Color Grading Process

11/29/2017 Color Grading Process - Get Started in DaVinci Resolve Part 2
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Color Grading Process – Get Started in DaVinci

Resolve Part 2
by Richard Lackey | 4th October 2016
English
DaVinci Resolve can seem a deep pool to jump into. The color grading process is logical and simple
when you take it one step at a time.
In my previous post in this series Get Started in DaVinci Resolve Part 1 – What is Workflow? we took a
look at overall bigger picture workflow in the context of defining a post-production process or
pipeline. Now we will look at the color correction and grading process itself.
Color Grading Process
While you could just jump into a random shot and start making adjustments, it’s a sure way to get
lost, and getting lost is not a good thing if you want to achieve consistent professional results.
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The good news is by applying some structure, order and strategy to your color grading process,
achieving the results you want becomes much easier.
Know What You Want To Achieve
Lists are always a good place to start when creating order and structure to simplify a complex task.
The overall goals a colorist has for any project are largely universal.
English
1. Correction of any technical inconsistencies in camera source media, or mistakes made on set.
2. Balancing and matching source media throughout the project.
3. Consistency of color throughout the project, even if the mood or style varies, those moods or
styles must be consistent.
4. Meet all technical requirements for deliverables.
Control
The above goals can only be achieved through a high level of control, and Resolve’s tools are intended
to give a very high level of control to the colorist. However it’s up to you to structure your project and
process in such a way to take full advantage. There’s always more than one way to do things, and you
will no doubt find your own workflow but here is a step by step breakdown that will get you headed
in the right direction.
The first two steps below are critical. I find that many people new to color grading jump straight to
step 3, apply a canned LUT and wonder why things are not looking like the fine tuned images that
they expect.
Understanding Nodes
Before jumping headlong into making all kinds of adjustments, you need to know and understand
DaVinci Resolve’s nodes, what they are and how they work. You use nodes in Resolve to separate
operations into logical steps, to isolate operations to specific masks and areas of the image, and give
you control over what is happening, in what order, to which part of your image.
The node graph is the master blueprint for what’s happening to every shot, and most importantly,
how it is happening and in what order. Here is a good introduction: Know Your DaVinci Resolve Nodes
Separate every step you take onto a different

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adjustments to each step later if and when necessary.
Step One – Technical Corrections
The first step is to correct any technical problems with the media. If you haven’t shot the footage (and
even if you have), this could involve fixing operator mistakes, incorrect camera settings, bad exposure,
white balance etc. This process is far easier when dealing with RAW media than compressed video
where many of the problems are baked into the footage.
English
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English
The above example is R3D RAW from a RED One MX. In the first screen grab you can see the image as
it is interpreted with “Camera Metadata”. It’s a simple matter with RAW media to adjust color
temperature. It’s a simple drop down menu to select “Clip” and then all the RAW settings are
adjustable. Here I changed the Gamma Curve to “REDlog” and Color Temp to 6000K. Technically this
gives me the image I want to start with.
There are limits to what can be corrected. Depending on the camera dynamic range, format, bit-depth
and codec you will either be able to do a lot, or hardly anything at all. Most technical corrections fall
into two categories.
Over and Under Exposure
It can happen to anyone, and if you’re lucky enough to be shooting RAW with a high dynamic range
cinema camera, more often than not you’ll be able to correct exposure, unless it’s way over or way
under exposed. Even a high dynamic range sensor has limits and if there is no more information in
shadows or highlights, no amount of wishing can change it. If the exposure is too far off, even with
RAW media you can either find yourself with clipped highlights or noisy shadows.
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A lot of camera media however falls in between these extremes and you will be able to manage some
correction to save the shot, and this is your first step.
White Balance
The other common mistake made in camera is incorrect white balance. As with exposure correction, if
it’s baked in, small corrections are possible. In the case of RAW media, you can fully correct for
English
incorrect white balance since the camera set white balance is just metadata, an interpretation of the
RAW data, and totally non-destructive.
Step Two – Balancing and Shot Matching
Once your exposure and white balance are correct, the next step is a finer balance of luminance and
color. The goal is to arrive at a well balanced neutral starting point for further grading work where you
can create stylised looks that can easily be applied to other shots. All shots in a particular sequence
should first be brought to a matched neutral point.
Choose a master shot to balance first and make adjustments to a dedicated node. I’m skimming over
this process here because I’ve gone into it in-depth before here. Learn to Use Your Scopes! Easy
Colour Correction
Luminance
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English
I will normally desaturate the image entirely and use the waveform scope to make fine adjustments to
lift, gamma and gain ignoring chroma completely.
Color
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English
Once luminance levels are correct, bring saturation back up and use the vector scope and parade
scope to make sure your blacks are black, whites are white. RGB levels in the highlights for white
objects should be aligned on the scope, and the same goes for true blacks. Use the skin tone indicator
on the vector scope to dial in skin tones.
Shot Matching
It’s important to make the necessary adjustments to every shot in a sequence to match the master
shot. The goal is to ensure that common objects under the same lighting conditions appear to have
the same luminance levels and color.
Step Three – Style, Mood, Look, LUTs and Windows
Once a sequence of shots are balanced and matched you have free reign to get creative. Make sure
you’re creating your stylised looks with a new node (or nodes) after your initial balance and shot
matching. Always keep your major steps separated.
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English
Exploring all the ways you can create styles and looks, or use LUTs is beyond the scope of this article.
This article is about process and steps in a logical order that will always give you consistent results.
A major part of this step is bringing focus to important areas of the image or action by using masks
and windows. This helps you make adjustments to areas of shadow and light and may also involve
tracking. Keep things consistent across shots that need to match.
Step Four – Versioning and Delivery
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English
Finally once your grading work is complete, its time to look at what deliverables you need to supply
for the project. This may involve duplicating the timeline to create versions with different aspect
ratios. Creating different aspect ratios may involve going back through the project and re-framing
some shots.
You may also have cut-downs for versions of different durations. The final step is in making sure any
and all versions are complete and ready for export.
Become a Creative Technician
This is all about a balancing act between the technical and the creative. Color grading requires both.
The technical brings order and objective process to a creative, circular and subjective art.
Color is art, and a colorist is an artist. However, a great colorist is also a master technician. I would
argue the same has to be true of a great cinematographer as well. The days of a camera operator only
having to know operations, exposure, focus, and a subjective intuition of light and shadow are long
gone. The best image makers have all of the subjective intuition for capturing great images, but know
the technology and science intimately as well.
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RELATED ARTICLES
Learn to Use Your Scopes! – E...
English
Author of this post:

