic drone LUTs are the fastest way to make foliage look rich, dimensional, and consistent across your edit. In this guide, you’ll learn how to choose the right drone LUTs for foliage, apply them correctly in Premiere Pro, and fine-tune the mood—whether you’re going for warm autumn gold, deep emerald greens, or misty morning blues.

Want a head start? Try the 70+ Cinematic Drone Video LUTs Pack and browse our LUTs collection ( LUTs Collection ). You can always mix and match looks—Buy 3, Get 9 FREE makes experimentation easy.

Why foliage needs a LUT-first workflow

Leaves create complex color interactions—greens and yellows in spring, fiery oranges and reds in fall, and muted ochres in winter. Drone cameras (often shooting in Log or flat profiles) capture this range but look “thin” without grading. A good LUT restores contrast, sets the overall palette, and gets you 80% of the way to a cinematic grade in seconds. You’ll still tweak exposure, white balance, and saturation—but you’ll start from a strong baseline.

What a LUT does (and why drones benefit)

A LUT remaps color values using a precise lookup table, giving you an instant global tone shift (contrast curve, color separation, and hue bias). For aerial footage, that means:

Clean contrast: Adds midtone structure so leaves look textured, not mushy.
Color separation: Distinguishes greens from yellows/oranges so foliage doesn’t blend into one color blob.
Consistent mood: Warmer for “golden hour” romance, cooler for dawn mist—without re-grading every clip from scratch.

Recommended LUT packs for nature & foliage

Versatile starter: 70+ Cinematic Drone Video LUTs Pack

Huge variety for every lighting scenario—from backlit canopies to overcast forests. One-click starting points, then refine in Lumetri.

70+ Cinematic Drone Video LUTs Pack

Film character: Cinematic Drone Film Video LUTs

Eight carefully tuned looks that add gentle halation vibes, richer shadows, and tasteful color separation—great for woodlands and mountain valleys.

Cinematic Drone Film Video LUTs

Fast polish: Cinematic Drone LUTs Color Presets Pack

Eight premium LUTs optimized for speed and consistency across a full flight—ideal when you need a clean, modern grade with minimal tweaking.

Cinematic Drone LUTs Color Presets Pack

Tailored for aerial perspective: Cinematic Drone LUTs for Drone Footage

Ten aerial-first LUTs tuned for the way foliage renders from above—keeps leaves crisp while protecting skies and water.

Cinematic Drone LUTs For Drone Footage

Step-by-step: Apply LUTs to drone foliage in Premiere Pro

Open the Color workspace and select your clip or an adjustment layer above your foliage sequence.
In Lumetri Color > Basic Correction, choose Input LUT > Browse… and pick your .CUBE file (creative LUTs can also go under Creative > Look).
Dial in White Balance first (Temp/Tint), then exposure and contrast. Use Curves and Color Wheels to finesse shadows/highlights.
Tweak Hue vs Hue and Hue vs Sat to separate greens from yellows so leaves pop without oversaturation.
Copy the grade to other clips or keep the LUT on an adjustment layer for consistency across the aerial sequence.

Helpful Adobe resources: Apply LUTs with the Lumetri panel, Install custom LUT files (macOS/Windows), Premiere Pro color workflow overview.

Recipe ideas for natural greens and autumn gold

Golden Canopy (Autumn): Warm Temp (+500–1200), gentle S-curve, Hue vs Hue to push yellows toward orange, subtle teal bias in shadows for cinematic contrast. Check a palette on Adobe Color’s harmony wheel to keep complementary tones balanced.
Emerald Forest (Summer): Cooler Temp (−200 to −600), reduce yellow saturation slightly, use Hue vs Sat to lift mid-green saturation and Hue vs Luma to brighten leaf midtones.
Misty Morning (Dawn): Lower contrast, mild blue split tone in shadows, protect highlights with the Highlights wheel. Adds mood without crushing detail.
Backlit Leaves (Golden Hour): Use Highlights to rein in flare, add micro-contrast with Clarity or a gentle curve, then fine-tune oranges so skin tones (if any) stay natural.

Pro tip: Grade foliage by hue bands instead of global saturation. You’ll keep skies, trunks, and water looking natural while making leaves sing.

LUTs vs manual editing

Speed & consistency (LUTs): One click to a cinematic baseline across an entire flight.
Precision (manual): Ultimate control, but slower and less repeatable under changing light.
Best of both: Use a LUT for the “look,” then refine with curves, wheels, and hue-vs tools.

My field notes

I tested the 70+ Cinematic Drone Video LUTs pack over a foggy sunrise flight above a forest reserve; the warm “gold” variants kept shadow detail while adding depth to the canopy. Later, a cooler film LUT from the Cinematic Drone Film Video LUTs set preserved the mood on a lake fly-over without turning greens cyan. Your scene may differ, but the workflow—LUT first, surgical tweaks second—remains reliable.

Common issues (and fast fixes)

Crunchy leaves / oversaturation: Reduce Vibrance first, then adjust Hue vs Sat for greens/yellows.
Flat foliage under haze: Add a gentle S-curve; lift midtones slightly and increase micro-contrast.
Plastic greens: Shift green hue a few degrees toward yellow and lower saturation 5–10%.
Banding in skies: Add tiny film grain or dither; avoid extreme pushes in 8-bit footage.
Color cast from ND filters: Correct white balance before the LUT; then re-evaluate saturation.

If you’re new to Lumetri, start here: Adjust colors & white balance in Lumetri.

Fast, flexible shopping path

Grab a flexible set for any weather or season with the 70+ Cinematic Drone Video LUTs Pack, then round it out with Cinematic Drone LUTs Color Presets or Cinematic Drone Film LUTs. Prefer curated city looks you can blend with nature? Add Cinematic Drone Street LUTs for moody transitions between urban treelines and skyline fly-throughs.

FAQ

What’s the difference between an input LUT and a creative LUT?

Input LUTs normalize Log/flat footage to a standard contrast/color space; creative LUTs add a stylized look. For foliage, try an input LUT first (if needed), then a creative LUT for mood.

Should I apply the LUT on a clip or an adjustment layer?

Use an adjustment layer for consistency across the whole flight. Make shot-specific fixes (exposure/white balance) on individual clips underneath.

How do I keep greens natural while warming the scene?

Warm the overall Temp slightly, then use Hue vs Hue to nudge greens away from yellow if they shift too far. Control saturation with Hue vs Sat rather than global Vibrance.

What order of operations works best?

White balance → exposure/contrast → apply LUT → hue-vs tweaks → curves/tones → finesse saturation and sharpening. This keeps color decisions clean and reversible.

Where can I learn the exact steps in Premiere Pro?

See Adobe’s docs for adding LUTs in Lumetri and installing custom LUT files.

Ready to grade? Start with the 70+ Cinematic Drone Video LUTs Pack and explore the full range ( Video LUTs Collection ). If you need a refresher on setup, check our install guide ( How to install LUTs & Presets ). Try these looks today—Buy 3, Get 9 FREE.

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