The Resolve / Colour Grading resource thread

[heart0less]

Take it with a grain of salt, BUT despite the clickbaity title (which is totally intentional), it's a solid piece of advice and shows how a professional DP tackles basic color grading.

 

[kye]

2 hours ago, heart0less said:

Take it with a grain of salt, BUT despite the clickbaity title (which is totally intentional), it's a solid piece of advice and shows how a professional DP tackles basic color grading.

Cool video and solid technique.

The biggest thing I have taken away from the professional colourists is that they have have mastered the basics, and most of the time they don't do anything fancy and don't have to.  They typically only have to get fancy when there were issues with how something was shot and they have to correct problems, so that completely lines up with that video, where the DP does basics to check they haven't stuffed things up.

[kye]

This is interesting and useful.

It shows you how Resolve can render the colour grading up to a certain node, but not beyond it.

So for example, if your node tree started with a Deflicker (great for timelapses), then NR, then a Motion Blur (for fake 180 shutter!) then you could render these three nodes into a cache but then grade normally after these and unless you go back and adjust one of them it wouldn't need to re-render that cache.

I've never heard about this before, so thought it was worth sharing.

 

[kye]

I exported a 4K video from Resolve last night for upload to YT and thought I'd give h265 a go, as it would be less to upload, but the quality was worse than I expected, so I did another export in h264 like I normally do.

Both were set to automatic quality, and the h265 file was half the size of the h264 file, but the h265 was significantly more compressed with skin textures and other low-contrast fine detail considerably worse.

Has anyone noticed this?

[kye]

I was recommended the Colour Correction Handbook - Second Edition by Alexis Van Hurkman so I ordered it.  It just arrived today, and I am having trouble remembering a time when I was so excited about a book.

I wasn't excited when it arrived, I only got excited when I started reading through the contents page, and flicking through some of the chapters.  It's like every heading is a thing I've been wondering and struggling with.  At first glance it looks like a good mix of technical stuff, techniques, and creative applications.

and the best part?  It's over 600 pages!

[herein2020]

28 minutes ago, kye said:

I was recommended the Colour Correction Handbook - Second Edition by Alexis Van Hurkman so I ordered it.  It just arrived today, and I am having trouble remembering a time when I was so excited about a book.

I wasn't excited when it arrived, I only got excited when I started reading through the contents page, and flicking through some of the chapters.  It's like every heading is a thing I've been wondering and struggling with.  At first glance it looks like a good mix of technical stuff, techniques, and creative applications.

and the best part?  It's over 600 pages!

I decided long ago that I will never be very good at color grading....there are only so many hours in a day to do anything and I'm working on average 80hrs a week as it is now.  I provide an even mix of photography (models, fashion, events, real estate, landscape, etc) and video (weddings, music videos, events, promo videos, etc) all as a one man band. So I've worked myself into a place where I am more of a generalist vs. a specialist, everything I do must be economical and above all efficient if I'm going to keep up with the endless inbound stream of projects. 

So I approach color grading the same way I do everything else; what is the quickest way to reach a point where the client is happy with the final product? For me that involves a few simple things....properly WB when shooting on set, try to properly expose for the scene (sometimes a little under and sometimes highlights are clipped due to factors beyond my control), shoot a flat profile (CLOG3 out of the C200 ,a modified Cinelike-D profile in the GH5, a neutral profile in the drones, flat profile in the GoPro), and in post I use the Canon CLOG3 to Rec709 LUT for the C200 and the WFM for all of the other cameras. Within the WFM I expand the image to the edges of the Rec709 limits for each clip to give them all a neutral grade starting point. 

At this point every clip is pretty much looking pretty good but only conformed to Rec709...so my secret sauce is a LUT pack that I bought from a professional Hollywood colorist Noam Kroll.  His LUTs are amazing and much more subtle than most of the ones you find on the Internet. I've found his LUTs to be better than the camera makers themselves. So after I have my whole timeline conformed to Rec709 I add an Adjustment Clip over the top of the entire timeline in Davinci Resolve and apply one of Noam's LUTs; his Master Pack III is probably the most expensive LUT pack out there but so worth it. I haven't used any other creative LUT since I bought his. In my opinion this process gets me to a very professional look very quickly without having to spend a lifetime learning the job of a colorist.

Noam Kroll

https://cinecolor.io/

[Trek of Joy]

55 minutes ago, kye said:

I was recommended the Colour Correction Handbook - Second Edition by Alexis Van Hurkman so I ordered it.  It just arrived today, and I am having trouble remembering a time when I was so excited about a book.

