How to Edit Indoor Photos in Lightroom Like a Pro

Indoor photography is tricky. You want the room to look bright and inviting, but you end up with weird colors, blown-out windows, or harsh shadows. The goal is to keep that natural light you see in real life—without making your photos look fake or flat.

If you’re editing interiors a lot, you might also want:

• Best Lightroom Settings for Interior Photography
  
• Lightroom Tips for Photographing Small Rooms
  

How to Edit Indoor Photos in Lightroom Without Losing Natural Light

1. Correct White Balance.
2. Lower Highlights to save window detail.
3. Increase Shadows for dark corners.
4. Tweak Exposure gently.
5. Use a subtle Tone Curve.
6. Fix color casts in the Color Mixer.

Why Indoor Photos Lose Natural Light

When you shoot indoors, you’re fighting:

• Mixed lighting (daylight + lamps)
• Harsh window light vs. dark corners
• Yellow or blue color casts
• Blown-out highlights

Your camera tries, but it often gets it wrong. Lightroom helps you fix it so the space looks real.

1. Fix White Balance

Indoor light is usually too warm or cool.

• Use the eyedropper on something neutral like a white wall.
• Adjust Temp and Tint until it feels natural.
• Don’t overdo it; aim for believable color.

2. Reduce Highlights

Windows are often too bright.

• Lower the Highlights slider to recover detail.
• Be careful not to flatten the whole image.

3. Brighten Shadows

Corners and under furniture can go dark.

• Raise the Shadows slider to bring back hidden detail.
• Don’t push it so far it looks flat.

4. Tweak Exposure Gently

Don’t just crank up the brightness.

• Make small changes to Exposure.
• Balance overall light without blowing highlights.

5. Add Soft Contrast with the Tone Curve

Flat edits look fake.

• Make a gentle S-curve in the Tone Curve panel.
• Lift Shadows slightly, drop Highlights a little.
• Keep the curve smooth.

6. Use the Color Mixer to Fix Weird Casts

Indoor light often mixes colors.

• Go to HSL/Color Mixer.
• Tweak Orange, Yellow, and Blue sliders.
• Reduce weird tints and keep walls looking clean.

Suggested Lightroom Settings Table

Use Presets for Faster Edits

Doing these steps for every photo is fine if you have time. But if you want consistent, fast results, consider using presets. Our Interior Presets for Lightroom are built to fix real-world indoor lighting problems in one click:

• Recover window detail
• Brighten shadows
• Remove color casts

To keep wall colors natural and skies balanced, I rely on the Pro Real Estate Lightroom Presets.

Final Thoughts

Indoor photos don’t need to look dull, orange, or fake. Get your White Balance right, control highlights and shadows, use gentle contrast, and fix color casts. The result? Photos that actually look like the rooms you saw with your eyes.

If you’re tackling challenging spaces, check:

• Best Lightroom Settings for Interior Photography
  
• Lightroom Tips for Photographing Small Rooms
  
• Interior Presets for Lightroom