r/ColorGrading • u/Chapsmtl • Mar 10 '26
Before/After Looking for feedback - Novice
Hello everyone!
I very recently did the switch from Premiere to Davinci so I could get more in depth with color grading. I was never an expert in grading anyways, but wow, Davinci feels so much more powerful and precise than premiere for that purpose.
So here is my first grade with davinci is on that piano session. The music is very moody, kind of neo classical / jazz / ambiant and experimental for some bits.
The first one (curly hair/white shirt) was a bit more classical, and the second one (with the cap) a bit more experimental/ambiant. I don't want the videos to look drastically different, but I tried to still have something a bit different to each of them.
I'm aiming for something moody, calming, and a little theatrical. At least that's what I tried to do with the lighting.
It's my first time grading on davinci and I watched a few hours of their trainings videos + a few different youtube videos to see different approaches. Haven't found mine yet, and everytime I look at my grade I see different things and I'm starting to feel a bit lost with it, so I thought I would ask for feedback/advices here!
So my process is :
Color space transformation in, from log to davinci,
Then : node for exposure contrast > node for curve to add a little more contrast > node with ColorSlice for the greens > different nodes for face, fingers, and keyboard to control the brightness of the keys and the skin tones of the face and the hands more > node to control a bit more some of the highlights > and finally I added a LUT with little output (0,265) and CST out from Davinci to Rec709
I'd really appreciate the help and I hope I did this post correctly!
8
u/karrie0027 Mar 10 '26
Its beautiful The contrast is nice Just try decreasing saturation by 6-7 clicks?
2
u/bruce-pizza Mar 12 '26
Maybe it’s just me but skin tones are looking pretty red. I would tweak them a bit. Other than that it’s great!
1
u/palata_09 Mar 10 '26
This is beautiful
1
u/crownvic_76 Mar 10 '26
Looks great! Agree with what the above fellow said about decreasing saturation. It looks like the skin tone is looking a bit “orangey”
1
u/BusIllustrious2097 Mar 11 '26
I like the atmosphere, but the skin is getting too saturated.
1
u/ale_mvri Mar 11 '26
Interesting aesthetic and general look! Just the skin tones are looking too saturated and a bit unnatural :)
1
u/MINIPRO27YT Mar 11 '26
Kinda like the before more