5 pro colorist tips for navigating every grade like you know what you're doing

[@andy80sdrums]

I am in love with Cullen's approach. The amount of knowledge you can get on his channel is absolutely stunning. Always easy to follow. Crystal clear delivery. I consider myself lucky to have found this channel in the noise of KZbin. Keep it up! Big fan over here!

[@DustinHarrelson]

Everything you post is so valuable and applicable, super excited to go through your videos and learn more about pro color grading! Thanks for sharing this knowledge!

[@nathansextoncolour]

All great tips! Tip 5 is gold and something I am trying to get better at. We as colorist have a tendency to fixate on the little nuances and it is easy to become stuck. Pinning it, taking a break is a great strategy. I find taking a break - grabbing a coffee and approaching problem clips with a fresh set of eyes and mind set is the key. Great video mate

[@ricksiegel4224]

Thank you Cullen. A brilliant guide on many levels.

[@The_Daliban]

Your Videos are so valuable. Simple linear explanation with focus on nailing the basics. I really appreciate you doing this. Thanks and please keep it up🙏🏻

[@CullenKelly]

You're very welcome!

[@Fedor_Dokuchaev_Color]

I'll add one note about tip #2 - to evaluate a look, you sometimes need to balance your shot beforehand. It might seem that the look does not do anything great to this particular shot but a few adjustments will make it shine. That is why some colorists prefer to balance first and apply look later.

[@nicholasbrecken7357]

This was my question. Is it best to balance fast then apply the timeline look to check the vibe?

[@Fedor_Dokuchaev_Color]

@@nicholasbrecken7357 It depends. I usually balance only "the hero shots" to see if the look sits well. The rest of the footage gets massaged after the look had been established and verified by the client.

[@marinacgmb]

@@Fedor_Dokuchaev_Color This is my process too. I often have shots that are unbalance and not perfectly exposed to begin with. This correction is key so I don't end up correcting on the look level

[@ashishjatiani3356]

Thanks a lot for the golden nuggets! Really appreciate your help!!!!

[@dandiaz_]

#5 is gold! Tyring to burn that into my brain.

[@flochfitness]

Awesome stuff Cullen!!!

[@martinadamcz]

Excellent video, and tthank you for inspiration

[@drewh79]

Always have solid tips, any new colorist should be watching these vids.

[@ramiaiki]

this is the best tips, good job Cullen

[@maurice_morales]

GREAT Episode! Thank you. Where can I get the Fuji Look?

[@patrickvanoorschot9019]

Thank you for the tips, as always, great info.

[@bobbydrake8965]

Thank you Cullen.

[@kirankiranmishra]

this was beautiful sir. thank you so much for such videos. after watching this type of sessions I was wondering if you can make another video about color theory, I know its quite basic thing I am asking for, but I hardly found any video which is that accurate when it comes to explaining things, I see as a colorist knowing what should be your palette it totally comes from your knowledge of color theory, for example knowing and understanding the idea of complementary is important to choose which lut to use to get the look like joker, so it goes same with other color schemes, would be grade if you can bring us the video which is all about color theory & color schemes. would love to see how you explain this part of color grading. thank you 🙂

[@appu1336]

Can you please make a video of " How to grade clip using client's reference image "

[@starlove54]

thanks cullen!

[@blanche027]

At 2:46, in the node 4 hsv film saturation you are using the offset wheel and you say "gain things up down there". Did you intend to use the gamma wheel insead? Thanks for your help BTW!

[@jhonastete]

How do you work if you have different footage form different cameras in the timeline level?

[@randallburgess6393]

Awesome guide Cullen❣️

[@ekeneuneke2443]

Great tutorial! I would like to ask, when do you start with your secondary grading? When should you start using your secondary tools?

[@martinphox]

I've always wanted to ask this, because you keep talking about macro beats "micro". (actually, it is two questions) 1. How do I organise my clips and where do I add my look if I also have text inserts or other brand assets like a logo that need to stay clean? Otherwise I'll end up changing the RGB values of my clients brand colours. 2. Along a similar line: If there are branded props in the image (say a starbuck cup or or brand banner) - how do you go about both respecting the image and look AND the brand colours?

