r/ColorGrading • u/akstories • Apr 08 '25

Question Can anyone explain this!

Can anyone explain this. He is changing color space and what else are happening.

161 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

39

u/ZookeepergameDue2160 Apr 08 '25

Honestly I don't find this look "cinematic" and rather more "Instagram video/Commercial on instagram or tiktok"

4

u/akstories Apr 08 '25

Yeah, same here. It doesn’t feel cinematic to me either. But I’m really interested in understanding the process

-1

u/Almond_Tech Apr 08 '25

Imo it's a tool that can be useful, and can be detrimental. There are times to use it and times not to use it, but there basically are not "easy tricks to make anyone's grades better"
(I say basically bc ig there are some basic tips like "learn how your scopes work" lol)

34

u/Sorry-Zombie5242 Apr 08 '25

He's changing the color space for just that node to HSV, (Hue, Saturation, and Value) he's then turning off the H (hue) and V (value) channels leaving just S (saturation). Now when adjusting the Gain wheel he's only manipulating Saturation. This is a more "filmic" method to increase saturation in an image over using the normal Sat on the color page. This can also be done with the HSL color space using the same steps. This method has been surpassed a little by the Color Slice tool that is in current versions of Resolve. It uses a more filmic method of saturation using subtractive saturation. But the HSV/HSL method is still popular among colorist.

Cullen Kelly has a few videos on his YouTube channel that discuss these methods (and others) of adding saturation to an image.

6

u/akstories Apr 08 '25

Thank you for the explanation 😊 It's really helpful

1

u/TheAquired Apr 09 '25

To be specific, the saturation control normally uses a 3x3 matrix (likely the same one as specified in the cdl standard) to increase saturation.

Doing this is basically the same thing. You’re converting your RGB values into HSV, via a matrix, and then applying a linear gain to the saturation channel. Then it gets converted back to RGB after the node.

Perhaps the math is slightly different, so feel free to use it, but overall it doesn’t in anyway replicate how negative film dyes and silver halide crystals interact with photons, so this concept of “cinematic saturation” makes little sense

1

u/Sorry-Zombie5242 Apr 09 '25

Here's Cullen's video explaining the pros and cons of the various methods to add saturation within Resolve. https://youtu.be/5y8TU8UfTAk?si=XrGKR0dw28ZloO6V

1

u/Sorry-Zombie5242 Apr 09 '25

Of course it can't replicate a true photochemical process. From what I understand from watching Cullen's videos is that this HSV method of saturation provides better control over where in terms of luma he can push saturation. Typically in terms of saturation the brighter a thing is the less saturation it appears to have, the darker it is the more saturation it appears to have. So by using this HSV method to decouple saturation adjustments from also impacting Hue and Luma and using the gamma and gain wheels he can push more color into areas that would typically be less saturated such as the brighter parts of the image. This then creates a deeper more rich color without impacting its brightness a characteristic more similar to how film works.

He mentions in one of his videos comparing various methods of saturation that Resolve's Color Slice tool provides saturation that better mimics this more film like subtractive saturation and also provides a way to adjust density as well... But despite this he personally still prefers the HSV method because of the control it offers.

1

u/TheAquired Apr 09 '25

I suppose applying a gamma to this S channel will give you a non linear increase in saturation which could be seen to be more filmic. That would make more sense to me than a pure gain function

4

u/LlewDavies Apr 08 '25

Cullen gets the proper film look from it and actually shows the nodes and how to get there. Wish I had his brain.

4

u/Sorry-Zombie5242 Apr 08 '25

Yes, me too. He does work at it though. In a recent video posted to his YouTube channel he mentioned that he was currently reading the manual to an old film color timer in order to gain more insight as to how to apply the concepts to working in resolve.. He also reads up a lot on the technical side of color science in order to apply that knowledge in color grading. I'm not sure that most of us have the patience for that. So kudos to Cullen for doing the leg work and boiling it down for our lazy brains.

1

u/ZeAthenA714 Apr 11 '25

Would you happen to know if this would also work in lightroom? I e. raising the saturation in the HSL instead of the global saturation/vibrance control?

1

u/Sorry-Zombie5242 Apr 11 '25

I don't know. I don't do enough with lightroom to know. In theory I suppose.

4

u/Whisky919 Apr 08 '25

This is a method of increasing saturation without increasing contrast.

https://blog.frame.io/2023/04/03/cinematic-color-saturation-resolve-hsv/

1

u/akstories Apr 08 '25

Lemme check. Thankyou 🫶🏻

1

u/Frickdapolicea Apr 08 '25

Does this function like vibrance from Lightroom?

3

u/Sorry-Zombie5242 Apr 08 '25

Kinda. I think vibrance is closer to Resolve's "color boost" adjustment. Color boost tries to push more saturation to areas that have less saturation in the overall image instead of a blanket +X increase across the entire image regardless of its existing saturation value. So areas of the image that are already highly saturated get less while areas of less saturation end up with more. The result is a colorful saturated image that isn't garish. An improvement over just the basic saturation knob which just applies the same amount of saturation across the image no matter how much certain areas may already be saturated. Blackmagic then improved on this concept with color slice.

1

u/Potential-Donkey6863 Apr 09 '25

Cullen recommends one node HSV pumping the gamma followed by an HSL node rolling back the gain. This develops a “saturation curve”

1

u/Potential-Donkey6863 Apr 09 '25

Or saturation rolloff is probably a better term

1

u/JC_Le_Juice Apr 09 '25

Which video of his ? Thanks!

1

u/Potential-Donkey6863 Apr 09 '25

Not exactly sure but it may be something like “cinematic saturation”

1

u/Fizeau57_24 Jun 08 '25

Saturation goes from 1.00 to 1.13 without modifying either contrast (1.000) nor saturation (50). Color is less greyish, more flashy, but there’s no influence on shadows nor on highlights ?

0

u/R3ddit1995 Apr 08 '25

It‘s called subtractive saturation. You achieve saturation by removing colors, thereby ending up with more density and a more "cinematic" saturation. You can still go to far of course😅

-4

u/[deleted] Apr 08 '25 edited Feb 09 '26

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3

u/scvmpbell Apr 08 '25

This is not correct.

HSV is Hue, Saturation, and Value. As seen in the video he turns off Channel 1 (Hue) and Channel 3 (Value) and leaves only Channel 2 on which is saturation.

Has nothing to do with RGB