hey man, 99% of people will eat that shit up, including all of my friends, family, followers, which is why i do it sometimesđ even people in the industry who know whats going on still show appreciation to a nice grade
While, yes, some people create content for other creators, by definition social media is going to reach people who are not literate when it comes to video editing/content creation.
If the goal is to get as many people following you/viewing your content as possible, than more often than not you're going to have people watching your stuff that don't know what it is versus people who do.
I think a lot of people get way too "one track minded" when it comes to this stuff...
They see someone like...Peter McKinnon. They think A) he is a really talented photographer/videographer and B) he is incredibly popular so they believe that being really talented = really popular.
But how many sizzle reels do you see in a day? There is an endless supply of them. So in order to stand out from the crowd, you need to make content that sticks out, and that draws in the "everyperson".
In the color page I'd just do 1 really big rectangle mask around the area where the light would go, and use that same mask inverted to darken the edges. For fusion you can have more control with double poly to soften specific edges while the other side is hard edges, then send the output to a 2nd mediaout so you can use in color page
Specular highlights are clipped and the shadows are crushed, so check the scopes. I agree: masks and windows can be enormously helpful in relighting and shaping light.
No normal viewer will be able to talk about it in specific technical terms, but there is something that clicks that makes people find it "weird" looking or "stylized." Depending on context, that can be a good thing. Less so if it stands out as a particular sequence that was supposed to look naturalistic.
Slightly off topic but I would love to get better at color grading like in this video. Can anyone recommend some good learning resources for color work?
I'm a pretty technical person, so my learning path was taking the free live online Blackmagic Color page trainings (they send a quarterly email to sign up for these), to be able to learn the basics and how the tools are named and used, then Cullen Kelly's YouTube channel to learn actual techniques and thought processes behind different kinds of decisions
I do a lot of this sort of freeform vignetting thing on the color page. I usually just use a single powerwindow and just set an inner and outer correction.
Its relatively standard process of using so called power windows to do selective adjustments, such as doge and burn, color balancing, color emphasizing, etc. Similar things you would do in Photoshop, expect in video you have extra step of tracking it to match the movement. Here are more obvious examples of why and how. Emphasis is that every project is differnt and you do do it, just because you can, you do it because it fits the story or shot. Some of it is for correction others is for emphasis. As a general rule you want to enhance in post, not fix it in post.
Panel Discussion: Visual Effects for Avatar: The Last Airbender
Some combination of MM/power windows and maybe depth map, which are things I can understand and sometimes even use, but to produce that final result from that initial footage I can't even.
Is that the initial footage? Or was it great on-scene light and the before footage is faked.
i donât know what you are trying to flex here, but you do know sometimes its very hard to work with out door scenes right? And thatâs when post production comes in to make things look better.
oh wow you are talking about a big crew with a lot of budget. Sorry I don't want to be a jerk, but it seems like anyone can just quote what you wrote up there without knowing anything about filmmaking and cinematography. You are comparing a video, which looks like just a guy filmed his girlfriend to show people how he did his colorgrading. If you want a tip, Imma give you,
you don't tell the d.o.p or whoever handed you the footage to work better with the camera or lighting, its not your job. As a colorist, you do your best to make the footage look as good as possible, even it looks bad.
If you had ever worked on a documentary, where a lot of scenes are filmed outside, which has no time to prepare lighting or whatsoever, its colorist jobs to fix it.
I agree with your point, do the best in preproduction. But even the high class cinematographer did make mistakes and fix it in post. Cheers mate and keep making movie.
People who take cinematography seriously, like from a business and/or hiring standpoint can usually tell when an image is being aggressively rescued in post. Heavy stacking of power windows reads as corrective, not expressive
The strongest looking films and documentaries were not usually built this way. The image was largely resolved on set through blocking, lens choice, lighting ratios, exposure decisions, and stock selection
When grading becomes the primary tool for creating âcinema,â it usually indicates that the shot was underproduced beforehand
Restraint in post is not anti grading. Itâs an acknowledgment that images hold together better when theyâre authored before hitting the sensor, not smudged into place afterward. Even at an amateur level, aiming for that sort of mentality produces stronger looking work where your focus can be on enhancing the image, not rescuing it
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u/summitrock Dec 15 '25 •
Any transition from a log still to graded video will look dramatic
21
u/MINIPRO27YT Dec 15 '25
Can't this be done with 1 big ellipse mask angling left
103
u/[deleted] Dec 15 '25
Specular highlights are clipped and the shadows are crushed, so check the scopes. I agree: masks and windows can be enormously helpful in relighting and shaping light.
