Haze can add a nice touch to outdoor photos, from nature photos to portraits. Recreating a hazy effect can easily be done in Lightroom or Photoshop. In this article we’ll go through the simple process of adding haze in Lightroom.
Here is the sample photo that we’ll be using for the tutorial (you can download it here if you would like to work along).
And here is a sneak peak at the effect that we will be creating.
If you’d like to get this hazy effect without doing any of the work in Lightroom you can download it as a preset. We also have a a set of 14 haze effect presets that can be purchased.
To get started, go to the “Basic” section of Lightroom’s develop module and adjust the settings as shown below.
What we’re doing here is softening the photo a little by reducing the sliders for things like contrast, clarity, vibrance, and saturation.
Next, in the “Tone Curve” section apply a curve like the one shown below.
This tone curve forms the backbone of our haze effect. If you adjust the curve to be higher it will lighten the photo even more, and vice versa. So use it as it works best with your photo.
The last step is to make some slight changes in the “Split Toning” settings.
This will give a soft golden glow, especially to the highlights, which tends to give the haze effect a realistic look.
That’s all you have to do to create your haze effect in Lightroom. Don’t forget to grab the free preset and check out the set of Haze Lightroom Presets.