You're Fixing White Balance Wrong - DaVinci Resolve 17 Tutorial

Today we do a Deep Dive on how the Temperature and Tint Sliders Adjust Your Image In DaVinci Resolve 17. I also demonstrate a method that achieves similar results, but with much finer control.
Download DaVinci Resolve for Free: www.blackmagicdesign.com/prod...
Time Stamps:
0:00 - Intro Skit
0:32 - Overview
1:06 - Testing Prep
1:30 - Channel Testing (Grey Solid Color Generator)
3:15 - Luminance Testing (10 Step Generator)
4:02 - Colors Impacted (EBU Color Bar Generator)
6:10 - Replicating Temp/Tint Sliders
8:00 - Added Control Benefits
9:30 - Practical Applications
10:12 - Outro
Notes:
Now I'm sure some folks are going to suggest alternatives for specific tonal regions, Eg. Log, curves, Other Primary Wheels, etc. That's great, though the intent was to replicate the Temperature slider for a general solution. If you need to adjust a color cast in a specific tonal region then of course you'd be better off applying an adjustment that impacts that region.
Also, check out the extra credits video for a quick rundown on how to do the same thing with the offset and HDR Global controls. I mainly added these in as they are popular methods though they didn't fit naturally into the flow of the tutorial.
References:
How to Use Versions: • How to use "Versions" ...
How the Exposure Controls Work: • You're Adding Contrast...
Extra Credits Offset WB Adjustment: • White Balance Extra Cr...
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:
Dell G7 17 inch 2020
CPU - Intel 10th gen i7-10750H
GPU - RTX 2070 MaxQ
Trying out my new laptop while on the road

[@NathanCarterVids]

Hey folks, I've made it to the Arctic for Christmas with the in-laws. Taking next week off to spend some time with the family. See you all in the new year. Happy Holidays!

[@Milo-mw8we]

Have a great time and happy holidays to you and your family :)

[@bakerpatrick6842]

Pro trick : watch movies on flixzone. I've been using it for watching lots of of movies recently.

[@ezekielfranklin7387]

@Baker Patrick yup, I have been using Flixzone} for since november myself :D

[@conortychowski]

This is amazing info! Love seeing this kinda content about how various controls actually work! Hugely helps you to improve as a colourist!

[@NathanCarterVids]

I agree. I find this sort of info super helpful myself. So I'm glad other folks can get some use out of it too.

[@MadeinvideoEs]

You put a lot of effort and reserch into this and the rest of your videos. So just wanted thank you for sharing all this amazing content with us. These are exciting times to learn resolve with content creators as awesome as you! Merry Christmas and wish you a great 2021!

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thank you I really appreciate that. It certainly is an exciting time too. They keep adding so much to it every year. Merry Christmas to you as well

[@svnairr16]

This is detailed! also you present it so effortlessly. Kudos!

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thank you. Glad you enjoy it. Also I'm really happy it looks effortless. Lots of research and testing, then I ramble in record me explaining tests for about an hour and cut that down and try to make it easy to follow.

[@michaelvaughan2888]

really good video, easy to understand and displayed what each thing does perfectly

[@enjoythelittlethings3359]

Brilliant video !! Wish you a Merry Christmas in the Arctic and a happy new year.

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thank you. And a merry Christmas to you as well.

[@AllThingsFilm1]

Another excellent tutorial. Extremely useful and informative.

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thanks. Happy to help

[@BassCage]

More great info. Thank you 😁

[@NathanCarterVids]

Happy to help

[@KMFilmr]

This is perfecly tutorial.. thankyou bro..

[@martincoolee]

Nathan you are pro master. Great explanation as always.

[@NathanCarterVids]

I don't know if I'm a master, but I appreciate the compliment. Always more to learn.

[@adsmithtx]

Good video very instructional

[@NathanCarterVids]

Glad you found it helpful.

[@andrewmason8691]

I feel like I just did Bootcamp For Nerds and...I loved it. Does that means I'm a...? Great video, Nathan. I really appreciated the insight this gives us. WB does my head in and this helps me get closer to mastering it.