I wasn't excited when it arrived, I only got excited when I started reading through the contents page, and flicking through some of the chapters.  It's like every heading is a thing I've been wondering and struggling with.  At first glance it looks like a good mix of technical stuff, techniques, and creative applications.

and the best part?  It's over 600 pages!

I just got the same book, going to start on it today. I feel I have a decent understanding of the basics - getting the RGB parade sorted between 0-100 IRE, removing color casts, getting faces on the skintone line and such. But its all the fine tuning that I sometimes struggle with - like getting shots in different lighting conditions to match better and just making the image pop a little more. Lots of reviews say experienced colorists learn stuff from the book, so I'm a sponge ready to soak up the knowledge.

Good luck!

Chris

[Trek of Joy]

14 minutes ago, herein2020 said:

I decided long ago that I will never be very good at color grading....there are only so many hours in a day to do anything and I'm working on average 80hrs a week as it is now.  I provide an even mix of photography (models, fashion, events, real estate, landscape, etc) and video (weddings, music videos, events, promo videos, etc) all as a one man band. So I've worked myself into a place where I am more of a generalist vs. a specialist, everything I do must be economical and above all efficient if I'm going to keep up with the endless inbound stream of projects. 

So I approach color grading the same way I do everything else; what is the quickest way to reach a point where the client is happy with the final product? For me that involves a few simple things....properly WB when shooting on set, try to properly expose for the scene (sometimes a little under and sometimes highlights are clipped due to factors beyond my control), shoot a flat profile (CLOG3 out of the C200 ,a modified Cinelike-D profile in the GH5, a neutral profile in the drones, flat profile in the GoPro), and in post I use the Canon CLOG3 to Rec709 LUT for the C200 and the WFM for all of the other cameras. Within the WFM I expand the image to the edges of the Rec709 limits for each clip to give them all a neutral grade starting point. 

At this point every clip is pretty much looking pretty good but only conformed to Rec709...so my secret sauce is a LUT pack that I bought from a professional Hollywood colorist Noam Kroll.  His LUTs are amazing and much more subtle than most of the ones you find on the Internet. I've found his LUTs to be better than the camera makers themselves. So after I have my whole timeline conformed to Rec709 I add an Adjustment Clip over the top of the entire timeline in Davinci Resolve and apply one of Noam's LUTs; his Master Pack III is probably the most expensive LUT pack out there but so worth it. I haven't used any other creative LUT since I bought his. In my opinion this process gets me to a very professional look very quickly without having to spend a lifetime learning the job of a colorist.

Noam Kroll

https://cinecolor.io/

Any chance you can share some before/after frames from the cameras you listed, that's a wide mix, curious to see how well those LUT's marry all of that together. TIA.

Chris

[herein2020]

4 hours ago, Trek of Joy said:

Any chance you can share some before/after frames from the cameras you listed, that's a wide mix, curious to see how well those LUT's marry all of that together. TIA.

Chris

I'll see if I can put something together, my projects take up so much space I archive them as soon as they are done but I'll try to put together some samples, I definitely do not have anything at the level of the professional YouTubers where you have all the cameras side by side; also in that scenario the different cameras would probably be more obvious, but I'll try to find a couple of clips from the same project and show before and afters.

The most challenging for me is shooting a scene with the C200 locked down then trying to match the footage out of the GH5 to the C200 since it is the same scene. My method is quick and easy as long as two different cameras do not shoot the exact same scene.

[kye]

10 hours ago, herein2020 said:

I decided long ago that I will never be very good at color grading....there are only so many hours in a day to do anything and I'm working on average 80hrs a week as it is now.  I provide an even mix of photography (models, fashion, events, real estate, landscape, etc) and video (weddings, music videos, events, promo videos, etc) all as a one man band. So I've worked myself into a place where I am more of a generalist vs. a specialist, everything I do must be economical and above all efficient if I'm going to keep up with the endless inbound stream of projects. 

So I approach color grading the same way I do everything else; what is the quickest way to reach a point where the client is happy with the final product? For me that involves a few simple things....properly WB when shooting on set, try to properly expose for the scene (sometimes a little under and sometimes highlights are clipped due to factors beyond my control), shoot a flat profile (CLOG3 out of the C200 ,a modified Cinelike-D profile in the GH5, a neutral profile in the drones, flat profile in the GoPro), and in post I use the Canon CLOG3 to Rec709 LUT for the C200 and the WFM for all of the other cameras. Within the WFM I expand the image to the edges of the Rec709 limits for each clip to give them all a neutral grade starting point. 

