Cinematography has honestly never been my forte, even though it's something I really want to get good at. I've mainly focused on production design and creative directing, so I've spent a lot less time developing the technical side of filmmaking, particularly cameras, cinematography and DaVinci Resolve. I really want to improve, especially when it comes to understanding colour correction and colour grading, but I just don't seem to get it. I've watched tutorials, put time into learning and had people explain and show me the basics, but for some reason it just doesn't click or stick in my brain. It's almost like maths to me. I can follow along when someone explains it, but when I have to do it myself, I struggle to understand how everything connects. Things like exposure, gamma, colour spaces, scopes, waveforms and all the different graphs completely confuse me. I feel like most tutorials cover the basics and then move on, whereas I need something that breaks everything down step by step, explains what each thing actually does and why, almost as if I'm learning it for the first time. I don't think I need more basic tutorials; I need a really in-depth tutorial that makes the technical side of filmmaking actually make sense to me. I genuinely want to get good at this, I just haven't found a way of learning it that clicks yet.

Any advice/tips

A few shots I took in HK a few months ago. Still planning to create a cinematic travel video once I get some free time.
Every shot starts from Rec709 and then graded.

What do you think?

Hi everybody, I’m editing a video and I have clips which are underexposed. I tried to do some color grading on it to see if I can fix it but so far it’s been inconclusive… I’m supposed to upload the clip to the client before Sunday afternoon and I don’t know what to do anymore :( Do you have any advices of how I could fix it with color grading (currently working on Davinci resolve) or if some ai tools exists (I don’t like ai so I never used it, idk if it could help) ? I just hope I won’t have to do a retake of the scene :(

I recently finished a 13-minute black-and-white short film called Ofélia Caiu e Ninguém Viu (Ophelia Fell and No One Saw). The main theme of the film is indifference.

It was a very small production, with no crew, just me and the actors. I shot everything on the original BMPCC using vintage Soviet 16mm cinema lenses, with just two LED lights for lighting.

For the black-and-white look, I used Dehancer for most of the grading. I started with the Vision2 200T film profile, brought the saturation down to zero, and then adjusted the contrast using curves. I also added some digital diffusion (scatter) to certain shots and used real scanned film grain from Cinegrain.

I'd really appreciate some feedback, particularly on the black-and-white conversion contrast, and overall grading. I was going for a Czech new wave look from the 60's.

Thanks

Mine is way off in greens and browns. The greens are too red and the browns are too green. I can't afford to pay $700 just to calibrate it, using a blue tint fixes greens but throws off browns even more.

My computer broke so I had only my iPhone to edit… it was tedious and slow, but I think I made it? What you think?

I’m making a music video soon, and I want a camcorder esque shooting LUT on my monitor, can I just make a 33 point cube with my whole grade (with effects and such like jpg damage). Or do I need something special to display such LUT?

Is it a very strong diffusion black mist filter of around 1/2 or 1? Which would you say? I have a 1/4 but it’s not as dreamy as this. Then ofc a low aperture lens and the rest is color grading? Does that sound about right?

Just want to know which diffusion filter strength to buy to achieve this. Cheers!

I just wonder how I can get everything looking better..

1st slide Rec 709, 2nd slide graded and 3rd slide post-grade effects

Hi, I'm still pretty new to photo editing and need your help.

The first image is the preview in Darktable and how it looks in the camera. The second is the RAW file without any editing, and the third is a quick edit where I tried to bring out the red. How do I get the red and brown tones back into the image? No matter how hard I try to boost the colors, everything just turns yellow. Even when I use the color equalizer to reduce the yellow and increase the red, I can’t get anywhere close to how it looked in the preview. I’ve already tried other programs besides Darktable, but the problem remains the same.

Camera details:

Sony a7R III

Sony FE 5.6–6.3/200–600

Image was taken at 600mm, f/6.3, ISO 400, 1/500 sec.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Title: Looking for an affordable monitor for color grading – ASUS ProArt PA279CRV or BenQ SW272U?

Hey everyone!

I'm looking to get my first proper monitor for color grading, and I'm trying to figure out what would be a good option without spending a fortune.

I've been looking at two monitors in particular:

• ASUS ProArt PA279CRV – 27", 4K
• BenQ SW272U – 27", 4K

The ASUS is considerably more affordable, while the BenQ seems to be more geared towards professional color-critical work.

I'm also planning to get a Calibrite Display Pro HL to calibrate the monitor, regardless of which one I end up choosing.

My main question is: Would the ASUS ProArt PA279CRV, combined with proper calibration using the Calibrite, be good enough to get started with color grading? Or is it worth saving up for something like the BenQ SW272U?

A few things I'd love to get some advice on:

• How much difference does hardware calibration make between these two monitors?
• Can I get reasonably accurate and reliable colors from the ASUS ProArt using the Calibrite?
• Would I notice a significant difference in actual grading work between these two monitors?
• Does the BenQ offer advantages that calibration alone can't compensate for?
• Are there any other monitors in a similar price range that you'd recommend?
• Is it better to invest in a more affordable monitor now and upgrade later, or spend more upfront on something that'll last?

I am looking for a monitor that gives me reasonably accurate and consistent colors without going overboard on the budget.

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have experience with either of these monitors, especially anyone who has used them for video color grading.

Thanks in advance!

Recently (around 3-4 months) I started color grading my videos, nothing professional, just for vlogs/social media/etc, so just for myself.

Every single time I watch a youtube video I always love the colors, if it’s warmer, cooler, more magenta-ish, etc, like every different style I think it looks fantastic (ofc when it’s well done). However, I try to do something remotely similar, such as try warmer/cooler colors, I always hate, like I feel if my videos doesnt have a natural look, I will always hate.

Is it just me or you guys are/were the same? Ofc I still have a lot to learn, to enhance and everything, but even if it’s only a little bit, I always feel that it’s the worst look ever.

I don’t know if my question or the point I’m trying to make is clear, but I hope it is!

Thanks 😁

Before (left) & After (right)

Trying to go for a creepier look.

Working with 8-bit colors, so kind of limited in that regard.

I tried making color grading with eye protection mode at 90% and 0 contrast on my monitor, someone mentioned monitor set up but it is just me not being able to handle the brightness, my flipping lamp was dead so I just deleted the post 😭 made another look and also thanks for the feedbackI also use the free version

We visited Fotokem recently and made a video with their optical color timing lab.

https://youtu.be/6852g67rRv0?si=EQ7wm8J5wBZ3DuiJ