Transcription
I would also want to have a look note, but I have no time. So guys, I've decided to make a competition for myself. Today I will be color grading this clip in only 3 minutes. I think I will have a mess here in with my node tree and I will not be labeling the nodes right now. I will be doing everything as I can and will be using the tools that I usually use when I need a really fast results. Just to see where I can push an image. So it won't be precise, sorry, but >> [laughter] >> but we'll see how it turns out.
So what I have here, I have three different clips, but I'll be doing the color grading of this first one. What I've done it before is the group level of these clips and in the group pre-clip I have the CST in. So I convert everything to DaVinci YCbCr intermediate and group post-clip is CST out to Rec.2020. This is how my reference points are calibrated. And in the clip I have nothing. So we'll start from here. I will not be explaining everything what I'm doing. I'll maybe explain it later and show you why I did it. And [snorts] also we'll paste the color grades to the next two clips and match them together because them has a different exposure levels and my maybe a different white balance. I don't know, but let's we'll see. So we'll start from this one. So first of all, let's start the timer and start preparing everything and color grade it. So time is going.
I'll create label nodes faster to get this contrast. Okay, let's disable other clips and here I want to add a little more exposure to open my image. Maybe let's go here and add some shadows. Yes, let's go all the way up. We'll correct that later if I have time. Okay, next let's go to and white balance it a little bit with chromatic adaptation. Let's go change the color temp, color temp. Here I want to a little warmer tones and reduce these green tint. Let's add some more magenta. It's okay. Then I'll go and add a glow that will make everything pop. And this is a fast way to make an image pop. So I'll go to this soft light and change the threshold [snorts] to like this. Spread add some midtones back. And reduce the highlights and gain like this. And maybe just lower the overall effect to like 80%. I feel it's enough. Next I'll do the secondaries and fast. I want to reduce the saturation of this dress and make it more like a pastel. Not so much but a little bit cooler and also add some saturation in the blues in the car and the sky. Everything fine. About her dress, I want to make her pop a little so I'll add the saturation in reds and magentas as well and make them denser. Like this, something yeah. It looks fine. Now I need to add a vignette. >> [snorts] >> I want to create a really nice popping image here. Let's add it like that, softer. Even softer. Ah, it's hard to do with mouse so fast. And now have to invert it and push down the mid tones. Okay. Next, I'll create an outside node and make my subject pop with the contrast slider and push up the pivot. Yes. The last thing I think that I can do is to add a small window over here on the car and maybe just reduce some highlights so it won't be so blown out. And I feel that it's like a daytime now, but I want to add more like a evening vibe, so I will reduce the opacity of my exposure node, something like that. I would also want to add a look node, but I have no time. Okay.
So, I think I've done it as I could. It's not perfect for sure. It can be better, but let's see on the full screen what I've done here in 3 minutes. Before and after. Yes, it looks really nice, much better and it's popping. The subject is popping, her dress is popping. Maybe I feel that the blues are a little too saturated and maybe I would like to desaturate the grass a little bit more, but it is as it is for now.
Okay, so let's add the look node I had in mind but did not have time to create. I want to make the image look slightly more vintage, warm up the highlights while still keeping the shadows a bit cooler. So, first of all, I'll start with the highlights using the gain wheel. By reducing the blue channel, I can add some yellow tones to the highlights and I'll balance them by removing a little bit of green, too. Like that. Now, since the shadows became warmer, too, I will remove some reds from them using the lift wheel and again balance everything by removing a little bit of green, too. Looks nice. Let's compare it before and after. Before and after. Looks good. Now, I'll use my nailer DCTL to check my neutrals. I want to keep the darkest shadow neutral. This blue overlay shows all the neutral pixels. So, I'll switch to the log wheels to adjust them locally and using the shadow wheel, I'll remove a little bit of blue and green [clears throat] until the neutral indication becomes stronger. Like that. Okay, let's disable the overlay. Next, I feel like the blacks are a little too crushed. They were already crushed before I started color grading. As you can see, these shadows are sitting very, very low. I want to keep them at almost the same level, but soften them just a little. So, I'll use the loss of slider and lift them slightly to create a subtle milky effect. I also feel that after these look adjustments, the midtones became a little too warm. So, I'll go back to the primary wheels and using gamma wheel, remove a little bit of red and add just a touch of green. Like so. Also, as I mentioned before, I want to reduce the saturation in blues. I'll use the same color slice tool in the note where I boosted the reds and magentas before. Just reduce the blues a little bit here. Okay, and maybe go back to the color warper where I made the grass more pastel and reduce its saturation just a little more. Like this. That feels better to me. Okay, now let's switch to full screen and see what this look note actually doing. Before, the highlights were a little cooler and the shadows were cooler, as well. Overall, the image felt more cool and neutral. After adding the look, it gives the highlights a warmer feel. The sky, the car, and the lit side of her face all have a much nicer warmth to them. I think it looks better.
Now, let's take a look at everything I've done with all these color grading nodes. This is before. Let's check it in full screen. It looked like this, and after it really starts to pop. The whole grade was created in about 3 minutes except for the look node, which took me a little more extra time to fine-tune. So, let's [clears throat] rate my color grading in the comments below. But now, let's go and copy-paste this grade to another clips, and we'll match them.
