How Sharpening Actually Works - DaVinci Resolve 17

Today we get to the bottom of exactly how sharpening works, using DaVinci Resolve 17.
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Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
0:33 - Laying out the Tools
2:08 - Solid Color Test
2:53 - Grey scale Test
5:56 - Edge Test
7:14 - Real World Impact
7:42 - Edge Definition Proof
9:04 - Real World Edge Detection
9:41 - Why Targeted Sharpening can be Beneficial
10:22 - Outro
Notes:
I added all the notes to this section as some folks have found the on screen notes distracting, though I want to be sure all the information is readily available.
This video does not cover different methods of applying sharpening at specific tonal regions or adjusting the threshold on edges. This is to simply prove and demonstrate exactly what sharpening does to your image. As Sharpening increases and decreases detail you could extrapolate this same information to other tools that adjust detail, like the MD slider for example (a video on that next week to make it clear).
Here’s the answers to a couple questions I anticipate I may get.
Q: Why didn’t you use the other modes like blur and mist?
A: In my testing I found no fundamental differences across the modes. The amount of contrast they applied could differ, but aside from that the underlying principle remained the same.
Q: Why did you use a Color Space Transform and not a color managed workflow?
A: Using a color managed workflow makes generators act funny unless you set their specific input color space. I also wanted to eliminate the chance for error on the testing portions, so DaVinci YRBG seemed like a safe testing grounds
Q: Wait so how does the H/V Ratio work?
A: It stands for the Horizontal/Vertical ratio. Decreasing it favors the sharpness of horizontal lines, and increasing pushes towards vertical lines. With Diagonal lines being favored right in the middle. My testing had a bias towards horizontal lines, so my apologies for any confusion that this has caused
Q: Why are you in the Arctic?
A: Christmas with the in-laws. Or as my Fiancé likes to say, up at Santa’s workshop for seasonal work.
Q: Why did you take 10 minutes to explain this?
A: I could have said “it adjusts the contrast of edges” and called it a day, but that’s not very engaging, plus why should you believe me? If we go through with tests and prove undeniably what it’s doing then it’s not a matter of opinion. You can test it out yourself and if you arrive at the same result when then it looks like we’ve got a fact on our hands. The scientific method at work.
Q: How’s this gonna help me make sick color grades?
A: I like to believe understanding how tools work will inform you on how to better implement them in your workflow. For example there’s a bunch of ways you can sink a nail with a hammer, but it’s most effective when you swing it. When it comes to color, it’s not quite as obvious as a hammer, so hopefully these videos will help inform folks so they better understand how the tools actually work.
References:
Check out the DaVinci Resolve 16 reference manual to learn more you can find it in the help tab of Resolve.
Gear I use:
Camera - Black Magic Pocket 4k
Microphone - Rode NTK
Main Lens - Meike 12mm f2.8
Other lenses - Meike 35 mm f1.7, Rokinon 50mm T1.5, Rokinon 24mm T1.5
Tripod - Velbon Videomate 638
Computer Specs:
CPU - Ryzen 1700x
GPU - GTX 1070
Monitor - Eizo CG2420

[@NathanCarterVids]

Happy new year y'all! Here's a sharpening deep dive for yah. Out of curiosity what targeted sharpening methods do you use?

[@trumanloupe4212]

Watched multiple videos on how to sharpen but found myself wanting more because I wanted to know what I was ACTUALLY doing...great video! You have earned yourself a subscriber!

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thank you. I'm really glad you found this helpful.

[@erinnyren5564]

I LOVE THIS!!! This was so enlightening! Thank you for posting! I’d love to see more about how these tools work (and the best ways to use them).

[@NathanCarterVids]

Yes absolutely

[@2009worstyearever]

This was really good Nathan, thank you.

[@mountainfever]

This was soooo helpful!!!

[@martincoolee]

Great as always. Thanks again Nathan, Resolve is much more understandable thanks to your videos. At least we know what we are doing not just doing 👍

[@NathanCarterVids]

That's exactly what I was hoping for. Glad you found it helpful

[@fanerv3304]

And that is a good explanation! Thank you!

