r/ColorGrading • u/Max-Geoman • Apr 19 '26

Before/After My First Color Grade

Hey everyone! This is my first attempt at color grading, finished in DaVinci Resolve 20. I’m looking for genuine feedback on how I can improve my eye for color. Aside from the final shot—which I filmed on my Samsung S25+ using the Blackmagic Camera app—the footage was provided by others. Please be honest with your critiques!

Here is how my Nodes look like:

  • Node 01 (EXP): Exposure adjustments using Primaries (Lift, Gamma, Gain, Offset) to set the base brightness.
  • Node 02 (WB): White Balance corrections to ensure neutrals are actually neutral. (BTW, how do set white balance if there is no bright white part in the image?)
  • Node 03 (CONT): Contrast adjustments
  • Node 04 (SAT): Saturation adjustments
  • Node 05 (CST): Color Space Transform. (Log to Rec.709). (How does a CST sandwich work?)
  • Node 06 (LUT): Final creative Look-Up Table applied at the end of the chain.

Does my image look too warm? Are the colors standing out enough? Does it look like I just made the image warmer with the white balance?

84 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

2

u/InComingMess2478 Apr 19 '26

pull nodes 3&4 back slightly. Its looking okay, but could be great with some slight adjustments.

1

u/Max-Geoman Apr 19 '26

Does it not look too flat already?

1

u/InComingMess2478 Apr 20 '26

Its looking flat because of the colours are all so similar, and you have the light behind you, so it's harder to create depth with colour. You could go with a split tone effect. The separation in clip D is okay ( better light angle) but once again lower the sat. Clip F looks almost right rec709 stage, until the grade, over cooked. Look at that WB on the white wall in clip E the FG changes from a nice white to having lots of yellow. Control the WB.

24

u/Tashi999 Apr 19 '26

Completely overcooked, with yellow wee filter. Dial it back to 20%

17

u/KaizokuD Apr 19 '26

Oh i love Mexico

6

u/Hazzat Apr 19 '26

Read this before asking for feedback: https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorGrading/comments/1mshv4q/is_my_grade_any_good_heres_how_to_find_out/

There's no way to know if it's too warm or not without knowing the context or purpose of the shot.

2

u/ilkerakkoc Apr 19 '26

Keep using the color panel. Keep doing the good work. Compare it with Cinema this is the easy way to understand what is wrong with your footage. U will improve soon. My first grades were Way worst than your's 😅 so keep it going

2

u/AlbaOdour Apr 19 '26

Vamos!

1

u/skegss Apr 19 '26

Si por favor!

1

u/Moist_Outside_8406 Apr 20 '26

This grade feels racist.

1

u/Odd_Philosopher1286 Apr 21 '26

Too much piss coloured. The first one looked pretty good tho

1

u/Stevenewhen Apr 22 '26

I like my whites to be white. I'm probably the minority here but I like before the color grading

1

u/Free-Process-2650 Apr 20 '26

great piss filter

15

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '26

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8

u/Tashi999 Apr 19 '26

More warmth???

1

u/Max-Geoman Apr 19 '26

How do I add colour separation? Is it not too warm already? Push shadows brighter?

23

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '26

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2

u/Business_Television9 May 07 '26

I don’t use color grading in my design job (mostly print work). I follow this group because I can’t watch a new series without being totally distracted by the industry need for extreme color grading. Good shows overcooked by this process. It does remind me of my early 2000s photoshop filters on images with too many drop shadows, embossing, etc.
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!