Hey guys Denver Riddle with you here, I’m
a colorist and filmmaker.
A big question I get asked how can I make
my films look amazing and big budget?
What is I’m missing?
How can i set my images apart?
Now we’re not talking about polishing a
turd because a project wasn’t shot properly
but making good images look great and great
images look even better!
I’m talking about color grading and every
feature film, episodic television series or
big brand commercial uses color grading to
give it the final finish look.
I mean no record company is going to release
a song track without doing a final mastering
and its this final finish work that really
sets a project apart and wins awards.
So what all does color grading entail?
Well I want to break this down and demystify
color grading for you, share with you some
practical steps that can begin using today
and lastly cover some different monitoring
and control surfaces options.
First and foremost, what is the difference
between color correction and color grading?
Well color correction is taking an image and
essentially fixing it to make it look the
way it appeared on set.
This is called ‘scene referred’.
In other words we’re correcting the exposure,
contrast and white balance.
To ensure the image looks the same as it did
to the naked eye on set.
Color grading on the other hand comes after
color correction and is where we add a creative
look or aesthetic that enhances the style
or evokes a certain emotion supporting the
story.
This is really the fun part of color grading
and where you can make your images look like
big budget!
I remember the first time I started experimenting
with grading presets and how all of sudden
my films started to look like a movie.
From then on I was hooked.
Nowadays people are using LUTs in much of
the same way as a quick and easy way to quickly
generate different look ideas.
If you want to learn more about color grading
with LUTs you can click the card in the top
right corner to learn about our free cinematic
LUTs.
Okay?
Now using LUTs is only one aspect of color
grading but they won’t do color correction
for us for that we’ll want to use the color
tools?
But what is the best color tool out there?
Well the answer might surprise you, it’s
the one you’re currently using.
The three NLE’s of Adobe Premiere, DaVinci
Resolve and Final Cut Pro X have more or less
offer the same set of color tools like RAW
camera editing,
color wheels,
curves and the ability to apply LUTs.
So learning how to use the color tools in
one can easily be translated to the others.
The only major difference between the three
is that Resolve uses nodes and Premiere and
Final Cut Pro X uses layers.
Now if this all seems a bit too complicated
learning the color wheels and curves a great
alternative to that is Cinema Grade!
Cinema Grade is one of our own plugins that
we developed for content creators who don’t
want to specialize as a colorist but still
need a professional look with direct on screen
grading, lightroom style controls, false color
mode for gauging the correct exposure and
real time previews of presets and LUTs.
If that sounds more like you then click the
card in the above right to learn more about
Cinema Grade.
Now one of the biggest questions that come
up from users is how to color correct flat
looking images shot in Log.
Cameras like the Blackmagic pocket camera,
DJI, Sony A7S and GH5 can all shoot in Log.
Well the reason you’d shoot in Log in the
first place is to preserve as much detail
or dynamic range in the highlights, giving
it the closest look to film with a gentle
roll off in the highlights.
So for the best looking image and if you have
the time, I highly recommend that you set
your camera to Log to get the closest film
look.
Now the easiest thing to do to address Log
in post is to apply a Log to Rec709 LUTs for
your specific camera.
But you do lose flexibility on how much you
can control detail and so I suggest color
correcting manually by first adding in contrast…
then setting your shadows and highlights where
they should.
And finally adding saturation….
If you’re confused as to where to set the
different exposure levels?
The Ansel Adams Zones System can be a helpful
a guid in congestion with the waveform scope.
It has helpful suggestions for where to set
things like skin tones, clouds and foliage.
You simply match the zone with where it roughly
equates on the waveform scope.
I’ve overlaid it here so this makes more
sense.
Now a general workflow I like to follow when
color correcting images is start correcting
exposure and contrast first, then color temperature
and finally saturation.
So for color temperature if the camera wasn’t
properly white balanced on set, in other words
the images appears too warm or too cool we
can fix the white balance with the temperature
and tint controls.
If you’re not sure when it is white balanced
properly the RGB parade scope is there to
assist us.
When the red, green and blue traces in the
RGB parade are at the same level or mixed
equally we get white.
So we can adjust the temperature settings
until they all line up evenly.
Now it’s not always easy spotting the things
that should be white in the scope so a great
tip is to isolate just the thing we need to
fix using a shape mask…
And now it’s much easier to see what we’re
trying to fix in the scope and make changes
accordingly.
We can also use this technique to isolate
skin tones and this is really helpful to know
how to correct them in the vector scope where
we want the trace for the skin tones to mostly
lie on this line called the flesh line.
Barring the image is white balanced properly
the most common tool to use to correct skin
tones is with the the mid tones or gamma control
that mostly affects the mid range where the
skin tones predominately are.
Lastly as part of our color correction is
to adjust the amount of color or saturation
so that again makes it look the same way as
it did on set.
Okay?
So correct your images first before launching
straight in to create a look and it’ll make
things so much easier.
Alright now we’re on to the fun and exciting
part and that is giving our film a look that
makes it look big budget.
Now if you’re not sure what to do in this
area, this is where LUTs can come in handy.
But of course we want to ask ourselves what
kind of mood or emotion we’re going for.
What kind of stylization or period look do
we want to apply?
If using LUTs you’ll want to find the one
that supports the look and mood you’re going
for.
But if you’re keen to explore look ideas
on your own, while this is in-depth subject
I want to give you some look creation ideas.
