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7 TIPS FOR HD COLOR CORRECTION AND DSLR COLOR

CORRECTION
written by Vashi
    
Color correction is just one step of the entire lmmaking process…but oh, what a difference it can make. You can take average
footage and really make it pop, sing and enhance the viewing experience of your project. If you have excellent footage, then the
sky is the limit. You can also make images look garish, ugly and destroy all the hard work the crew did to capture those images on
the day of the shoot. The challenges and choices are many and it comes with great responsibility if you are the one applying the
Color Correction and Color Grade. In the indie lm world, jobs are more often merged and uni ed and Color Correction is more and
more falling into the hands of the Editor. The smaller the budget and tighter the deadline…the more often this becomes true
Shane asked me to take this opportunity and pass on some tips and tricks I have learned over the years of Coloring features
shorts, ads, music videos and documentaries. I choose to use Adobe CS5.5 for my Color post work and bounce between
Effects, Photoshop and Premiere as I love the seamless integration it provides. I am ecstatic to be integrating Speedgrade into my
work ow as it will be part of the upcoming CS6 release. That said…the tips I would like to share with you are applicable to all
Color Correction software.
To get on the same page, let’s quickly go over some terminology that clari es what is what in this realm.
COLOR CORRECTION is the process where every clip is manually tweaked to get a good exposure and balance of light. Each clip is
adjusted to match color temperature to a prede ned choice for each scene. This tedious and mechanical process is essential and
in its own way, an art form. The use of SCOPES (Waveform, Vectroscope, Parade) is critical to this step and luckily most NLE’s and
Grading software have them built-in. Without them you are literally ying blind and solely trusting your eyes, which have to adjust
to room light ambience, fatigue, funky monitors and other factors constantly. Trust the SCOPES and let them guide you into
accurate and creative decision making.
COLOR GRADING is the creative process where decisions are made to further enhance or establish a new visual tone to the project
through software including: introducing new color themes, re-lighting within a frame, lms stock emulations, color gradients and
a slew of other choices. Being that this is purely creative, there is no wrong or right…only what the DP, director and colorist feel is
appropriate for the story. It can be subtle and invisible or over-the-top and uber-stylized. Therein lies the challenge…The
challenge of choices. The tools available are so numerous, powerful and often free (Davinci Resolve Lite!) that you have no excuse
not to explore these options further before you embark on the Grading journey.
LIFT-GAMMA-GAIN / SHADOWS-MIDTONES-HILIGHTS / BLACKS-MIDS-WHITES
These are the three interchangeable assignments used to describe what portion of the image you will be working with. Every
program uses one of the 3 naming conventions above, but in essence they are all the same. Even when working with LEVELS or
CURVES, you rely on numericals but still have 3 sliders (at least) to make your adjustments. With these 3 controls, you can mold
images almost at will.

There are so many different elements to Color Correction that trying to t it all into one blog would be futile. I would like to focus
on several speci c tips that will allow the indie lmmaker to be as effective as possible in creating imagery that will help serve
the story. I would like to thank Michael Evanet, the director of “HWY”, for allowing me to share his footage for this blog. I just
nished editing and Color Correcting his lm.
TIP #1 – SHOOT WITH A FLAT OR LOG PROFILE

Shane has learned over his extensive research and testing of every pro le available that choosing a at pro le will allow you to
capture as much information as possible into the camera. When I shoot on the Canon 5D mkii, I like to use Technicolor Cinestyle
or Canon Neutral with minimal sharpness and contrast. I’m also about to test the Similaar Flaat pro les that just became available
in four different avors. The camera companies often have stock pro les that look contrasty and rich in camera but when analyzed
on a monitor, you will have crushed blacks and blown-out highlights. That is information that is gone forever and you cannot get
it back. We, as lmmakers with the tools in our hands, cannot accept stock anything! Just as auto anything on the camera is a
recipe for disaster, stock pro les are for rank amateurs. Tweak away!
TIP #2 – TRUST THE WAVEFORM, VECTROSCOPE and PARADE SCOPES

