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Create Your Film Grade in DaVinci Resolve – The Ultimate Cinematic Color Grading Tutorial — Transcript

by KC ian · 2,789 words · 534 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00There are many ways to create your very
0:02own color grade in DaVinci
0:03Resolve, with no LUT, no plugin.
0:07In this video, we'll walk through a
0:09step-by-step workflow that transforms
0:12your footage into something that feels
0:14polished, filmic and stylized.
0:17We'll explore multiple
0:18techniques with plenty of my original
0:20footage as examples,
0:22focusing on balancing,
0:24contrast and color shaping.
0:27So by the end of this video, you will be
0:29able to develop your own color grading
0:31style and your own aesthetics, whether
0:34it's a clean look,
0:36tinted or highly stylized.
0:38With that goal in mind, we can now build
0:41a solid grading approach, step by step.
0:45Once you've loaded your log footage into
0:47DaVinci Resolve,
0:49the first step is to take
0:50advantage of the wider color processing
0:52capabilities by
0:53converting your log footage.
0:55This workflow setup gives you much more
0:57flexibility for color correction and grading.
1:01If you want a deep dive
1:03into color space transform,
1:04I've already made a dedicated
1:06video on that.
1:07The link is in the description.
1:10Now, a beginner might look at this
1:12uncorrected footage and think,
1:14"It looks flat.
1:15Let's crank up the saturation."
1:18But that is a huge mistake.
1:21If you follow the steps I'm about to show you,
1:23you can bring out
1:24rich and natural colors
1:26without even touching
1:27the saturation knob.
1:30The typical correction order goes:
1:32Exposure > Contrast > White Balance.
1:36And the reason is
1:37exposure adjustment defines
1:40the overall luminance of your image,
1:42and recover highlight or shadow details,
1:45a clean starting point for grading.
1:48Do not underestimate
1:50this very first step.
1:52As you can see here, the final result is
1:54drastically different with and without
1:57exposure adjustment.
1:59This step is also extremely crucial in
2:01making several shots of the
2:03same scene looking consistent.
2:07So how do you properly adjust
2:09exposure in DaVinci Resolve?
2:11For a DaVinci Wide Gamut color space
2:13pipeline, I highly
2:15recommend HDR color wheels.
2:19HDR wheels give you cleaner,
2:21more targeted control over tonal zones.
2:25Global adjusts the overall exposure.
2:30Shadows and Dark affect
2:31only the deep shadows.
2:34Light targets the middle range.
2:36It's especially
2:37useful for protecting skin.
2:40Highlight and Specular isolate the
2:42brightest areas and let you
2:44preserve roll off and details
2:46in skies or windows.
2:48But how do you know if your
2:50image is properly exposed?
2:52Pull up your waveform.
2:54This is your most accurate tool.
2:57Skin tones usually
2:58sit around 40 to 70 IRE.
3:01You want a healthy spread
3:02from dark to bright without clipping.
3:05You can also use a false color monitor.
3:08False color gives you a
3:10real-time exposure heat map.
3:12Green, gray, and salmon
3:14indicate properly exposed skin.
3:17This is especially helpful for checking
3:19key subjects like faces,
3:21smoothing out tonal zones,
3:23and recovering highlights and shadows.
3:27To bring out natural colors and give
3:29depth to your image, we have contrast.
3:32It also determines how the image feels.
3:35Does it look flat?
3:36Or does it feel
3:37grounded, dimensional and alive?
3:41Contrast and Pivot are very powerful when
3:44used in conjunction.
3:47Contrast increases separation between the
3:49darkest and brightest parts of the image,
3:52while pivot determines
3:54where that expansion happens.
3:57In Wide Gamut,
3:59the default pivot is 0.336.
4:02This is just a
4:03reference point for middle gray.
4:05In very simple term, middle gray is the
4:08very center tone between
4:09absolute black and absolute white.
4:12But in the DaVinci Wide Gamut color space,
4:15this happens to be at 0.336.
4:19Since we have adjusted the exposure in
4:21the previous node,
4:23we can fiddle this a little bit
4:24but not too much.
4:26Just be aware not to make your shot look
4:29under or overexposed.
4:32As you can see, the colors are already
4:35coming out without boosting saturation.
4:38This is because proper
4:39contrast equals to better saturation.
4:42It brings out saturation in a way that
4:45feels rich and believable.
4:49Many beginners get it wrong by reaching
4:52for saturation first
4:53and trying to fix a flat log image.
4:57But without contrast, saturation pushes
4:59color into unnatural zones.
5:02It looks plastic.
