Better Color Balance pt. 3: Dealing with Problem Footage
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 พ.ย. 2022
- Get better with problem footage before your next grade using the techniques shared here in the final video of our series on better color balance.
We dive deeper into this topic & I answer your color balancing questions in my Grade School livestream here: • Grade School: Shot mat...
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I love your usual content, but this is better than gold information. Edge cases are not so edge when working in doco and environments where inexperienced camera operators make mistakes regularly. No fault on them generally, it's about lack of experience but when we need to work with the footage, it these tips that save the day. Thanks Cullen!
What's your secret for growing your hair this fast? Sincerely thanks by the way, you're changing how people approach color grading, your name is everywhere I look for additional information.
I don't know if I already mentioned it, but it's such a breeze not to have someone who is good at color grading shouting into the camera.
Every single video from you I saw so far is pure gold. You make complex subjects for everyone approachable and in some way all your videos seem so much shorter than they actually are.
I start liking color grading again. Thank you.
It's amazing how you provide the best and most useful lessons while having a super simple node template, when compared to almost everyone else. Thank you so much
I swear, you always post videos tackling issues I'm currently having! Thanks for the lifeline yet again!
Amazing as usual and such a great tips to recover some crazy color shots… thank you very much..
Thanks you sir. love the depth without making it boring. can not wait for the Friday follow-up session.
Just what I needed. Fixing lighting/WB issues with the Chromatic Adaptation went straight into production!
Cullen I don't comment too often on your videos but I try to make it count when I do. For me this is one of your most valuable pieces of content so far because you're educating us about edge cases. We all end up at edge cases at some point in our journey. IMHO Ep 03 in this series exemplifies your extraordinary talent and skill as an educator. I couldn't even take notes on this one because I didn't know how to summarise in my own words the information you were conveying. Such invaluable info if you're serious about the art of being a colourist. Thank you Cullen!
Another wonderfully helpful and, as always, some unexpected avenues to our end goal, balance in all its many forms and circumstances. Good work!
Great tutorial, Cullen! I'm always learning something awesome from you. Love the hair, too - as someone else commented, your hair grows pretty quickly - almost as fast as I'm losing mine, lol.
This was truly what I needed for some shots I was grading, thank you!
Cullen, you are a life saver covering these tools. I've received a whole sequence of problem shots and I can't wait to apply these techniques to speed up my color workflow (and deliver tomorrow!!)
Keep learning more and more here. Thanks Cullen!!
Thank you Cullen, you have no idea how this tutorial helped me so much in one of my wedding customer projects.. This is also one of the reasons why i watch your channel more.. Thank you so much..
That RGB mixer technique is awesome! Definetely using it in next projects. Greetings from Peru, Cullen!
Thanks Cullen, very helpful tip. Very often work with bad footages!
Thanks cullen for all this you are sharing, Respect !
Wow, how to fix broken shots - very subtle workflow, thanks again Cullen!!!
Very interesting, thanks Cullen. I have some clips for editing that were shot in daylight lighting with camera inadvertently set to Tungsten WB so will try these techniques to get them balanced.
Just mind blowing tutorial...waiting for next grade school...Thank u so much sir♥
Wow the RGB mixer, I'll have to try that ! Funny thing, I'm currently grading a 5 episode webseries and there are parts of the project that are lit with mixed color lighting so that'll be perfect to test it out !
This tutorial had some great little tricks to add to keep in the bag for problem shots. Can’t wait to try them out. Thanks!
@@CullenKelly balancing with a Linear Gamma and RGB Mixer has already come in handy. Thanks again!
great great great explanation for RGB MIXER
very interesting ADAPT CHROMATIC OFX,
and gamma linear, and more...
I've learned a lot from this tuto, all has making sens with you since.
Thanks from France
I would love more videos like this!
Thank you so much for all the work your putting in those videos! They are so instructive! I'm kind of binging haha. However if I could make a suggestion : We don't always have sample clips with the same characteristics as the one you're working on so it might be useful for people who want to experiment to work on the same videos you. I guess you're not always allowed to share those clips but if you can, it might be useful for us :)
Anyway, thanks again! your videos are probably the most educative there are out there!!!
