Introduction: Color Balance (05:43)

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Brett Danton discusses the importance of ensuring the fabric color is correct while creating a mood with the background using grading. Colorists can only make RGB contrast image adjustments in Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere. Ollie Kenchington discusses the protocol for balancing color by ensuring the blacks, whites, and grays are accurate; scopes will help detect any issues.

Parade (06:40)

Kenchington demonstrates how to add a complimentary color to reduce the blue tone using the DaVinci Resolve tool. Parade helps a colorist spot whether the red, green, and blue waveforms are in alignment. All colors add up to white.

Color Wheel (02:44)

The color wheel is a plot of every hue and spans from 0-360°.

Vectorscope (09:27)

Black, white, and gray should have RGB levels equal. A vectorscope shows the coordinates of the hues and saturation levels of an image. Yellow flowers, green foliage, and a blue planter box are all shown; most objects do not appear more than 50% saturated.

Vectorscope: Luma Wave Form (05:37)

Turn off the y in the luma waveform. This tool helps demonstrate when the traces go white. Have a dedicated monitor just for scopes to help adjust color grading; create a circular power window to check the color of a piece of furniture.

Color Curves (05:17)

Kenchington demonstrates how to roll-off color using the loom versus sat and color-specific curves. Bezier handles can control it even more specifically.

RGB Color Picker (03:58)

Kenchington demonstrates how one can see the Red Green Blue values using 8-bit footage. DaVinci uses a 1023 scale based upon 10-bits. Incorporate magenta if there is too much green in the footage.

Simultaneous Contrast (04:33)

A human's brain changes its perception of a color based upon the colors surrounding it. Kenchington demonstrates how to contrast trick the audience and explains when to ignore the scopes.

Primary Grading (10:16)

Kenchington demonstrates how to color grade a shot by adjusting the contrast, the mid-tones, saturation, and hue. The final grade includes a second node to pull out the yellow and reds. Most clients want the shot to look accurate and realistic.