At this point every clip is pretty much looking pretty good but only conformed to Rec709...so my secret sauce is a LUT pack that I bought from a professional Hollywood colorist Noam Kroll.  His LUTs are amazing and much more subtle than most of the ones you find on the Internet. I've found his LUTs to be better than the camera makers themselves. So after I have my whole timeline conformed to Rec709 I add an Adjustment Clip over the top of the entire timeline in Davinci Resolve and apply one of Noam's LUTs; his Master Pack III is probably the most expensive LUT pack out there but so worth it. I haven't used any other creative LUT since I bought his. In my opinion this process gets me to a very professional look very quickly without having to spend a lifetime learning the job of a colorist.

Noam Kroll

https://cinecolor.io/

The more I fall down the colour grading rabbit hole, the more I realise how deep it goes.

I've kind of developed two parallel (and perhaps not compatible) concepts around colour grading:

The first is that those of us that work on lower-budget / no-budget / small-crew / no-crew productions are at a tremendous disadvantage.  This is because:

• A good grade starts on the set with location selection, shoot schedules, set design, costume, hair, etc, and we may have less control, or no control, over those things.  This means that while on a large budget show they can ensure that professionals who have been applying colour theory for 20 years made sure that every object on the set supports the colour scheme that will reinforce the emotional and aesthetic experience of the images to support the project, even before anyone arrives to shoot.
• A good grade also benefits from great lighting design and execution.  Large budget productions can do things like have heaps of lights further away from the scene, might have time to tailor lighting to every setup individually, etc.
• A great camera (that most of us aren't shooting with because we can't afford it) will shoot with higher bitrates and more robust codecs, allowing more flexibility in post.  Plus, the colour science of many manufacturers is nicer on their flagship cine cameras than it is on the budget models or hybrids.
  **Edit: This is actually something that is changing now, with P4K/P6K etc offering un-crippled codecs, bitrates, and colour science.

Additionally to this, and while I won't speak for others here it's definitely something I suffer from, is that sometimes the cinematographer (me!) royally screws the pooch on shots!  

In this sense, our job is actually much more difficult because when we sit down to grade the footage is less robust and needs more work (and in my case often needs urgent medical attention!) so the difference between the source footage and greatness is that much larger to span.

The second concept I have developed is that it's not the first concept above that is the dominating factor, but that colouring is far more difficult than people make it out to be and that colourists are actually far more skilled than how we (or I) think about them.

My recent posts in the XC10 thread showing the noise in that Cinque Terre image is a case in point.  It's got horrible 8-bit LOG noise, but I stumbled upon something that seems to magically rescue the image.  How many of these techniques are colourists using all the time and that's just part of the job?  Who knows.

Things I've read from colourists include:

• If it's well shot I just adjust levels and primaries and the image pops into place
• Yes, the Alexa often skews towards green, no problem, just grade it out
• That project had some issues so I just had to work through them with power windows and pulling keys

I'm starting to have a sneaking suspicion that these comments (from professionals who have a reputation to uphold) mask that they might be regularly getting fed awful and damaged images where sometimes they have to pull out all the stops, and maybe a dozen or so power windows to adjust every freaking little thing on some horrible images, to get something that looks like there was no problem in the first place.

I'm actually testing this theory by collecting a bunch of RAW sample footage from ARRI, RED, and others and going to start grading it.  It should be a good reality check around how difficult my footage is to grade rather than what these manufacturers put on their websites as example footage, which should be basically problem free.

Anyway, one thing I read from a colourist once was that "if the image looks good, it is good" so if you've got a workflow that works for you, declare victory on the project and move on with your life 🙂 

10 hours ago, Trek of Joy said:

I just got the same book, going to start on it today. I feel I have a decent understanding of the basics - getting the RGB parade sorted between 0-100 IRE, removing color casts, getting faces on the skintone line and such. But its all the fine tuning that I sometimes struggle with - like getting shots in different lighting conditions to match better and just making the image pop a little more. Lots of reviews say experienced colorists learn stuff from the book, so I'm a sponge ready to soak up the knowledge.

Good luck!

Chris

Thanks Chris - you too!

