Davinci Resolve: Create Better Contrast, Part 1

[@jeffcloud4913]

This is one of the most straight-forward explanations of Lift/Gain/Offset I've seen. Your use of the ramp a/b over your actual shot really hammers home the relationship between the x/y graph and how it affects tonal range on screen. Thank you Cullen!

[@bradweiergallery]

So often I get lost in the details of color grading but you give a Birds Eye view of the concept and logic! This is EXACLY what I needed! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[@airbeoneairbeone2872]

Dear Cullen, you're clear as water spring. Everything's making sens with you. Thanks for thoses precious knowledges you shares with us.

[@artyom_color]

Your clear explanation of these core concepts is golden. Feeling inspired, more confident and ready to have fun on a current and upcoming projects. Thanks a lot, Cullen ✨

[@jogabinet]

Iií

[@MichaelTiemann]

Really well-explained and cogent. Much better than many more popular Resolve-focused channels. You deserve more likes!

[@jonashuckphoto]

Wow this was so valuable and well explained while still feeling lightweight and straightforward. Thanks I'm learning a lot here. In fact... the more I learn about life, almost everything seems to be about contrast. You're always trying to find the right balance between two extremes that are fundamentally interconnected or in other words, are the perceivable range of one thing. Only a well balanced contrast makes us appreciate things. If there's no contrast at all between two states, we stop perceiving anything at all. So life is all about balancing contrast sort of.

[@jonashuckphoto]

@@CullenKelly Haha. Was looking for color grading but found enlightenment. You failed!

[@cyrohan21]

What a fantastic video really. This is so clear and easy to understand in just 10 min!! Example footages are so helpful to understand each wheel

[@testowykana1763]

Best demonstration of what the wheels actually do I've ever seen! The use of gradient + the waveform is a brilliant idea!

[@PhilDuggs]

Not going to lie, if you put out a course/book I would buy it in a heartbeat.

[@DarkMeadowProductions]

Thank you for all this valuable info. I finally understand why pivot is called that; you're changing the pivot point. The way you demonstrated the primary wheels in the wavveform screen helped clarify what those wheels do as well. Thanks.

[@arjunan.b4072]

Your channel is a GEM for people like me sir , details that you are pouring out is high , so happy to learn from you, love your videos. Have a wonderful day.

[@JOMFRUHOLMEN]

You're the best tutorial guy for davinci

[@martinlopezfl]

Thanks Cullen for this video... a year later, still helping people.

[@airbeoneairbeone2872]

confirmed. this tuturial is out of the time space.

[@pvillez]

Thank you, fab tutorial and really useful understanding contrast and pivot. Excellent explanation, much appreciated. A minor point :as much as I love them, the 303 in the background is really distracting.

[@Aviciiz]

When you used offset on the gradient to increase the exposure, you actually did change the contrast. Since the brightest point of the gradient was already at 100 ire, it can not get any brighter than that. So when you increase exposure with offset you bring the blacks closer the the already white point thus changing contrast.

[@robertdocherty6127]

Forgot to mention that, I am now bringing all of my stills into DR for grading too. I find it saves time when I am looking to match results and gives me a chance to familiarise my self with the controls.

[@UraFlight]

Wow ! Very very interesting and finally I’m starting to understand how to make contrast. Great tutorial ! Thank you 😊

[@kick91185]

Seems like these explanations are timeless!!!

[@rosyaugust7095]

The explanation is so clear and valuable for me to watch.

[@joet9451]

Absolutely fabulous! I wish I had more time in. My day to devour this information. Being new to resolve and video in general from a photography background this is the most clear and concise information I have found so far. Now to dig deep and see if you offer a resolve 101 type class. Thank you

[@itswrongtokillanimalsifyou2837]

Simply essential viewing! I miss pivot in photo editing software, even though you've now taught us what an equivalent change looks like in curves. Either way, this was something as rare as pedagogical perfection!

[@jondargy]

Brilliant!

[@samy.filmmaker]

Seriously this is free? 🤔 Man I can’t believe it. Thank you

[@AlbertKarhuFilms]

You literally skyrocketed my understanding of correcting and grading in these 14 minutes. Finally i feel i understand the basics ie. what must be done to have a balanced image.

[@robertdocherty6127]

Another mystery solved, and now to practice. Thanks, Cullen.

[@JeffBourke]

I feel like such a pro now lol. You are a very good teacher.

