How To Set Up Your Office For Color Grading

[@TheMadComposer]

Dude, this was great!!! Extraordinarily helpful!!

[@carlos_novais]

I was looking for some information about a relatively basic video editing suite set up, and after a few hours, I found your video. It is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you, Chris!

[@ChrisFrancis]

Awesome, glad to hear it was helpful Carl! Thanks for writing me a note to let me know.

[@shivya6518]

oh my god. I watched till the end on normal speed. thats big for me lol your video is AMAZING. thank you!!! this was so informational. please make sure if you can

[@arielrodriguez6980]

I just bought the MEDIALIGHT MK2 for my tv and it arrives today. Thanks for the video!

[@BurgerPlanetLive]

2:50 "And I know this because I may or may not have painted our kitchen literally 6 different shades of tan, before I finally got it right and my wife was happy about it..." Haha, this sounds like something from a sitcom! Future video idea?? Hmm?

[@dominey]

Good stuff. Another option for lightbulbs would be RGB LED lights. That way you can make them very cool / neutral when doing color work, then switch to a warmer temperature for other tasks. Then you don't feel like you're working in a hospital all the time. :) Recommend the Yeelight RGB bulbs.

[@ChrisFrancis]

Love that idea. I looked into that originally but couldn't find any good solutions. Will check Yeelight out (as I much prefer a super warm tungsten environment on the day-to-day).

[@kreeson.]

This is the best video I've watched explaining it all. Many thanks for making this. I've been looking for biasing lights with high CRI ratings and the ones you have above didn't come up in my search.

[@ChrisFrancis]

Thx! Glad it was helpful

[@kreeson.]

@@ChrisFrancis Hi Chris, at what brightness do you recommend setting the biasing lights brightness at. Also what cd/m2 do you set your monitor to? Somehow I just can't seem to get used to editing at 120 or 80 and end up with 160 cd/m2

[@ChrisFrancis]

@@kreeson. bias lighting should be a little less bright than your monitor for accurate contrast. I don’t think there’s a standard, kinda up to your eye comfort. The DisplayCal software will show you how bright your monitor should be when you start your calibration. For me that lands one notch less than half brightness on my iMac and my LG 5K monitor. On my MacBook Pro it’s with the brightness up to 100%

[@kreeson.]

@@ChrisFrancis really appreciate the quick replies and info. I felt the same but needed confirmation. Thank you once again.

[@jimlad01]

Using a hood and avoiding glossy monitors such as the on the iMacs if possible also seems to help with eye strain. Good info, many thanks.

[@Umiflow]

Great stuff! Thanks for the other camera calibrator recommendation I’ll have to try that out

[@nickb_rock]

Great video Chris! Looking forward to your future work

[@muiravenue7182]

Brilliant

[@CodyPyper]

Appreciate this video! Getting some ideas for my office

[@christopherfrancis7561]

Thanks Cody, glad it was helpful!

[@VishnuAttiappan]

Great one here. You’re awesome 👏

[@christopherfrancis7561]

thanks Vishnu! Glad you enjoyed it

[@NigelAquascaping]

What about no ambient lighting just the monitor only in a dark room?

[@ChrisFrancis]

At minimum you'd need bias lighting in that situation, but unless you're preparing content that's only going to be viewed in a dark movie theater I think you're going to be able to more closely recreate the viewing environment of your viewers if there's some ambient light in your room. While you want to get your image technically correct, you also want to factor in how it's going to be viewed in the real world. If you color grade completely in the dark at night let's say, you'll be surprised at how different the contrast and saturation looks when someone's watching it the next day in their living room.

[@senpera]

Great video mate. Thank you

[@partyshakers_co]

Thank you so much, it was really helpful.

[@ChrisFrancis]

glad to hear! thanks for the feedback

[@Sticks]

Another great video man! What’s church film school? Cool to learn that you’re a Christian 🙌🏼😊

[@ChrisFrancis]

thanks! Churchfilmschool.com is a resource I run for church filmmakers to learn and grown in their craft :)

[@nameeralashqar]

Thanks for sharing this info

[@pauljacobde]

Thanks for the tips! =)

[@ElNicopewpew]

Really helpful, thanks!

[@farhanbadru3671]

calibrate i1 studio still good compare with i1 pro for budget?

[@christopher8116]

What if my walls are green, any suggestion for lights considering my environment will change within a year. And the lights are a ceiling fan, should I replace one of the lights of the ceiling fan with one of the lights you recommend in the video or two of them whichever is facing direction of the monitor ?

[@JamesDocs]

Great video. But the link to Calibrator can be updated. ((::

[@ATreeForFive]

Great content ! Subscribed !

[@Potchekansky]

What's wrong with the SpyderX?

[@bignormeister]

Your video is extremely helpful, thank you! Is there a particular brightness level for ambient lighting as this will have a relative effect on exposure adjustments?

[@kingdomcreatives]

awesome! keep up the great work!

[@ChrisFrancis]

thanks!

[@jcinewilliams8819]

Before watching this I purchased lighting at 6500 Kelvin with a CRI value of > I shouldn't I be ok?

[@isak6626]

Great video! You covered much more than I expected. How about the light strip's luminance, are you happy with that?

[@ChrisFrancis]

Plenty of luminance on the light strip. I usually run it at less than 50% brightness.

[@isak6626]

@@ChrisFrancis thanks. And can you dim it down as much as you like? I'm thinking about buying one for my TV, and I'm concerned it might be too bright if the room is really dark.

[@ChrisFrancis]

Yep, fully dimmable

[@isak6626]

@@ChrisFrancis thanks!

[@chifineart]

How would I go about getting the formula for the N8 gray?

[@ChrisFrancis]

just screenshot the 9:45 mark and take that to the paint shop (N5 btw)

[@chifineart]

@@ChrisFrancis Thanks. Was looking for N8 as I strictly only do photo editing (no video editing here). I was able to do some research and it seems the Benjamin Moore Pelican Gray may do the job.

[@jackdavies8317]

My office has a 2m wide window in it. What do you recommend I do with it when colour grading? Blackout blinds?

[@ChrisFrancis]

Definitely black it out if possible or at least reduce the light as much as possible. The color temperature of the light coming through the window throughout the day will fluctuate based on time of day, sunny, cloudy, etc.

[@vineethv.kartha1378]

NIce

[@markhenning2813]

How large is this room?

[@ChrisFrancis]

maybe 9' x 11' ?

[@pikasalsachu]

i dont understand that painting formula

[@ChrisFrancis]

the hardware store will, just print it out and give it to them

[@pikasalsachu]

@@ChrisFrancis thanx

[@FinnJaeger1337]

Now just get a grading monitor and proper video out and do not use a mirror glassed imac thats basically ridicolous for color grading.

[@markhenning2813]

I'm surprised your electric plate cover is not grey... they make them close to 18% Grey

[@ChrisFrancis]

😂

[@thedanwriter1]

It’s probably better to just use 5000k light bulbs because no one is looking at content under 6500k light bulbs, correct me if I’m wrong

[@ChrisFrancis]

Always better to start in the most accurate settings you can afford to be in to make sure the source material is correct. Also, ambient daylight is about 6500K so unless the sunshine is directly shining into the room, most of what’s coming through your windows is about 6500K (or if you’re watching on your phone outside on a cloudy day)

[@handelhumphrey8596]

Your video has this weird line through it, like it's glitch with the progressive frame or something

[@ChrisFrancis]

Interesting, not seeing it on my end. I know KZbin has been a little glitchy the past several days so maybe that's it?

[@handelhumphrey8596]

@@ChrisFrancis yeah weird its only on 720p on chrome. on my phone and safari its not there. looks like this - drive.google.com/file/d/1L2P-axS243LH7oaRZhAoRB9bGX2Wgr27/view?usp=sharing

[@multimediaproduction6674]

SMPTE standards dictate that you don't have ambient light falling on your monitor. immediate fail.

[@cartoune]

Which ones? D-Cinema standards? If so, that's not relevant seeing as he's probably not grading exclusively for the theater.

[@uehal]

Color grading on Apple display ruins all the rest)

[@Maxime-ho9iv]

This is a great room, but do you seriously edit on this garbage iMac monitor?..

[@zuidveenjake]

you whitebalanced your room

[@avarmadillo]

This is all well and good, but forget about it if you're doing KZbin. I was shocked the moment I saw my videos I worked hard on using different search engines. Safari, Firefox, Google; they all torture your video, destroying all your work.

[@bbqribz570]

After digging through this 'high CRI led' rabbit hole for a while, i'm glad i stumbled upon this video

[@slasherdigitalmediaproduct5722]

What don't you like the Spyder?

[@TylerVincent]

This was a super helpful video! Thanks Chris!

[@H1Productions]

Do you know if the spectrally flat paint is equivalent to 50% gray? As for the lamp, wouldn't the lamp shade negate the benefits of using 6500K bulbs since it makes the light appear warmer? You can see the wall behind you reflect different colors between the light that goes through the lamp shade and the shade opening.