I think I've also got a solid understanding of the basics, at least on a technical level.  I'm hoping more for hints around 1) how to recognise why an image might look 'funny' and what to do about it, and 2) how to take an image that looks OK and turn it into something that pops a bit more.

I've picked up a bunch of ideas from various colour grading videos, but hoping to get a more systematic approach.  I kind of feel like the YT colourists talk about the 'tricks' but don't cover the fundamentals, so it's like I'm cooking with rubbish ingredients and the wrong recipe but I've got 100 suggestions about what spices to use to finish it off.

5 hours ago, herein2020 said:

I'll see if I can put something together, my projects take up so much space I archive them as soon as they are done but I'll try to put together some samples, I definitely do not have anything at the level of the professional YouTubers where you have all the cameras side by side; also in that scenario the different cameras would probably be more obvious, but I'll try to find a couple of clips from the same project and show before and afters.

The most challenging for me is shooting a scene with the C200 locked down then trying to match the footage out of the GH5 to the C200 since it is the same scene. My method is quick and easy as long as two different cameras do not shoot the exact same scene.

I'd be curious too.

Noam Kroll is someone I read regularly and I've seen that he's got LUT packs and the like for sale, but haven't really got a sense of how good they are.  Almost everyone online has LUT packs for sale, except the professional colourists who talk about the fundamentals.  I suspect they also know all the 'tricks' but they probably don't want to give them away.

[buggz]

14 hours ago, kye said:

I was recommended the Colour Correction Handbook - Second Edition by Alexis Van Hurkman so I ordered it.  It just arrived today, and I am having trouble remembering a time when I was so excited about a book.

I wasn't excited when it arrived, I only got excited when I started reading through the contents page, and flicking through some of the chapters.  It's like every heading is a thing I've been wondering and struggling with.  At first glance it looks like a good mix of technical stuff, techniques, and creative applications.

and the best part?  It's over 600 pages!

This one?  It is dated 2013 ?

https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Colour+Correction+Handbook+-+Second+Edition+by+Alexis+Van+Hurkman&qid=1597804794&sr=8-1

Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema (Digital Video & Audio Editing Courses) Nov 18, 2013

Color Correction Handbook, The: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema Nov 15, 2010

 

 

[kye]

14 minutes ago, buggz said:

This one?  It is dated 2013 ?

https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Colour+Correction+Handbook+-+Second+Edition+by+Alexis+Van+Hurkman&qid=1597804794&sr=8-1

Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema (Digital Video & Audio Editing Courses) Nov 18, 2013

Color Correction Handbook, The: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema Nov 15, 2010

Yes.  I got the second edition.

I made it up to p95 yesterday, skipping a lot of things that weren't relevant or I already knew.

It's a case of some things stay the same and other things change fast...

The section talking about codecs was talking about using Prores and DNxHD and how consumer formats are to be avoided if possible. But then it talks about h264 and mentions how it's typically 48-72Mbps and 420 8-bit, so obviously that's not the case anymore.

There's a side section about rec2020 (which is the colour space for HDR) and how there are jokes that displays that can display rec2020 won't be available until 2020! It then has a note saying that if you're reading the book from the future then to be kind about their horrendous optimisim / pessimism (depending on what actually happened).

On the other hand, techniques for getting the right contrast or using colour wheels to adjust tint in shadows/mids/highlights hasn't changed and may never change.

[Trek of Joy]

15 hours ago, kye said:

Thanks Chris - you too!

I think I've also got a solid understanding of the basics, at least on a technical level.  I'm hoping more for hints around 1) how to recognise why an image might look 'funny' and what to do about it, and 2) how to take an image that looks OK and turn it into something that pops a bit more.

I've picked up a bunch of ideas from various colour grading videos, but hoping to get a more systematic approach.  I kind of feel like the YT colourists talk about the 'tricks' but don't cover the fundamentals, so it's like I'm cooking with rubbish ingredients and the wrong recipe but I've got 100 suggestions about what spices to use to finish it off.

Same, I get the technical aspects, I can balance the RGB parade and get rid of casts easily, but the fine tuning is where I constantly question myself and when things are off, just making them right. And I'm looking to gain more knowledge of just making a shot that's technically balanced look better, a lot of that seem to be in the midtones.

Chris

[herein2020]

@kye @Trek of Joy

 

Attached are screen shots from a typical project for me, lifestyle promo video shoot for a new multi-family community. I picked a scene where all three cameras were used (GH5, GoPro, DJI Drone). GH5 is the side shot, GoPro underwater, obviously drone from the aerial view.  

