CARROTREVOLT LABS
INTERACTIVE STUDIES / 18Color Grading Lab
All labs ↗

Trust the scopes, then the eye.

Grade video the way a colourist does in the Color page of DaVinci Resolve: read the Waveform, Parade and Vectorscope, balance with Lift, Gamma and Gain, build a look with serial nodes, a LUT and Curves, grade only the sky with a Qualifier, light a face with a Power Window and match two cameras.

STAGE
    Viewer
    Nodes
    Scopes
    AltSSerial nodeCtrlDNode on/offShiftHHighlightCtrlZUndoDouble-click a dial: reset
    KEY IDEAS

    Correct, then create

    First make the picture technically right (levels, white balance, matching). Then give it a look. Scopes keep you honest because your eyes adapt to any colour after a few seconds.

    Waveform
    Brightness of every column of the picture, 0 (black) to 100 (white). Parade: the same for R, G and B side by side.
    Vectorscope
    Colour only: angle = hue, distance from the centre = saturation. Skin lies near the skin tone line.
    Lift · Gamma · Gain · Offset
    Shadows, midtones, highlights and everything. The puck of each wheel moves the colour of that range; the dial below moves its level.
    Nodes
    Each node is a full set of tools. Serial nodes work one after the other: balance first, look later.
    LUT
    A look-up table: a fixed transform from input colours to output colours. Technical LUTs convert log to Rec.709; creative LUTs give a look.
    Secondaries
    A Qualifier keys a colour range, a Power Window keys a shape. The node only changes what is inside the key.