How to correctly color grade RED IPP2 footage in Premiere Pro

RED's IPP2 workflow is a game changer when it comes to color grading but it is very important to treat your footage properly to ensure you are using IPP2 to its maximum potential. Find out how and what not to do!
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The footage in this video was kindly provided by the wonderful guys at raw.film. RawFilm is a subscription based platform offering premium stock footage shot exclusively on RED cameras in raw format. If you need a footage for your project, make sure you check them out.
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[@hmglick]

Fantastic walk through, I went from "terrified of the RED workflow" to "comfortable with the basics" in 15 minutes. Thanks!

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

That's great! Your comment just made our day.

[@yuyangzhang]

It's indeed a detailed tutorial worth collecting on my notes! Thanks a lot!

[@filmitpro]

Great video! That was the clearest explanation of the ipp2 pipeline and editing process I’ve heard so far! Super helpful!

[@DirectorAsifMasood]

you make me easy and nice way explain thanks sir

[@loudandclearmedia]

Great tutorial. I'm new to the RED system and got quite a few little nuggets out of your presentation. Thanks! Subscribed.

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@CRS__KBL]

You taught well thank you ....this is very helpful

[@CinecomCrew]

Thank for the interesting video! I guess stacking Lumetri effects would come down to the same thing? Would be more friendly in larger projects.

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

There is a limit to what you can achieve when stacking Lumetri effects as you cannot always control the order in which the actions take place. We will be creating a tutorial about that.

[@menoforma]

Nice tutorial guys ;) Please upoad more content with the grading in the future using your LUTS ;-)

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Will do :-)

[@zmirfilms3442]

Great video. Thanks.

[@shangulable]

thanks for the great knowledge

[@mattrogers1052]

Great video, thank you. So the top layer is what you use to lock it into a final colorspace. What colorspace should I be using for Instagram, KZbin and vimeo? And what should I use for television? Cheers!

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Hi Matt, for Instagram you would most likely want to convert into sRGB and Rec709 for all others unless you're creating an HDR version. However, I don't think there's sRGB log conversion LUT, so you're good to stay with Rec709 for all of these. For sRGB you would need a color managed approach like ACES for example but that's a completely different subject.

[@TrustinTimber]

thank you.

[@fd3871]

why are you changing the white balance with lumetri rather than manipulating the raw footage? also i don't foresee many people having or wanting to have 3-4 adjustment layers atop each clip on a longer timeline. is their a simpler way?

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

For simplicity purposes we demonstrated this using the white balance control. For raw files, regardless if they are RED or other format it's best changing the white balance by manipulating the raw file. Regarding adjustment layers, we find this very intuitive and once you start working this way you actually know what each layer does always. If you prefer you can stack Lumteri effects on the clip.

[@producedproductions]

Why do you do the primary corrections on the adjustment layer instead of the master where you have access to the cameras data in regards to kelvin and iso?

[@dsult.v.6961]

Thanks!

[@larionszilasi2964]

Hello sir! Im very glad, that there is a very good and professional tutorial for IPP2 footage in Premiere Pro. But Im more of an Adobe After Effects guy. Do you think the same workflow can work in there too?

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Same layers approach should work in AE as well

[@radiclestudio]

Did you use the NO_CONTRAST Lut?

[@davidwarrenbiazon9291]

Thanks man!

[@MartiMDN]

changing the white balance on the lumetri color, does it change the metadata values since is shot on RAW? Or is it applying those changes over the image? Would it be better to adjust the white balance on the master clip section?

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Hi, please see our other responses to this. Yes, it's better to do it in master clip as it's working directly with raw data. White balance change as demoed was for convenience purposes.

[@RyanWhiting1]

Solid explanation - thank you. Question: after you've created your 4 (or more) adjustment layers, can you nest them for easier placement in the timeline? When I attempt to do this, I lose picture completely???

[@sijiawoyinka5998]

the output transform lut (rec 709) should be added as a creative lut according to the RED white paper.