 

Cameras

Drone - Natural profile Sat/Sharp/Contrast set to -5, WB Daylight

GH5 - Cinelike D profile modified as per the Leeming LUT guide, WB Daylight

GoPro - Flat Profile, WB Daylight

Color Grade

GH5 - Leeming LUT + slight WB shift to magenta to match the drone

Drone - Expanded WFM to add contrast, sharpening 47, color boost +20, WB shift to warm

GoPro - Expanded WFM to add contrast, color boost +20, WB shift to warm

 

Time Spent on Color Grading all 3 cameras - Less than 2min. I forgot to extend the adjustment clip over the sample clips to show Noam Krolls LUT, but I went with a very subtle LUT that looks like it just adds a little more contrast.

 

Project Details - the rest of the project was shot during sunrise but as the lighting got cooler during the day I wanted to keep the warm sunrise feel (plus it was a really ugly grey day) so I moved everything towards the warmer side. I have yet to find a generic LUT that I like for the drones or the GoPro so I just do the exact same WFM grading process each time then throw a Noam LUT over everything.

The Leeming LUT I use on the GH5 if it works; I've had it do some weird things due to the GH5's terrible highlight rolloff so when there are hot spots in a scene I grade the clip by hand or I will get weird green skews and orange skin tones using the Leeming LUT. 

 

So yea, that's my whole process, very simple, very quick, probably far from perfect, but for my target customer base they are happy with the results. To your point though @kye when I shoot with the C200 and can properly light the scene and shoot in CLOG3 the results are just incredible. CLOG3 and the S35 sensor of the C200 is so easy to work with compared to my usual run and gun scenario with no control over anything except the camera settings. Exposing the GH5 properly for the Leeming LUT is so difficult, I never really know if it is right until I am grading it later. I'm always trying to retain the highlights somehow without underexposing the talent or the rest of the scene.

 

 

[Trek of Joy]

22 hours ago, herein2020 said:

@kye @Trek of Joy

 

Attached are screen shots from a typical project for me, lifestyle promo video shoot for a new multi-family community. I picked a scene where all three cameras were used (GH5, GoPro, DJI Drone). GH5 is the side shot, GoPro underwater, obviously drone from the aerial view.  

 

Cameras

Drone - Natural profile Sat/Sharp/Contrast set to -5, WB Daylight

GH5 - Cinelike D profile modified as per the Leeming LUT guide, WB Daylight

GoPro - Flat Profile, WB Daylight

Color Grade

GH5 - Leeming LUT + slight WB shift to magenta to match the drone

Drone - Expanded WFM to add contrast, sharpening 47, color boost +20, WB shift to warm

GoPro - Expanded WFM to add contrast, color boost +20, WB shift to warm

 

Time Spent on Color Grading all 3 cameras - Less than 2min. I forgot to extend the adjustment clip over the sample clips to show Noam Krolls LUT, but I went with a very subtle LUT that looks like it just adds a little more contrast.

 

Project Details - the rest of the project was shot during sunrise but as the lighting got cooler during the day I wanted to keep the warm sunrise feel (plus it was a really ugly grey day) so I moved everything towards the warmer side. I have yet to find a generic LUT that I like for the drones or the GoPro so I just do the exact same WFM grading process each time then throw a Noam LUT over everything.

The Leeming LUT I use on the GH5 if it works; I've had it do some weird things due to the GH5's terrible highlight rolloff so when there are hot spots in a scene I grade the clip by hand or I will get weird green skews and orange skin tones using the Leeming LUT. 

 

So yea, that's my whole process, very simple, very quick, probably far from perfect, but for my target customer base they are happy with the results. To your point though @kye when I shoot with the C200 and can properly light the scene and shoot in CLOG3 the results are just incredible. CLOG3 and the S35 sensor of the C200 is so easy to work with compared to my usual run and gun scenario with no control over anything except the camera settings. Exposing the GH5 properly for the Leeming LUT is so difficult, I never really know if it is right until I am grading it later. I'm always trying to retain the highlights somehow without underexposing the talent or the rest of the scene.

 

Nice. Did you use the Noam Kroll LUT's here? I've used the Leeming LUT with the a7III for the last year and a half, I've been really happy with the results. Unrelated, but I live in Florida, seems like a ton of these communities are popping up. Those shots look great.

Thanks for following up.

