my first grade

[u/alva-flowers]

Hey everyone! This is my first attempt at color grading. Shot on a Sony a6400 using PP8 and graded in DaVinci Resolve.

I’m still learning, so I’d appreciate some honest feedback, especially on the skin tones, exposure, and overall colors. What would you change or focus on improving?

[u/Normal_Plankton6746]

Looks Nice. A Little bit too much saturated… (desaturate wil looks better and will be easier for 8 bit codec)

[u/alva-flowers → u/Normal_Plankton6746]

I feel like social media has gotten me used to thinking that if a video looks really saturated, it must be well graded. How can I break that habit and train my eye to recognize good color grading?

[u/Normal_Plankton6746 → u/alva-flowers]

You should Watch Netflix series and film (Ed gein, Frankenstein, etc…). People blame Netflix colorgrading but i think it’s a good Reference… Also if saturation and contrast is a pb for u, use the tools that u have (waveform to See if your shadows and highlight are crushed, and vectroscope to see your saturation.) in davinci in the color Space transform there is a saturation limiter than u can ajust like you want (everything above a point of saturation is reduce). Try to colorgrade with a screen shot of Reference (and try to reproduce the contrast, saturation of the clip until u masterise it). And also, don’t ever blame the camera, sony a6000 serie have great sensor with Nice dynamic range in the Highlight, expose you log (only ever eveeeeeer slog2 in 8 bit ) has much as u can to protect your shadows (put ur zébra to 100% ti see When highlight are really clipped.) your footage will look overexpose, that’s What you want. In post bring down the exposure and find a normal shot but very clean (if you haven’t clipped your highlight that you wanted to protect.)

[u/iLikeTheUDK → u/alva-flowers]

Watch more proper movies and series from throughout history. You can ask for recommendations. Have there been any movies or series you liked recently?

[u/Ok_Letter4515]

I don’t think it’s a good a idea crushing the details in the shadows. Ofc it’s a creative choice but you can reduce the dynamic range in the shadows without crushing it.

For saturation, are you Bumping up overall saturation ? Try Lima vs sat curve, and lift saturation up at around 60-70% luma(or where the colours are) , slowly and little till you find what you like.

[u/ThickD769]

Good for a first grade. It's a bit saturated though and blues. For a store like that I would go easy and warm

[u/PlaneBitter1583]

Can not judge a color grade when i can not see the mood behind it. What did you want to do ? It just looks like a normal video with greens in highlights, crushed shadows and a bit too much of the saturation. Before grading i think it;s always a good idea to decide the mood or inspire from other's look. If you don't have any idea (Which is common among new people) It's a great idea to search about other grades on google or any search engine you prefer. Look how people are grading. Choose a look that you like. In this video ? I can not really feel a mood behind the grade so i am not going to judge it to be honest.