[@UraFlight]

Your tutorials deserve more views

[@EROHITHC]

KEEP DOING, MAN ! WE SUPPORT YOU ! YOUR CONTENTS ARE AWESOME

[@ST7GOLDTRIDENT]

👍 Just finished watching your Learn with Masters presentation. Great job.

[@YigitAcik]

Thanks for not having cheesy and loud intro with terrible music that noone cares, good information.

[@jianzhizhang8333]

Just subscribed man! Just discovered your channel and this is exactly the type of content I've been looking for!

[@benjaminpacker1992]

loving the moustache!

[@storyfirstfilms149]

The best explanation.

[@m8nst3r80]

Already know it will be a great video

[@blainemarcano]

“You’re better off focusing on a small set of tools and really mastering them.” Well said.

[@conradmavundla5221]

Nice explanation

[@saikatchattopadhyay8263]

Beautifully explained and this core fundamentals are very rare. However, have one question. Did you dump Gamma because of ACES? Have heard that Gamma doesn’t behave properly in ACES but don’t know why!!!

[@victorneves2868]

Thank you!

[@BLEKDROT]

Amazing explanation

[@roehaus1]

OUTSTANDING!!!! Would you leave the "use S-curve" box checked permanently?

[@sh0tiphone]

amazing video!!!! Thank you!!!! But could you explain why you couldn't do this in ACES?

[@MartinAaberge]

Love your videos :) the music in this video was a bit disturbing though. Not music in general, but this track. And S curve on that contrast should be on a node level I feel. What happens when you turn it off? You might break 80% of your shots 😔

[@confusedobjectives1070]

The music made this video really hard work to get through, shame as is a great presentation.

[@brendanclark.8059]

Excellent! Thank you!

[@Film28]

Thanks Cullen

[@Balta.torcasso]

Thanks, profesor !! Great data 👍👍 What music do you use as background ?

[@Sound_Cuts]

Great video!! Whats the acid track playing in the background?

[@abelino51]

thanks so muchfor this!!!!!!!!!

[@stevenvprasad5029]

Awesome

[@ibbyr]

nice stache!

[@VINNYJOSEPHMANAS]

Great one 👍

[@sutv6754]

Thank you. I'm intensely studying resolve after years with adobe. Just discovered your channel tonight. It's very good for me. Looking forward. Can I ask you... Is there a time or scenario that you would not shoot in log. For example, some people say don't shoot in log in a darker situation. I also am now getting into log over that last year. Please let me know what you think about that.

[@sutv6754]

@@CullenKelly Very good thanks for getting back to me. I have a GH6 my main camera at the moment. Thank you Kellie

[@eduardo.presser]

At 07:52, you compensated the lift adjustment with a gain adjustment. In my mind, to make the image a little bit more "dense", I would turn down the gamma control. Could you talk a bit about your decision?

[@eduardo.presser]

@@CullenKelly Yes, I would love to know more about it!

[@Outerbass97]

Amazing video! Would you recommend doing the color contrast as part of the primary grade or part of the secondary grade? I remember in your node tree video you had exposure and contrasts part of your primary grade, and I am wondering where these adjustments would best be done in a node tree.

[@ikestrom]

Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective on these videos. Really enjoying them so far. Quick comment, all these functions that work linearly in your demo work differently when working with DaVinci Resolve Managed Color Space and using DaVinci Resolve Wide Gamut. In that space they behave like S-curves. Curious to see your perspective on working in that new color managed mode and how these tools should be used.

[@ikestrom]

@@CullenKelly Would you consider using the managed color workflow for your own work? Just wondering if it's just a matter of preference or intended for different use cases.

[@anttiheik]

I'm a little confused about when to use s-curve for contrast and when not to. Your output transform seems to already be making an s-curve, so isn't adding another one upstream of that just compressing the highlights and shadows an unnecessary amount? I get that if working with rec.709 material, the S-curve should of course be left on, but if working in a log space under a print LUT or any other display gamma transform, I don't think I would like to add another s-curve into the mix and compress the tonal range twice into the point of losing detail, even though it is without clipping to pure white or black.

[@tomdeburchgrave]

Thank you Cullen for the wonderful classes. They are the best out there as far as I know. But I was thinking the same about the S curve. We don't get to see your CST settings but from the looks on the scopes, gamma remapping is active. Something I personaly don't like is when whites are too compressed and become gray, making the entire image look 'dull'. As a note it would be nice to see and discuss your CST and it's remap setting in a future episode.

[@ozzmanzz]

Thanks for posting, liked and subscribedbe.

[@evolun]

Cullen your colouring is the best on YT but your lighting is looking bit sourcey there :p

[@John1960Video]

Great content and delivery. On my device, the background music is quite distracting. Otherwise 5 thumbs up!