[@sijiawoyinka5998]

not in the basic correction tab

[@mokisacreativevideo9510]

Thanks

[@devin119]

There is no need to use adjustment layers anymore. The 2019 version of the lumetri panel lets you add layers within the panel at the top of the panel in the drop down. You can rearrange the order of the layers as well. So you can use your same technique but without all the bulk of adjustment layers.

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Thanks for the comment and the valuable feedback. Using adjustment layers is actually much less bulky option in our opinion as it "separates" the grade from the clip itself. It also allows for much quicker overview of the edits as you can use different colors for different layers to differentiate your color edits quickly and it allows you to apply changes through the entire timeline very quickly if needed. Also, some controls in Lumetri are "hard-ordered" and cannot be changed unless using adjustment layers but yes, 2019 version is a big improvement.

[@devin119]

@@LutifyMe3DLUTs Totally viable. I find multiple adjustment layers to be bulky. I'd rather copy and paste the attributes. I'm not sure which "hard-ordered" controls you speak of, since all layers are manageable in 2019. But anyway, that's the beauty of this NLE; we get a choice in our workflows that works best for us but maybe not for others. Which is great.

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

editor-d More options = more power to end user. Naturally everyone will have their own preferences. Anyway, the whole point of this video is to understand that when working with IPP2 you want to stay for as long as possible in IPP2 instead of converting to Rec709 at the beginning of pipeline. How you achieve this is a matter of personal choice I guess.

[@devin119]

@@LutifyMe3DLUTs Yep. It's a good video! Thanks for the quality content.

[@siriuscinemavideoproduction]

yo Editor-d, when you get a chance, can you please explain the lumetri panels youre talking about? lets say I have 1 adjustment layer, how do I actually rearrange the orders of the layers?

[@rgsauve]

Great video! I'm going to play with this on current corporate projects to see how it differs from my usual workflow. QUESTION: Is there a difference with respect to destructiveness between adjusting the white balance in the RED metadata vs Lumetri? Why wouldn't I fix the white balance in the RED metadata instead of Lumetri? Or do they do the exact same thing?

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Destructiveness wise it’s better to change white balance via metadata in the raw file as that directly affects the debayering process. However it makes sense to limit the changes you do, as much as possible, in one place, hence changing white balance via adjustment layer.

[@Robertmillsjr]

Do you do this before editing or after? Also, do you nest the adjustment layers into the main clip? Thanks!

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

The color grading process should come after the edit is locked in place. Regarding nesting, it’s a matter of preference, we don’t.

[@prod07forgot]

tysm

[@ScenicoStudio]

Question. Can you explain why you are changing the white balance in the basic correction section as opposed to in the RED master settings? Great video btw!

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

The only reason for that would be convenience. That way all edits are in one place instead of being scattered. It's better to do white balance in RED master settings. This was just for convenience.

[@ScenicoStudio]

@@LutifyMe3DLUTs Gotcha! Thx for the response. Also just bought your guys' LUT pack and am loving it!

[@harryhall4690]

I’m having problems with grading ipp2 and stumbled on this vid. I’m used to davinci but am limited to premiere for this project. The problem I’m having is that without an input lut in basic correction, any corrections I make cause the image to transform into a jumble of grey horizontal lines, happens on all of my r3d files. Any idea what’s causing this?

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Unfortunately hard to tell. Sounds like some sort of GPU issue but really hard to tell without some proper debugging. Probably best asking Adobe forums.

[@newphermusic]

I think we would love if they made a tutorial about this process but for slog 2; there’s many videographers who use lutify but those who know how to use it they keep it a secret. I’m one of those who don’t know how to use properly cause I’m still learning and I would love if you made a tutorial for those like me, so I can learn and also recommend it. I already recommended it to some people, I created my own tutorial and send it to them to show them how to use it but I find it hard to apply the luts to some videos and get the best color grading results, I believe there’s no other better person like you who actually takes his time out of the day to show people how to use this program. Thank you and please make a tutorial using slog 2 because I'm a Sony user not all of us have a red camera

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Would love to create an S-Log2 tutorial. The thing is we don’t have that much S-Log2 footage available to us. If you would be willing to offer some sample footage for us please shoot us an email.