[@ChrisFrancis]

I'm not sure what percent gray it's considered - but I do know it's the exact gray that you want. The lamp shade for sure throws a little cast in the room but it's subtle and in my new office it's even further away from me. When it's time for final touches on the grade I usually turn that lamp off because of the warmth of the shade, but for normal day to day stuff it's just fine.

[@ArchWayE]

I was wondering about the discoloration from the lamp shade. It is not neutral diffusion as you would get from a gaffer.

[@Eigenbaardig]

Wow so many awesome tips! thank you! I had also never heard about the DisplayCAL software. I am happy with the results of my SpyderX's software but I am going to try it anyway.

[@johantaljaard2132]

This is a great guide! Gonna put these ideas to use!

[@ChrisFrancis]

Thank you, glad to hear!

[@JohnAmaro_Official]

Thanks for the video..What if you turn off all the lights in studio and colorgrade in a completely dark room? i heard that some pro colorists do that and they even wear dark clothes..Not sure if it works but I quess if it works it can save us money from buying all these 6500k lights:)

[@ChrisFrancis]

John Amaro that would work for color accuracy, but your eyes might play some tricks on you when judging exposure and contrast. I used to do that back in the day and then watch the same footage during the day and couldn’t believe how different it looked. I’d say in that situation you’d at least want some biased lighting behind your monitor if possible to help your eyes judge exposure and contrast.

[@JohnAmaro_Official]

@@ChrisFrancis thanks for the tip

[@luckydhiman]

Good content. But this video suggests that lighting and paint is more important than a calibrated monitor. I think the first thing person should invest in is calibration tools and a good starting monitor for grading or iMac is a good starting point only after proper calibration. Then comes the bias lighting and gray paint. Also, you can get by without whole place 6500K lighting as color grading is mostly done in dark rooms with only bias lighting switched on. Only 6500k needed for bias lighting or some really good RGB stips that have good CRI.

[@ChrisFrancis]

Lots of factors play different roles in getting you to as accurate a place as possible for sure. Personally I don't like color grading in a dark room because I'm not preparing content that is going to play in a dark movie theater. Most of my content is probably viewed online or on a mobile device in a varying array of environments so I prefer to be in more of a neutral environment for grading as that will probably be closer to the environment in which it will be viewed. It's pretty crazy how different things can look if you color grade in a dark room at night and then look at it with fresh eyes in the morning in a room that has natural ambient light. I also like to double check any project that I have color graded by watching an export on my iphone as well to serve as a good reference for how a lot of viewers will be watching my content.

[@ArchWayE]

NEUTRAL gray paint is expen$$ive.

[@ChrisFrancis]

Not if you take the recipe I show to Home Depot. Same as any other paint

[@ArchWayE]

Thanks, will do first do that first and if my eyes are still off in color judgement, I’ll buy the expensive stuff and measure colorometry. It is easy enough to apply a second coat of similar hue value with the first coat being affordable.

[@ArchWayE]

@@ChrisFrancis it’s a recipe from Flanders Scientific. So I trust their measurements.

[@ArchWayE]

@@ChrisFrancis Their $40,000 reference monitors would be meaningless without a properly painted environment.

[@ArchWayE]

@@ChrisFrancis url link to the Flanders Scientific formula?

[@jonathanbekele5807]

What's more important for color grading lights, the color temp or the CRI?

[@ChrisFrancis]

My hunch would be color temp if you’re in a spot where you can’t purchase a 6500k light with a high CRI.

[@ZeroHunter93]

Calibrating your monitor like this is usually not a good idea, as it will be cutting off the values of the graphics card. Generally you don't want to grade on your GUI, as it's not displaying true YCbCr signal which is unavoidable when outputing RGB-codecs. I learned this the hard way, results gonna be unpredictable. What you really want is a hardware calibrated monitor with gamma 2.4 with an I/O-box between it and your computer.

[@ChrisFrancis]

Thanks for the heads up David. I don't color grade often, so I was looking at the most beneficial things I could do without any additional monitors, hardware, etc. as I would rarely use them. I know that nobody who is serious about grading would work off of their iMac, but that said, would you do anything differently than I did in the video given those parameters?

[@ZeroHunter93]

Church Film School Basically everything else looks good! The light bulbs are pretty cool, but I’d look for a way to dim those down as overall brightness in your room looks too bright. Cheers! :-)

[@Kiwireels]

Agree with you on this, I have the ultra studio 4k as my IO output and I use a BenQ sw2700pt monitor as I can calibrate the hardware. The other option would to use the Panasonic oled4k tv TH-55GZ1000U