[@nedomarjanovic7226]

Thx for all the great videos. What is that Output transform? Are these notes created by your own overlaying the whole project?

[@nedomarjanovic7226]

@@CullenKelly that would be nice 👌🏽

[@DawidSmile]

Moin and thank you for the detailed video // PLEASE keep up the good work! I know that the question is a bit past the topic of the video, maybe you can help me, or who else, anyway: I'm facing the problem since a few days that I want to display and grade Sony (A7iii / 8 BIT) HLG3 BT.2020 footage correctly. The skin tones appear very yellow and red to me and I am now really despairing how to deal with the material correctly! I have tried everything possible, but I quickly reach my limits with the technical terminology around the topic of color management! That seems to be a subject area for a study :D What settings* should I choose for the following profiles: - HLG3 BT.2020 (alternatively Rec.709) - HLG2 Rec.709 *Davinci Color Management (Input, Output, …) - What Source Gamme (HLG2 / HLG3) is the one I have to choose, when correcting the colors in in Davinci Resolve with the colorchecker tool? thank you to anyone who can help me :) Many greetings Dawid

[@DawidSmile]

@@CullenKelly Hey Cullen, thank you very much for the detailed answer :) I tried my hand at SLog2 before HLG, but quickly got away from it, especially because the base ISO is 800 and exposing correctly can be very problematic. To get the maximum dynamic range out of my camera, despite the 8bit, I decided to use HLG. Of course, I didn't know beforehand that the change would bring new problems and hurdles, but that is also exciting and interesting. I tried your approach and the result looks good, even though I have no idea about ACCEs and don't know why you choose this approach and what the conversion actually does :D I have two questions about your approach: - Do I leave the color management in davinci resolve on default in this case? Color science (YRGB) & Timeline color space (Rec.709 (Scene)) - At what point would I do the white balance and color correction with the colorchecker (even though you advise against it)? Before the first transformation, or between the two transformations? And what "Source Gamma" would I choose in the case, if I do it between the two transformations? The ACCES transformation changes the source gamma, doesn't it? Many greetings Dawid

[@petrub27]

yeah, using contrast without the s curve setting feels more like adjusting exposure, it's just too linear

[@mcculloughimagery4952]

You do this as a passion/hobby or for a living? Great explanations.

[@mcculloughimagery4952]

@@CullenKelly do you have a lightroom equivalent to color grading. You leveled up my understanding of how color works.

[@mcculloughimagery4952]

@@CullenKelly more so how you break down color and color grading in davinci. Do you have equivalent information but geared towards lightroom and photoshop

[@zarias2009]

I’m sorry but the music is really anoying 🥶 great and clear explanation btw!

[@PhilippeOrlando]

So, it's obvious to anybody watching films, either in theaters or online, Netflix, etc....that narrative fictions do have high contrast. The contrast is high and the colors are dense. So where does the idea of film and images for narrative being low contrast come from? Everywhere on KZbin, there are camera guys, who think they are experts, telling people that you need to lower contrast and achieve a desaturated look, etc, which of course when you do capture footage like this on an 4:2:2 8 bit cam is a disaster to recover in post. Any idea why most people who think they are interested in filmmaking think the opposite of what is actually true? I'd appreciate your input on this.

[@PhilippeOrlando]

@@CullenKelly absolutely! Will you remember to talk about it, or will I have to remind you ?

[@titusking-coloradorealtor]

Please keep the ‘stash

[@harrymetal]

Absolutely awesome. But please, do without the annoying background music.

[@陈宗横]

can you change the BGM？ so noisy。。。。

[@glen-draketoolworks7186]

You are a brilliant teacher. Your "music" soundtrack is very annoying however. Your content would be much easier to consume if you would lose the background noise. You would be hard pressed to find a classroom that has that kind of distraction. Plus, if we need to be entertained while we listen to what you have to say, then we should be listening to someone else. Thanks though. Your content is worth the struggle if you insist on making it so.

[@huberbert]

get rid of that f......... background noise (should that be music?)

[@jeffstarley1591]

@@CullenKelly Too right, it is a real pain, who needs this in the background of an info. video?

[@jeffstarley1591]

In fact I have muted the audio completely, and I am now going to close this video less than 3 minutes into it because it is so distracting.

[@willianaleman6114]

@@CullenKelly I appreciate the content of the video. But the music is really distracting. Thanks for considering taking it off. Although, I tried it, I really couldn't finish watching the video.