5:04And in Wide Gamut, it can even
5:06clip your color channels.
5:09To sum it up,
5:10good contrast separates tones clearly,
5:12improves color clarity, and reduces
5:15the need for artificial saturation.
5:19We can now move on to white balance, the
5:22process of neutralizing
5:23color temperature and tint,
5:25It ensures the colors in your image feel
5:28true to the scene's original lighting.
5:31We adjust white balance after exposure
5:33and contrast to avoid
5:35false corrections,
5:37because if you white balance
5:38before fixing exposure, you might correct
5:41a color cast that isn't really there.
5:44In DaVinci Resolve, you have a variety of
5:47tools to achieve accurate white balance.
5:50Starting with the offset control.
5:53This is my preferred method.
5:55This tool shifts the entire
5:58image's color balance evenly.
6:00Use this to remove broad color casts,
6:04Use the RGB parade to align your
6:07highlights and neutrals
6:08across all three channels.
6:10Use the vectorscope to check skin tone
6:13direction, making sure it
6:15falls naturally along the skin tone line.
6:18Your goal is to center the image's
6:20balance around the neutral axis.
6:23Or you can use the
6:24temperature and tint sliders.
6:26They are intuitive and familiar.
6:29They act more like a
6:30camera's white balance system.
6:32These sliders provide shifts between
6:34daylight and tungsten, or
6:37removing unwanted magenta
6:39and green casts.
6:46Resolve also offers a
6:48white balance picker.
6:50An eyedropper tool that lets you click on
6:52something you know
6:54should be neutral gray.
6:56If you have a neutral reference in the frame,
6:58like a gray card,
7:00white shirt, or neutral wall,
7:02use that as an anchor.
7:04Click with the white balance picker,
7:06then Resolve will adjust
7:08the image automatically.
7:11Once exposure, contrast, and white
7:13balance are dialed in,
7:14your image is now technically corrected.
7:17In fact, at this point, the shot could be
7:20delivered as-is, without further grading.
7:24It might not be stylized, but it's clean,
7:27neutral, and accurate.
7:31Before we move on to the creative grading
7:33stage, there's often one
7:35more layer of refinement -
7:37Secondary color adjustments.
7:40These are targeted and subtle tweaks to
7:42refine individual hues,
7:44adjust color relationships,
7:46or fix small imbalances
7:47that weren't obvious earlier.
7:50DaVinci Resolve happens to provide a
7:52several simple, yet
7:54highly effective and intuitive
7:56color tools.
7:57Hue vs Hue and Hue vs Saturation curves
8:00kind of explain themselves.
8:02You pick a specific hue
8:03and you remap it to another.
8:06Or you can control the
8:08intensity of specific colors.
8:11Most people know that.
8:12But there's one curve
8:14most beginners overlook.
8:16Hue vs Luminance.
8:18This tool doesn't just
8:20brighten or darken a color.
8:22It reshapes how that color feels.
8:26Here's why that matters.
8:27Color isn't just
8:28about hue and saturation.
8:30It's also affected by
8:32luminance or brightness.
8:34Bright colors,
8:35often feels pastel or thin
8:38because they sit in a high
8:39luminance, low saturation zone.
8:42But when you lower the luminance of that
8:44hue without boosting
8:46saturation, you shift it
8:48into a deeper, denser part of the color.
8:51It feels richer and more refined.
8:55This is called subtractive saturation.
8:58Instead of forcing more color in, you're
9:00reducing excess
9:01brightness so the color stands
9:03out naturally.
9:05The result is vivid, elegant color that
9:07looks soft, not synthetic.
9:10Perfect for a high-end cinematic feel.
9:15And it's especially effective
9:16in what I call the "Hero Zone".
9:19The midtones where your subject lives.
9:22Our eyes are most sensitive
9:24to colors in these regions.
9:27So are any adjustments here
9:28carries more visual weight.
9:31For example, darkening a warm tone in the
9:34midtones, say in skin
9:36or fabric, adds depth
9:38to the color.
9:39It can make it feel luxurious without
9:41even boosting saturation at all.
9:45And that brings us to my
9:46go-to color tool, Color Slice.
9:49This tool pre-divides the hue
9:50spectrum into targeted slices.
9:53Reds, greens, blues, skin, you have it.
9:57So while you can adjust hue, saturation
10:00and luminance from a
10:01single panel, it's faster
10:03than jumping around different curves.
10:05This keeps your workflow focused.
10:08Then there's Color Warper, which takes
10:10things even further.
10:12You get a 2D hue saturation grid.
