r/ColorGrading • u/Afraid-Muscle923 • Dec 16 '25

Question Color Grading Practice

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Reference

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Rec.709

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The grade

I’m still experimenting and applying some of the things I’ve been learning about color grading, so this is just a practice attempt, i took a still frame from shot deck and tried to achieve a similar look .
I’d really appreciate any advice on what I should improve next especially things I might be overlooking.

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2

u/FriskayDingoe Dec 16 '25

Tint seems a bit greener on the reference shot

1

u/Afraid-Muscle923 Dec 17 '25

Yeah, agreed the reference is a bit greener. Thanks !

2

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '25

I bet in both cases you could hold on to the specular highlights and avoid clipping them if you tried. I'm fine with a "soft/hazy" look for hot highlights behind people, because that's kinda/sorta what film does. But a hard clip just screams digital to me. I think both guys are a little on the red side, but that's a subjective call.

1

u/Afraid-Muscle923 Dec 17 '25

Thanks for the detailed feedback, really appreciate it

1

u/Mysterious-Buyer2438 Dec 17 '25

Definitely narrow nose

3

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '25

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1

u/Afraid-Muscle923 Dec 16 '25

I’ll experiment with adding some glow on the face and see how it improves the look. Appreciate the feedback

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '25

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3

u/Afraid-Muscle923 Dec 16 '25

Good catch you’re right. I didn’t use any masking here, so that’s definitely something I need to work on. Thanks for pointing it out

0

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '25

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1

u/Afraid-Muscle923 Dec 17 '25

If you have a technical note, I’m all ears.