Tutorial: Using the New Lumetri Color Interface in Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015

In this tutorial, we'll look at the new Lumetri Color Panel in Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015. From my perspective, it's one of the most significant interface updates over the last few versions, so let's dig right in and see what it looks like and what you can do with it.

Lumetri Effect Basics

In Figure 1 (below), you can see that the workspaces are now permanently up top in Premiere Pro CC 2015 so you can easily switch, say, from the Effects workspace into the Color workspace, which is the workspace you access when you want to get into the Lumetri Color panel.

Figure 1. You can now access all of Premiere Pro’s workspaces--Assembly, Editing, Color, Effects, Audio, and the old familiar Editing (CS5.5)--from a permanent spot at the top of the UI. Click the image to see it at full size.

We're going to be editing the clip shown in the Program window in Figure 1, which also shows the Color workspace selected. Let’s start by going over a couple of things about the Lumetri effect. The Lumetri Color effect is not a permanent or fixed effect. It's not applied automatically, but once you open up the Lumetri Color panel shown on the right side of the workspace in Figure 1, and apply any adjustment, it’s automatically added to the Effect Controls panel shown on the left in Figure 1. In the Effects Control panel, the Lumetri Color effect acts like any other effect that you would apply, as shown in Figure 2 (below). You can apply keyframes, reset keyframes, copy and paste, or save a preset, just as you would with any other effect.

Figure 2. The Lumetri Color effect functions like any other effect in the Effect Controls panel in Premiere Pro.

You're going to be working in two areas. For the most part you’ll make your adjustments in the Lumetri Color panel on the right side of the Color workspace. You'll do your keyframing and resetting in the Effect Controls panel, and then, once you’re satisfied with your adjustments and want to make them accessible for other clips, you can save it as a look or preset by clicking at the top of the Lumetri Color panel as shown in Figure 3 (below), and making your selection from the drop-down menu that appears. You can also Copy and Paste your adjustments or save them as a preset in the Effect Controls panel as you would with other effects parameters, as shown in Figure 4 (below Figure 3).

Figure 3. Saving a preset in the Lumetri Color panel based on color adjustments you’ve created.

Figure 4. Saving the preset from the Effect Controls panel.