10:15And you can grab and
10:17drag any point in real time.
10:19It's intuitive, visual and very flexible.
10:23There's a catch though.
10:25Because it's so specific, if you don't
10:27carefully qualify your
10:28selection, you can easily push
10:30a color too far or break
10:32up harmony across the image.
10:35But look at this,
10:36all balanced, corrected and refined.
10:39And here's the best part, we still
10:41haven't even touched the saturation knob.
10:45Everything you've done so far has built a
10:47base that feels polished and clean.
10:50And that means you're
10:51finally ready for the fun part -
10:54Creative Grading.
10:57Coming up, I'm going to show you a
10:59combination that is highly
11:00flexible and customizable,
11:02so you can later create and develop your
11:05own style and aesthetics.
11:08Now that you have a clean base, we're
11:10going to first set the
11:12overall tone of your shot,
11:14using a powerful tool called Chromatic
11:16Adaptation Transform.
11:18Depending on your narrative, you can
11:20quickly and safely adapt
11:22your footage to a cooler
11:24or warmer white point to evoke a specific
11:27mood or time of day,
11:30but do so in a perceptually
11:32consistent manner.
11:34Basically, a Chromatic Adaptation
11:36Transform is a mathematical
11:38conversion that makes colors
11:40look natural under different lights,
11:43just like your eyes do.
11:45Let's take a look at this example.
11:47This shot has been color
11:49corrected and neutralized.
11:51Now add a serial node after your
11:53secondary color adjustment
11:54node, if any, and then insert
11:57Chromatic Adaptation
11:59Transform from the Effect Library.
12:01You can keep the
12:02You can keep the
12:02default CAT02 as your method.
12:06This model is quite
12:07perceptually accurate.
12:10The others are other mathematical models
12:12you can experiment
12:13with in your spare time.
12:15You can also keep standard illuminant in
12:18both source illuminant
12:19and target illuminant type.
12:22Now, what is the default illuminant D65?
12:26It is the standardized white point for
12:28the sRGB and Rec.709 color space,
12:32and it's correlated
12:33to the color temperature of
12:35approximately 6500 Kelvin.
12:38Pull down the menu, we will focus on the
12:40D-series illuminants in this video.
12:43As you can see, we have D50, 55, 60, 65
12:48to D75, with D50 being the warmest
12:52and D75 the coolest.
12:55This is how we can take
12:56advantage of this transform.
12:59If we define this shot as D65,
13:01then we can warm it up by
13:03converting the white point to D50.
13:06As you can see, the image is much warmer
13:09but in a natural manner.
13:11But of course, you can also make a subtle
13:13conversion by
13:14switching to a closer number
13:16like D60.
13:18So it really depends on your narrative as
13:20I said just a moment ago.
13:23We can also reverse this conversion.
13:26If I define the source illuminant as
13:28D55, then going from D55
13:30to D65 will make the shot
13:33cooler.
13:34And therefore, just this chromatic
13:37adaptation transform alone
13:38can already help you fast
13:40track your creative
13:41grade by setting the mood.
13:44And this is how you can make a whole
13:46series of shots
13:47consistent in color temperature.
13:50For me, I like it subtle, so I'm just
13:54going to slightly warm
13:55it up by going from D65 to
13:57D55 for this shot.
14:01Now we can further stylize the visuals by
14:04using a technique called "Split Toning".
14:07It is the technique of applying different
14:09color tints to the
14:10highlights and shadows of an image
14:12independently to creatively enhance the
14:15mood, atmosphere, and
14:17visual interest of an image.
14:19There are various excellent plugins and
14:21DCTLs designed for
14:23split toning out there.
14:25But in this tutorial,
14:27we're going to dive into
14:28DaVinci Resolve's built-in curve tool
14:30to show you exactly
14:31how this technique works.
14:34After the chromatic adaptation transform,
14:37if applied, add a serial node.
14:40First, we need to define the pivot point
14:43separating highlights and shadows.
14:46There's a free DCTL to help you pinpoint
14:48the default pivot for
14:50the DaVinci Wide Gamut color space.
14:53Go to curve and select all channels,
14:56and add a pin to your pivot.
14:59You can always fiddle this up and down a
15:01little according to your narrative
15:03without under or overexposing your image.
15:06But for now, I'm
15:07sticking to the default pivot.
15:10Let me turn on the exponential ramp
15:13to better show you the principles of
15:14split toning and how
15:16it affects your image.
15:18Let's say we want to achieve that
15:20filmic look,
15:21with warm highlights and cool shadows.
