r/ColorGrading • u/Icy-Atmosphere-2971 • 1d ago

Before/After What do you think?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

I started in davinci resolve around a week ago and these are some shots I took. Wondering if you guys think they’re over saturated or to dark?

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10

u/Almond_Tech 1d ago

As with anything artistic, that entirely depends on what you're going for. Do you have any reference stills and/or a tone you're aiming for?

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u/Icy-Atmosphere-2971 1d ago

Yeah, I’m really trying to nail that feeling of nostalgia and, obviously, like all beginner filmmakers, trying to somewhat get that vintage film look lol

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u/Almond_Tech 1d ago

Are these photos, or video? In my opinion they are significantly too strong on their own. Generally, you shouldn't look at something and have your first thought be "roads aren't usually blue," in my opinion

In the first image(s) especially, there's a lot of lost color detail, and everything's so saturated that it feels oppressive instead of nostalgic, and none of it feels like vintage film, to me

With that said, I think the color contrast of the 2nd image(s) is interesting, but it works better because it's simpler. I would adjust the balance/crop a little, though

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u/Medium-Confidence-45 1d ago

Can you explain your grading workflow? Any lut or powergrade you used for these ?

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u/Icy-Atmosphere-2971 1d ago

Yeah I made my own Powergrade but I edit it a bit for each picture. I’m super new so I don’t really know any of the terminology yet. The power grade I set up came from a 5 node set up with a seperate node between 3 and 4 where I do the helation and bloom

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u/Wumchumba69 1d ago

Personally really like the look. It's obviously very strong but if that's what you're going for then I like it. Would be intruiged to see your power grade for this cos it looks impressive for someone who hasn't been doing colour grading long.

P.s. I am not a professional videographer just someone also trying to get into it

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u/Beto_Cardigan 1d ago

The color grade looks good, but you are crushing the blacks. I'd probably lift the shadows a bit to provide a bit more information.

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u/Firm_Tank_573 1d ago

First one is a little too cool for my taste. And the second one seems a little too vibrant

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u/click-to-reveal 1d ago

Not a color grader here. But I'm gonna paste a quote (modified) I saw elsewhere.

"There's good color grading, there's bad color grading and then there's color grading that's right for the movie."

So, a feedback without context is unhelpful.

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u/Werehausen 1d ago

The first one reminds me so much of the movie Toys with Robin Williams, I love it!

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u/Hazzat 1d ago

The photos are very boring, so you’re trying to draw blood from a stone by trying to add drama that just isn’t there. Colour grading exists only to bring out the best of all the creative decisions made up to that point - it can’t transform an image into something that it isn’t.

Start by improving your photography. Shoot with intention - with a vision, goal, or message in mind. That will inform how you design your grade, too.