Premiere Pro how-to
How to color correct in Premiere Pro (Lumetri, 2026 changes)
Short answer
Apply Lumetri Color to the clip and start with Basic Correction: use the White Balance eyedropper on something white or grey, then set Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks, and finally Saturation. Auto gives a quick starting point. In Premiere 27.0 the Lumetri Color panel is being retired: the same Lumetri effect is edited in the Properties panel, and a new Color mode handles grading.
Checked against: Adobe Premiere (formerly Premiere Pro), 2026 releases, Windows and Mac. Premiere 27.0 changes per Adobe's September 2026 notice.
Method 1: Basic Correction with Lumetri
Apply Lumetri Color
Select the clip and apply Lumetri Color from the Effects panel (or open the Color workspace in current versions).
Set white balance
Click the White Balance eyedropper and click an area that should be white or neutral grey. Fine-tune with Temperature (cooler left, warmer right) and Tint (green left, magenta right).
Fix exposure and contrast
Adjust Exposure for overall brightness, then Contrast, Highlights and Shadows. Use Whites and Blacks to set the brightest and darkest points without clipping. Auto sets the tone sliders to maximise range as a starting point.
Set saturation
Raise or lower Saturation last; colour often looks right once exposure and white balance are fixed.
Apply a LUT if your footage is log
For log or flat camera profiles, choose the camera's conversion in Input LUT first, then correct on top of it.
Method 2: Premiere 27.0 and later
Adobe announced that Premiere 27.0 retires the Lumetri Color panel. Existing Lumetri effects keep every adjustment.
Edit Lumetri in the Properties panel
Apply Lumetri Color from the Effects panel as before; its controls are edited in the Properties panel.
Use Color Management for log and raw
The new Color Management panel converts log and raw media to SDR or HDR and lets you choose the Rec. 709 or the new Wide-Gamut pipeline for a sequence.
Try Color mode (beta)
Color mode is a dedicated grading environment. In Premiere (beta) it is the Color tab next to Edit in the top-left corner.
Basic Correction order that avoids redoing work
| Step | Control | Aim |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Input LUT (log footage only) | Normal contrast before anything else |
| 2 | White balance eyedropper, Temperature, Tint | Whites look white |
| 3 | Exposure, Contrast | Faces at a natural brightness |
| 4 | Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks | Detail kept at both ends |
| 5 | Saturation | Colour you like, skin not orange |
If it doesn't work
| What you see | Fix |
|---|---|
| Can't find the Lumetri Color panel | From Premiere 27.0 it is retiring. Apply the Lumetri Color effect and edit it in the Properties panel, or use Color mode. |
| Eyedropper made everything blue or orange | You clicked something that isn't neutral. Undo and click a white or grey object that isn't overexposed. |
| Skin looks orange after raising saturation | Lower Saturation, or cool Temperature slightly; check skin against the vectorscope's skin-tone line. |
| Shots don't match after correcting one | Copy the clip, then Paste Attributes onto the others, and adjust exposure per shot. |
Questions people ask
What is the difference between color correction and grading?
Correction fixes problems so shots look natural and match (white balance, exposure). Grading adds a look on top. Do correction first.
Is Lumetri Color going away?
The Lumetri Color panel is retiring in Premiere 27.0, but the Lumetri Color effect stays and existing effects keep every adjustment, according to Adobe.
How do I apply the same correction to many clips?
Put an adjustment layer above them and apply Lumetri there, or copy one clip and use Edit > Paste Attributes on the rest.
More Premiere Pro guides
Sources and how we checked
- Adobe Help: Basic color correction options (checked 2026-10-05; Adobe blocks automated readers; text read from the Internet Archive copy of 29 Sep 2026)
- Adobe Help: Upcoming changes to Lumetri Color (checked 2026-10-05; Adobe blocks automated readers; text read from the Internet Archive copy of 18 Sep 2026)
Adobe documents the Basic Correction controls and the Premiere 27.0 changes; Paste Attributes, adjustment layers and the vectorscope tip follow current guides.
Reviewed October 5, 2026 by the Koldflux team. Each step is compared with Premiere Pro's own documentation (linked above) and with the top search results for this task; where they disagree, the maker's documentation wins. Steps without a source link follow the menu names that several current guides agree on.