Chris

[herein2020]

7 minutes ago, Trek of Joy said:

Nice. Did you use the Noam Kroll LUT's here? I've used the Leeming LUT with the a7III for the last year and a half, I've been really happy with the results. Unrelated, but I live in Florida, seems like a ton of these communities are popping up. Those shots look great.

Thanks for following up.

Chris

The examples were without Noam Kroll's LUT. I forgot to add his LUT to the examples. The LUT that I ended up using from him in the final project is so minimal that I think it just adds a little more contrast. I don't try to get too creative with the color grade for projects like these since the client typically expects true colors.

 

I think I would get better results with the Leeming LUT if I had a better camera like the S1, S1H, etc.  I would love to replace it with the R6....but...we all know how well that's going. The Leeming LUT combined with the GH5's sensor needs so much overexposure that the highlights get clipped pretty badly in certain scenes or the GH5 has to be pushed to high ISOs to get the necessary over exposure and then things start falling apart. So in lowlight or high DR scenes I just grade the GH5 with the WFM and a Noam LUT.

 

I emailed Leeming asking for a C200 LUT or a CLOG3 LUT and he said he will get to it if he has the time.  After using the Canon CLOG3 to Rec709 LUT and seeing how easy CLOG3 is to work with I realized I don't need a Leeming LUT for it.

[kye]

On 8/24/2020 at 9:39 PM, herein2020 said:

Project Details - the rest of the project was shot during sunrise but as the lighting got cooler during the day I wanted to keep the warm sunrise feel (plus it was a really ugly grey day) so I moved everything towards the warmer side. I have yet to find a generic LUT that I like for the drones or the GoPro so I just do the exact same WFM grading process each time then throw a Noam LUT over everything.

The Leeming LUT I use on the GH5 if it works; I've had it do some weird things due to the GH5's terrible highlight rolloff so when there are hot spots in a scene I grade the clip by hand or I will get weird green skews and orange skin tones using the Leeming LUT. 

So yea, that's my whole process, very simple, very quick, probably far from perfect, but for my target customer base they are happy with the results. To your point though @kye when I shoot with the C200 and can properly light the scene and shoot in CLOG3 the results are just incredible. CLOG3 and the S35 sensor of the C200 is so easy to work with compared to my usual run and gun scenario with no control over anything except the camera settings. Exposing the GH5 properly for the Leeming LUT is so difficult, I never really know if it is right until I am grading it later. I'm always trying to retain the highlights somehow without underexposing the talent or the rest of the scene.

LUTs can be tricky, and it's impossible to make them completely general purpose.

I'm not surprised that when you light a scene you can get great results but that it wouldn't work so well on less manicured situations.  On a controlled scene there are certain conventions that can be assumed: subject skintones will be at a certain IRE, the background will be slightly or a lot darker than the subject, there will be no heavily saturated objects, etc. 

When designing a LUT for a situation like that you can assume that anything warm and above 50% is skin tone highlights, and anything not skin tone and bright can be much more heavily processed, and that non-skintone darker areas can be desaturated and the colours all played with, etc etc.

Take an image shot anywhere else where there are bright and saturated objects in the background and the LUT will make a screaming and clipped carnival memoire of the whole scene.  Of course, if you assume there could be anything from 110 IRE down to -10 IRE then you're immediately screwed because most LUTs only go from 0-100, but even then if you can pull those things back into legal range then you'll end up with something that looks flat and awful on controlled and low-DR scenes.

I have found that exposing the GH5 can be a challenge if you want to do it technically, but shoot creatively and grade each shot individually and you're fine.  

The more I learn to grade the more I'm learning that it's actually very simple, but with a range of techniques for solving various problems and few cool tweaks to make the image pop a little more.

Of course, the biggest improvement to my colour grading has been learning to use my equipment better to capture the images in the first place.

I'd still be very interested to see a before/after of the Noam Kroll LUT if you have time.

[kye]

I just signed up for this course...  (I linked to the YT video because it has a promo code in the description for a small discount)

Walter is a senior colourist at Company3, which is one of (or the lead?) colour and post places in Hollywood, and I haven't seen much info from him so I think this might be a rare chance to get some insights from him.

 

[stephen]

Walter's master class was epic ! Knew that it is a rare opportunity to get knowledge from a Company3 senior colorist for an incredible price ! But he went far beyond my expectations. 4.5 hours that changed my video editing and color grading world for ever 🙂

[Mark Romero 2]

Casey Faris had a recent interview with Daria Fissoun going over the HDR panel that might be interesting for people who are unfamiliar with it.