In PREMIERE, go to the WINDOW tab and choose WORKSPACE and COLOR CORRECTION. Push the little RGB BUTTON on the
bottom right of any window. This will reveal the SCOPES and more. Waveform=Luminance. Vectroscope=Chrominance.
Parade=Red,Green,Blue values. I can’t stress enough how critical and essential it is to use these tools. Once you embrace the
SCOPES, you will be con dent to plow through footage and have instant visual feedback to con rm you are making the right
decisions. I won’t broach the calibrated monitor issue that is always lurking ($$$) and will just say that understanding and trusting
the SCOPES will get you 95% of the way home. Grab a Matrox Mini and use that to calibrate any LCD TV if you’re in a pinch. This
includes nishing projects for broadcast or passing QC for distribution. I’ve on-lined four indie features on Final Cut Pro using
only SCOPES that all passed QC the rst time around. I was sweating bullets…but survived! Adobe makes it even easier for me
now.
TIP #3 – ORDER OF OPERATIONS

To maintain image quality and to preserve as much info as possible, it’s important to do things in the proper order. Just as you
wouldn’t ice a cake before you bake it, when you apply an effect is critical. I have always achieved great results using Stu
Maschwitz’s advice. Doing Color Correction on your footage in this order will help you maintain extremely high quality in the
interaction of all the effects you use. Not all steps are needed for every shot but in case you have to use them all, here they are:
1. Remove artifacts and de-noise.

2. Balance your shots by adjusting BLACKS/MIDS/WHITES, SATURATION and WHITE BALANCE.
3. Relight within a shot using power windows or masks.
4. Add gradients, diffusion and other lens lters.
5. Add vignettes
6. Grade your images
7. Simulate a lm stock of your choice

8. Resize and sharpen
TIP #4 – THE FAST COLOR CORRECTER EFFECT in PREMIERE is 32 BIT, EASY AND EFFECTIVE
CAMERA CINEMATOGRAPHY LENSES LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS
This video effect is a great starting point to tackle any shot. This one effect will allow you in REAL-TIME to address levels,
saturation, tinting of the image, white balance and more. The shot below shows how I added contrast by raising the input black
slider and lowering the white input slider. I used the color wheel and dragged towards orange to counteract the blue in the
original image. You can also use the White Balance dropper to achieve an accurate starting point…but I preferred in this case to
Tint the whole image towards orange and approximate a 1950’s lm look. I boosted saturation by a healthy 40% to make the
image pop. Finally, a 2.35 matte was added to approximate the old Cinemascope aspect ratio.
     
TIP #5 – ADJUST YOUR LIFT/SHADOWS/BLACKS FIRST
By adjusting your BLACKS rst, you get a baseline started to balance your image. I like working from the bottom up and getting
my BLACKS just kissing 0 IRE on the WAVEFORM. I then push the WHITES up to expand my image and get some contrast into it.
Finally, I tweak the MIDS as needed. You will notice that moving the BLACKS or WHITES up or down will affect the entire
WAVEFORM so there is a give and take dance as you work back and forth. MIDS do not affect the BLACKS or WHITES too much
and that is why you should work with them last. Lastly, if you raise MIDS, you will lose overall saturation to the image, so
compensate by bumping up the SATURATION to keep the colors popping.

     
TIP #6 – MIDS ARE WHERE FACES LIVE
MIDS are where the skin tones live and you can really make a face pop by raising the MIDS after you have a good balanced image.
Sometimes it feels easy to raise the EXPOSURE in Premiere or After Effects to brighten a face or scene…but that raises all the
levels evenly and will ultimately not be as effective as separately adjusting the 3 zones. A good IRE for a properly exposed face is
60-70 IRE on the WAVEFORM. If you raise the MIDS too much, you will introduce the beast of digital noise, so use judicially!
TIP #7 – Look for the FLESH LINE on the VECTROSCOPE to see how far off your skin tone is. On the 3-Way Color Corrector effect,
or on a plug-in like Colorista, you can change the speci c zone of color where the esh tones live. By adjusting the color of the
MIDS wheel you can introduce the proper hues into a face that need tweaking. Move the wheel in the direction of the color you
need more of in your face. Watch the section of skin tone move until it lines up with FLESH LINE. An interesting note is that the
FLESH LINE is accurate for all races and skin tones. We all share the same skin pigment that registers as numeric FLESH color.
Proper WHITE BALANCING earlier will make this a minor but still important adjustment. If you are going for a natural look, no
one likes a pink, red or green face. SATURATION should be dialed in at this point to give a natural look to the esh tone. Here’s a
subtle example of adjusting for skin…and an overt example for comparison. Neither is right or wrong….it’s all up to what feels
right for that moment.
     
     
I hope that I was able to pass on some helpful knowledge and that you learned at least one thing you didn’t know before you read
this. There are in nite ways to approach Color Correction and the best thing is…no one way is the best. You don’t need every plug-
in known to man, a 4k projector and a $20,000 control surface to color correct. You only need time, the simplest effects and a
sense of wonder and excitement. Feel free to push the footage around and see how it responds. What may look like a mistake on
one shot could be the secret sauce you need for a completely different shot. Experiment and enjoy!
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
To inquire about my editing and post services or if you have any questions, please contact me at:
vashi@me.com
310.526.1400
www.vashivisuals.com
    
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295 COMMENTS
7 TIPS FOR HD COLOR CORRECTION AND DSLR COLOR CORRECTION
 January 20, 2012 at 3:28 PM
[…] — Hurlblog | Read the Full Article […]
CARL OLSON
 January 20, 2012 at 3:34 PM
I especially enjoyed tip #3 Order of Operations. A few simple steps in the right order and – presto – beautiful “ lm”.
I’ll keep this article bookmarked!
VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 4:56 PM
Thanks Carl! Glad you enjoyed the post. The Order of Operations really makes a difference in preserving
quality.
MJDTV
 January 24, 2012 at 7:56 PM
Hey Vashi–
Say you have a clip where you need to do everything listed in the order of operations, from
denoising to relighting, to grading, to adding a lens are, vignette, etc. Would you consider
doing something like denoising, and getting your lift/gamma/gain set, then rendering a le to
do the grade and effects on in AE? Or would you just layer all of those things in the proper order
      and eat the long render time?

VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 8:47 PM
Hi MJ. Another good question. A couple things to think about…hopefully each shot
won’t need all the steps necessary. De-noising is render heavy but most of the other
steps can be done in realtime. Each shot has to have a different de-noise recipe baked
into it…but not every shot should be noisy if shot properly. I would stack all the steps
in After Effects if possible and eat the renders. With a good amount of RAM it
shouldn’t be that much of a hit. Another option is to do send the sequence to Davinci
Resolve LIte, which will run realtime if you have the minimum video card(s) in your
editing system. I don’t like baking in half the effects then adding on as you lose a
generation and then if a better de-noise solution becomes available or if you want
more or less of that effect….its too late. Try to keep the effects available for tweaking
until the nal render. That’s just my take…but I’m sure there are multiple solutions to
the optimal work ow.
SÉRGIO MIGUEL SILVA

 March 11, 2012 at 10:51 AM
Hi! Great tips, thanks.
About the order of operations, if you have to do some composing ( like a sky
replacement or set extension, would you color correct rst or do all vfx in
the beginning?
PATRICK VILLELA
 January 20, 2012 at 4:24 PM
Great post,
thks.
VASHI
     
 January 24, 2012 at 4:57 PM
My pleasure Patrick! Hope you get use some of the info in your work.
JORGE ALARCON-SWABY
 January 20, 2012 at 4:46 PM
Great Article, incredibly helpfull
VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 5:00 PM
Thanks Jorge! Feels good to share the knowledge…
DIDIER CLERMONT
 January 20, 2012 at 6:34 PM
Thank you soo… much for posting this Shane, you always come-up with informative content. Can’t wait to watch “Act
Of Valor” take care.
GOD Bless
SHANE
 January 23, 2012 at 9:20 PM

Didier Clermont, you are so welcome and thank you for your kind words. HOOOOOYAAAAAH!!!
OLI KEMBER
 January 20, 2012 at 7:36 PM
Thanks Vashi. Step 3 was super useful.
VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 5:03 PM
Thank you Oli! It really is a great reference list to help maintain maximum quality in your images.
     
ÀNDREW
 January 20, 2012 at 8:26 PM
Hey shane, Im a little confused when it comes to picture styles. I’ve tested various picture styles under controlled
lighting, and while there are all different I have no Idea which ones are technically better?
I’ve also been worried about how cinestyle cut off parts of the information.
I am courious to see what you think of Flaat and how it compares to cinestyle.
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 2:32 AM
Hi Andrew! For my take on the picture style situation…I use Neutral with Shane’s settings, Cinestyle with
full color work after and Flaat 2 as my main three options. Flaat 2 gives me wonderful skin tones and a
little more dynamic range than Neutral without all the post work of Cinestyle. Each style has its bene t
but between the 3 I can cover all my shooting situations. I hope that helps…
Vashi
DAN
 January 20, 2012 at 9:49 PM
Nice article!
Do you grade hdslr footage on premiere directly from the h264 le canon gives you or go into a 10 bit format? If so,
which one?
Thanks.
VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 5:08 PM
Thanks for the comment Dan! On my own work ,I edit directly from the native h.264 in Premiere and After
Effects. Most effects applied to the h.264 footage is processed in 32-bit and maintains the highest level of
quality from an 8-bit source. If you are close in-camera to what you need for the nal image, I personally
don’t feel you need 10-bit…but the Pro Res, Cineform or DPX options are there if you really need to get
aggressive with your color work or need the extra range it provides.
YELLOW
 April 21, 2012 at 2:10 AM
      Mmm, I have to question this with regard to Canon MOV’s due to the metadata in the header of
the native camera les that appears to force NLE’s to sqeeze the luma into 16 – 235 at import
into the NLE. So immediately the levels are not as shot in camera.
If anyone is interested checking this here’s a few links to small le size test les to check
handling in the NLE:

http://www.yellowspace.webspace.virginmedia.com/fullrangetest.zip
Screenies of Premiere CS5 handling of above test les.
http://www.yellowspace.webspace.virginmedia.com/CS5.zip
And if you do experience the same and would like to compare a native Canon MOV and remuxed
version of le, a dropbox link with sample les and readme. 185MB.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/74780302/Vashi.zip
Vashi, if you have time I’d be very interested to here your thoughts on the dropbox les, as to
whether you see any differences, improvements etc with regard to grading the samples. Not that
the image is particularly good, pre Cinestyle or FLAAT days, Neutral, 0 sharpness, contrast -4,
saturation -2.
With regard to Cinestyle PS as it’s LOG appearance, shadow levels are captured to 8bit level 16
upwards, ie: lifted. The les are still agged full range so on import into the NLE they get lifted
again in the luma squeeze to about level 32.
It would be great to be able to compare say a sample of C300 LOG, 5D mkII Neutral at and 5D
mkII Cinestyle all shot at same exposure with the intent to cut together to see what effect the
luma squeeze has. I know from the C300 native MXF’s I’ve looked at they have been shot full
luma range and they don’t squeeze in the NLE. Only h264 off Canons / Nikons do due to full
range ag.
Thanks for a great article btw.
JOE
 January 21, 2012 at 2:45 AM
grade HDSLR footage like that and you will have have an ocean of artifacts and heavy banding. HDSLR footage just
aint built for that, sadly. don’t matter much when outputting for web, but looks quite ugly when burned to bluray
and viewed on a large full hd screen.
VASHI
     
 January 24, 2012 at 5:10 PM
Hi Joe. Which method were you referring to that causes the artifacts and banding? I’ve burned plenty
HDSLR footage to Blu-ray and have seen countless lms shot on the 5D that not only held up great on the
big screen. Let me know your thoughts! thanks…
PHILIPPE KIENER
 January 21, 2012 at 6:12 AM
Thanks for the tips.
The rst thing I do is checking the white balance, I lift the Shadows at about 20 and bring down the Whites at
around 60, and then I check on the waveform how the top and bottom of the RGB channels look like. I can then
correct it using the 3 wheels.
I’ve discovered Davinci Resolve, which is now free (there is a paid version but for DSLR the free on is perfect) and I
use it now for all my color correction and grading. It’s an amazing tool and I prefer to have a dedicated app to do the
color work. It’s a lot easier to jump from clip to clip, to match clip and you can do so many things with it. I export my
DSLR sequence from Premiere Pro directly to Resolve and then back again when I’m done. Resolve can read h264
les, so you don’t need to convert the les before putting them in Resolve. You can add a 2.35 matte directly in
resolve, the tracker is amazing (you can track a face that is moving and do a color correction only on that part of
image, you can change settings during the play of a clip, to compensate for exposure if the camera is entering a
room for example). Well, it has opened a new creative world for me.
VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 5:12 PM
I agree! Davinci Resolve Lite is a powerful tool that everyone should try out. The price is right too!
do you convert your h.264 native into before you go into Resolve?
CHRIS
 February 9, 2012 at 12:28 PM
Nothing! Resolve can read your native h.264 les and you can grade them in real time! I’m just
getting my feet wet with Resolve, but so far am really impressed. It is picky about other les
though. For instance, Resolve will not read an h.264 le produced by Premiere with a default
mp4 wrapper.
      CHRISTIAN
 June 11, 2012 at 2:37 AM
Hi Chris,
thanks for all this very useful information.
Could you please describe exactly how you export you h.264 material and put it into
Davinci Lite?
Thanks
CHRISTIAN
 June 11, 2012 at 2:38 AM
“your” not “you”
DANNY LACEY
 January 21, 2012 at 6:21 AM
This is very useful information!! Thank you so much for sharing. I’m about to start grading my latest short lm ‘Host’
(shot on the RED EPIC) in Adobe and am so glad I came across this page before starting.
Thanks again,
Danny
VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 5:14 PM
Thanks Danny! Glad to hear you picked up a couple pointers and I hope it helps you on the color grade.
render times! Watch out!
MAXI CLAUDIO
 January 21, 2012 at 12:13 PM
I’d love to see a video tutorial explain how to use and what exactly are WAVEFORM, VECTROSCOPE and PARADE
SCOPES.
WESTON WOODBURY
 January 23, 2012 at 7:20 PM
      Maxi,
See: http://www.colorgradingcentral.com/archives/fcp-x-color-grading-tutorials-scopes
It’s FC but it applies universally.

VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 2:36 AM
Hi Maxi. I hope Weston’s link helped you out. The scopes really give you great and accurate
feedback to nail your nal image. You can literally color correct straight off the scopes without
even seeing the image once you wrap your brain around them. And once you have to deliver for
broadcast or feature lms you will appreciate their necessity and power even more. They are a
must learn.
JIM BACHALO
 January 21, 2012 at 1:02 PM
Love this! Agree on importance of sequence of steps.
Running a de-noise pass rst as long as you work in a higher bit depth will help reduce banding
http://prolost.com/blog/2010/1/26/color-correcting-canon-7d-footage.html
And don’t forget the power of dynamic linking to After Effects. Currently my app of choice for all color grading
though am migrating to Davinci Resolve.
Also recommend Stu’s DV Rebel Guide!

SAMUEL HURTADO
 January 21, 2012 at 2:14 PM
can’t wait to hear what you think of my Flaat picture stiles!!
SAMUEL HURTADO
 January 22, 2012 at 6:14 AM
also: I originally made them for my own use, so they’re very tightly taylored for my T2i; I guess you’d like
to use them most on 5D2; if you like them, we can try to make a version that is better taylored for the 5D2
(or the 1DX, if you’re moving to that)
      SAMUEL HURTADO
 February 22, 2012 at 11:38 AM
This story is leaving the front page soon, and I still haven’t heard back from your tests with
Flaat. I’m worried that maybe you didn’t, but I’ll ask: did you like my little babies?
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 2:38 AM
Flaat 2 is now one of my top 3 styles that are on all of my 5Dmkii cameras. The skin
tones are wonderful and the exposure and dynamic range are very close to my nal
image in the camera. Thanks again for sharing Samuel!
MATHEUS OLIVEIRA
 April 15, 2012 at 10:35 AM
Flat 2 is already on my styles ! Thanks.
HURLBUT VISUALS: 7 TIPS FOR HD & DSLR COLOR CORRECTION | KELLY ON A TANGENT
 January 21, 2012 at 2:37 PM
[…] 7 Tips for HD Color Correction and DSLR Color Correction | Hurlbut Visuals. […]
BOB
 January 21, 2012 at 9:30 PM
Very informative as always, thanks a lot sir. However, I do have one question, when you give a video a color tint in
grading like the famous green shadows and yellow highlights, is it okay that the parade channels will be misaligned
and sometimes a channel will be overblown? or do I still have to gure how to realign them even when the shot has
a stylistic tint? in short, does the footage fail the test if the channels in the parade don’t align perfectly?
VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 5:33 PM
Good question Bob. When the parade channels are misaligned, it just means that the color balance of the
red, green and blue values are at different values. The higher the color channel appears in its section of
the parade, the more intense that color is. If any of the colors reach past the top or bottom of the chart,
      you have exceed chroma limit for broadcast legality. You will have to pull back those colors or cap them
with a lter. For your other question, if all 3 channels are aligned evenly…that only means you have an
CAMERA equal distribution of the

CINEMATOGRAPHY colors. It willLIGHTING
LENSES still be illegal if goes above or below the
PRODUCTION limits. Hope
PROJECTS that helps!
/ FILMS
BOB
 January 28, 2012 at 12:13 AM
Thanks a lot Vashi, I guess the colors don’t have to be even, they only have to be below the limit
therefore, I hope I’m right,m thanks a lot for the info : )
WAYNE
 January 22, 2012 at 2:11 AM
Thanks for this.
What do you use to Denise in PP?

