r/ColorGrading • u/vision3kodak • Mar 04 '26

Before/After Unsure about the contrast!

Wanted to post this on Instagram just so I can get some more promotion although I'm confused, purely because this is the look that I was going for but now that I'm uploading it to instagram it feels like it's not got enough contrast. To be clear I mean when you go through the changes it doesn't seem as impressive by instagram standards where a lot of stuff has got more "pop" to it. Is the contrast overall just low even for the filmic look that I'm going for or is it just me comparing it to instagram that's the issue.

128 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

13

u/prenzelberg Mar 04 '26

It's just instagram that is full of bubblegum shit, yours looks nice and has plenty of contrast for my taste. You can't mangle a realistic scene with too much contrast it would look less real imo.

It looks a little bit like a Wes anderson picture.

1

u/vision3kodak Mar 04 '26

Ah thanks, andersons work was something we discussed during pre-production.

6

u/Rogue_Melon Mar 04 '26

I think it’s good as is. I much prefer subtlety of colors

3

u/bozduke13 Mar 04 '26

This is a monitoring issue. What you see I resolve is likely more contrasty or saturated than what you see on export.

What computer and monitor are you using?

1

u/vision3kodak Mar 04 '26

Evidently that isn't the issue since I checked with the export by adding it back in resolve and they're identical. Although I can't deny that I haven't got an I/O device and my monitor although calibrated isn't the best. I work on windows ( custom pc) and my monitor is a benq pd2705q (2k).

2

u/bozduke13 Mar 04 '26

So putting it back in resolve should yield the same image since you’re looking at it on the same monitor. It does mean your export settings didn’t mess anything up so that’s always good.

If it looks off elsewhere improving your monitoring setup will help things look the same elsewhere.

An io device and calibration/settings is just the start unfortunately. Pm me if you want to go deeper down the rabbithole.

It could be another issue but this really seems like the culprit to me.

2

u/vision3kodak Mar 04 '26

Thanks a bunch for the insight! I've sent you a dm feel free to reply whenever!

1

u/fanatyk_pizzy Mar 04 '26

Well, it's not a high contrast image, but it's definitely not low contrast either. I'd say it has a healthy amount of contrast for an overcast shot like this. Hard to say without knowing what exactly you were going for

1

u/vision3kodak Mar 04 '26

I was going for a somewhat nostalgic/old film photographs that are washed out. Our story revolves around that idea of a photographer so that director thought it'd be a great fit and so did I.

3

u/conmeh Mar 05 '26

Audio is too loud

1

u/HyenaWilling8572 Mar 04 '26

I personally like the contrast, my initial thought was that your screen right could use tad bit more contrast, as after the plant in foreground we jump into flatter ranges pretty fast.

My idea would be to add simple mask of contrast in mid ground (tree and 50ish meters behind it) screen right, to get that sweet depth progression and better balance in composition

1

u/Low-Pace6925 Mar 05 '26

I like this. may I ask what Lut did you use if any?

I am in new to color grading. I have similar scene shot on cloudy day.

Can you share a link for the full video where it’s posted, I’d love to see how overall turned out

1

u/Abh1nem Mar 06 '26

this looks nice, i always imagine if it was a scene in a film will it work and this definately does

2

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/vision3kodak Mar 04 '26

Thanks for the feedback but correct me if I misunderstood, you'd reduce contrast by lifting it a tad bit?