There’s a specific problem I run into more than I’d like to admit. I shoot a portrait session on an overcast Nashville afternoon, pull the RAW files into Photoshop, and the whole thing looks like a dental office waiting room. Technically correct. Emotionally inert. The image needs warmth, not just a temperature slider drag, but a layered, intentional warmth that reads as a creative choice rather than a fix. That’s exactly the territory Jessica Kobeissi covers in her tutorial on creating a warm-toned fashion photo. Watch the full tutorial on YouTube
What I appreciate about her approach is that it’s built entirely from adjustment layers and blend modes, tools that stay nondestructive and flexible. Nothing is baked in until you want it to be. She treats the process as iterative rather than formulaic, which is exactly how warm color grading should work. Your specific image will always push back a little, and a rigid preset won’t negotiate with you. This technique will.
Step 1: Create a Solid Color Layer in Light Yellow
Solid color layer dialog with light yellow selected
Start by adding a solid color fill layer above your base image. When the color picker opens, choose a light, desaturated yellow. Think of it less as a color and more as a warmth carrier. The reason yellow works better than orange here is proximity to skin tone. It lifts without overpowering, which is exactly what fashion work demands.
Once the layer is created, don’t worry about the blend mode yet. You’ll handle that through the mask in the next step, and the mode will shift after that.
Step 2: Apply Image to the Layer Mask
Apply Image dialog open on mask, blending set to Multiply
Click on the layer mask thumbnail for your solid color layer (not the color swatch, the mask). Then go to Image and select Apply Image. In the dialog, set the Channel to RGB and the Blending to Multiply. Make sure you’re pulling from the original background layer rather than a merged version if you want the effect to read naturally across the image.
What this does is genuinely clever. The mask reads the luminosity of your image and uses it to control where the yellow shows through. Bright areas, especially skin, receive more of the color. Dark areas are protected. The result is a warm glow that hugs the subject rather than flattening everything into a yellow fog. Hit OK and take a look. You can already pull the layer opacity down if it feels like too much.
Step 3: Add a Black and White Adjustment Layer
New adjustment layer menu with Black and White selected
Add a Black and White adjustment layer above the solid color layer. At first glance this seems counterintuitive since you’re building a warm, colorful grade. But this layer isn’t here to desaturate your image. It’s here to give you channel-level control over luminosity, particularly the reds and yellows, which are the tones most relevant to skin.
Leave the blend mode at Normal for now. You’ll revisit this layer later in the process to fine-tune texture and tone in the skin. Think of it as a tool you’re setting up early so it’s ready when you need it.
Step 4: Add a Color Balance Adjustment Layer and Set to Color Blend Mode
Color Balance panel open, midtones selected, warm sliders pushed right
Add a Color Balance adjustment layer and work primarily in the Midtones range. Push the sliders toward warmth, meaning toward the yellow and red end. Kobeissi keeps the adjustments relatively gentle here. The goal is to add warmth to the bulk of the tonal range without torching the highlights or crushing the shadows into mud.
Once you’ve dialed in your midtones, you can make a small adjustment in the Shadows range. Keep it minor, just a nudge. Then change the blend mode of this adjustment layer from Normal to Color. The Color blend mode applies the hue shift without altering the underlying luminosity values, which keeps the image feeling natural while still shifting the overall temperature in a meaningful way.
Step 5: Lift the Image with a Curves Adjustment
Curves panel open, RGB curve lifted slightly at midpoints
Add a Curves adjustment layer and make a gentle upward pull on the overall RGB curve. Kobeissi is clear that there’s no magic number here. She’s not targeting a specific input/output value. She’s watching the image and lifting until the skin looks luminous rather than flat. That’s the right way to work with curves on portraits.
If you’re new to curves, think of pulling the midpoint of the line slightly upward as the equivalent of brightening the image while keeping your shadows anchored. It’s more controlled than a Brightness slider because you can shape exactly where the lift happens.
Step 6: Add Brightness and Contrast, Then Refine All Layers
Brightness Contrast panel with subtle adjustments applied
Drop in a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer for a final overall tweak. Keep both values conservative. This is a finishing touch, not a correction. Once it’s in, Kobeissi recommends going back through every layer and checking that nothing is overdone. Toggle layers on and off. Reduce opacities. Go back to that Black and White layer and bring the Reds slider down slightly to recover skin texture that may have gone a little soft under all the warmth.
This review pass is where the grade actually gets finished. The individual steps create the raw material, but refining each layer against the others is where you land on something that feels cohesive.
Step 7: Experiment with a Gradient Map in Soft Light
Gradient map layer with red-to-orange gradient, set to Soft Light
This is the step where Kobeissi openly says it could go well or terribly wrong, which is the most honest thing you can say about gradient maps. Add a Gradient Map adjustment layer and choose a gradient that moves from a warm red to orange. Keep it very subtle and set the blend mode to Soft Light.
Soft Light at a low opacity uses the gradient to add a gentle color contrast across the image. It reinforces the warmth in the highlights and midtones without creating the heavy-handed look you’d get from Normal or Overlay. If it’s not working with your specific image, kill the layer. Not every tool belongs in every grade.
What I’d Add After Watching This
Kobeissi’s technique is Photoshop-native, which is useful if that’s your primary tool. When I’m working on fashion images that started as RAW files, I’ll often do a first pass in Lightroom to handle white balance and exposure before bringing anything into Photoshop for a layered grade like this. The two approaches aren’t competing. They’re complementary. Get the technical foundation right in Lightroom, then use the Photoshop layer stack for the creative color work.
One other thing worth noting: saving this as a layered PSD or even a Photoshop action means you can apply the same starting structure to future images and adjust from there. I keep a version of this kind of warm-grade setup as a template. It’s not a preset in the Lightroom sense, but it does the same job for complex color work.
The biggest thing this tutorial reinforced for me is that warm toning done well is about restraint at every layer, not one bold move. The yellow solid layer is subtle. The color balance is subtle. The curves lift is subtle. Together, they build something that reads as intentional. That’s the whole game.
Watch the full tutorial on YouTube and follow along directly with Kobeissi’s original walkthrough to see her make the real-time decisions that make this technique work.
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