Okay, so let's first label all the nodes so I can use this as my final color grade on other clips. The first node is highs. I intentionally placed it before all other color grading nodes because I want to control the base image while it still has the widest dynamic range. The next node is exposure. After that comes the two layer nodes for the filmic contrast. Then goes balance. Next is secondaries. Then color slice where I pushed the reds in her dress. Next comes the vignette. Then the outside node to add a bit more pop to the center of the frame. And then goes look node. And finally, glow. That's everything I've done in this node tree. Before I switch to matching two other shots, let's go through everything once again, node by node. I'll disable all the nodes. So, my first step was adding more contrast to bring an image to life. I used two layer nodes with a layer mixer set to soft light. This is really fast and beautiful way to create contrast. In the node before that, I added some exposure using HDR Global Wheel. I find this to be the most natural way to adjust exposure. I also made a small adjustments in the bottom layer node, so the contrast wouldn't affect the shadows as much. I brightened the shadows using the lift wheel and also lifted them with shadow wheel, so the contrast doesn't feel too harsh. Next, I adjusted the balance because I felt an image is a little too cold and leaned towards green. Using chromatic adaptation, I warmed it up a little and shifted towards magenta. The next node is secondary adjustments. Here, using the color warper, I made the greens less saturated and more pastel and also added some saturation in the blues, especially in the car. Oh, I forgot that I've added a glow before that. Glow really makes an image pop and adds more saturation. I prefer placing this kind of effects near the end of the node tree, so I can make other adjustments before applying them. Then, I boosted the reds in her dress, added a little saturation, and made them denser. That gives them more like a filmic feel. Then, I created a vignette by darkening the midtones around the center of the image to draw more attention to our subject and the car. Then, created an outside [clears throat] node, which uses the inverted mask from the vignette node. Here, I added a bit more contrast and adjusted the pivots, so the center of the frame became brighter and stood out a little more. Next, I've created the very first node to the node tree with a small circular mask just to bring down the highlights on the car. That helps recover some color information and texture. Of course, I always need to check if the shot is moving and if I need to track the mask, but for this clip, it's completely fine. And finally, I created the look. It's a very subtle adjustment just to warm up the highlights a little and give an image a slightly more vintage feel. Fine.
Now, let's move to the next clip and apply this grade from this finished one. The first thing I notice is that the highs node was created especially for the highlights on the car in the wide shot. So, I don't think I need it here. I'll simply delete it. Next, I always look at the overall exposure of the clip. Is it darker or brighter? I can disable the exposure node and see what it does here. Yes, it definitely improves the image, but I still feel this clip is a little darker than the previous one. So, first I'll reset the key output, I mean the node opacity, and then use my nail or DCTL, enable the four split exposure indication, and check the brightness levels. Okay, I also feel the previous clip had slightly less contrast. So, here I'll lower the opacity of my contrast layer node to give it slightly softer look. Then, I'll go back to the exposure node and lower the highlights until I get roughly the same orange indication on the car. I usually switch back and forth between clips to see how they feel and whether the exposure transition is smooth. Looks nice, but this one still feels a little too warm to me. So, I'll go to the balance node and cool it down slightly. Like that. Let's compare it again. Yes, that feels much better now. One more thing I don't really like is these very strong blues in the windshield. So, I'll go back to the color slice node and reduce the blue saturation while keeping that nice cyan color on the car itself. Maybe I'll also shift the hue slightly towards teal. Yes, that looks much better. Let's enable the vector scope as well to check the signal. Yes, I think these clips are matching really well now. Same look, same feeling, great.
Now, let's switch to the third clip and do exactly the same thing by applying the grade from the previous shot. As you can see, this one looks much brighter. It was shot with a higher exposure, so as always, the first thing I'll do is check what the exposure node does here. It actually looks much better without it, and it's still slightly too bright, so I'll reset the adjustments and do the opposite by lowering the exposure in my HDR global wheel. I'll also check it with my nailer indication and compare it with the previous clip. As you can see, the bright side of her face is indicated in yellow, then transitions into dark green indication, which represents middle gray. In this clip, I have more orange, which tells me that the highlights are hotter and brighter. So, I can simply reduce the highlights until I get mostly that yellow indication again, matching highlight levels. Yes, like that. Let's see how the exposure feels when switching between the clips now. Right now, I'm not looking at the colors or white balance at all, just the exposure, and it feels really consistent. Fine. Next, I can immediately see that this clip is much warmer, so I'll go to the balance node and use chromatic adaptation Kelvin slider to cool it down a little. Like that. I also like checking it with my nailer balance indication. Let's enable it and switch back to the clip. In this case, I can balance everything by looking at the skin tone indication. Compared to the previous clip, the brightest parts of her skin are indicated in green, meaning those highlights lean slightly towards yellow-green tones, which is exactly what I want. Then, skin midtones are indicated in orange, representing healthy skin tones, and the shadow areas shift more towards magenta red. This is exactly the kind of skin hue separation you want to preserve to keep skin looking natural and healthy under these natural lighting conditions. But in this clip, everything feels just a little warmer. So, I'll cool it down a little bit more. Yes, that looks much better. The next thing I notice is that the grass became a little less saturated compared to the first clip. So, I'll go back to the secondary node and inside the color warper, push the green slightly back. This will increase the saturation. Like that. Let's check all three clips again. Yes, now they feel like one continuous sequence. Same look, same contrast, and nothing distracts my eyes. Great.
Now, let's watch everything in full screen. >> [music] >> I hope you enjoyed this episode. Let me know in the comments below. I sometimes challenge myself like this and it's actually a lot of fun because it teaches me to make faster decisions and get results much more quickly. Most real projects are very limited on time and when you have to color grade hundreds of clips in single day, you simply can't spend hours on tweaking one shot. You need to work fast and efficiently. [music] All the tools that I've used in this episode are linked in the description below, but now, don't forget to hit that like button, subscribe to the channel if you haven't already, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye.