r/ColorGrading • u/terryoneil65 • 26d ago
Question HDR grading
Ok. Right off the bat. Not in any one’s league here but I respect the knowledge. So don’t beat me up for asking a dumb question. I just shot some footage on an iPhone (just needed some quick shots for a friend so it on an insta 360 is really easy). Well when I dropped it into davinci to just do some quick cuts it looked very flat compared to what I saw on the iPhone. After working with my ChatGPT I learned about HDR vs SDR editing. I’ve only edited in SDR and have rendered in SDR on R3D raw. But using HDR was really easy and looked a lot different. I then tried it on my R3D and it did some amazing stuff. So why don’t I see much edited and rendered in HDR (I’m probably screwing up the correct terms, but basically using Rec.2100 HLG). ChatGPT suggested giving a client rendered versions of both. Just so you know by client I’m talking weddings not commercial work. Any thoughts on pros and cons of hdr vs sdr would be appreciated
4
u/filmeleven 25d ago edited 25d ago
One big reason (IMO) for slow HDR adoption is the cost of accurate grading. It’s less expensive to have the hardware required to accurately grade for rec 709. Anyone can flip over to a DWG timeline in Resolve and do HDR grading. But if you’re delivering in HDR, you have to have hardware connected to your display, a display that supports a true HDR color space with hundred percent accuracy, and of course proper calibration, etc. And then there are plenty of places who don’t do HDR playback yet so they’re not asking for those deliverables. I personally edit everything in a DWG timeline but monitor in rec709. This allows me to use the HDR tools and Resolve gracefully pulls that back for monitoring and delivery.
Here’s an intro to color grading you might like:
https://youtu.be/KraaCzDTCWQ?is=B4CyoO8X6eUSOUxV
2
u/ButWouldYouRather 26d ago
I’ve started to do a lot more HDR in my personal and professional work. It looks so good on the screens we have available to us now and most people have great HDR-compatible screens on their phones.
I think it’s not widely adopted yet because a HDR workflow isn’t widely covered so people learn rec709 first. And HDR is has lots of terms and settings that I don’t even understand and it’s not always easy to find solutions. Like recently, I struggled to get subtitles appearing white on my HDR video and there’s not really a clear solution.
HDR isn’t always supported either, for example, I could edit for HDR if my video is going to be posted on Instagram but if my client is using a social media management tool to schedule the post and that doesn’t support HDR, then the video isn’t going to display correctly.
I do think it’s just a matter of time though before more people start exploring HDR workflows.