Wayne
VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 5:21 PM
Good question Wayne. I like to use NeatVideo or Magic Bullet Denoiser in After Effects. Don’t apply too
much as skin starts to turn “plasticky” and unrealistic.
BRETT WILLIAMS
 January 22, 2012 at 8:40 PM
Shane, Thank you so much not only for this post, but ALL of your posts. I’m new to the technical, and creative
demands of being my own DP / cinematographer. And also since I just bought the canon 5d mark ii to make shorts
with, you have been an invaluable resource of amazing information. Thank you so much and hope to be able to hire
you someday for a lm
SHANE
 January 29, 2012 at 8:14 PM
Brett Williams, thank you so much for those kind words and all your support. You are very welcome and I
look forward to working with you as well. Keep up the hard work. Stay passionate, never say die, be
      excellent.

LLIAM WORTHINGTON
 January 23, 2012 at 8:12 AM
Fantastic blog as always. This site is such a great lm community resource.
Thanks again
Best Wishes
Lliam
VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 5:15 PM
Very kind words Lliam! Thanks for the comment. It feels good to share with other lmmakers.
7 TIPS FOR HD COLOR CORRECTION | HANY ANBER
 January 23, 2012 at 10:14 AM
[…] To read the full article, go to 7 Tips for HD Color Correction and DSLR Color Correction […]
KRIS
 January 23, 2012 at 4:21 PM

Amazing post! It’s great to have the process laid out like this!
VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 5:17 PM
Thanks Kris! There is so much to color correction, but I felt it important to focus on tips that you can use
everyday, no matter what the project.
LAWRENCE
 January 23, 2012 at 7:44 PM
This is the post I’ve been looking around for. Very helpful and informative! Thanks for the post.
     
VASHI
 January 24, 2012 at 5:19 PM
Thanks for kind words Lawrence!
MARK STRAND
 January 24, 2012 at 10:56 PM
I echo Lawrence’s comments; this is the post I have been looking for, too. I do not have aspirations to work in
Hollywood, but want my videos to look their best, and want to be able to make adjustments on purpose and
understand the concepts. This is the best explanation of color correction and color grading that I have seen. I made
my own notes from it, which always helps me dig in and remember things. Looking forward to putting this new
understanding to work… thanks very much!
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 3:01 AM
Thank you Mark for your post! I’m so glad you took away some knowledge and get to use it in your work.
The principles are the same for Hollywood lms as for any video shoot. Make it look great Mark!
ROBERT
 January 25, 2012 at 1:59 AM
This is a great post! I throughly enjoyed reading it. I must say that i did learn a great deal from this. Currently I’m a
lm student and i just got out of editing class last month and they didn’t teach us color correction. One of the
instructors kind of dipped into Final Cut’s Color but I feel that this post was a lot more helpful than what the
instructor brie y talked about in my editing class. I personally didn’t like Color as i’m more of an Adobe guy. I have
found out that Adobe’s color correcting effects to be more detailed and easier to use. I pretty much learned it on my
own just playing around with it. The one thing that really caught my eye was in tip 6 i didn’t know that skin tones
live in the 60 to 70 IRE range that was something that I didn’t know. This post will de nitely help me with my future
projects. once again thanks so much.
VASHI
 January 27, 2012 at 2:01 PM
      Thanks Robert! Glad you took something away from the post and let me know if you have any questions in
the future!
ZIAD
 January 25, 2012 at 2:56 AM
Dear Vashi
I don’t know how to thank you for this great post, its simple, clear, and a must need for everyone to start learning
color grading.
I wish you can do a video tutorials for important Tips and how to solve problems that may face us in color correction
or grading.
What we need also is to learn how to achieve a Creative style for our footage. I heard that there are styles that are
considered as standard, i wish you can teach us some of these techniques and styles.
Thank you again and again for this great post.
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 3:05 AM
Thank you Zlad for your awesome comments. The great thing about creative style is that it’s different for
each and every project and there is no right or wrong. If it looks good…it is! That is the only rule. Best of
luck!
SASHA
 January 25, 2012 at 5:43 AM
I was waiting for the post like this for years!!!! Thank you very much, Shane! amazing blog!
VASHI
 January 27, 2012 at 2:00 PM
My pleasure Alexander! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
SHANE
 January 29, 2012 at 8:12 PM
Sasha, you are so welcome. Vashi rocked this baby out! Thanks for the support
     
IGNACIO
 January 26, 2012 at 2:11 PM
Vashi, excellent tutorial, I love the way you teach things. Thanks a lot.
A question with your permission:

Do you use power windows, trackers,etc very often with the dslrs footage?
I ask this because all the cinematography masterpieces that we love and atempt to imitate did not use such
techniques.
What is your opinion.
Thanks
VASHI
 January 27, 2012 at 1:56 PM
I believe in lighting properly on the set so you can capture what your creatively envisioned. That said…
power windows and trackers are now free and powerful (Davinci Resolve Lite, etc) and can be used as
needed to improve upon what you shot. Sometimes you run out of time and can’t relight for a shot on set.
Sometimes the EVF or external monitor runs out of batteries or craps out. Sometimes you forget to check
the historgram before you hit record…or you are in a at camera pro le that misleads your eye visually and
you set the wrong exposure. All these reasons and the tumultuous nature of shoot days can lead to a
blown or technically imperfect shot. We have the tools to x that now in post and h.264 DSLR footage can
be pushed around and tweaked to correct that…just not as far as other codecs or RAW les from other
cameras. Get it close in camera and triple check your settings! In regards to the cinematography
masterpieces of the past…I’m sure IF they had the option, they would have tweaked within the frame a bit
too!
KYLE VINCENT
 January 27, 2012 at 1:24 AM
Thank you so much! Just brilliant! Great for those of us who are making the switch from FCP to Premiere – just made
understanding the Color Grading process in Premiere that much easier!!! –
VASHI
     
 March 10, 2012 at 3:06 AM
My pleasure Kyle! Glad you took something away from my post. Keep learning and have fun with it!
BLOGS, JOURNALS AND ARTICLES | PEARLTREES

 January 27, 2012 at 5:28 AM
[…] 7 Tips for HD Color Correction and DSLR Color Correction | Hurlbut Visuals […]
PAYTON
 January 27, 2012 at 11:51 AM
HI, great post. I was wondering, How exactly did you put the 2:35 matte on there? As well as on Act of Valor. What
was the work ow to convert from 16×9 to 2:35 there?
VASHI
 January 27, 2012 at 1:59 PM
In Premiere, I import a 2.35 mask made from a Photoshop le (png). I then place this image le on a track
above the footage and extend it for the duration of the project. This gives me the aspect ratio that I prefer
and also allows me to reframe vertically (up or down) to adjust my composition. I’m sure Shane will chime
in but I know that AOV was shot 16×9 in camera then cropped in post using a similar technique.
PAYTON
 January 28, 2012 at 8:59 PM
Thanks for the quick feedback! So would you export a 16×9 le? I mean, once you have used
that png. le to help with the re-framing, is your export cropped to say 1920×817, or do you stay
with your 16×9 aspect ratio and just have the bleck bars be part of the le?
PAGE LYNCH
Hey, Payton and Vashi. I was wondering how to do this in Premiere too. I’ve done a
mask before, but that seemed unnecessary being as FCP has the widescreen lter with
a vertical positioning slider that won’t allow you to drag the footage too far into the
open space between the 2:35 bars. I thought I was just missing some lter somewhere
      but apparently not. I switched to Premiere, but I REALLY miss using that FCP lter!
Anyway, YouTube, Vimeo, television, DVD players, and projectors can all handle the
CAMERA CINEMATOGRAPHY 817 crop (in my LIGHTING