Once again, awesome stuff! Thank you!
Congratulations, the 1st RGB mixer tutorial on the internet 😅😂. Thank you so much. A very underused tool for intermediates & beginners & I can’t seem to find tutorials on it.
Thanks for your amazing videos brother!
This content is another level🔥🔥🔥
Hey Cullen, thanks so much for all the content you're putting out, it's the best channel for grading in DaVinci by far, I shall say the most PRO.
Where one can get hold of your DCTL list?
Thanks so much!
BRUHH I JUST TRIED THIS TECHNIQUE AND HOLY SHITTT!!!!!!!!!!! WORKS MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!! INSTANT SUBSCRIBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whew. Awesome as always. Thanks!
Chromatic Adaption! Saved my bacon with this insight, many, many thanks😊
Chromatic Adaptation set Source Illuminant type Standard Illuminant best assumption (D65 etc.) Set Target Illuminant Type to Color Temperature now you can key frame your Kelvin and Tint across a pan or changing clouds or for whatever. Happy color trails.
Your solutions to these problems are really great, Cullen, but all of these balance situations essentially deal with one color source. Grading documentaries, I sometimes have to color balance subjects lit with two different color sources. For example, daylight and fluorescent or daylight and tungsten are often mixed in challenging ways across a face. How do you tackle these situations? i am hoping you can speak about this in grade school.
I have to watch again and again to understand the MIXer
Again great vid! Thx!
Excellent. Many thanks.
Thanks! Was waiting for this one. :)
now that....was amazing
I work almost exclusively on underwater video and quite often have a very difficult time getting good balance due to the water filtering out red light. Would you please include an example of how you would approach grading something shot under those conditions in your Grade School session?
Lots of people have tried to explain the rgb mixer but they always lose me. I feel like, for once, I have a grasp on it. Thanks!
WHAT!!!???? Thank you for this!
Great video definitely subbing!
Amazing color balance! If we have a normal video, do we still need to use these tools instead of offset wheel to get a little color change?
Right before watching this, I just happened to be going through one of your older livestreams where you did a brief use of the Chromatic Adaptation technique... excellent to see a more in-depth operation. Would you ever combine this with a big soft power window? I deal with a considerable amount of creator-made content for social media posts, and a regular issue is misalignment between the camera (usually a phone) WB and at least one light source in the scene... usually it's a daylit room and there's a big tungsten fixture somewhere, often right on the creator's themselves. Thanks so much!
Thank you!
This is gold
How would you approach the discussion regarding a completely red image become monochromatic!? It definately pulls detail back into the image though. Can you add red back without the image falling apart?
Awesome video!
@@CullenKelly Thank you for sharing this valuable information. I learnd alot from your tutorials.
Balancing those first three shots was fantastic. There are many many times where I forget to change the White Balance in my camera, through user stupidity. May I ask if the Chromatic Adaptation effect is only for fluorescent lighting or can this technique be adapted to most White Balance problems where I either set the camera wrong or forgot to change for my new surroundings either indoors or outdoors?
Sadly I won't be able to follow along at your Grade School as my nasty employer is making me work on the day 😪
However I do have a current project with neon signs/lights which are overpowering on my Vectorscope, so I will be using the technique that you used on "Mrs Red" from the Cludo photobook.
what's the advantage of using chromatic adaptation over temp/tint? Is it more accurate? I'm just a little hesitant to use the technique due to all the guesswork. It seems like there's so many options to choose from, and it feels like a lot of waste time in trial and error, when I can just turn the temperature up or and down and then adjust the tint accordingly. It feels like unless I know the exact
origin light source, it would better to simply use temp/tint.
Wow. ❤ it! Thank u!!
Loved the 3 episodes. The 3rd particularly useful for underwater footage I think. From the first 2 eps I wonder what is the difference between the offset wheel and the global wheel in HDR wheels. Why one vs the other? Thanks!
@@CullenKelly Got it, thank you for the response!
What's the characteristic of linear rgb mixer that differ it from normal rgb mixer?
Great tutorial. I finally understood how to use the RGB mixer. But one question: In your first example, wouldn't it make sense to apply the chromatic adaptation at the beginning of the graph?