[@NathanCarterVids]

Glad it was helpful!

[@SoumenMishra123]

Thanks for this explanation! 😇

[@JohnJonesRocketCity]

Bro you are giving the keys to the game in these videos. Well done!

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thanks man. Glad you like it

[@florubenberger]

editors: *use random function incorrectly nathan: *pulls out the greyscale; "Alright, here we go again!"

[@jonnychick309]

whoa! I did NOT know about the display qualifier focus tool, that's a game changer!

[@NathanCarterVids]

Super helpful eh. Save from using power windows and highlight to see where it sits

[@mathiaslien1066]

Great video!

[@aghist2154]

An awesome tutorial as always!

[@NathanCarterVids]

Glad you liked it. Thanks for the support

[@MartinCooney1]

wow, that's a great explanation - thanks so much. great content

[@NathanCarterVids]

Really happy you like it

[@robert-gille]

How is the sharpening open fx different?

[@bydronese7506]

You are awesome! Great videos!! Can you do a video with how to fix lagging frame rate? Thank you!

[@leerdoor]

Great video! A nice breath of fresh air compared to all the 'How to create a transition' content out there. I like these technicalities, keep 'em coming. (BTW what's that white stuff you are surrounded with in the video? Havent seen that in a long time)

[@NathanCarterVids]

Awesome. Just trying to make the kind of stuff I always find myself looking for. With regards to the white stuff. You can have it, I'll send you some haha

[@alex.muntean]

Nice one!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@JimRobinson-colors]

Are you Canadian? I tend to use the OFX sharpen and soften more than the ones in the tool set there. The blend of softness and sharpen is kind of what makes film look different than video when it comes to detail. Interested in finding out where you do your research? Only asking because I study this kind of stuff and have been for years, and your info always seems to be dead on the money as far a accuracy is concerned and it feels like you do a lot of research and testing. By the way if you are Canadian, so am I. Starting to see a trend here.

[@NathanCarterVids]

Yes I'm an East coast boy, grew up in PEI all my life til about a year ago I moved to Manitoba for my Fiance to do her PHD. We're up north for the holidays with her family. As far as research goes, at this point I don't really watch any KZbin videos. Sometimes if I'm looking for a solution to a problem Lift Gamma Gain, or Mixing Light are my go to's (technical issues usually the BM forum). For these videos though I tend to rely on reading the manual, and testing. I never thought I'd make money in the video world so I actually got my bachelor's in Chemistry, and I really find that scientific background really helpful when trying to come up with testing methods so I can (hopefully) come up with repeatable results that explain how something works. That's being said though, sometimes I get it wrong and if you ever see me saying something that seems off, feel free to let me know. The last thing I want is to put out misinformation. There's so much of it when it comes to Resolve and color grading, I'd like to not contribute to that.

[@MammadAliyev]

I've also subscribed :) Great video. Finally someone visually showed how sharpening tools work in DR. But there is one thing I didn't get: how can I increase threshold of sharpening tool?

[@MammadAliyev]

I found it :)) there is a "Level" tool in the bottom of Sharpen window

[@CaseySchneider]

Thanks for actually showing us how it works vs how to use it 👌 How about denoise next?

[@NathanCarterVids]

I've been thinking about how best to show that in a controled environment, spacial noise reduction is fairly straightforward, temporal on the other hand will require some thinking to make it repeatable and clear.

[@-maxx-]

The most useful things I learned here didn’t even have anything to do with sharpening! Great video!

[@NathanCarterVids]

Glad you got some use out of it.

[@-maxx-]

@@NathanCarterVids I always do, I love your videos - you're like the Gerald Undone of Davinci ;)

[@NathanCarterVids]

@@-maxx- that's awesome. Thank you.

[@crossfithammerschmiede]

Within the first 60 seconds I was already resigning myself to a second viewing! There's just so much I don't know about this stuff and it's fascinating to see how you approach it. There are already some great DR KZbinrs out there, but I'd say none of them have the same approach as you do. It's surely only a matter of time before this channel blows up. Great content. OK, second viewing, here we go...

