How LUTs Can Elevate Your Cinematography

[@vidhikavidhaan]

Choosing the bear to make a video on LUTs was the right thing to do. It has one of the best colour grades I have seen in a while.

[@christykail3314]

Great video! A quick correction/clarification on the colour space transforms and CDLs: Most LUTs are both a creative look and a colour space transoform combined into one file. This allows it to be very easily loaded into a camera or monitor, and it will take the image from the log signal directly to Rec709 with the desired look. A CDL is used in combination with a LUT, not instead of. It's used for making basic per-shot or per-scene adjustments without having to make an entire new LUT. The CDL is always applied before the LUT, so the signal chain wil be LOG > CDL > LUT. With the arrival of the Alexa 35, Arri is trying to move DoPs into splitting their creative LUT and colour space transform into two differnt stages, to make it easier to deliver for different display standards, such as P3 and Rec 2100. The A35 automatically applies its own Log to Rec709 transform to monitors, so the signal chain becomes LOG > CDL > Creative LUT > Arri built-in transform.

[@maurice_morales]

Beautifully said

[@MarmeladeHawk]

As someone who's interests lie in editing, I'm always excited when colour grading gets mentioned

[@Marinatina2]

I'm glad someone does. I love editing but color grading is miserable for me. Let someone else do it preferably.

[@avinashjadhao634]

I used to have a LUT of confusion earlier but now i feel I've understood quite a Lut. Thanks!

[@romepix]

Fascinating. There is art in color work across so many mediums.

[@iborov]

Very well explained! Simple to grasp and fully understand the process of using LUTs. No BS and just the needed!

[@techtt6213]

Can you maybe do a video on HDR? How does Dolby Vision and such impact the cinematography? For me as a viewer it makes a huge difference. I'd choose 1080p HDR over 4K SDR.

[@EdgarReynaa]

Hey, colorist here. More than impacting cinematography it impacts the whole product. HDR (Dolby vision) is basically 10x more brightness from the screen, your perceptual contrast is higher and due to the color space we work on, we have a bigger range to extend the image. If the content you're watching is natively HDR, then go for HDR as it was intended that way, you'll get a product closer to any other "format".

[@techtt6213]

​@@EdgarReynaayeah I always try to go for HDR, especially now that I've got two good HDR screens. I'm mostly curious since there seems to be a lot of ways around it. Some HDR releases really pop whilst others (Roger Deakins his Blade Runner for example) seem to not really. I still enjoy since the colour space is still larger but it's very interesting to me

[@EdgarReynaa]

@@techtt6213 some projects are mastered for SDR displays and then a sort of SDR to HDR trimpass happens, so, that could be a thing. I know a lot of Korean content is available on HDR on NETFLIX was mastered by a third party company increasing the range of the image

[@silaselias9236]

I was the audio mixer for the interviews with Andrew Wehde at Filmscape Chicago 2023!

[@ginoamadori]

Hahahahah, good video, it was funny looking at this and all of a sudden my picture pops up at 3:49 saying IF THERE IS A COLORIST😅

[@Cinnovations]

I created an amazing 65 point lut from a frankensteined series of powergrades that were stitched together. A Red Komodo > ArriLogC > Kodak 5219 500T w/ 2383 FPE. The Kodak was developed side by side with 500T + Arri Alexa and has very, very close accuracy, even at all the +/- EV. I have to keep the source secret because it's proprietary and a lot of work went into its development and I was helping crowd fund its creation and it cost the color scientist quite a lot of money to make. I use it on almost everything. It's much more accurate than Dehancer, but its the only option. I use it for monitoring (using a 33 point version) because 2383 crushes blacks and the saturation is pronounced, so I can get a really good idea of what my footage will look like in post. It's crucial because the fill ratios can be dialed in perfectly. I then simply use the original powergrade in post and do any fine tuning to all parameters. Even the grain has been dialed into each RGB channel to imitate celluloids grain behavior in each layer. It's absolutely gorgeous. Best part is, it's a starting point for a look, and can be taken many different places.