@@CullenKelly No doubt about the position of the balancing node in general. I just thought this is more a technical correction of the camera image and thus has to happen upstream.
CAN You please create playlist where can start learning from 0. Like video 1,2,3 so on. It would be really helpful please
Great stuff CK, you may have already answered something similar to this so please point me to that video if it already exists, but If the first phase is to apply a timeline creative LUT and the second phase is to color balance to that creative LUT. Are all color balancing choices subjective at that point? For instance you’re not color correcting (making whites white) but simply balancing a shot to taste of the overall timeline creative LUT? Like it would be weird to apply a LUT that has a teal/blue look but then color balance (correct) it so whites are white, basically overriding the look of the LUT.
Great series, Cullen. Quick question that I can't seem to find anywhere: Are the nodes that are added in the timeline node panel (not in clips) set at the end of the total node tree (clips & timeline)? Meaning that all the nodes that are added in the "clip" node panel work before the timeline panel nodes. In other words... if you put a LUT or a CST node in the timeline node window will it be set at the end of the node tree to then give you the most room to play within the timeline colorspace? I notice that some people often have their CST at the end of their node tree in the clips panel and not the timeline panel... Sorry for the very long winded question.
Thx sensei!
hey, Cullen. I kinda have a love-and-hate relationship with ACEScct, I find that it is a bit too contrasty for my taste and really pushes the images to the North and south. Is there a way to de-contrast and make it look more flat?
Hi Cullen, great video once again, thank you. I see in your node tree you sometimes use the HDR exposure, Can this HDR exposure be considered and use as a PRIMARY color correction and if so can all the other HSL tools be used as a Primary color correction or only the exposure?
@@CullenKelly Thank you, I agree with you and see the logic in your advice as well. I have not yet used the HDR as primary but will try the offset as a primary exposure tool. The other HDR wheels somehow do not feel like primaries, to me anyways, I like them but will use them as secondary. I will however experiment with them as you suggest (when I get some time to do so).
Awesome mate. The CA tool has saved me a number of times. The RGB MIXER is something I’ve been getting into. I really enjoy using although it can be very touchy.
I have a question in regards to applying these techniques in long format:
If we say clips 1-3 are a group (scene)
Clip 4 is a group (scene)- for arguments sake it has 5 more clips to the group and clip 5 is a group with 4 more clips in the group - would you make the adjustments to exposure, ratio and CA or RGB mixer in the post group level (placed before the look) then use your standard node tree at the clip level to tweak? For instance using the RGB offset to further balance or add more separation to a clip or a help match the clips better.
Cheers mate.
@@CullenKelly cheers Mate. I actually experienced this today. Tried it at the group level and noticed serious inconsistencies. I then approached it at a clip level and massaged it in to place.
As always, appreciate your time mate.
Look forward to next week 🤙🏼
@Cullen Kelly could you please explain the different between RGB mixer and ColorCross talk which is use in baselight?
thank you
@@CullenKelly thank you so much 🙏
Slightly off-topic - but is anyone else experiencing how Davinci Wide Gamut is much contrastier in the new 18.1 update? Curious what’s changed.
I shoot a lot of stills in nightclubs. and the light is always horrible. The correction and grading tools inside C1 are so horrible, I wish there was better stills support for Resolve at times.
I wanted to ask a question that I am struggling to find an answer too. When I export my video and airdrop it to my phone I notice that the contrast is not the same. On my macbook, it seems to have more contrast (darks are dark and highlights are bright). But when I export it and airdrop it to my phone, the shadows seem lifted and faded. Any idea why this is happening?
@@CullenKelly that would be blessed!
I'm new to coloring and I've watched all your color management videos but am still a bit confused as to what settings I should use when shooting with the sony a6600. No picture profile (just shooting straight out of the box). Would I just not do any color management if I'm not shooting in log?
Hey Cullen, I appreciate you taking the time to reply! That helps a lot! I just purchased your lut pack for black Friday, excited to test them out on my s73 footage. Happy Holidays!