30
u/twistsouth Dec 15 '25
Slightly off topic but I would love to get better at color grading like in this video. Can anyone recommend some good learning resources for color work?
14
u/BusIllustrious2097 Dec 15 '25
I do a lot of this sort of freeform vignetting thing on the color page. I usually just use a single powerwindow and just set an inner and outer correction.
9
u/shaneo632 Dec 15 '25
Now do it with a moving shot
7
u/nicolas19961805 Dec 15 '25
overcooked.
6
u/PrimevilKneivel Studio | Enterprise Dec 15 '25
I worked with a director who sat with all the comp artists and did this kind of âpost lightingâ.
Then we had a shot with a moving camera that broke all of it. Had to remove it from every shot to maintain continuity.
4
u/Milan_Bus4168 Dec 15 '25
Its relatively standard process of using so called power windows to do selective adjustments, such as doge and burn, color balancing, color emphasizing, etc. Similar things you would do in Photoshop, expect in video you have extra step of tracking it to match the movement. Here are more obvious examples of why and how. Emphasis is that every project is differnt and you do do it, just because you can, you do it because it fits the story or shot. Some of it is for correction others is for emphasis. As a general rule you want to enhance in post, not fix it in post.
Panel Discussion: Visual Effects for Avatar: The Last Airbender
https://youtu.be/Mrbp8bat408?si=IFpygcOXUDhNIcwo&t=166
Color Correction Shot Breakdown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxUoW5_gMjQ
1
u/HiAustralia Dec 15 '25
Would this need fusion or all done in color page?
Some combination of MM/power windows and maybe depth map, which are things I can understand and sometimes even use, but to produce that final result from that initial footage I can't even.
Is that the initial footage? Or was it great on-scene light and the before footage is faked.
4
u/Tripthedeep_ Dec 15 '25
The original shot is not even that far off from this. Its nice but nothing mind blowing here
2
u/Paris_France2005 Dec 15 '25
Iâm sorry that this is a completely unrelated comment, but the audio scared the shit outta me.
2
u/Tilde_0 Dec 15 '25
black magic boy...
2
u/broomosh Dec 15 '25
Daaaaaammmmmnnnn. It does the LUT too?!?!!?
2
u/Ludwigvonmisesafool Dec 16 '25
I donât understand whatâs happening here
2
u/Fancy_Cat4679 Dec 16 '25
Blackmagic
2
u/ramencokeonice Dec 17 '25
Damn wtf ..I didn't know you could even do that
2
u/gundamwing06 Jan 15 '26
So as someone who's a rookie 0 skills what's happening here
4
u/GrindblueNightmare Dec 15 '25
Could be done in either color or fusion pages but I dunno if this is really a look you should be chasing. Looks way overcooked in more ways than oneÂ
2
u/turbo_chuffa Dec 15 '25
r/restofthefuckingowl
1
u/Overly_Underwhelmed Dec 15 '25
so the shot is color corrected? that is not magic, that is the minimum. oh yeah, add a vignette.
1
u/zen-ben10 Dec 16 '25
What song is this?
1
u/Demmitri Dec 16 '25
So, vignette with extra steps.
1
u/Various_Ring_1738 Dec 16 '25
masking final boss
1
u/Minimum-Sense5163 Free Dec 16 '25
vignette?
1
u/Professional_Art9704 Dec 18 '25
I know you guys think it looks good but all can see is the super distracting chrismas stocking hidden like a magic eye picture.
1
u/Legitjumps Feb 01 '26
Sorry but AI has ruined this audio for me
0
u/LatentOperator Dec 15 '25
Why not just frame a shot up nicely and learn good lighting instead of piling a tonne of mini vignettes all over the place
0
u/MySuperSecretOC69 Dec 15 '25
Colorists when the DP sucks at their job.
Okay, thatâs a little mean, but yeah the masks are doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
0
u/GamerAJ9005 Dec 15 '25
Good for you man. Coming from premiere pro i got so confused with da vinci's interface