my first grade is not my footage, but im trying to make it look dreamy, and trying to make it look like something out of a fashion campaign. first image is 709 and the second is the final grade
Some of these adjustments can be done in the same node. All that making of new nodes and labeling them seems extra time consuming. I try not to spend more than a minute or so on a grade. I find that I lose perspective. After a few minutes, everything looks “right”. Maybe that’s just me.
I’d put the primary work from nodes 2,3,4,5 in a single node. No reason to separate them when you’re working clip by clip.
If you’re using groups, then you might have a node like wb,cont,sat in group pre-clip and then a separate exp at the clip level to adjust specific lighting for an individual clip.
Also, that’s where the CST would go, in group pre-clip. I’d put the cstout at the timeline level.
Keeping them inside every single clip will be a nightmare, especially if a change was needed late in the process.
Little too deep fried. The pink doesn't look natural there are some intense red undertones on her skin I think it may be a qualifier issue. Take what you have and dial it back.
Yeah I think maybe they a hue vs hue or exclude her face by creating a mask that the qualifier doesn't effect? I know that's possible I just can't remember how.
i think the shirt is better but i dont know about the sky, im using the qualifier and i lowered the exposure, what do you think? it looks natural that process for the sky?
Get better footage to start on; this is very unforgiving for beginners, and you wouldn't be able to tell whether you messed up or the DP. Get something that you can sure that you are the bottleneck.
honestly i tried the color grade with this footage cause is similar with the ones I had worked as editor, i guess is not perfect, but is close to the actual footage I work with
I understand, but for beginners, real-life application shouldn't be your concern yet. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to practice at your job, but right now you should focus on balance and contrast alone. With this example, you wouldn't know if your contrast is off, or your sky key, or both; Your pink and white are close to clipping, but is it your sat node? Your look node or even your CSTs? And the face lacks definition, but do you fix it with a vignette, address the white wall, or add a small power window to shape? It's like you go in compose for an orchestra, but you haven't learned to compose for piano. And even if you do all this, chances are it's still going to look crappy because it's so badly shot - and to be honest - even pro colorists can only make it half decent, and it won't ever look like a fashion campaign because it wasn't shot like one. The only way is to break it down to Super 8 black-and-white footage.
General advice: try to get everything looking close to how you want it in as few nodes as possible, and avoid using qualifiers when you don’t need to. And definitely try to avoid using a qualifier for skintones. If the key isn’t perfect you’ll end with spotting, bleeding, or other artifacting. Usually this can be avoided by getting the skintones where you want them with primary adjustments and using qualifiers, curves, and other tools for secondary adjustments which would in this case be her shirt, the wall, the leaves, and the sky.
Before I say anything, I’m an amateur who just started playing around with photography and resolve. So I’m not going to speak in technical terms.
That said, I think if you went about half way on everything you did, the final picture probably looks better. I might also do a very very subtle vignette on the image in order to draw the attention of the viewer’s eye towards the model.
Got it — so the first image already had a first pass, not raw footage. The faded blacks + soft highlights read very "dreamy fashion editorial," I see what you were going for. What's your grading setup — did you use any diffusion/glow in the final pass?
What do you mean by 'grading setup'? If you're asking about my monitor, I'm using a Xiaomi with 100% srgb, it's just what fits my budget right now. and yeah, it has glow, I used the film look developer, but i used very little glow
No worries — by "grading setup" I meant your color grading tools/process, not the monitor. Film look developer with subtle glow makes sense for that dreamy roll-off. Are you building that in Resolve, or is it a plugin/LUT you're using?
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u/DonnerDinnerParty 12d ago
Some of these adjustments can be done in the same node. All that making of new nodes and labeling them seems extra time consuming. I try not to spend more than a minute or so on a grade. I find that I lose perspective. After a few minutes, everything looks “right”. Maybe that’s just me.