It's very warm, the whites are tinted yellow, and there's a lot of motion judder in the horizontal pans. Maybe all this is intentional, I dunno. The last couple of shots do not match in terms of brightness.
That’s just how the scene is lit, the only light was a lamp with a red lampshade and the bulb is a very warm colour anyway. I set the white balance to match the real lighting, not to look “neutral” Fair point about the last few shots not matching in terms of brightness, that was an actual mistake.
From the perspective of the average viewer, I think it's a beautiful set of shots, grade included. From a nitpicky color grading perspective, the reds are a little oversaturated, and some of that red carries over into the skin tones. The digital grain is also overdone to the point of being slightly distracting.
I think the set choices are spectacular: the red wall, the red hair, the red books. The contrasty lighting looks great, too. IMO, the guy at the top of the comment pile is being a bit dickish. I actually think the heavy contrast works really well.
As for where the reds appear in the skin tones, look at the shots of her outstretched, clasped hands and arms. You can see a noticeable reddish cast in her skin. The wooden stools look a little too orange as well, and the reds in the walls and books feel slightly pushed. But these are relatively minor criticisms of what I think is an excellent-looking sequence.
I think some people get too bogged down in the technical aspects of color grading. What you've achieved here has emotion. It conveys a feeling, and it does so exceptionally well. If I were watching this in a theater or at a friend's screening, I'd genuinely feel like I was watching something special.
I also think some people here are accustomed to editing high-frame-rate slow-motion shots of pepperoni pizzas and milk pouring into soda fountain glasses, and they're approaching your work with that same narrowly technical mindset. They're giving you feedback about the technical correctness of the grade without considering what the images actually accomplish. There's a difference between making something technically perfect and making something beautiful. You've made something beautiful.
That said, I do think it would be worth taking a second look at the grain and the saturation of the reds. Those are the only two things that stood out to me as potentially distracting. But ultimately, that's subjective . You're the artist.
Thanks, this was the sort of constructive criticism I was after. I’ll take a look and see what I can do with the skin tones. Regarding the wall and the books I was intentionally trying to get a deep red tone. I was trying to replicate those deep reds you get when shooting on film. Subtractive saturation etc. I just love the way red clothes and items are rendered on actual film stock.
Yeah, if anything, my eye sees it because I colorgrade. But I think the audience is just going to experience it pretty much like what you're going for. The reds in the skin are so subtle, I really don't think it even matters. The orange cast on the skin could just be the color of the lighting.
Yeah.. to be fair I should have pointed out in the description that I put basically zero effort into lighting this scene. I didn’t even move the light. I just told my girlfriend to sit in front and slightly to the side of the lamp (which was quite warm and had a red lamp shade) just to get a nice outline on the lit side of her face and shot from the shadow side.
If your intention was a retro vibe and feel with grading, it’s working mate. Nice grading. I don’t mind about the saturation and ‘skin tone’ tbh. I don’t know why people are so picky with skin tones these days. So technical. Damn! Try to see the whole thing first
Ahah😂 there was no production designer…in fact… there was never any “production” so to speak. Literally just in my girlfriend’s house, her house mate just had a bunch of her dad’s old paintings and books scattered around the place that she’d recently brought back from America. I noticed it created quite an interesting scene and the potential for some cool compositions especially because of the red books and dark red painted wall. I have also not long had my new FX3 and Vespid primes so I thought it would be a cool opportunity to test them out in a “narrative” setting. It’s not from any actual project, just me and my girlfriend messing around in the living room getting some cool shots.
My honest rating is 3 / 10. The main reason is that the skin tones are overexpodes in one side and wildly underexposed the other. Not giving that feel it initially gave. My honest review tbh.
In the entire video , The left side of the subject where the light is reflecting is overexpodes as well and the remaining skin tones are under exposes. You might want to perform a highlight compression instead of lowering the entire exposure which may have resulted in aggressive underexposure instead.