First and foremost I recommend starting in
a new node or adjustment that’s separate
from where you made the correction where you
can begin exploring look ideas or this is
also where you’d apply a look LUT.
It’s best to keep these separate.
Then I recommend that you follow a similar
workflow that we used in color correction.
Starting first with exploring contrast and
exposure ideas, different color palettes next
and finally saturation.
By increasing or decreasing the contrast we
can see how it affects the mood, whether we’re
going for a high-key look that’s common
in fashion and tooth paste commercials or
for a low key look that’s more somber and
more common in film noir films.
Now when it comes to the color palette bear
in mind that the color pallets used most films
are made up generally of no more than 3 colors
so you’ll want to shoot for a max of 3.
Now obviously a great deal of this depends
on set design and wardrobe but we can push
different colors into the tonal range.
We can push colors into the whites, greys
and blacks and this makes the 3 way color
wheels particularly well suited for this since
we can push 3 different colors into the shadows
midtones and highlights.
Just be sure that if you push colors into
the shadows to clean them using a luma vs
saturation adjustment so that the shadows
are clean.
Now while the study of color design and how
different colors affect our emotions the biggest
thing I want you to consider is creating something
called color contrast.
The most popular of these is the ‘orange/teal’
look because it creates color contrast or
emphasizes our skin tones thus focusing our
eye on the talent.
Another reason I believe it’s popular is
because these are the colors you naturally
see during the most beautiful time of the
day known as ‘golden hour’ the time just
before the sun sets.
The reason for this is everything illuminated
by the sun has a warm golden look from the
sun shine and everything in the shadows is
primarily illuminated by the sky which acts
like a big blue bounce card.
So that’s another reason why it’s so popular
and it’s not’s anything new.
This color contrast has been used in art going
back to antiquity.
But if you’re a little tired of its use
and want to explore some different color contrasts
you can take a look at Robert Burridge Goof-Proof
Color Wheel.
Now normally this is used as a guide in painting
but the color wheel can be helpful in identifying
other color contrasts and other split complementary
colors to spice up your films.
Of course again set design and wardrobe is
a big factor though we can use our secondary
tools like color masks and hue curves to a
certain extent to better fit with our color
design.
Finally we have saturation, where we can go
with either a muted look, a bright poppy look
or emphasis one color over the others.
Either way the color can have a tremendous
impact on the story and the look of our films.
Now just a couple other things that might
come up is what monitor should I use and what
about control surfaces or color panels.
Well honestly most the monitors out there
these days are quite good, provided you’re
done a good calibration to sRGB color space
if you’re delivering to the web.
The probe that I recommend is the i1Pro from
Xrite.
But if you are looking for something with
better quality I recommend doing a keyword
search for the word ‘color’ on B&H photo
in the monitor section to turn up results
for monitors where color critical work is
in their marketing literature.
For strictly professional monitoring you could
look at the option from either Eizo or FSI
but they are going to be quite a bit more
expensive.
I would really only recommend these if you
plan on becoming a full time colorist or you
plan on delivering to broadcast.
Also if you know that you want to become a
full time colorist or you plan on doing a
lot of your own color correction there is
no faster way to grade than with a dedicated
control surface.
In terms of options that are out there it’s
really the kind of thing where you get what
you pay for.
The more that you pay the more functionality
and buttons you’ll where with the panel
you see before me, the DaVinci Advanced panel
nearly every feature of the DaVinci Resolve
software is mapped to the panel.
Now normally you’d only find this kind of
panel in a post house or other small facility
because they cost upward of $30,000 US dollars,
but fortunately Blackmagic has other great
options like the Micro panel and the Mini
which we’ve done review on.
Now a big draw back to these panels its that
they only work with Blackmagic software so
if you’re looking for something for Adobe
Premiere or Final Cut Pro X then I recommend
checking out the offerings from Tangent with
their Elements panel,
WAVE 2
and Ripple.
Other interesting solutions that have popped
up come from companies like Palette gear and
Loupedeck.
All of these will allow you to work more efficiently
and allow you to make simultaneous corrections
if say you want to create by pushing the color
controls in opposite direction.
Okay is this making sense?
Is this helpful?
Let me know if there’s something you’d
like to see more of in the comments below.
Now I know I’ve covered a lot here, but
my purpose was to give you a broad overview
of color grading with some key tips that you
can start using today to elevate your films.
If you’re looking for more or interactive
help I want to invite you to our 1-hour online
color grading workshop where we reveal the
top color grading secrets used in Hollywood
for your specific software.
We have a workshops for Adobe Premiere, DaVinci
Resolve and Final Cut Pro X.
You’ll find a link to register for the workshop
in the description below.
In the web class I reveal how I went from
being a wedding videographer down to 0 wedding
bookings during the recession of 2008 to improving
the look of my films and landing client work
with some of biggest brands like Facebook.
I reveal the same techniques that had the
biggest impact on my career so if you’re
ready to be serious and you want to be guided
every step of the way you definitely don’t
want to miss it.
I also want to point out it’s the only way
you can find out more about our color grading
academy.
People have asked us if we offer formal training,
well this is your opportunity to hear about
that and we’ll have a special offer for
it at the end of the presentation.
So be sure to to save your seat, click the
subscribe button and then the bell for more
great videos like this!
And let’s make our films look amazing!
Happy grading!