[@shrek110011]

Wow! Thanks

[@brandonklemets2958]

"like" you know what you're doing thank you for assuming I have no idea what I am doing, but for the client I need to seem "like" i do.

[@anamorphicalan]

Very good content but I only edit black white. Any advice?

[@lostinflow]

The color management is not working in the latest update of resolve. I’m getting crazy about it.

[@JJ_Khailha]

Excellent

[@Rob_eight10media]

..great ..re: looks.. it can be done on in group node I suppose as in on a scene by scene basis? ..as scene looks would vary in a narrative project 🤔

[@Fedor_Dokuchaev_Color]

You can have looks for specific scenes and an overall look in place at the same time. You just need to be gentle with your overall look adjustments and be mindful about other possible looks.

[@CullenKelly]

Hey Rob! Ideally, the same general look for the project gets applied globally. That can be applied across all of your groups at the Group Post Clip level or directly at the timeline level. I'd like to see those preferential characteristics from the global look applied to every shot. You can still make adjustments to individual scenes all while working under your established look.

[@Rob_eight10media]

thanks guys .. great yes.. I was thinking an approach for a large narrative film that you would get shots matched on a clip by clip basis.. then apply a look on a group clip on a scene by scene basis (to lend dynamics to reflect the mood of the scene) then at timeline level an overall 'feel' to the whole project.. obviously being gentle ;-)

[@tracy_06]

I really wish there’s someone out there who could do a video like this but on iPhone videos. Some of us are film enthusiasts and just beginner filmmakers so we just have an iPhone and don’t have money to buy expensive apps for shooting in log. When the iPhone footage is automatically increasing a decreasing brightness and other things here and there, how do you correct that, how do you adjust LUTS that are made for log footages to suit iPhone videos. 😢

[@koushikbhattacharya832]

Thank u so much sir♥

[@denniskaspari]

Hey Cullen! At first, great video. I dont even wanna know the level of knowledge I'd have now if your channel would not exist, so thank you!! I'm trying to upgrade my work and decided to educate myself on what is the best calibrator for my monitor. Do you have a calibrator that you would recommend?

[@CullenKelly]

Hey Dennis! You can't go wrong with the CalMan software. They have a couple of colorimeter options as well.

[@denniskaspari]

@@CullenKelly Thank you so much I will educate myself on that. I am looking forward to todays grade school! See you there :)

[@denniskaspari]

@@CullenKelly is there no grade school today? It was showing me the scheduled livestream earlier but not anymore.

[@JimRobinson-colors]

I think that I see a lot of stuff that all parts of the puzzle are not correct, so the final grade not looking right in delivery, might be something simple. If the industry standard of rec709 gamma 2.4 is part of the color management for your target and you are looking at a display calibrated to gamma 2.4 and your light in your room is not reflecting that. You might be setting contrast and exposure etc. incorrectly. I think that lighting the environment is a huge part in the grading process that gets overlooked by the home colorists. I bet Cullen that you grade in a lot less light than you do when you are narrating your videos. People then don't think of the grading environment because it is rarely even mentioned in youTube tutorials or classes - yet it can totally screw up your end result.

[@JonPais]

more importantly, colorists recommending looks, DWG or ACES aren’t impressing upon viewers the necessity of creating a show LUT during pre-production nor are these same people sharing info on how to create a show LUT on their YT channels.

[@imcrimson8618]

I read about this somewhere online

[@JonPais]

@@cicolas_nage You’ve got no idea what you are talking about, my friend. If you’re creating a look, using ACES or DWG, you’ve got to create a show LUT, otherwise, contrast, tonality and color will be completely different from what you’re seeing on a calibrated production monitor. Also, to say that all productions use the same limited number of looks is something only someone with an unbalanced mind would say.

[@JonPais]

@@cicolas_nage Discussion's over. I'm not wasting any more time talking with someone hiding behind a fake name and no youtube channel, portfolio, website, clients or showreel.

[@mrshaheedmalik]

First

[@DustinHarrelson]

Everything you post is so valuable and applicable, super excited to go through your videos and learn more about pro color grading! Thanks for sharing this knowledge!