Richard Lackey
Richard Lackey is a cinema camera and workflow specialist, colorist (CSI member), producer & writer
with 10+ years of industry experience. Richard has a passion for cinema technology & beautiful
imagery.
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Richard Lee October 9, 2016 English
Well written. One question on my mind is if you put a film emulation LUT after your correction and
matching shot node while correcting, will it make the job faster?
Reply
Richard Lackey October 9, 2016
Good question, I would always leave the emulation LUT until after the shot is technically balanced
to a neutral starting point, and then apply the LUT to a new node. The reason is that having any kind
of a LUT active while you’re trying to achieve a primary balance is going to throw everything off, i
all then becomes subjective, where the primary balance should be more objective, using the scope
to make sure everything is where it should be first. Am I making any sense? I hope so, let me know i
not :)
Reply
Richard Lee October 10, 2016
Thanks for your quick reply. I understand your point and agree it, the drawback is if you don’t use
LUT to help bring each shot to Rec709, you have to manually bring them to rec709 space whic
requires quite amount of time. 2)After normalizing/neutralizing all shots, you can only use video
film emulation LUT which is not as good as Log-film emulation LUT, Plus you still need to twea
each shot after putting LUT on.
My point is to mimic the process as if it is shot on film, so you shoot in LOG with log-film emulation
LUT on monitor and in post you use the same LUT to correct and balance each shot. I haven’t tried
that process yet, but I would like to know more about it.
happy with it. Ok
Reply
Richard Lackey October 10, 2016
Ah, I totally get what your asking now. Yes, I was assuming applying a rec709 film emulation LUT
and that you’d bring it to Rec709 first in the primary balance. My bad. So you’re shooting RAW
where you can change the gamma interpretation freely in the camera RAW panel, or are yo
shooting a compressed format with a baked in log gamma? Also what is the intended output colo
space? I don’t know if it’s technically correct, and I hope someone else can maybe add a comment
English
but in your case I’d probably apply the LUT in a timeline node, and then go back to clip nodes and
balance there. I’ll try to look into this further.
Reply
Richard Lee October 11, 2016
We shoot in RAW, but decode it in Log Gamma. So you think it won’t make it more difficult when
you balance and matching shots under the Film emulation LUT applied on the timeline node?
Also is there any video channel I can watch how you balance and match shots in the way yo
described in the article above?
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11/29/2017 Color Grading Process - Get Started in DaVinci Resolve Part 2

Color Grading Process – Get Started in DaVinci

Know What You Want To Achieve

Separate every step you take onto a different

adjustments to each step later if and when necessary.

Step One – Technical Corrections

Over and Under Exposure

Step Two – Balancing and Shot Matching

Step Three – Style, Mood, Look, LUTs and Windows

Step Four – Versioning and Delivery

Become a Creative Technician

Author of this post:

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Richard Lee October 9, 2016 English

Richard Lackey October 9, 2016

Richard Lee October 10, 2016

Richard Lackey October 10, 2016

Richard Lee October 11, 2016

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