[@NathanCarterVids]

That's awesome. Thanks. I honestly wasn't sure if people would like this kinda stuff, but I'll gladly make more.

[@crossfithammerschmiede]

​@@NathanCarterVids The only way to recreate these effects/grades etc, (apart from following along a YT video every time), is to actually understand what each control does. As I said, I have a basic grasp of the fundamentals, but it's not quite enough to make the changes (quickly, which is the key) I need every time. I hope there are more like me who want the content as clear and precise as possible, but in small enough chunks to be able to process it in order to recreate it and use the techniques in our own projects. I'm learning a lot.

[@NathanCarterVids]

@@crossfithammerschmiede that's great. That's the balance I feel like I'm always working towards, not having too much information so that it's not too much to process, but also enough to fully cover the topic, then I try to cover extra elements with on screen notes or in the description.

[@crossfithammerschmiede]

@@NathanCarterVids It would be great if you could do something similar for noise reduction which is the obvious partner to sharpening! I play around with the Luma & Chroma values in Temporal and Spatial Threshold in the Motion Effects tab, but I'd be lying if I said I understood what each one really does. I'm sure the NR could do a better job if I set it right. The things is, once I get it right, it's easy as my set-up is the same every time. I'm doing online workouts from my box, so nothing changes apart from the sweat levels!

[@MarcSchreiberRealtor]

Great video 😀 explains the fundamentals well 👍 I use a LAB color space on a sharpening only node as it only affects the luma channel. Maybe something to touch on in a later video. Stay warm!

[@NathanCarterVids]

Awesome glad you found it helpful. For the LAB approach I actually did a video on that last year, one of the first videos to really launch this channel actually. It's not quite like the deep dives I do now, so maybe it's worth revisiting. Here's the video though: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5CclqOBjrGKZ8k

[@thehoggattproject]

That's the video I learned from as well. I thought it was less destructive to only sharpen the luminance by using Lab values. But in regards to this video, I think these tests show that sharpening is defined by abrupt changes in luminance. Which in turn means the colors aren't being sharpened. If that's the case, then we can just leave the color space in RGB, no?

[@NathanCarterVids]

@@thehoggattproject Ohh that brings up a good question, do abrupt hue changes effect contrast. I somehow totally over looked that. Thanks for pointing it out. I'm assuming they do as luminance changes can also vary on their hue, but I didn't test it in the video. Maybe a follow up or an extra credits after the fact.

[@MarcSchreiberRealtor]

@@NathanCarterVids LOL How Sharpening Actually Works Ver2 😁😎

[@AbrEvig]

Where in Nunavut are you?

[@NathanCarterVids]

I was in Iqaluit. Shot that down at the breakwater

[@ahmetuludas9328]

İ saw "detail sharpening" option in the bmpcc 4k. What does it mean, how its work?

[@NathanCarterVids]

So that applies sharpening in camera. In this video I break down exactly what sharpening is and that should give you a better idea what it's doing kzbin.info/www/bejne/faKQlpmdiK6Af6s

[@ahmetuludas9328]

@@NathanCarterVids This in camera sharpening same as in the davinci resolve sharpening or something different?

[@NathanCarterVids]

@@ahmetuludas9328 well it's like an post process sharpening Contrast is applied to edges.

[@ahmetuludas9328]

​@@NathanCarterVids Ok i asked because İm beetwen gh5s and bmpcc 4k. Gh5s footages look like much more sharper than bmpcc 4k. Can we get this exactly gh5s sharpness with bmpcc 4k on post process? Or Gh5s sharper, because it's about gh5s's sensor?

[@Potash_label]

Top

[@rizalkhoi]

7:07 I guess H/V ratio means Horizontal/Vertical ratio

[@NathanCarterVids]

That makes sense. Good call

[@lyolyalya]

странно, что это преподносится, как новый контент)еще кодируя в х263 была такая галочка "psychovisual enhancement" в настройках кодека. каково же было мое удивление, когда просто увеличив картинку, я увидел на краях объектов просто переконтрастные области)))с тех пор так и живем, с осознанием того, что sharpening - это халтура в любом видеоредакторе)))