Free guide · For editors
How to use LUTs in Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve
Conversion first, then the look: where a LUT goes in each editor, how to keep your own LUTs ready in Premiere, and how to put one look on many clips.
- 5 min read
- 6 chapters
- Sources checked September 2026
01 · Short answer
The short answer
Two lines per editor, before the details.
Where a LUT goes
| Task | Premiere Pro | DaVinci Resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion for log footage | Lumetri Color › Basic Correction › Input LUT | Balance the shot on the first node |
| Creative look | Lumetri Color › Creative › Look | A node after the first one |
| One look on many clips | An adjustment layer above the clips | A group, shared nodes or a copied grade |
In Premiere Pro, “Browse” in the Input LUT list picks a file of your own, and LUTs in Adobe's LUTs folder show up in every project. In DaVinci Resolve, Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve Reference Manual covers installing LUT files and the LUT menus of the Color page.
02 · Right order
Conversion LUT or creative look
Most LUT trouble comes from a look landing in the wrong place. There are two kinds, and they go in a fixed order.
Log footage looks flat on purpose. A conversion LUT — Premiere calls it an Input LUT — turns it into normal colour first. Adobe describes the Input LUT as the one that interprets flat log footage and gives you a starting point for grading.
A creative look comes after that. Adobe points out that every LUT is made for footage in a particular colour space: many looks expect normal (Rec. 709) footage. Put a look straight on log footage and it can't look the way it was meant to.
Both editors follow this order. In Premiere Pro, Basic Correction comes first — the LUT and the corrections to exposure and light — then the Creative section. In DaVinci Resolve, Blackmagic describes the first node as the one for balancing the image and the nodes after it for creative work; the image flows from left to right through them.
03 · Premiere Pro
LUTs in Premiere Pro, step by step
Everything happens in the Lumetri Color panel. The steps follow Adobe's own help pages.
Apply a LUT to a clip
Step 1: Open Lumetri Color
Select the clip on the timeline and open the Lumetri Color panel.
Step 2: Log footage: set the Input LUT
In Basic Correction, open the Input LUT list and pick a LUT, or choose “Browse” to pick a file of your own.
Step 3: Add the look
In Creative, pick a look from the Look list.
Step 4: Too strong? Lower the Intensity
In Creative, drag Intensity to the left to weaken the look, or to the right to strengthen it.
Sources: Adobe: Add Look-up Tables in Premiere (opens in a new tab) and Adobe: Apply Lumetri looks in Premiere (opens in a new tab), read September 2026. Menus can look different in your version.
Keep your LUTs ready in every project
Step 1: Find Adobe's LUTs folder
On a Mac it's ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/LUTs, on Windows C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Common\LUTs. If the folders don't exist yet, you create them — Adobe notes that this needs admin rights.
Step 2: Looks go in Creative
LUTs in a folder named Creative inside it appear under Lumetri Color › Creative › Look.
Step 3: Conversions go in Technical
LUTs in a folder named Technical appear under Basic Correction › Input LUT.
Source: Adobe: Install custom Look-up Table files in Premiere (opens in a new tab), read September 2026. Menus can look different in your version.
One look on many clips
Step 1: Create an adjustment layer
Choose File › New › Adjustment Layer and confirm the video settings with OK.
Step 2: Put it above the clips
Place it on a track above the clips it should cover — its effects apply to every clip on the tracks below.
Step 3: Grade the layer, not the clips
Apply Lumetri Color to the adjustment layer and set the look there, once for all of them.
Source: Adobe: Create adjustment layers in Premiere (opens in a new tab), read September 2026. Menus can look different in your version.
Want looks to start with?
Our editing packs include a LUTs pack. Add its files the way the steps above describe.
See the LUTs pack04 · DaVinci Resolve
LUTs in DaVinci Resolve, step by step
In DaVinci Resolve, looks live on nodes on the Color page. The steps follow Blackmagic's own pages.
Build the grade in the right order
Step 1: Balance on the first node
Use the first node to balance the shot — Blackmagic describes it as the node usually used for image balancing.
Step 2: Put the look on a later node
Add the look on a node after it. The image passes from left to right through each node until it reaches the output.
Step 3: Copy the grade to another clip
Middle-click a clip in the film strip to copy its grade to the shot in the viewer. Or save the grade as a still and use “Apply Grade” on other shots.
Step 4: Grade a whole group at once
Select shots from the same camera, right-click and create a group: when you grade one, they all change.
Step 5: Share a node across clips
A shared node works like a normal corrector node, but it's active on several clips at the same time.
Source: Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve Color (opens in a new tab), read September 2026. Menus can look different in your version.
Installing your own LUT files and the LUT menus on the Color page are described in Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve Reference Manual. Blackmagic's product pages don't name those menus, so this guide doesn't name them either.
05 · Fit the look
Make the look fit your footage
A look can't rescue a shot, so it goes last in the chain.
Fix exposure and white balance first — in Premiere that's the rest of Basic Correction, in Resolve the first node. Then add the look, then small corrections on top.
Check skin tones after the look: they're what viewers notice first when colours drift. Keep one look per scene, so shots that belong together match.
06 · Problems
Common problems
What usually goes wrong, and where to look first.
LUT problems and what to check
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| Your LUT isn't in Premiere's lists | Is it in Adobe's LUTs folder, in Creative for looks or in Technical for conversions? |
| The look is too strong | In Premiere, lower Creative › Intensity. Also check that the footage was converted first. |
| Log footage stays flat or looks wrong | The conversion is missing: set the Input LUT in Premiere, or balance on the first node in Resolve, before the look. |
| The look is gone on another computer | LUT files live in folders on each computer. Install the same files there the same way. |
Transparency
How we checked
- Every list of steps follows Adobe's help pages or Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve pages, named under the list with the month we read them.
- Where a maker's page doesn't name a menu or a folder, this guide doesn't either.
- The order of conversion and look follows Adobe's and Blackmagic's own descriptions; the tips on skin tones and scenes are common grading practice.
- Nothing here claims a test of our own.
FAQ
Quick answers
What editors ask about LUTs in Premiere Pro and Resolve.
Want looks to start with? Our editing packs include a LUTs pack.
See the editing packsWhere do I put LUT files so Premiere Pro always lists them?
In Adobe's LUTs folder — the Mac and Windows paths are in the Premiere Pro chapter above. Looks go in a folder named Creative, conversions in one named Technical.
How do I put one look on many clips?
In Premiere Pro, grade an adjustment layer above the clips. In DaVinci Resolve, group the shots, use a shared node, or copy the grade with a middle-click in the film strip.
Can I use the same LUT file in both editors?
Check it in each. Premiere Pro installs LUT files made in other applications, and Adobe notes that a LUT is made for footage in a particular colour space — so it only looks right on that kind of footage, in any editor. For the formats DaVinci Resolve reads, see Blackmagic's manual.
Next step
Give your footage its look
The LUTs pack is one of our editing packs — take it on its own, or all four in the bundle.
LUTs
LUTs
Colour looks