Color Grading Questions

Sometimes thought of as "Photoshop for moving images," color grading is the step in our image crafting pipeline where we manipulate the image to make it look a certain way. It's a vital step in almost every video; understanding it will help you craft more compelling images. In cinema, color grading is a creative choice taken by a creative individual or team on how best to tell and represent the story of a film.

What is color grading? Here's all you need to know

Color grading is the unsung hero of content creation; from still imagery to cinema, find out how you can become a color grading master. You may be doing color grading daily without realizing you're doing it. Color grading is a central part of content creation. For example, changing levels or curves in Photoshop, taking a photograph in black and white, and adjusting a person's face color in After Effects are all color grading. While there are software packages that excel at helping artists adjust colors, color grading applies to the creative thought process of why it needs to be changed, rather than correcting it, which is making images work. In this article, we look at why we need color grading and how color grading can have an intentionally dramatic effect on the film. Finally, we will look at some of the best software tools to help with color grading for video and photography, of which some of the best are free.

Is color grading necessary?

Color grading can be used to denote mood, character, and time. Considering a color look for a creative project before production is essential to any process. Pixar, one of the masters of storytelling, creates a range of color scripts before production commences, indicating the color palette used for each scene; this ensures that the color is helping to tell the story rather than fight against it.

What's the difference between color correction and color grading?

Color grading is more about style than 'fixing' things in an image. Even though the tools and software are the same, the difference between color correction and color grading is the mental approach taken by the creative team. Color correction includes removing spots and dust from an image, skin marks, cropping, and picture composition. Color correction is also applicable to making footage from different cameras 'match' so that a consistent look can be achieved throughout a scene when the color grader is applied. Color grading is adjusting the image in specific ways to create a stylistic effect. For example, 'crushing' the blacks of an image to make it feel contemporary, or taking the matched shots from a camera and tracking and lightening the main characters' faces to stand out. The one essential thing is making sure that any color choice, whether for color correction or grading, is made using non-destructive methods. If a camera has a neutral color or flat profile, or a log profile, use that. Render CG using a file type that can support as high a bit depth as the equipment can handle. This will ensure the maximum amount of flexibility in both color processes.

What is cinematic color grading?

In cinema, color grading is a creative choice taken by a creative individual or team on how best to represent the story being told by using color. Naturally, color grading is heavily influenced by decisions made on set by the director of photography (DOP) and the director. If the production pipeline has ensured that they have been shooting in the most flexible way possible (for example, RAW recording or shooting in LOG format), this means that decisions can be made regarding color grading through to the final edit. CG artists are acutely aware of the need to accommodate color grading workflows, so they use file formats such as EXRs, which store a wide range of color data. Workflows like the ACES (Academy Color Encoding System) are being developed to ensure color accuracy across as many different input formats as possible, hopefully making color work less about correction and more about color grading. Because color grading is primarily an emotional polish on a film, many feature films leave the color grade to the end of the production process. Color grading will involve the director sitting in a dark room with the colorist; this can be a standalone post (or the editor on smaller productions) making changes to affect the mood of the entire film. Color grading in cinema (and TV) can be controversial, especially as cinemas and TV look to formats such as HDR.

Best tools for color grading

The industry standards are Filmlight's Baselight and Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve, where the latter offers a professional color grading and editing toolset for absolutely nothing. For moving image content creators, there is no better piece of software to learn color grading on than Blackmagic Design's Davinci Resolve. Davinci Resolve started its life as a color grading tool, which worked with impressive hardware color wheel desks. Blackmagic Design has added VFX and editing features to resolve to make it a powerhouse creative tool. The best thing is that it is free for any artist on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Why do you need to color grade?

Some people wonder, "Why do you even need to do a color grade? Why doesn't the camera just look perfect when you shoot it?"

Well, there are two big reasons for this. The first is technical. You want a camera exposing the broadest range of information possible. To make it look good, you'll need to give up some of that information to focus the eye where you want it to look. You want to wait as long as possible in the process to throw that information away, so cameras focus on exposing the widest latitude possible. Even in film days, cameras wanted to expose the widest latitude possible. The second reason you have to grade is artistic. Not everyone agrees on what "looking good" even means, and it will not be the same for every project. Your thriller film might want less color and a cooler look, while your romantic comedy might want more saturation and a warmer look. The camera doesn't know what type of film it's shooting; there is no "genre" setting in the menu with options for romcom and horror. So we color grade to craft the images to be appropriate for the story we are telling in each case.

To summarize, color grading adds much production value to your film and helps channel the story to the viewers, which is essential in the storytelling process.

What is color grading in a video?

Color grading in a video is the process of altering the existing colors to make them more vibrant and stylistic. Color grading is required not only for artistic preferences but also to create technical changes to enhance the video quality. Video clarity and color depend on many factors, such as the filmed time of day. When harsh shadows or overcasts exist, it will be necessary to color grade the video for improved appearance.

What is video color grading used for?

Color grading is popular in the photography and cinematic industries, and any still image or motion piece that utilizes a camera may need color grading. In addition, individuals, businesses, and freelancers engage in color grading to improve advertisement pieces and general videos. Moreover, we can use color grading to develop your brand image. Differentiating yourself in a highly competitive environment requires the implementation of a unique attribute, such as overlaying all images and videos with a particular color hue.

Why does a video need color grading?

Videos need color grading to avoid bland and unappealing outputs. Most videos will retain a dull color palette, leading to a lack of consumer interest and no differentiation between competitors. However, by adjusting the color schemes through brightness, highlights, shadows, and contrast, you can spark interest through attractive images and eye-catching colors. In addition, many colorists can highlight their artistic abilities through the effective use of color grading.

What tools are used to color grade a video?

The first tool used in the color grading process is a look-up table, with each seller adjusting the table to their needs. Manual color grading is not as prevalent as a software program that allows colorists to adjust different factors easily. Typical software programs include DaVinci Resolve 17, Color Finale 2, FilmConvert, Lustre, and Baselight.