No matter which method you choose, the goal is always to find the most naturally balanced starting point.īe sure to complete this step before you do any creative grading.

Raw Image With Little Color Separation Grading Enhanced Color Separation This can be measured subjectively by eye, or technically using your scopes. To solve this, you can create more color separation by pushing shadows and highlights in opposing directions. You’ll be left with a color cast that washes out the image, even with a white balance adjustment. Imagine you are coloring a shot captured in a red room with neon lighting. Remember though, dialing in your white balance is just part of the equation. This is typically what I recommend for the most consistent results. You can also manually adjust your warm/cool and tint settings to find neutral white points. You just have to ensure you shoot a color chart (X-Rite Color Checker, etc.) on set before each setup: DaVinci Resolve Color Match Tool

Most editing platforms now have an eyedropper tool that allows you to auto correct the white balance.ĭaVinci Resolve goes further with their color match tool, which works really well. The most obvious place to start is with your white balance. So how exactly do you technically correct for color balance? It helps you get a better final look, and work toward consistency across your project. To ensure your final product looks as polished and uniform as possible, it’s crucial to find a neutral/balanced starting point with each image.Įven if you intend to create a highly stylized color palette that is intentionally unbalanced (like a sepia look), the grading process always has to start from a neutral place. Color BalanceĬolor balance is often thought of as a subjective measure, but it can be technically quantified too. Changing them mid-grade will mean you have to re-work every shot that’s already been colored. But as a rule of thumb – set these parameters up front and keep them consistent. Your exact settings will vary from project to project. When working with Raw, you will adjust ISO, white balance, color space, and other important input settings at the beginning of your process. If your footage was shot in a Raw format, you also need to prep it for the grade, although not necessarily using LUTs.īelow is a screenshot of DaVinci Resolve’s Camera Raw Panel, along with the settings it offers: DaVinci Resolve Camera Raw Panel Raw image in Log Color Space Image with Rec 709 Conversion LUT Applied This can be done manually, but it’s much faster and easier to use a color correction LUT to convert the footage for you. No technical conversion needed.īut if you did choose to shoot in Log to preserve more latitude, you will of course need to convert the footage out of Log as a first step. And in some cases, no prep work will be needed at all.įor instance, if your footage was shot in a standard Rec 709 color space (as opposed to Log), you can just drop it into a Rec 709 color session and get to work. The exact workflow for this is dependent on your acquisition format. This is straightforward – but once the footage is loaded in, you have to prep it before getting to the creative grade. Your first step in the color pipeline is ingesting raw footage into your color software. With that in mind, here are 5 of the most important color grading settings to guide your workflow: Camera Raw Settings & Input LUTs Just as it’s important to always follow the correct order of operations when color grading, it’s as essential to follow the right technical protocol before mastering your final video. Similarly, if you don’t use the optimal export settings when mastering your colored file, the final product may look very different than you had intended. But without the right technical considerations, those shots will not match or feel cohesive when strung together. You may have created 5 beautiful color grades on 5 different shots in your timeline, each of which may look great on their own. But to create the best final product, you really do need to pay equal attention to both. It’s easy to become hyper-focused on the creative aspects of grading, and lose sight of the technical side. I’ve written a lot about creative color grading here on the blog, but today I want to cover the most essential technical settings you should consider before mastering any completed project.

Colorcast podcast network