Cullen, hi! I have a macbook pro 14 which has reference display modes for: 1) DCI p3, 2) P3 with white point at d65 and 3) rec 709. Now I am making film for the cinema and streaming services. I don't understand how should I evaluate a film: in DCI p3, and then put it in rec 709 color management? Or is it safer to evaluate the film in rec 709 (with rec 709 calibration) and transfer it to DCI P3 space when creating a DCP? (bearing in mind that I can not evaluate on a movie projector, but only in the reference mode of the display macbook dci p3)
@@CullenKelly Thank you! When converting to DCP, will the deliverer perform a mechanical conversion to DCP o matic or does he have to do a little work on the overall color of the film for the DCP version?
Hi Cullen, I watch colour grading school almost regularly if time permits me on this side of the world in India. I would request you, if you can, to enlighten us with the HDR wheels vs primaries in grading. Also, I have a Panasonic agcx8 camcorder which I use for documentary projects and I would like to know how to colour manage the footage where I do not get to shoot in log. I love your colour grading school and learn a lot from them. Thank you again.
@@CullenKelly I will love to hear on this from you on grade school, Cullen. Thank you for giving me time.
Hello. A while back last year or so, I asked about a course that would help me go from beginner to pro etc. You mentioned you had something in the works, did you ever released something similar to that?
@@CullenKelly Is the course like a module set up? Or is it live for a few hours only? Multiple days?
First of all - really appreciate you doing demonstration on crappy images. These really do look like some of the badly shot video clips that people send me in a inclusion of an edit with the "Jim will fix it in Post" attitude, all the time.
I try to relay to others that if the footage is like that the miracle of saving the shot, that the end viewer will never know unless you or someone else tells them. And somehow the "You wouldn't believe how bad this looked before" hardly ever comes up later.
In your examples here for instance - the first example is a really great example of using the Chromatic Adaptation to a really good change to start that grade. But the second method, to me even after you attempted the fix, it only looked better relative to the original - This is what I was referring to later. When fixing things like that the end viewer will judge the grade without prior knowledge of that terribly shot image. Not sure if there is no other way to salvage it, that your approach to having it cut out might be something to consider.
And the last one - Just a note to others, that in live concert grades, the image of the red wash will happen all the time, and with some acts, it will only last until the next beat.
I have found that getting the saturation and lowering the channel ( red ) is all that's needed. In the cases I refer to, the stage is likely washed with red by the lighting tech. Trying to neutralize that, is a dog chasing a tail. So best to get it out of clipping, and judge how much saturation works for the clip overall.
The channel mixer on the bottom left - the little dots with the red>green and the green>blue etc. I have never seen any tutorial ever explain the uses for those. It might seem obvious to some colorists - but I would be guessing the uses for that.
Anyway another long winded comment. I really appreciate that you explain the analysis of what's in front of you. Which of course tells you what might be the best approach to fixing the foreseeable problems. I think this one thing (that goes by quite quickly in your lessons) are what other youTube tutorials miss. There is a thing that I see over and over of "Do this " then "Do that" that create the illusion that there are set patterns to a workflow that you do on everything. Of course there are patterns in the workflow, but addressing the problems from the scene source is pretty important to do the color correction. Thanks Cullen.
Hi Jim,
I've never noticed these dots and took a look into the Resolve Manuel:
A set of three buttons at the bottom of the RGB Mixer lets you easily swap two channels with one another. This can be useful as part of a creative look, or corrective in instances where two channels are accidentally reversed.
- Swap Red and Green: Swaps these two color channels.
- Swap Green and Blue: Swaps these two color channels.
- Swap Red and Blue: Swaps these two color channels.
This is inｃれぢbぇ。But could you explain what ”Linear” colorspace is and why you use that?
@@CullenKelly brilliant, hope I'll find it! (I won't be able to watch the entire episodes, will you post outlines of what was covered with timestamps?)
To me, that final image just screams creative intent. They probably wanted it to be a red washed image. Would you use the same technique to recover more detail from the captured data while preserving the red tonality, or would that require a different approach?
i commented on that as well - especially if it is concert footage where the face is in wash of red and on the next beat it wiil be yellow or green etc. I think with that one, it looked right to me when the clipping of the red channel was addressed.
Last clip, what u did was a disaster. Can I get the link of that clip, if it's a stock footage?
it's been a while
@@CullenKelly as always, amazing teacher
first here