Midtone Detail in Resolve - Thoughts?

[mercer]

I’ve been testing more parameters of the Raw Tab in Resolve... I’m still on 14 if that matters... and I really like the subtle effect the Midtone Detail has on skin tone and texture.

I know some people use masks and keys and lower it via the color wheels to clean blemishes and smooth the skin, but I actually prefer the wrinkles and imperfections of the human face... they tell a story. 

It’s like the old saying... be proud of your wrinkles... you’ve earned them.

Anyway, just curious if anybody else utilizes this tool and to what effect?

[kye]

I've used it with a key to beautify skin a few times, but I'm not sure that it's the best way to go as I haven't compared it to other methods.

Also worth checking out is the Sharpen and Soften OFX plugin which gives you independent sliders for small, medium and large textures so you have more control, and it let's you sharpen some and soften others so it's powerful for skin tones.

If you want to use a dedicated sharpen or blur tool you can use the Edge Detection OFX plugin (I think that's what it's called) in the mode to display the edges and then connect the main output from that to the key input of the node with your effect in it. This gives you the ability to apply any filter to edges (and presumably also the inverse) in a very controllable way. 

There are so many ways to get the job done in Resolve!

[KnightsFan]

The only time i really used it was when i had a single outdoor shot between two indoor scenes. The outdoor shot was very busy with high frequency detail, especially in grass and leaves. The indoor shots had almost no hi frequency patterns. So i reduced midtone detail on the outdoor shot a little bit just to soften it, and make it stand out less.

[Mark Romero 2]

On 11/18/2018 at 7:58 PM, kye said:

There are so many ways to get the job done in Resolve! 

Indeed.

[TheRenaissanceMan]

One of the most popular tools in Resolve, which is why it has a dedicated dial in the Blackmagic micro studio panel. Great for adding some "grit," beautifying, or any other time you need to emphasize or downplay the appearance of fine detail.

[mercer]

2 hours ago, TheRenaissanceMan said:

One of the most popular tools in Resolve, which is why it has a dedicated dial in the Blackmagic micro studio panel. Great for adding some "grit," beautifying, or any other time you need to emphasize or downplay the appearance of fine detail.

It seems it. I imagine it becomes really impressive when you’re doing power windows and secondaries but even for a self-proclaimed lazy colorist like myself, it really adds a punch to the image. 

5 hours ago, KnightsFan said:

The only time i really used it was when i had a single outdoor shot between two indoor scenes. The outdoor shot was very busy with high frequency detail, especially in grass and leaves. The indoor shots had almost no hi frequency patterns. So i reduced midtone detail on the outdoor shot a little bit just to soften it, and make it stand out less.

Nice use of the tool. Thanks. 

[mercer]

Here’s a still I grabbed in Resolve from a shot I used Midtone Detail fairly liberally. Before I applied it, my actor didn’t look nearly as weathered.

I’m having some display issues where I cannot get the exported image to completely replicate what I’m seeing in the timeline... but that’s a topic for another thread...

And I’m really just starting to scratch the surface of the cool tricks Resolve can do. I also just realized that I can copy a grade from a still I grabbed... what a timesaver. I can’t see myself completely using Resolve as an NLE but as an intermediary before bringing the footage into FCPX, definitely!

[CaptainHook]

On 11/19/2018 at 7:03 AM, mercer said:

I’ve been testing more parameters of the Raw Tab in Resolve... I’m still on 14 if that matters... and I really like the subtle effect the Midtone Detail has on skin tone and texture.

FYI just in case you're not aware, midtone detail is also available in the primary tab and is not a raw tab exclusive control.

[Shirozina]

I call it the 'zeiss look' slider

[kye]

On 11/21/2018 at 9:06 AM, mercer said:

Here’s a still I grabbed in Resolve from a shot I used Midtone Detail fairly liberally. Before I applied it, my actor didn’t look nearly as weathered.

I’m having some display issues where I cannot get the exported image to completely replicate what I’m seeing in the timeline... but that’s a topic for another thread...

And I’m really just starting to scratch the surface of the cool tricks Resolve can do. I also just realized that I can copy a grade from a still I grabbed... what a timesaver. I can’t see myself completely using Resolve as an NLE but as an intermediary before bringing the footage into FCPX, definitely!

Definitely suits the aesthetic, nice work

It's a ton of work to learn a new package so I can understand not moving from FCPX, but what I would suggest is getting familiar with the colour tab and what you can do there.  Watching a good 10-20 minute walkthrough video showing you all the controls for colour will pay dividends almost immediately.  For example, did you know that in the Colour tab you can highlight any number of clips, and then right-click on a graded clip and select Apply Grade (I think that's what it's called) and it copies the entire grade onto the highlighted clips.

Also worth noting is from a Still you can choose Append to node graph, so you can have stills that have parts of a grade and you can just build a grade from there bit by bit.  I've messed around in the past having Stills that had different converter nodes, nodes to desaturate the shadows/highlights, the Glow OFX plugin, etc etc.

[kye]

Here's what I suspect most people use MD for...