15:24Okay then,
15:25first switch to editable splines,
15:28pull out your parade,
15:29and watch what's going on.
15:32We can slightly pull down the high end
15:34for a softer roll-off.
15:39We can also do the same
15:40thing to the lower end.
15:45Let's quickly turn off this DCTL and see
15:48what it has done to your image.
15:51You can see that it's instantly softer.
15:54You can now adjust the white point,
15:56black point, and also the mid-tone
15:59contrast at the pivot here.
16:05Switch the DCTL back on,
16:07pull up the vectorscope.
16:09Let's work some magic.
16:11For warmer highlights, select the red
16:14curve and pull it up.
16:18Then select the blue
16:19curve and pull it down.
16:23Use the green curve to adjust.
16:25So how much should I pull?
16:28Well,
16:29let me get back to you on that in a moment,
16:31but keep an eye on the vectorscope
16:33for now.
16:34Go to the lower end, select
16:36the red curve and pull it down.
16:39Select the blue curve and pull it up.
16:42Use the green curve to adjust.
16:44If you take a look at the ramp, you can
16:46clearly see the so-called "split toning".
16:50Let's see what it has done to the image.
16:52Now look at the before and after.
16:58The image is now stylized.
17:00We can further make
17:01some adjustments here.
17:03The shadow is a bit
17:04too tinted for my taste.
17:06If you look at the parade graph, blue is
17:08too lifted in the shadow range.
17:11So while we pull down
17:12the blue curve a bit.
17:14Or you want the image
17:15to be slightly moodier.
17:17Select Y only, the luminosity curve and
17:20just slightly pull it down just a hair.
17:23Now look at before and after.
17:31We can even double up the effect if you
17:33want to really stretch it out
17:35and push your grade.
17:37If it's too strong, we can pull it back.
17:40Go to one of the nodes, go to key and
17:42lower the key output gain to taste.
17:52Remember Chromatic Adaptation Transform?
17:55We can now combine that to our curve to
17:57evoke different moods.
17:59We can easily and safely
18:01warm it up or cool it down by
18:03using the adjustments I talked about earlier.
18:05So you can see now the
18:08possibilities are endless. You can make a
18:10very subtle adjustment or really push
18:13the grade by stretching the split toning.
18:16I will dedicate a stand-alone video on
18:19different styles, aesthetics
18:20and color psychology in the future.
18:23In this video,
18:24we will focus on the
18:25basic principle techniques.
18:27Sometimes, certain colors could become a
18:29bit too saturated after split toning.
18:33Instead of going back to the secondary
18:35color corrections, we can
18:36even out the overall saturation
18:39using a power curve called
18:40Saturation vs Saturation.
18:43This is a smarter way
18:45for an overall polish.
18:47It helps reduce overly saturated areas
18:50without affecting neutrals.
18:52It could also boost muted colors without
18:55pushing already vibrant ones.
18:57In this example, I just want to pull back
19:00the brown color just a hair.
19:05For a finishing touch, you can now add
19:07your favorite visual
19:08enhancers here for texturing.
19:10These include softening, glow, bloom,
19:14halation, sharpening,
19:16vignette, film grains, etc.
19:18But texturing alone is also another whole
19:21video in the future.
19:23But look, without LUT nor plugin,
19:26you also create and develop your own color
19:29grade in DaVinci Resolve.
19:31Just remember, these are all options.
19:34You don't necessarily
19:35have to employ them all.
19:36If you don't think you need any secondary
19:38color adjustment or chromatic adaptation
19:41transform, then skip them.
19:44Check your forms and graphs
19:45to make sure nothing is
19:47unintentionally clipped.
19:50Before we go, let me quickly show you
19:52another popular look as a bonus.
19:54It's called Bleach Bypass.
19:57This is a filmic technique used to
19:59achieve a distinctive high contrast,
20:02desaturated aesthetic
20:03that conveys a sense of
20:05somber drama.
20:07After you output CST node, first create a
20:10serial node, and then
20:12create a layer node.
20:14Label the lower node as B&W.
20:17In the lower node, go to the RGB mixer,
20:20turn on monochrome to
20:22make it black and white.
20:23Then switch the composite mode of the
20:26layer mixer to overlay.
20:28Now the effect is very intense.
20:31Go back to the B&W node, go to key
20:33and lower the key output gain.
20:36Let's park at 0.3.
20:39Now you get that kind of desaturated,
20:42moody and grungy vibe.
20:45So that's all for this video.
20:47Leave your questions in the comment
20:48section below, and I'll
20:50see you in the next video.

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