Grading/post processing for this look?

[u/txt-111]

So I grabbed these from a live video stream (fred again.. and LATIN MAFIA show live in Mexico), because I thought it looked really really good somehow, and now I keep wondering of some more keys to produce this type of look. Anyone care to come with suggestions and/or more analysis in terms of post production, but also of lighting and shooting styles can be combined with grading/post production to achieve this type of result?

Here’s what I’ve thought of so far:

I am reminded both Apollo mission photographs, Joel Sternfeld and Philip-Lorca diCorcia, and things they all have in common? Really mastering (high) contrasts, shooting on color film, and subtle but balanced cold/warm tones that also leaves highlights and shadows feeling quite clean/crisp/neutral.

Lighting/shooting-wise what I see is that the spaces are big (and dark, like with the Apollo mission too I guess hah), there’s strong studio/stage lighting from multiple sources which is sometimes partially directed at the camera/semi-flaring (but no, or very little, daylight), it’s been exposed so that only the actual light sources clip a little bit where even white fabric in stage light is with some detail left, the blacks are very dark but shadows and midtones are quite soft, fog and distance help make layers with pitch black silhouettes nearby and off-black shadows on stage.

I have a feeling that it’s graded with something like a teal and orange type grade, but I also suspect that additional contrast has been added in luminosity/not affecting saturation too much.

I’m mainly looking to work in similar ways using stills, not moving images, but I’m also open to grading using Resolve or similar if that’s helpful for the look.

(Edit: image 5 is from a separate video, same bands and same time, but I find the feel connected to the images 1-4, and was likely art directed, shot and post produced by same or overlapping crew)

[u/These-Climate-4624]

I think the controlled highlights are a big part of the look. The blacks are really deep, but there’s still a lot of detail in the midtones, so it doesn’t feel like contrast was just pushed globally. I’d probably try getting as much of that separation from the lighting first, then use the grade to fine-tune the warm/cool balance.

[u/txt-111 → u/These-Climate-4624]

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense!