Why your COLOR sucks - Don't buy LUTs before mastering this! - COLOR GRADING TIPS

Why your COLOR sucks - Don't buy LUTs before mastering this! - COLOR GRADING TIPS
In this video I will show you how to get perfect white balance through color grading. I point out how to identify incorrect white balance and how to fix it. I’m using DaVinci Resolve as an example but the language is the same in Premiere Pro and Final Cut.
🔥 LEARN COLOR GRADING FROM ME:
jacquescraffor...
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==============
THE GEAR I USE:
==============
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All of the links above form part of AFFILIATE PROGRAMS which means I get a small commission at no extra cost to you.
MODEL CREDIT:
BassBuzz / @bassbuzz
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#howto #cinematic #colorgrading
Musicbed SyncID: MB01KP1RTEFH1MH

[@jacques_crafford]

LUTS I use for grading: bit.ly/3cqdikV Use my code “JAC” for a 15% discount (Affiliate Link)

[@Steph_FX]

Hey bud, If I want to start creating content like cinematic travel videos, where do I start? Photography/Videography course or start with editing course? maybe how to use a camera?? haha

[@phantansiphu]

Hello ! I wonder if you can make a TUT how to achieve this color tone: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eV6laWmsYtqrqbM Thank you.

[@cinema4film]

how do you make the skin image look so smooth?

[@jacques_crafford]

Just added a slight boost in Luminance and reduced the sharpness by -20

[@cinema4film]

@@jacques_crafford Thanks, did you reduce the detail with an additional plugin?

[@napatsaeng]

Thank you. WB very important ✌️

[@jacques_crafford]

So glad you like it, thanks for always taking the time to comment!

[@dylanhosborn]

thank you!

[@dez5]

Great video, on using the color wheel.📼

[@Chow0012]

Holy shit this is the holy grail - thank you Jacques!

[@GregorMima]

I´m coming from a photo background, and this is prob the 1st video where i begin to understand vectorscopes... cheers man!

[@jacques_crafford]

I'm so happy to hear that, when I started grasping scopes it made grading so much more fun!

[@BryceDocherty]

Dude.........thank you. This taught me SO MUCH in 6 minutes!!!

[@jacques_crafford]

Dude! Thanks man that makes me so happy to hear, thanks for taking the time to comment!

[@burnhard.]

This is gold!

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks mate, much appreciated!

[@hanfpv3093]

The color for this video is gold🙌

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks, so happy to hear that!

[@mayordutch2879]

Nice tricks

[@jacques_crafford]

Thank you my friend!

[@Razielwow]

loveeee it! :D

[@8787annualreturn]

Love you

[@jacques_crafford]

Aaaaaw thank you!!!!

[@SikandersDesiVlogs]

Honestly, this is the first video that actually explained these basic techniques without being overly technical. Thank you!

[@parkercreative_au]

Amazing

[@jacques_crafford]

Yay thank you!

[@Kesariya_Vilayati]

Hey love all your tips n tricks...If possible can you also make videos on how to take cinematic shots using a smartphone since we cannot afford a DSLR camera..Txs for everything 👍

[@jacques_crafford]

Thank you so much! I'll see what I can do!

[@justkayy]

Great tip bro!🙏🏾

[@jacques_crafford]

Dude your comments boost me so much! Thank you!

[@JeremySry]

5:15 yall - this vector scope tip is LEGIT!!!

[@jacques_crafford]

Yeah bro, changed my life haha!

[@DavidBlodgett]

How do you set up your color management settings so you can have a consistent look across multiple devices?

[@kazimierzskalniak1457]

Nice

[@jacques_crafford]

Thank you brother!

[@AchHadda]

Love this got a gig on color correction and this actually just reconfirmed what I know, thank you !

[@KikoHerrera]

Great tip Jacques !! Love your work

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks Kiko, much appreciated!

[@disco1809]

This was so helpful! Thank you. But, I'm in the land of Premiere Pro :(

[@jacques_crafford]

Glad to hear David, have you considered switching? It's a game changer! I was also on Premiere for many years

[@disco1809]

@@jacques_crafford I have. Can't hurt to give it a go and see what happens.

[@ekphotography]

Awesome tip, thanks!!

[@jacques_crafford]

So glad you find it helpful, thanks for your support!

[@nashhall694]

Great tutorial! I be just done Davinci’s Colour grading course, but I still picked up a few tricks here! Thanks 🙏 👍😀

[@jacques_crafford]

That's awesome to hear, thanks Nash!

[@breakingpointpictures9380]

Where u get this course?

[@nashhall694]

@@breakingpointpictures9380 from Blackmagic Design, it’s free, they run it once or twice a year via zoom.

[@ZamoraChristian]

I always come back and come back to your video AMAZING

[@jacques_crafford]

That's SO nice of you to say. Thank you so much! 🔥

[@terencedesilva2403]

valuable tips, thanks

[@jacques_crafford]

So glad to hear that, thanks for taking the time to comment Terence!

[@edgarishankulov]

Jacques! Your tutorials are awesome! Well done and thanks a million!

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks Edgar, so happy to hear that!

[@stucooke3983]

As always, brilliant content! Thank you!

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks Stu, appreciate your support!

[@codylander]

These videos are so well done! Thank you for the pro tips!

[@jacques_crafford]

Awesome bro, so glad to hear that! You're welcome

[@J_HNP]

Love these videos. You are an expert at providing concise and meaningful advice.

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks Jon, that's for sure what I'm going for, will do my best to keep it up!

[@CreativeTechLab]

Love it! How often are you using AWB vs a custom white balance?

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks bro! I don't ever use AWB in-camera. I just try to set my Kelvin as close to the temperature as possible

[@imranmohammed3138]

Amazing crisp and straight to the point video Jacques! I really learned a lot! Keep them coming! 💪

[@jacques_crafford]

That's what I want to hear, thanks Imran!

[@cinema-q]

Would love to see more color grading tutorials like this but slowed down a little bit to accommodate explanation

[@jacques_crafford]

Sure thing, I'm on it!

[@apexsynergy]

Very Cool bro! Still getting the hang of Davinci Resolve but this technique of grading makes a hell of a lot more sense now.

[@jacques_crafford]

Lekker bra, DaVinci het alles verander vir my! Jy gaan dit love

[@philvfilms]

Do you adjust this even before adding the phantom correction LUT? It’s hard colour correct the flat image ?

[@alex.muntean]

❤️

[@jacques_crafford]

Thank you Alex!

[@HuyRebel]

5:09 i think i liked the skintone on the first one better even tho its was a bit red. It tends to be kinda red in the cold anyways

[@jacques_crafford]

Interesting how we all perceive things differently, thanks for the feedback bro!

[@TimODell7]

This video refreshed my fried brain. Thanks.

[@jacques_crafford]

That's wonderful to hear, thanks Tim!

[@splendorproducciones1785]

Hello! Very good videos. I have a Sony A7S3. And I use Slog3. When setting the manual white balance: Do you do it with the Slog3 image profile or do you do it with PPoff and then go to Slog3? Thank you very much!

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks I really appreciate! So I do the White Balance in Slog3 with "Display Gamma Assist" on (Set to Rec709 300%), that's a pretty accurate image to help see white balance and it's only a display LUT, you still record in Slog3.

[@splendorproducciones1785]

@@jacques_crafford Thank you very much!!! It is an honor to receive an answer from you.

[@JoshuaDeLaVictoria]

Great info. How do you set wb in camera when you know you’re going to adjust it in post?

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks Joshua! I set it to a custom kelvin based on the temperature of the light but I don't always nail it which makes the post production longer but it's totally fixable.

[@janlinhart875]

Hey Jacques! Really enjoy your work. Is there an in depth grading course of yours to buy somewhere? If not..why?? :) cheers

[@mujahidurrehman]

You are doing a great job. Thanks for another informative tutorial 👍

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks Muji, I just watched your Namibia video well done!!!

[@taziokastelic_films]

Wow! thank you for this very informative video. I'm a bit confused about one thing, shouldn't we white balance before the LUT on the node editor? From what I understand everything that comes after the Phantom LUT won't be in scene space but rather in display space.

[@blackpassogabscity3335]

Very Informative... Awesome stuff and i like how i can easily relate since you're just nextdoor. Im in BOTS. So most videos i been watching are from NTSC regions. Having someone shoot and color grading such amazing clips from nextdoor really is motivating

[@jacques_crafford]

Awesome bro, so happy to get feedback like this!

[@juliusvincentevers]

Great Content, Thanks for sharing! Why did you apply the node for WB after the LUT? In my process I have always done EXP -> WB/COLOR -> COLOR Transform or LUT -> look stuff (grain and so on), because I thought putting on the LUT limits the color space?! Thats why exposure before REC 709 is the only way to recover highlights? right or am I missing a point?

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks Julius! You are right, I do most of my WB before the LUT Conversion but in order to illustrate the HSL Qualifier on the Vector Scope, it has to be done after because before the LUT Conversion the image is to flat and isolating color is difficult. There's always room for correction after the LUT if you're not destroying it with the application which is why I often do final contrast corrections after as long as nothing clips it's totally fine.

[@juliusvincentevers]

@@jacques_crafford ok yes i understand. Thanks

[@randyhill6284]

ᵖʳᵒᵐᵒˢᵐ 👌

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks Randy!

[@madd2340]

Why'd you remove your previous video? :(

[@jacques_crafford]

Aaah yes, sorry about that. It's not gone (just unlisted) you can watch it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYnYk2erjcp5iKM I got so much negative feedback from it, it just wasn't worth keeping it on, people literally unsubscribed.

[@boomshlang]

Befok love it!

[@jacques_crafford]

Haha dankie bra!

[@korea84hb]

Do you have any tip to color correction the asia skintone

[@jacques_crafford]

That's the beauty about the Vector Scope, it works on all skintones so I wouldn't do anything different.

[@Christianbondo_]

Hey Jacques I wanted to know what Asus monitor you use ? What’s are the spec of this monitor please

[@jacques_crafford]

Hey Minato, I'm using the Asus Pro Art, works super well for me www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08K2GFDKM?ie=UTF8&tag=jacquescraffo-20&camp=1789&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=B08K2GFDKM

[@MsSoozz]

Incroyable, Merci

[@Vijaykumar-vk15]

very clear and understandable thanks for making this video. cheers!

[@RATHEHITMAKER]

I'd like to see this applied to photography/RAW editing software

[@OvicomStudios]

Nice!!!!

[@jacques_crafford]

Thank you so much!

[@uncleanAlibertine1]

great!

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks Anze!

[@uncleanAlibertine1]

@@jacques_crafford you're welcome mate

[@JethroMendoza]

How you color grade for premier pro sir??? Thanks

[@jacques_crafford]

I will see if I can make another one later but I don't have Premiere Pro anymore :(

[@rusmakermedia]

Cool

[@jacques_crafford]

Yay thanks!

[@stevenvprasad5029]

❤❤❤

[@PsZaib]

Full course on davinci

[@VELVET462]

Hey thanks for your videos! What Asus Monitor you use?

[@blimages2]

Whaoooo so lovely 🌹

[@jacques_crafford]

Whooohooo thank you!!!

[@thietbigiaTA]

What monitor do you use for Grading colors in Davinci?

[@jeffb8824]

Great tutorial and advice! How do recommend color grading long (30 min+) outdoor shoots? The color and light from the sun and clouds are constantly changing. What do you recommend for camera settings and grading? Thanks for the great videos!

[@johnmeric492]

why gamma and not the offset ? to shift colors thank you for the great tutorial

[@bephrem]

thanks!

[@jacques_crafford]

Cheers! 🙏🏼

[@mdindestin]

Very well done and only six minutes! Subscribed

[@jacques_crafford]

Awesome, thank you so much. Really means a lot to me! 🙏

[@blackpassogabscity3335]

And that vectorscope section is

[@jacques_crafford]

Yeah bro, it was a game changer for me too!

[@fathersheart3547]

You are my favourite channel for davinci.

[@jacques_crafford]

Aaaah that’s sooo cool to hear thank you!

[@jordanbathe8772]

You need to drop a fx3 settings video!!!

[@jacques_crafford]

Man I would love that, just wish I had more time!

[@voice-of-oblivion]

Thank you very much

[@jacques_crafford]

Only a pleasure! Thank you Oliver!

[@Deepakkumar_73577]

Can you please te your monitor detail and model number please🙏

[@jacques_crafford]

Yeah sure it's the Asus Pro www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08K2GFDKM?ie=UTF8&tag=jacquescraffo-20&camp=1789&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=B08K2GFDKM

[@ChadAltDelete]

Bravo, amazing stuff here!

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks Chad, so happy you like it!

[@kayteekon]

Hi Jacques, Wanted to ask, should you color correct first then add your LUT, or should you add the LUT first then color correct after?

[@jacques_crafford]

Hi Koketso, I first do correction then add the LUT but in the case of Log Footage I add the LUT and make the corrections on the layer/node BEFORE the LUT.

[@tarask9971]

Thank you for a great tutorial !

[@jacques_crafford]

You're welcome, thanks for taking the time to comment!

[@ApexArtistX]

why dint you use the offset instead of gamma to balance the last shot...

[@luizotaviojunior4053]

your content is gold, thnaks for sharing!

[@jacques_crafford]

Thank you for commenting and for your continued support!

[@zuka010]

Is the Davinci resolve program must be needed when I use Final cut? Don't you use only the Final cut color grade setup is lacking?

[@jacques_crafford]

Resolve is an even better editor then what most people think but because the grading power is much better I will 100% choose it over any other software as an editor.

[@jonathanblanckaert]

i almost always use vectorscope and offset to set whitebalance, i dont know when to use gamma or offset...

[@DANIELSMIAMI]

Still confused. Fast paced for intermediate editing/color grading or people who have experience in the color grading tab. Hoping to see more beginner tutorials.

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks for the feedback Daniels! I'm still trying to find the balance between beginner and intermediate tutorials but I think I can try go slower for sure!

[@pjtavera]

Simple and Effective!

[@jacques_crafford]

Awesome thanks PJ!

[@GlennUpgraded]

How do you turn on the feature where there's a circle on your waveform showing where you're hovering your mouse on the clip?

[@jacques_crafford]

When you open your Scopes window, top right corner there's 3 dots, click that and select "Display Qualifier Focus", it's a game changer!

[@bernardoespinosaquintana8574]

Thanks a lot!

[@jacques_crafford]

Thank you!

[@marshallme9382]

Thank you

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks for taking the time to comment on my videos Marshall

[@dynamicrangeproductions]

amazing tips, but yall that are shooting 8bit footage out there using the qualifier for 90% of footage is not always going to give you clean selections because it's 8bit, so you in turn using a layer node , and the color warper oryou can use the color presetss

[@umviajado7691]

uauá que video incrível 🤩

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks I really appreciate!

[@Deepakkumar_73577]

Do you remember me sir??

[@jacques_crafford]

Off course I do, you're my greatest supporter :)

[@Deepakkumar_73577]

@@jacques_crafford much much love and support from India🇮🇳🇮🇳 sir🙏🙏

[@TheVapingHeed]

Wouldn't use qualifyer on 8 bit footage

[@jacques_crafford]

If you get a clean qualification, there's always some room to make adjustments, especially with saturation.

[@emmytechmedia9372]

Sorry I really don't know how to do this on premier pro would love if u can do a tutorial of this on premier

[@jacques_crafford]

So sorry, I wish I could but I don't have Premiere Subscription anymore. Most of the settings are the same, I just don't know where but it's possible in Premiere.

[@emmytechmedia9372]

Yay thanks but sorry how do I get the contact info

[@BizzVisuals]

Wow, last tip with the vectorscope on the midtones is awesome never saw that before!!! For people working in Davinci Resolve I did a lot of research on the different tools of white balancing, here is a rundown how you can use each one. Temperature and tint in primaries: Like Jacques said it is a global adjustment but something important to know is that it doesn't move the blacks. What it means is if your blacks aren't balanced to begin with, it's not gonna fix the image. The best use of this tool is for grading, not for balancing. You do your balancing first then if you want to grade it warm or cool it can be a great tool since it's gonna keep your blacks black Offset in primaries: One of the best tools to nail white balance in my opinion, you can use printer lights for quickly balancing the overall shot, most of the time you can have perfect white balance with this tool but sometimes you might need to do some finer control with the lift or gain. The idea is to do broad strokes with offset then finer details with lift and shadows. Temperature and tint in HDR Controls: A lot of people don't know about this one but it is crazy useful. You can tell the colorspace your footage is and it is gonna change the temperature and tint like if you did it in camera. For example on my a7siii my first node is hdr, I select slog3 sgamut3.cine and then I use the controls like you would with raw controls, I adjust exposure with offset if too bright or dark, then use temperature and tint to get a more balanced image. Way better results than using the primaries because resolve respects the colorspace and when you change the temperature it truly changes it like it would in camera. Thank you so much for the video Jacques the last tip was especially really useful for me since I've always struggled reading scopes on scenes with no blacks, whites or clear skintones. Amazing as always!

[@jacques_crafford]

Thomas! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this and in such detail! Glad you found it helpful.

[@zweiche]

in order to use hdr tip , do i need to use color managed workflow ?

[@BizzVisuals]

@@zweiche no but you do need to select slog3 sgamut3.cine in the hdr panel. When on the hdr panel, click the 3 small dots at the top right of the panel, then you can select the color space and gamma.

[@zweiche]

@@BizzVisuals ty for repply! So even if i use colorspace transform to rec709 or use conversion lut or in colormanagement workflow and tag my clips as slog3 and cinetone , in all of these 3 cases i still need to do hdr thing with dots ? What about u have different clips from different cameras in ur timeline ?

[@maximecaron3133]

@@zweichethe hdr node need to be before your color space transform

[@RickHarrop]

What a guy

[@CameronGravesVideo]

PLEASE HELP! when using the siders it doesn't affect the individual rgb channel it still affects all of them how do I fix this?

[@jacques_crafford]

Dude! So sorry for the late reply, it's been hard to keep up with all the comments. So you have to dial your Luma Mix to 0 in order to have individual control :)

[@Deep-Travel]

I would love if you could make a tutorial showing the best way/workflow for Sony A7SIII users that want to shoot Prores Raw but want to edit using DR17. What should we do? I was thinking in converting Prores raw into prores 444 to retain the 12 bits and edit/grade in DR17. If that should be what we do, how much tweak should we do to the Prores raw before converting it to Prores 444? I truly appreciate any help on this as I haven’t found any guidance for this. Thanks.

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks David! To be honest I haven't even tried ProRes RAW yet but I also haven't had the need to shoot in it, I'll see if I can play around with it sometime!

[@Eigenbaardig]

Awesome tips! thanks!

[@jacques_crafford]

So happy to hear, thanks for taking the time to comment!

[@Taran_Bali]

This is one of the best white balance tutorials on KZbin. Subbed.

[@jacques_crafford]

That means so much to me, thank you Taran!

[@taziokastelic_films]

@@jacques_crafford Wow! thank you for this very informative video. I'm a bit confused about one thing, shouldn't we white balance before the LUT on the node editor? From what I understand everything that comes after the Phantom LUT won't be in scene space but rather in display space.

[@taziokastelic_films]

@@jacques_crafford help? 😅

[@JimRobinson-colors]

Another consideration to in your video when you determined the girl in front of foliage appeared to be too green is the phenomenon of Simultaneous contrast. It refers to the manner in which the colors of two different objects affect each other. You will notice in every facebook forum that someone will post an image of a face surrounded in green and in the comments people will tell the person that posted that the skin tone is too green. But if you actually scoped them they have no green. It's also why you should never make skin tone decisions when using a green screen until the actual background is removed and replaced.

[@DigitalDre]

That last tip is awesome! Thanks

[@jacques_crafford]

Thanks bro, it was a game changer for me too, just had to share it!

[@maarjungurung5955]

Love from Nepal . Thank you teacher

[@jacques_crafford]

Thank you my friend, I miss Nepal so much!

[@calbarton]

Thank you so much. Every other video on this topic is like 30 plus minutes long. I learned a lot!

[@jacques_crafford]

So glad to hear that, thanks Cal. I was concerned it might be too fast but who has time to watch those 30 minute tutorials anyway!?

[@Linsonmathews]

Really thankful video 😍 Great man 👍❣️❣️❣️

[@jacques_crafford]

So glad you like it thanks Linson!