Highlight Recovery | Mistakes Every Beginner Make | DaVinci Resolve 17 Tutorial

FREE 1-hour Color Grading Training: bit.ly/2J0aOig
0:00 Intro
1:15 FREE 1-hour training teaser
2:05 Highlight Recovery Deep Dive
2:19 Beginner's Look
7:33 Mistake #1
9:17 Mistake #2
11:29 Mistake #3
14:38 Pro Way
25:26 Look Recap
27:17 Final Look
27:30 Conclusion
In this video, I will reveal the biggest mistakes beginners make while recovering highlights and how to fix them.
Must follow me on Instagram for 🔥content everyday / theqazman
Merch: theqazman.myshopify.com/
My name is QAZI, I am a professional commercial colorist in LA. I run a virtual post-studio called THE POST VILLAGE. Check out our recent WORK www.thepostvillage.com
Equipment used:
Canon C500 mkii
Sigma 50mm 1.4
Rode NTG3
Nanlite Pavotubes
Resolve Advanced Panel
Apple XDR Display
Eizo CG279x
Waqas Qazi
Instagram: / theqazman

[@theqazman]

Don't forget to check out my FREE 1-hour Color Grading Training: bit.ly/2J0aOig This will teach you everything important you need to know about the NODE TREE

[@OnyksFilm]

Please, please, make video about developing RAW - Beginner vs Pro. Regards from Poland. THX for Your hard work to teach us.

[@bodacinema]

I understand that Da Vinci Resolve is more advanced for the degree of color, however if I have "Color Finale Pro" in final cut, can I access the course? Keep up the good work.

[@GreyWolfProject]

As a 74-year-old, that's just bought Resolve Studio 17, Nodes confused the hell out of me, and I avoided them like the plague. Now thanks to this tutorial I'm starting to understand their concept. Cheers Pal.

[@theqazman]

Happy to help. If you want to learn more about nodes there's nothing better than this training I put out. event.webinarjam.com/channel/igbionodes

[@johnrandall879]

OK I am 84 years old and worked with Avid for 20 years and you are right "Nodes" is freaky.

[@nospam-hn7xm]

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to remove.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

[@sashazephiria3869]

Love this pro VS beginner series ! :D

[@theqazman]

Thank you 😀

[@NicholasAndrew1]

I learn even more when you point out the mistakes. It helps me be aware of what I should no be doing! Thanks

[@theqazman]

You're welcome

[@whatthefox6303]

Every time I watch one of these beginner mistakes segments I feel personally attacked! Still, it's good to know I'm doing it wrong and learning to do it right in the same video. Thank you for taking the time to make this.

[@AlexLefevreArt]

This tutorial is gold. I am quite glad to see that my workflow wasn't too bad (just above amateur 3), but this information will take my grading to another level. Thanks mate!

[@ortizgab]

man, this little details are making a difference in my "beginners" trip. Thanx!

[@AllThingsFilm1]

Great tutorial, Qazi. You always share techniques that no one else does. This is a huge help for grading. And highlights are always a pain to try to recover. Thank you for this.

[@shotbystokkebro]

Even as someone who has your MasterClass and have been grading for a few years now under your guidance, these beginner vs pro video are awesome for those small final 10% tips that’ll help separate you from beginners to pros! Really highly appreciate the quality content that’s always coming! Personally I do like the highlights just slightly more suppressed, but that’s another beauty of this art of craft - taste is subjective 😍 I like to say, that there are all these rules on how to grade, but in the end there really are no rules, because it’s a work of art - just like there’s no rules in painting, only guidelines and inspiration. The end result is a product of who you are! 🙏🏼

[@celloniggunproject4188]

Thanks bro! As always, the information, its organization and presentation are at the highest level. Pure delight!

[@migel4065]

Appreciate you Qaz Man!

[@FilmQi]

There are so much to take in from this video, Thank you for sharing the tips!

[@sifux]

Wow you really make amazing tutorials man!! I already understood how nodes work before this tutorial but I wasn't really able to use them properly!! This video really helped me to understand more about how to use nodes to my benefit!! Thanks a lot for that dude🤗

[@karwanekamran]

Amazing bro, have been following you since the beginning and very happy to see your channel grow. Amazing tutorials.

[@vaideeshsrinivasan8265]

This reminds me of watching the fcm feedback videos you gave for those highlights recovery... Man I learnt a lot from you.

[@theqazman]

I can see the improvement. Keep pushing fam.

[@Felix_FLX]

Love your grading videos Qazi. So helpful. Keep it up!! Greetings from Germany

[@theqazman]

Thank you brother.

[@benjaminspeaks1985]

"my dude" 😂😂 Great video!

[@christiangillmann9466]

Very clear and helpful tutorial. Thank you for your content!

[@zonta647]

So much knowledge oozing out of this video. Love it!

[@theqazman]

Thank you

[@maxuno8524]

Just what I needed. Thank you, Qazman.

[@theqazman]

You're welcome

[@rashadhuseyn5624]

Thanks, bro, I learned a lot of things from your tutorials!

[@radekcrlik5060]

I only got to color grading recently and half of the time I still don't know what the heck is going on :D But with these videos it's a little clearer. Thanks for putting them up!

[@chusetor]

Amazing !!!!! Learning a lot with you. Thanks so much.

[@theqazman]

You're welcome

[@andrewkirschenbaum4886]

Waiting on your videos everyday, as soon as I see them I watch. You’re changing the game.

[@theqazman]

Let's go!

[@brittacurkovic]

LOVE - thank you!

[@cjllanza8879]

LOL you got me at the number 3 mistake. That's how I will bring the highlights down in that scenario 😅

[@crystigriffon]

Man u are awesome I wish one day become like u for real

[@TrashedTV]

Ahh another great content thanks!

[@saviwaves5337]

I see it! i'm actually learning :D a few months ago i would've never been able to spot the difference in the 4 side by side shots.

[@theqazman]

Hell yeah

[@nwb741]

I bought the masterclass, but you still drop great videos to learn from. thanks!

[@theqazman]

Of course brother. That train never stops.

[@koushikbhattacharya832]

u r the ultimate teacher❤️

[@theqazman]

Let's go

[@norgerichard]

I really like this kind of videos. I have learned a lot here.. We want more of Beginner vs Pro..

[@EXOOfficial]

Yess we need it

[@theqazman]

I gotchu ✊🏾

[@aaphotofilm]

This is amazing. Thank you for being a true inspiration to me. You taught me alot through these videos

[@theqazman]

Of course. You're welcome.

[@aaphotofilm]

@@theqazman 🙂🙂

[@marcromanbravo]

Dude. That's some excellent information. Thank you very much 👏 I don't use DaVinci, but the concepts and examples make perfect sense universally.

[@theqazman]

Thank you brother. Appreciate the love.

[@marcromanbravo]

@@theqazman you're welcome, man. Glad I found this channel

[@jeffschwisow]

Yup! Seriously guilty!! Just went back and re-graded some shots with a window background using these techniques (and more importantly, this perspective) and...OMG! It’s like night and day (pun intended!). So much to learn but little by little... Thanks, Qazi!

[@theqazman]

😂 love it. That's the way to do it. Love your initiative.

[@Taran_Bali]

Bro one video on grading raw video(any camera) vs grading pro res 422 HQ export from overseas and the quality differences. Amazing video as always.

[@8KHDRVideoBySittipong]

Very good video

[@KhenCinema]

Love your videos, learning alot from you. How about the "davinci wide gamot" method and recovering with the hdr wheel?

[@dontusedontuse8273]

Omg thank you shot a 4x4 off-road vid this weekend and the trucks where too white and could not balance the sky and the blown out white of the trucks but this luminance before every node worked like a bomb

[@theqazman]

Ayyyyyyyy

[@wastintimetube]

Inspiring!

[@theqazman]

Thanks

[@PriovolosVisuals]

Early Gaaaaang.! 🙏 First we like and comment,then we watch.!

[@theqazman]

Ayyyyy

[@richardrem]

Thank's a lot for this excelent explanation. The problem I have right now is that before I always just graded before the lut. Now I don't really know what and when to grade before or after after the lut. I guess its a matter off experience but perhaps you can tell when to grade after the lut like what you did in this tutorial to add a bit black. That's really confusing to me. Thank's again and keep on going this wonderful work. Cheers Richard

[@PavelNebo]

that right there and this right here

[@tamarhaider4680]

Hey qazi thanks alot for the amazing video ❤❤ may i ask can we use the glow effect after the qualifier just like the way you used it in the previous video of the beginners mistakes ?

[@ryanansen]

Some good stuff in this. Learning from mistakes is the best kind of learning, in my opinion! Quick question, at around 21:20 a little widget pops up and you are able to draw on your screen. Is that a plugin specifically within Resolve or are you using an external program for that? If it's the latter, mind sharing the name of it with me?

Absolutely love your tutorials, this has a lot of knowledge that I can learn. In my country's industry, they usually use Color Management to transcode from Input (camera color science) to Output (rec 709). is it better than add LUT to transform footage into rec709? is it a good or bad process? I am so confused about it.

[@cianoleary8727]

Great video as always. Any tips on the best way to bring footage / an edit from Premiere Pro into Da Vinci? It looks like footage at different frame rates or where the editor has done some speed ramps just doesn't translate when brought into Da Vinci. What's your process? Or do you not work with projects from Premiere? Apologies if you've talked about this in another video and I've missed it. Thanks

[@letsloveit]

Qazi...off topic question. I’m buying an LG oled for grading...does it make sense to purchase a protection plan from Best Buy if you are voiding the warranty when you Calibrate?

[@Deri_Seh]

Qazi, what's the name of that track playing in the intro and outro? Sounds so good! The tutorial was amazing as well!

YESSS!!

[@theqazman]

💪🏾

[@muzappar]

You absolutely read my mind! lol

[@theqazman]

😀

[@AlbertoLucadello]

Hi, nice tutorials. Affirm : As i understood color space rec 709 is used for get in the footages less color info , and let you " free space " for push wherever you like in post production. Right ? Question: I have Sony FDR AX 100 E and other handycam panasonic HC V 700 I looked in parameters, and i dont see nothing related, i xan change my footages from this to REC 709 in software ? I use sony vegas pro 13 Any suggestion is appriciated

[@WeShootFilms]

Question sometimes even though I use braw my videos still have allot of color banding is it the grade causing it

[@KaceyBakerFilms]

Thanks for this, awesome info as always. What are your thoughts on the latest SUICIDE SQUAD 2 trailer? 90% of the highlights in that trailer are blown out, my jaw dropped.

[@theqazman]

I have to check it out.

[@AyushSharmaa]

I'm in love with this series! Cause I'm guilty 😂

[@theqazman]

😂

[@Jolontokhalilswork]

Blown out my mind😍🥰 love from bangladesh. I wish i want to collaborate with you 🥰😍one time

[@adamtemple9417]

Question. Is there a plugin that would create the color wipes we make for showing off the grade from beginning to end? I've been exporting each step then overlaying them in an editor but I'm wondering if there was a render way to create these wipes in one shot?

[@carlosandreviana9448]

Great tips. What if it is not a log footage? Some of us don't have that in our cameras

[@norgerichard]

Waqas.. It is not easier to use HDR to recover hightlights?

[@tubeman1983]

What about if you use resolve colour management where the rec709 conversation occurs automatically before all nodes?

[@MartonKaroly]

What's the difference between using conversion LUTs and color managed workflow? I always find the actual LUT missing when using color managed workflow, like you said, I want to take advantage of the node tree, but with color management, it does the conversion automatically.

[@chfilm]

how do I do this if I work in a resolve color managed project!? Like there wouldn't be a "lut" node where I could place my highlight node before.

[@mc_studios]

Hey @Waqas Qazi , now would you place this highlight recovery node, before or after NR node in your node tree ? :) thanks man

[@theqazman]

After the nr

[@dubstepzsi]

If i get the issue of unrecoverable highlights i usualy go into the log wheels and qualify off the highlight's and use the log highlights to dim it ever so slightly so its not distracting to much especially if the person is supposed to be the focal point. The halo is due to the qualifier not fully qualifying the outer edge. is this wrong? i mean in The Boys shot the highlight is by his face so the eye goes to both the supposed focal point the face and the highlighted window.

[@warrenwilcock8183]

Working in a color managed space would provide the same ability, yes? As in; changes made to the footage is non destructive since we're not using a LUT?

[@therealsourc3]

Can you do a tutorial on coloring from cameras like the GoPro Hero 5? I find myself using auto-coloring because everything else looks bad and I don't know how to fix it :/

[@aaapex58]

In this tutorial you're using a LUT. [I'm not particulairly fond of LUT's]. Would the node tree be the same (or comparible) with the project Color Managed and the footage Input Color Space set correctly?

[@DimensionPardo]

Where do you get your music from?

[@nmaoteh4883]

I think he mistakingly posted the pro photo on his thumbnail twice and called it beginner. I am working so hard to get to his beginner level!

[@ZidaneSteiner]

The takeaway is that nothing you do in resolve, whether a noob or pro, can overcome bad photography. For what it's worth, I liked the 2nd "noob" look the best. I've been a professional photographer for 20 years.

[@theqazman]

Love your name, brother. Zizu 💪🏾😀

[@abhilash3188]

How u setup ur 4 screen for editing.......share details...i m PC user.... RTX 2070 graphic card m using with 3 screen

[@rtstillandmotion7317]

I wish I had watch this earlier hahaha. Guilty on all stages. Are you still accepting footages for your "Grading Your footage" series? However, I'm not sure if you can still salvage my slightly over exposed footage as I have introduce some artifacts when i tried grading it and the highlights is not that pleasing. Luckily it's not for a client, I shoot it for learning purposes applying what I've learned so far from your channel :)

[@imaginefaiz]

Nice sharing! Just want to know is it ok to just use the Highlight wheel instead of the Gain wheel?

[@theqazman]

Highlights wheel will compress the highlights than gain where the curve is much more gentler

[@azlanarainkhan4549]

Great knowledge Waqas kazi ji this is Azlan Arain khan cinematographer Director.Bollywood in indian cinema.

[@leebrandt33]

Do you ever use the highlight recovery tab?

[@andytee88]

Wish there is a tutorial like this in premiere

[@remysanchez6579]

So it's okay to leave half the scene blue while it should be white because it's lighted by the sun at a different temperature from the indoor lights? I'm confused.

[@thebrothers5871]

man so goood video for the people to understand how important to recover highlight mohammed fcm

[@theqazman]

Thank you brother.

[@curtdp]

Hey Qazi, just want to thank you for your tips, and wanna ask you about how looks your HDR workflow? I understand that without HDR monitor it would be impossible to see what you are doing in full details, if you do, but it's very interesting for me. Thank you.

[@theqazman]

Thinking about putting out a course on that. Stay tuned brother.

[@carlborgen]

I'm a bit confused about the fact that you use the log wheels after the the LUT where the image isn't log anymore. I thought the log wheels were only for log footage, is this a wrong assumption?

[@deepmusic2456]

For color grading I have 1 1080 8 bit monitor 2 10 bit monitor 4k how to set to monitor color grading.plz sir help

[@zouhairbenghano6364]

Zouhair Bahaoui & Waqas Qazi

[@raybiel4853]

The free webinar isn't accessible (doesn't include captions) -- I hope it will be uploaded on your page!

[@tp-visuals2622]

WAQAS: This right here, is that right there, but that's not that, its over there right there. ME: *confused* Check! 7:15

[@strangerajay8151]

👍👍

[@JWalking]

(Colour Transform) - Rather than use the Rec709 colour transform method you used, why didn’t you just set a global Rec709 IDT (colour management page) in the project? Surely it would’ve done the same thing in just one click?

[@Lyleestling]

Does the individual that took the shot still employed? A photography with little experience could figure out to put something over the window/door before shooting

[@BarazalMatazawad]

@ Waqas Qazi what field of study did you go thru to understand what's happening in this video?

[@wolf.himmler]

Would be pretty awesome to explain, on a conceptual basis, what happens in the image, wouldn't it? This image is all about ratios and keeping the specular area as light as you can without having it battle the foreground. Certainly, a smooth rolloff and a reduction in color saturation inside the highlights helps to achieve this goal, but this in fact doesn't recover anything in the highlights. Techniques like cross-linking information from non-blown out channels (see Alexis van Hurkman's book) or bringing back color into the clipped area (see YT-Channel Farbkanal) actually do offer real recovery techniques that are quite beyond the "pro" level featured here. Nevertheless: good entertainment and there's ofc. always something to take away from watching other people ;)

[@baraazainah6405]

27:19 how did he do that to see the change for color

[@okaforobinna4679]

I love your tutorials a lot Qazi...however I've watched very high budget blockbuster movies with blown out highlights (not terrible though) but I've seen it several times... This tutorial would make beginners overthink this highlights thingy....for instance in this video you used, there's absolutely no details to be seen out that door, and even if there were, then it isn't significant to the story cos at the end of the day the focus is on the two actors in the foreground.... Morale: As a beginner or even a pro reading this, JUST DON'T OVERTHINK THINGS AND HURT YOURSELF EMOTIONALLY AND MENTALLY! If there's no significant detail in the highlights, just like in this tutorial, then don't sweat it! No one is gonna look out the window in your shot and go " wow I love those flowers outside", Nope!, they are probably gonna focus on what's in focus in the shot! So don't be hard on yourself cos of a youtuber who posts a tutorial and preaches that an approach is wrong...pick what's valuable in each tutorial and scrap the rest! But hey! Don't TERRIBLY blow out your highlights, as far as they aren't annoying and distracting,then NO DETAIL IS NO TABOO! Keep creating!!!

[@mohala1271]

I have filmora x Im. Not sure has grading or not

[@TheSoundBrothersTV]

One question is, if you are working in the Davinci Wide Gamut range. The image gets automatically to a sort of rec 709 grading. (From one of your previous tutorial). Can we still use this technic to recover highlight?

[@theqazman]

It will do that automatically only if it's a raw clip otherwise you have to manually do it and yes.

[@TheSoundBrothersTV]

@@theqazman thanks for your answer

[@josephchristoffel]

The 2nd beginner actually pretty decent, but it lacks the contrast. The pro version fix it.

[@samyehya]

I've been following your for a year or more, I'm still confused, why would you aplly a lut to convert your video to rec. 709 wouldn't that make shooting raw useless? If instead you use nodes to get to rec 709 wouldn't that make you have more control?

[@samyehya]

Sorry if it sounds like a stuipid question :)

[@ZacRogers]

I may be wrong here, I'm an editor not a colorist, but when you're shooting in RAW you're still keeping all of that data, even when you apply a lut. So you'll be able to push the image further without it breaking, as well as keeping more data in the shadows, highlights, etc. And depending on the RAW file, you can even change the ISO and other baked in properties of the footage, which allows both the editor AND colorist to have much more control. Hope this helps!

[@sheiber]

Same as Zac, i'm not a pro. But you can apply some drastic changes at the first stage BEFORE the lut (15+ stops of DR) and THEN convert it to REC.709 with 7/8 Stops. So you get a way more flexible shooting. Try correct a GoPro footage vs. a proper camera - its a nightmare with highlights on the gopro, on a proper camera you can shoot in raw, make changes to the highlights and then convert it. This way you still retain the detail in the highlights.

[@NicolasRinconnikoroller2]

Hi qazi, thanks a lot, I have a basic question, that I haven't figure out yet… how do you navigate so freely on the viewer, you move the image so freely and I can't. Thanks for the wisdom!

[@theqazman]

Middle click and drag.

[@NicolasRinconnikoroller2]

@@theqazman Too bad for us with Magic Mouse…

[@joraphpictures]

You are something

[@theqazman]

😀

[@arpitpandey1464]

Please sir raw footage dawnload link 🙏🙏

[@waveland]

If the guy is supposed to be the focus of the shot, then the director and cinematographer really made a mess of it. Between the top light glow on the yellow blanket, and the spotlight of a window in the background, and the fact that his face is fairly lost in shadow; either the lighting and blocking is all wrong-or, the contents of the blanket (an infant is not shown, but certainly suggested) is the central story focus here, and the guy is supposed to look a bit drained of life, and lost in the background, in comparison to the cherub presented in front of him. I don’t know the script, so hard to tell, but if you see the window as a “halo” above the head of the child, and the blanket as some sort of radiant garment (very old school biblical imagery), then the blocking and the lighting make a lot more sense.