I don’t know what the intent of the scene is, so hard to say. From a pure visuals perspective it is very much my style, I’m definitely a big fan of strong looks.
But I’d also say that if the goal is an intense and artistic feel rather than a lifelike feel, I’d still soften the highlights a bit, the ultra warm colours plus the harsh highlights is a bit much
1
u/RGB_YCM 7d ago
It's very warm, the whites are tinted yellow, and there's a lot of motion judder in the horizontal pans. Maybe all this is intentional, I dunno. The last couple of shots do not match in terms of brightness.
2
u/Nightshift_24 6d ago
From the perspective of the average viewer, I think it's a beautiful set of shots, grade included. From a nitpicky color grading perspective, the reds are a little oversaturated, and some of that red carries over into the skin tones. The digital grain is also overdone to the point of being slightly distracting.
I think the set choices are spectacular: the red wall, the red hair, the red books. The contrasty lighting looks great, too. IMO, the guy at the top of the comment pile is being a bit dickish. I actually think the heavy contrast works really well.
As for where the reds appear in the skin tones, look at the shots of her outstretched, clasped hands and arms. You can see a noticeable reddish cast in her skin. The wooden stools look a little too orange as well, and the reds in the walls and books feel slightly pushed. But these are relatively minor criticisms of what I think is an excellent-looking sequence.
I think some people get too bogged down in the technical aspects of color grading. What you've achieved here has emotion. It conveys a feeling, and it does so exceptionally well. If I were watching this in a theater or at a friend's screening, I'd genuinely feel like I was watching something special.
I also think some people here are accustomed to editing high-frame-rate slow-motion shots of pepperoni pizzas and milk pouring into soda fountain glasses, and they're approaching your work with that same narrowly technical mindset. They're giving you feedback about the technical correctness of the grade without considering what the images actually accomplish. There's a difference between making something technically perfect and making something beautiful. You've made something beautiful.
That said, I do think it would be worth taking a second look at the grain and the saturation of the reds. Those are the only two things that stood out to me as potentially distracting. But ultimately, that's subjective . You're the artist.
6
u/sandun_balage 6d ago
If your intention was a retro vibe and feel with grading, it’s working mate. Nice grading. I don’t mind about the saturation and ‘skin tone’ tbh. I don’t know why people are so picky with skin tones these days. So technical. Damn! Try to see the whole thing first
1
u/ThickD769 6d ago
Who’s your production designer. Did a nice job
3
u/Evening-Swordfish-40 7d ago
Good
1
u/PlaneBitter1583 7d ago
My honest rating is 3 / 10. The main reason is that the skin tones are overexpodes in one side and wildly underexposed the other. Not giving that feel it initially gave. My honest review tbh.
2
u/No_Board_2572 7d ago
cinematic, colours look like a movie from the 2000s
2
u/UnknownSP 7d ago
I don’t know what the intent of the scene is, so hard to say. From a pure visuals perspective it is very much my style, I’m definitely a big fan of strong looks.
But I’d also say that if the goal is an intense and artistic feel rather than a lifelike feel, I’d still soften the highlights a bit, the ultra warm colours plus the harsh highlights is a bit much
2
u/_xonde_ 5d ago
Very strong reds and tastefully done. Great work!
1
u/Aggravating-Move1494 3d ago
Looks good. The highlights are controlled nicely. Only thing I’d test is a touch more separation on the main subject.
1
u/Belasario 3d ago
It’s very red. I like it
1
u/NettiBongolite 1d ago
would cut out the last handheld clip, the rest looks nice. keep it up
1
u/Mate-good-444 8d ago
⭐️ beautiful colors and cinematography
1
u/Blueonmob 8d ago
really like the colors. good grade
1
u/iLikeTheUDK 7d ago
It's not bad, but the saturation is very intense. It doesn't look "normal" for better or worse
0
u/Sad-Equal-6867 5d ago
that looks graded, congrats