[@MaximoJoshua]

Hmm, the way I have always thought of it was that a LUT is a Lookup Table, so I imagine, for example 0 | 12 10 | 15 20 | 18 etc So you take your value, and you look at the table and find the value, if it doesn't exist you find the closest one and then "guess" (interpolate) where it is in between those 2 lines in the table (in actuality, its not a 2 dimensional table, its a 3 dimensional cube, but same principal basically). This is very similar to, for example, when you are in math class and you are graphing a function...and that is exactly what it is, the LUT gives you points on the curve, which shows an approximation of the actual equation. This is different from a Color Space Transform, at least from what I understand, because that is more like just having the equation, you never need to guess or approximate values, because you can calculate the exact value for any given input. That is why nowadays everyone says "don't use LUTs, use Color Management or CST's" Obviously not all LUT's are created equal, and many LUT's might have a ton of values for a lot of different inputs (high resolution), but I think in general, LUT's are being relegated more and more to creative looks and not the actual color correction (Log -> Rec 709), as when it comes to accuracy, the CST or Color Management will be more accurate. Of course, you would still use LUT's on a monitor to check your exposure, and get a pretty good idea of how it will look after color correction and color grading. I just think it should be clarified the difference between color correction (making the footage look as accurate as possible) and color grading (making stylized, artistic choices to set mood, etc), and I am curious how you reconcile the on set monitoring with the post color correction... very great video, loved the details. Would love to see more about the daily process.

[@Oceansta]

how do you create a LUT in advance without having ever seen the location or how the scene is going to be lit?

[@Two_marshmallows]

My mind blowed up when you’ve said (10:20): “after CST we can add lut”, than I remembered that thing is about explaining and not about a node-tree

[@LittleJimmy835]

You briefly touched on on it here, but I’d love to see a whole video on the photochemical timing process, and why a small handful of filmmakers (like PT Anderson) still choose it over a DI. Aside from one video with David Lynch, I can’t even find one video on KZbin about photochemical timing.

[@maurice_morales]

THIS!

[@SomewhatAbnormal]

I come from photography but now I shoot video. I like the idea of creating an onset “negative” that’s close to finished. I would never hand my photography over to another person for grading, and I don’t want to do that with video either.

[@maurice_morales]

Gotta hire a DIT and be involved in the grade. Uphill battle.

[@bernardmarques]

this is my favorite yt channel, thank you

[@fernandooliveiralino]

A terrific video, again. Thank you.

[@KristophTy]

Amazing Video as always guys. I just recently got into C.G. And videos like this really help explain what I need to know. Thank You!

[@donavin51]

Thanks for the great explanation!

[@mmm57097]

Thank you very much you are the best !!!

[@mdnghtppl0000]

super valuable info ty

[@alexanderjohansson3947]

How do you create a proper LUT? Would love to see a video of this.

[@useless_name]

You can export a LUT from your grade in resolve to your camera. So best look at guides on how to do color correction and grading!

[@DustinHarrelson]

Wait so did the Bear season 2 not have a colorist other than making minor adjustments? As a DP and a Colorist that sounds pretty magical to me if I was the one shooting

[@vorancb]

where can you learn how to make preview luts for shootings

[@maurice_morales]

Fantastic job on this video. Seriously. My only feedback is some of the terminology used. Instead of "RAW footage" use then term Camera Originals or Camera Negative because not all footage is "RAW". Also use the terms color space and/or gamma curve. Color Profile is too close to photography terms that you'll find inside a Canon DSLR. Generally this was an amazing video. :)

[@adeladam2325]

Great video

[@allanvanuga9196]

Great video.

[@xavieryt412]

What is LUT? Baby don't hurt me...

[@tavelaine2914]

Surprised at no mention of ACES colour pipeline in this video. Makes everything a lot more straight forward. As a VFX artist i'm personally in favour of exposing correctly on set with as much dynamic the as possible and letting specialists deal with the post production. No LUTS necessary.

[@useless_name]

I think it need to be a compromise of both worlds. The "digital negative" needs to have the best possible quality but also comply with the desired look. If the DoP neglected that aspect, someone in grading would then "correct" it wrongly, deveating from the DoPs and director's vision

[@theowlfromduolingo7982]

3:55 Should you color correct the footage if the LUT is already is applied or do it before?

[@kiiiiii419]

After lut applied then u grade it

[@JaymesMedia]

You should color correct before you apply the LuT. If you did use your LuT to monitor your footage than color correction may not be needed

[@theowlfromduolingo7982]

@@kiiiiii419 Yes but I’m talking about color correction.

[@rotten_sun]

you always normalize Log footage before applying any creative LUTs. you can do it by hand (usually by tweaking the contrast curve) or with a technical LUT

[@moviegeek1111]

always before

[@he.smile_]

Nice video! But why are you still using DaVinci Resolve 15? 😅

[@EUguitarRULE]

Can you embed the Luts to my footage or do I still have to color grade my footage if so why do we have to purchase LUTs if we can't burn it into my footage. Please explain. Thank you-

[@calebbrown3602]

Where did you get these LUTs?

