#NoFilter? How about #LearnFromFilters? Recreating the Lark filter in Lightroom

If you just wan't the basic take on the settings for the Lark filter skip to the bottom, I have a TLDR; which explains the basics.


The other day I posted this photo on my Facebook feed:

Then later that day I uploaded the same photo to Instagram:

After flipping through filters for curiosity sake I came upon the Lark filter and to my great annoyance I actually preferred the Lark filter to my own edit. How dare Instagram be better at editing my photos than me, that's unacceptable. I obviously had to learn whatever wizardry the Lark filter was enacting.

When trying to replicate an edit you have to make note of each subtle difference and then explore what causes said difference

Let's list out the differences:
1. The photo is brighter and has more energy to it
2. The mountain is more defined all the way to the edges of the photo
3. The pinkness of the mountain is less intense
4. Snow patches on the mountain itself are more defined

My first reaction was to try and address all of these directly, exposure settings for the light, detail and contrast settings for the mountain, saturation settings for the pinkness, but I couldn't replicate the result I wanted so I had to take a deeper look.

If you compare the blues that make up the land in both shots it becomes clear that the blues are more saturated in the Lark photo. This lead to my eureka moment. I began to assess each color in each photo and discovered that greens, like in the small sign in the bottom right, and blues, like in the land and mountain are more saturated. Pinks and reds like those found in the background are desaturated.

In the develop pane in Lightroom all of these values can be manipulated.

HSL editor

In order to match the Lark filter you would need to desaturate reds, oranges, and magentas. But in my re-edit of the photo I wanted the best of both worlds, the pink from the sunrise and the definition from the Lark photograph which is how I came to these settings.

The final edit looks like this:
The final edit

Which I believe is superior to both.

TLDR;
1. Increase saturation of the blue and green color families
2. Decrease saturation of reds, purples, and magentas
3. Increase exposure slightly
4. Increase clarity and contrast slightly
5. Decrease vibrance very slightly
6. Play with it until you get the exact effect you want!

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions about lightroom or my other settings hit me up on Facebook, twitter, or Instagram at @philofadventure