How to edit photos like Steve McCurry in Lightroom

Steve McCurry is the one to blame for my photography style. He has set the fundaments of the famous National Geographic style of photo editing. The muted yet saturated tones, the deep contrast, the combination of cold & warm are just some parts of it. How to edit photos like Steve McCurry is something that I have worked hard to figure out and of course, I did get close to somethings, but my images will never be like his, because not everything is done in Lightroom & Photoshop.

how to edit your photos like steve mccurry

You cannot start with How to edit photos like Steve McCurry tutorials if your photograph has been shot in harsh day light or in the late night, also if the shot has many distractions and lots of non-contrasting colors.

See also: Books that influenced Steve McCurry

See also: Steve McCurry Style of Photography

The so-called “Prince of Darkness” is using his camera before and during sunrise, after and during sunset as well as in deep shadows or indoor places with soft light.

Working in similar conditions makes the editing process much easier. You will build up a pattern, routine and learn how some tweaks in the settings work well with one another.

I am long pass the time when my main goal was to make my photos exactly the same as Steve’s, but over the years I learned that artists are unique individuals that can just learn from one another and try to improve by implementing what we’ve learned into our own projects.

In the following videos you will get close on How to edit photos like Steve McCurry and that famous National Geographic style.

The first take on this project of mine is little bit more than an year old and has hit over 10K on YouTube with mostly likes and positive comments, but the second take is from 2020 August and hopefully will perform the same. I do hope you will find the useful.