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thank you. Really happy to hear that. I kinda like that name too. "Bootcamp for nerds" haha

[@Joshua-iz1go]

I believe you are the color wizard I have been looking for

[@NathanCarterVids]

Awesome. Happy to help

[@elyselapalme7040]

Waw this is a quality channel! I Hope you'll get all the sub you deserve ;)

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thank you. I appreciate the support. More videos on the way

[@Mixxwizard]

Nice video Nathan, but two👍👍up on the intro.

[@MarcSchreiberRealtor]

Great video! I do use this method especially when I use an X-Rite card. Could you please do something similar that gets skin corrected in shadows, mid and highlights? 👍👍 Thanks AND BE SAFE ON YOUR TRAVELS.

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thank you. Having a great time up here. I'll into doing something like that. However if you also watch my exposure controls video I break down all of the controls and you can use that info to then adjust each specific channel to balance parts to your liking. Video linked here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6aqenqYl6p1qqs

[@cuatrodeuno]

very useful information but the vectorscope is too small cant see

[@thehoggattproject]

I always thought white balance affected the entire image equally. This was an eye opener that it's mostly achieved by gain controls! Also, you mention that the temp and tint sliders behave this way to maintain luminance values. What happens when you drop the luminance mixer to 0%? Great video, thanks!

[@NathanCarterVids]

So as far as I can tell Luminance Mix does not impact the temp and tint sliders. Could do a luminance mix video in the future. As far as I know it works with curves and primary, maybe more, don't know off the top of my head.

[@thehoggattproject]

@@NathanCarterVids I just tested it out and it looks like you're on the money. Luminance Mix does not impact temp and tint. I've never really tried tweaking things around using a color generator but I see now how helpful it can be. Have fun in the Arctic!

[@wakkowarner8810]

This is why it is important to set the white balance correctly, and this is why you should shoot in braw and not in prores. I didn't know fixing wb in post was so much work,

[@NathanCarterVids]

I agree catching it in camera, when not in raw is always best. However at the end I balance the clip in probably 20 seconds, and could do it even faster if I wasn't explaining everything. So it can be adjusted fairly quickly, but yes catching it in camera is better.

[@yakonly]

Hey Nathan, My encoder option in render settings in davinci resolve is showing Intel Quick Sync instead of Nvidia. How can I solve this? Would love if you can help out.

[@NathanCarterVids]

Does your system have an Nvidia Graphics card?

[@yakonly]

@@NathanCarterVids Yes it does. I have Nvidia 970m, 2gb Vram installed

[@stylenaalsingh702]

Hay man could you please help me my davinci resolve beta6 version is crashing whenever i started doing colour grading i don’t know what to do i have good specs that can handle it very easy or is it a software’s problem because of beta version?? Or by the way thanku for this great video man appreciate your hardwork 🔥

[@NathanCarterVids]

Hmm I encountered quite a few crashes with beta 1. I've also noticed bugs across multiple machines where HDR controls with qualifiers and or zone graph totally tank performance and it chugs hard (never did that in beta 1 for me though). With regards to your issues, is it possible your preferences for switched around. Maybe check in there just to make sure it's using your GPU the best way and all that. If that doesn't work, can you tell me more about the issue?

[@stylenaalsingh702]

@@NathanCarterVids hey first of all thanku so much for your reply and yeah i tell you what exactly happen So whenever i open davinci it starts very smooth when i was starting doing edits(cuts,transition,titles) it work fine Whenever i use fusion it works fine or same with audio work But when i change to the colour page every single time it suddenly crash even if i just change contrast a little bit sometimes even if i add another node it just suck

[@NathanCarterVids]

@@stylenaalsingh702 that's really frustrating. I know it's not the best answer, but have you tried reinstalling? What type of system do you have. OS? Specs?

[@stylenaalsingh702]

@@NathanCarterVids i7 intel core 9th gen processor 16gb ram ddr 4 4gb Nvidia graphics cards 1tb rom

[@mrfroopy]

Why did you create a compound clip for a generator? I am not clear on why you would need that for a single clip?

[@mrfroopy]

sorry I was just watching your new midtone detail and saw that generators don't show up in color.... only in edit.