[@charlesteton]

Coming from film, features, the word Colourist is pretty offensive. Maybe for band promos etc, where the client and editors create a completely different look than the first thought of and told the DOP. On drama, the Director and DOP/Cinematographer have many discussions about the look of the film/drama prior to shooting. The ‘Colourist’ job is to grade the footage, ie balance it out if necc. and convert between colour space. The real job description should be ‘Grader’, as per film days, an incredible important job. I don’t know a DOP/Cinematographer who would be happy to hand of what he/she has shot, for it to be completely bastardised by the client and Colourist.

[@JBNL1]

I'm also a bit surprised by how much this video is under selling the actual process of the DOP being in the decision making process of creating a look before shooting and also how much control the DOP has in the actual defined look after production. As a director myself talking about colour is almost the first thing on the list while talking to a DOP starting a new project.

[@tatehildyard5332]

Well for a lot of industry DPs, that is actually a new concern a lot of them have to deal with now. A hired colorist can go in and based on the directors input, give you something completely different from what the DP and director discussed earlier and that is a reality of the job (especially on digitally shot movies). It's on the DP to advocate for their work and make sure they're involved in the grade to make sure their intentions are honored.

[@maurice_morales]

@@tatehildyard5332 I would think contractually the Cinematographer can have input on the finishing of the project but I would also think somehow the studio (or client) is calling the final shots.

[@Fedor_Dokuchaev_Color]

That's why colorist on big productions is a part of the preproduction process. He creates ShowLUT to help DoP exposure and light the scene during the shoot. There are a lot of technical difficulties that DoPs are often not aware of. If you want to know more, check podcast with Peter Doyle and Steve Yedlin's Display Prep Demo and recent talk.

[@maurice_morales]

@@Fedor_Dokuchaev_Color Where can I find that podcast episode?

[@Jp85078]

could you please do a video on how SS Rajamouli shoots a film at three budget levels?

[@calebbrown3602]

I’d buy LUTs from u

[@Zeropadd]

🫠

[@joecal2360]

LUTs specifically, and color grading in general, are a blight on contemporary cinematography. Do an A/B comparison with footage from any recent film against films made prior to 2000, and you'll be SHOCKED. Modern color grades are dull, muddy, DARK, washy, tinty pieces of GARBAGE. Take even a basic popcorn flick like The Mummy (1999) or Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) and A/B it against Blade Runner 2049 (2017) or 1917 (2019) and you'll wonder in slack-jawed disbelief and horror why Blade Runner 2049 and 1917 look like literal colorized feces. By comparison The Mummy and Terminator 3 will look like Technicolor masterpieces to humble even Cecil B. DeMille. Don't take my word for it ! Fire up Davinci Resolve, import the footage of your choice, run the comparisons, and upload your reaction to KZbin so we can all cry together.

[@Zant7ify]

Are you ok?

[@petergivenbless900]

I think the problem is a combination of producers thinking that if they have all these options for controlling the finished look they should use them all. And, not grading for projection instead of a balanced monitor; most digital projectors in cinemas are not as bright or colour accurate as the professional grade monitors used in production, so what looks great on a monitor in a dark room looks muddy and washed out in your average cinema. And a cinematographer may go to great lengths to achieve a desired look only for a producer in post production to get "slider happy" with it and impose a distorted and ugly grade over those carefully crafted images (once you start tweaking things you can quickly lose your objectivity about how something "should" look).

[@joecal2360]

@@petergivenbless900 By and large, professional "color grading" is a scam profession, a captured, corrupted, and subsequently exploited form of what used to be called color timing,. Modern color grading is a complete scam that, at best, siphons resources away from the actual production budget to spend HOURS making miniscule changes that make no difference to the film's overall impact, and at WORST, completely wreck the visual image of the film to its unrecoverable detriment. And again, don't believe me ? Right here on KZbin look up any random color grading tutorial by literally any "professional" "colorist". Watch them grade footage, and you'll be sitting there befuddled, going, "Why the F*** is he spending literal hours with oh-so-subtle-and-precious power windows burning and dodging. The viewer is NEVER going to notice. It makes NO difference to the narrative or visual impact of the film." And of course, it's all just to justify the existence of their "profession". Literal emperor's new clothes scenario. Hey, it is a sweet sweet scam though, I will say that.

[@AJFStudios]

What are you talking about

[@Fedor_Dokuchaev_Color]

You know, 2049 and 1917, both shot by Roger Deakins, do not use custom/scene LUTs at all. He uses his own LUT, developed in nineties with color scientists with film experience.

[@HarvestStore]

Great video.