Davinci resolve qualifier tool

[Grégory LEROY]

Hello everyone,

I have to color correct those horrible sony A7SII file.

I first use the qualifier tool to correct the sky color. Then, when I want to correct the skin with the same corrector, it automatically apply the sky correction to the skin.

How can I correct the skin regardless of the sky?

Thank you.

[Axel]

Nobody answers, because you didn't RTFM.

You have to eventually, but I help you out once:

To perform the same tool with another purpose, you need a new > NODE (manual)

Efficient order of corrections:

1. Node - primary corrections, optimize contrast, get rid of color cast.

The second node (learn about the differences of sequential and parallel nodes) sees the first node as another instance of the image. You perform everything on top of the first.

2, 3 asf.. Node - secondary corrections - you isolate colors with the qualifier or areas with a mask.

Finally you create a look on top of the primary and secondary correction with further nodes.

You can >save the grade

It becomes a still to be compared to ungraded shots with the splitscreen tool, but it can also be dragged&dropped to ungraded clips. If you have done all corrections in meaningful order and understand your own "node tree", you can easily adjust minor differences in exposure asf. in the rest of the shots. No faster and easier method.

[Axel]

BTW: I made a mistake, it's serial node, not sequential node.

You seem to have FCP X (other thread). This is way more easy to comprehend and much more intuitive in many respects.

Even correctly exposed and white-balanced clips sometimes don't have very appealing skin tones. Canon and Nikon are often (but not always) better at that than Sony. With optimal A7rii (PP6, sharpness and saturation dialed down, my own preference over S-log) - footage, the skin looked less attractive than possible. I had just loaded the Tiffen DFX plugins as a trial and browsed through them. One filter, called Nude/FX, warms up skin tones. A porn filter if you like. I created a better one in Motion (copying the colorize - filter and reversing the skin-keyer to 'colorize' instead of 'protect').  You have to move the "AXS" folder from downloads to >private >movies >motion templates >effects, then you find it in FCP X's effect browser (it's called "Hautfarben', german for skin color), with preview also.

In FCP X, try to use an adjustment layer, connected above the whole length of the timeline (move titles and graphics above it, so that they aren't influenced). You could ...

a) ... use FCP X's own qualifier ("color mask" in >effects >color >color), select the skin tones  *over* ONE clip and correct them. You could also save this corrections as "skin" or so. Don't be too "in-tolerant". No problem, if some wood, "autumn leaves" (name of a Sony creative style, an inside joke, pleasing colors, but not very grading-friendly and suboptimal DR) or cereals are changed as well. 

b) ... find a Lut that changes the skin tones (or export your own one using Resolve, but beware: expert level !!!), using LutUtility or Color Finale.

c) ... just apply my crude colorize filter to the adjustment layer. 

... many ways to skin a cat.

The concept of the adjustment layer allows easier control over your operations. Needless to say than you can stack them and rename them, blade them and toggle their visibilty with "v" for before & after as well as change blend modes and transparency. You could key your weird colored sky (proof that you made some major mistakes) with FCP X's own excellent keyer and apply a correction on a separate adjustment layer. They are not as good as Resolves nodes, nor is any of those tools nearly as precise as those within Resolve (okay, one, the keyer), but I found out for myself that I never will become a master of colors and that the unbelievable simplicity of FCP X leads to pleasing results very quickly.