Rule of thumb: With LUTs the order of operations matters. 

Prior to applying your LUT be sure to:

• Check your white balance - Are there any pre-existing color casts affecting your content? Ensure white balance is correct or ideal for your final vision before applying your LUTs!  LUTs assume a specific, neutral starting point. If your content already has an incorrect color cast from the wrong white balance, the LUT applies its color and contrast adjustments to a skewed image, distorting the intended effect.

• Check your exposure - If you didn't manage correct exposure in camera while capturing your photo or video footage, you may run into content that is too dark or too light. Ensure exposure is balanced or ideal before applying your LUTs. For overexposed clips or images, any value that exceeds the expected brightness values will be clipped (bright areas without details or color), LUTs cannot recover lost information. For underexposed captures, the dark areas may fall below expected values, in which case the LUT would crush these areas turning shadows into absolute black resulting in a loss of finer shadow details. A histogram in camera or in your editing software can be a major asset and reference point for needed correction before you apply any creative edits with LUTs.

• Check your content - You may also need to make minor "basic" adjustments to saturation, contrast, etc. depending on the quality and appearance of your content to match your preferences and ensure your idea end result. 

You'll find that with a properly exposed and well-balanced start point, you are more likely to achieve reliable and accurate results from your LUTs and other editing tools! 

While most professional editors will always make these basic adjustments on a clip to clip or image to image basis, you may find this sort of correction is unnecessary for your goals or you may like the original baseline of your captured content, in which case LUTs can be applied to your content directly without additional adjustment, as a personal, stylistic choice.

We recommend experimenting with which LUTs work best for your specific scenes and stylistic goals for any given situation. Variable conditions like light, weather, and specific location will affect the unique attributes and vibe of your content clip to clip or shot to shot, as you play around with different looks you'll find that some LUTs will suit a specific scenario better than another.