[@NathanCarterVids]

@@mrfroopy no worries. I didn't make that totally clear. Glad you were able to get it figured out

[@DominikBelancic]

Nice video, love the analysis! Gain/offset controls for white balancing are widely used so it's definitely good to do it with them. Also, the temp/tint controls in the HDR toolset behave differently than the ones in the normal colour wheels. They are using the same colour transform as the Chromatic Adaptation OFX (which is brilliant for adjusting white balance) so the changes are more visually pleasing and correct. The reason the temp can go much warmer than cooler is to avoid any potential visual artifacts. If you want to dive into the Chromatic Adaptation OFX, here's a nice link with some of the algorithms used for the transforms: web.stanford.edu/~sujason/ColorBalancing/robustawb.html#nogo

[@NathanCarterVids]

Great points. I quickly go over the HDR and gain options in the extra credits video. I did not however know that it used CA to do it. I've done some tests with that OFX in the past and haven't been blown away by the results. However i pushed it pretty hard. Maybe I should revisit it, and dive back into that Stanford paper. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@DominikBelancic]

@@NathanCarterVids The plugin definitely saved me in a couple of occasions. It's a great tool, but not something to use every single time. Even though it has pretty good algorithms (Bradford being the best), it still depends on the footage it's used on. On 8bit files, it will definitely break easily, while on 12bit raw files it will work like a charm :)

[@rayzan9561]

What exactly is the point you're trying to make?

[@NathanCarterVids]

Demonstrate what the temp/tint sliders are doing to your image and showcase an alternative method that achieves the same result, with more control.

[@PHUKU]

this video should start with 'if you use temp or tint sliders to white balance...' would save time if you dont use those methods

[@NathanCarterVids]

I tried to demonstrate that with the skit in the begining. Thanks for the feedback

[@jeffryancarlson3273]

Subtitle please.

[@TheToneWork]

Ten-minute video with lots of explanation, still doesn't correct white balance at the end of the video. Yellow skin, blue daylight.

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@vitalilisau6181]

@@NathanCarterVids There are actually two color temperatures in this scene, so it is impossible to fix it with just one adjustment. There should be color temperature gradient filter between the window on the left and lamp on the right. It is explained here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2bVgn1jgrl9n9E

[@larsnaenfeldt4121]

Sorry, but it was confusing to me. Not an easy way to correct white balance.

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thanks for the feedback. Where did I lose yah? Is there's anything I can help clarify or explain further. Ultimately I end up using the Gain bars to control each channel, getting a similar result to the WB slider, but with more control.

[@crossfithammerschmiede]

@@NathanCarterVids Lost me too. I'm going to come back to it and try it again as it's clear that you know your stuff and your enthusiasm and delivery is great. My immediate thought (after 1 viewing) is that it is a little too technical and real world examples would be a better way to go. I've subbed anyway, as I'm sure I'll learn something from you!

[@NathanCarterVids]

@@crossfithammerschmiede thanks for the feedback. I think you're right. I only used one real world example at the end. Maybe in future videos I'll try to break it up a bit. So show how an element works, then show it in practice, then move on to the next element. And have a summary at the end on a final real world example that ties all the elements together. I'm always trying to make the videos more accessible, I've still got lots to learn, so I really appreciate the feedback. Thanks for the sub.

[@crossfithammerschmiede]

@@NathanCarterVids Thanks. I'm going to jump on that straight away and ask you to do a tut on workflow/colour balancing/sharpening 5D (Mk3) footage! I shoot inside (I'm a CrossFit box owner and coach) so my set-up is always the same. I'm always disappointed in the softness of the end video. That said, it was before I watched your videos, so maybe it will already have improved! I shoot everything flat with sharpness all the way down so I should have a lot of room for improvement. Of course there's no expectation that you can do this precise thing, but maybe you can do something similar if anyone else is interested. Happy Holidays!

[@NathanCarterVids]

@@crossfithammerschmiede great question. While I haven't specifically worked with that camera I did do a video a few months back about working with 8 bit footage. I believe the camera was a 90d (I think in the video I thought it was an M50) and I imagine there would be some cross over there. Hope this helps. Video link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oafRiZ-KmbSqpZI

[@HalloweenTelevision]

You didn't need 10 min to go over this.

[@NathanCarterVids]

Thanks for the feedback

[@jafaem]

Stop saying "BOOM"

[@NathanCarterVids]

I'll try, but not making any promises haha