[@newphermusic]

@@LutifyMe3DLUTs Okay That's perfect I'm going to send you some in the next couple of days, thank you for your service

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Newpher films Sure thing. Happy to do this.

[@TheMokushow]

And how Would be the workflow, if you just want to finisch for rec709? Just normal 709 lust in an adjustmentlayer?

[@tymurmerkulov80]

Hi, cool tutorial. But please make the same for Alexa (I mean using Premiere, not DaVinci). There's almost no information about it on KZbin, only Red is everywhere. They also offer free footage samples on their website, if you don't have material

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Thanks for the feedback. We'll definitely do it

[@JeicsCastroFerrari]

Thanks for this tutorial, would it be posible to do this same video but with Resolve, I know in terms of theory how can it be apply but still it will be great to have a tutorial, Ive been using lutify since you guys started, thanks

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Yes, we will be making a tutorial for Resolve

[@JeicsCastroFerrari]

@@LutifyMe3DLUTs thanks

[@JeicsCastroFerrari]

what about the DaVinci resolve tut? thanks

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

@@JeicsCastroFerrari Should be coming next week

[@kuburt]

@@LutifyMe3DLUTs Thank you !

[@ChristianSpraungel]

I'm surprised you didn't go over using any of the R3D metadata to adjust the look of the image. Editing curves, WB, tint, etc. before actually editing these in lumetri. Is there any benefit to editing metadata over controlling these things in lumetri?

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Hi Christian, the purpose of the tutorial was to explain the concept of the correct order of actions and the advantage of making all your grades in a wide standardized color space. Adjusting the white balance for example in r3d settings is preferable but it's important to understand the correct order of actions.

[@ChristianSpraungel]

@@LutifyMe3DLUTs That makes total sense and thank you for the reply! So in terms of the correct order of actions, would any metadata adjustments happen first? Including curves? Although the metadata curves is harder to use it feels like it's better to do as much as you can in metadata and then move on to adjustment layers. Let me know if that's correct. Thanks!

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

@@ChristianSpraungel Metadata changes take place first. However, there's very little visual benefit visible by the naked eye to metadata changes opposed to editing the log footage directly. Think of it this way, a LOT of footage is shot in log in a "closed" format like ProRes. In the end does Alexa's ProRes footage look worse than RED's raw clips when you see them on TV or in cinema? Perhaps if you pixel peep, but I doubt you would be able to see the difference without knowing what's what. We're not trying here to say anything against raw formats, quote contrary, but one has also to be realistic, meet deadlines and enjoy what they're doing... Don't think about it too much, just get that grade done :-)

[@Tetraknot]

Is there a reason you're using an adjustment layer for temp instead of adjusting them in the master R3D raw settings?

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

The only reason for that would be convenience. That way all edits are in one place instead of being scattered.

[@gianlucazanga8432]

If I use a IPP2 to ALEXA LUT in which adjustment layer should I put it?

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Gianluca Zanga Hi Gianluca, the best thing to do would be to apply that as very first layer, however bear in mind that from that point on your footage is “Alexa” so if you’re using LUTs, these must be tailored for Alexa Wide Gamut and Log-C. These are very different from widely available “Alexa tailored” LUTs which simply concatenate log conversion with Rec709 LUT. For more info please contact our support.

[@TJ-po9ol]

Why wouldn't you use the RAW WB adjustment?

[@LutifyMe3DLUTs]

Check out our other replies to this very question. Basically, just for convenience and to demonstrate a workflow. For raw footage best making adjustments using raw controls.

[@AndrewFerguson1]

listen @ 3:44