LENSES limited experience), but I’ve run into sizing
PRODUCTION errors/within
PROJECTS FILMSthe NLE
when trying to combine previous 2:35 cropped footage and 16:9 footage in the same
sequence. It’s easy to give the NLE a wrist slap for that (telling it not to stretch that
footage to ll the 16:9 frame) but a bit of a nuisance. So, if you think you’re going to
pull the completed project into something 16:9 in the future, it’s easiest to just leave
the bars and export a 16:9 in my opinion.
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 3:09 AM
Good question Page. In Premiere I use a 2.35 png matte that I overlay on the
video track above my footage. This allows me to interact and reframe

footage just like I used to do in FCP but with more range.
MICHAEL SOLOMON
 January 29, 2012 at 5:46 PM
What exactly does the matrox do?
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 3:12 AM
The Matrox Mini i use allows me to use any LCD TV as a color accurate monitor via HDMI out from the
Matrox box. It allows for 1:1 pixel accuracy and comes with Calibration software to set up your LCD TV.
This allows me to have a 42″ client monitor available in my edit bay to give a very accurate broadcast nal
image available directly out of Premiere.
GREAT TIPS FOR DSLR COLOR CORRECTION | PRO DIGITAL GROUP -- PROFESSIONAL VIDEO
PRODUCTION SERVICES
 January 29, 2012 at 7:24 PM
[…] one shot could be the secret sauce you need for a completely different shot. Experiment and enjoy! (HurlbutBlog
and […]
     
DAVE
 January 31, 2012 at 10:14 PM
CAMERA
Hi, CINEMATOGRAPHY
nice post! LENSES LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS
I was wondering how you de-noise in the beginning…
Do you run every single H.264 le through After Effects, apply Neat Video and render out as ProRes?
Thanks,
Dave
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 3:15 AM
Hi Dave. I use Denoiser or Neat Video on a shot by shot basis depending on visible noise of each shot.
With Denoiser I can do it directly in Premiere or After Effects and Neat Video is only in After Effects.
render out depends on my nal delivery format. It could be DPX for lm out or projection, Pro Res for
broadcast or h.264 for web delivery. Hope that helps!
WILSON
 February 3, 2012 at 9:13 AM
Congratulations for the post!

I am Brazilian and here we enjoyed your blog:)
Question, what is the best cost versus bene t in relation to VGA Video Card?
Make and model.
RAM, I use Kingston memory modules (4g) have a total of 20 gigs in 1333, what do you recommend to work at on
the AP and AE?

thank you
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 3:19 AM
Hello Brazil! In my 2 Mac Pro edit stations I use a Nvidia gt 120 and GTX 285 in one….and a gt 120 and
GTX 470 card in the other. Both of my systems enable the CUDA and Mercury Performance in Premiere and
both of them also power my Davinci Resolve 8.2 LIte with unlimited nodes for amazing color correction
potentials. I have 12g RAM in my older Mac Pro and 20g in my 8 core. I hope that helps!
     
JUSTUS
Hey Shane, I know you put a ton of time in this post, and it’s an incredible post! This is extremely helpful.
Sometimes, for me, it’s kinda hard to gure it out with just reading and pictures. I would love to be able to color
correct my footage to look like that rst picture with the guy and the car behind him (By the way that looks
incredible.) Do you think you could do a video tutorial with Premiere Pro on how you got to that point? This post has
helped greatly, but it’s just a request that I am mentioning that would help me alot. I learn alot more by following
along with you in a video than just looking at pictures. If not, I understand, This post has helped me already. but if
it’s possible, that would be great. -Thanks-
SHANE
Justus, you are so welcome. Thank you for your support. That will be a huge commitment. I am a working
cinematographer. I don’t run a blog that talks about the work I should be doing, I do it, then write about it.
That would be something that Adobe would have to generate. We will continue create, educate and
innovate. For now this is all I got. Peace
DRAGANCHE
I learned a lot from this post!
Thank’s Vashi and Shane.
I would also like to watch such as Justus how professionals use Premier Pro for color correction!
But if you can,understand it,this is enough for now
Greatings for Serbia!
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 3:21 AM
Thanks DRaganche for your comment! I’m glad you learned some good stuff from the post! All the best to
you….
Vashi
     
JOSE PRADA
Excellent article!! I have a question though: when correcting a color cast looking at the rgb parade… The lines have
to be aligned or it depends on the fact that the shot has more information of a color than another -ex a blue sky-?
I’ve found that correcting certain shots trying to align the RGB parade I end with unnatural skin colors… I’m a bit
confused by this!!
MACAR
You only want the portions of the image that are supposed to be neutral to line up…It’s a particular skill to
recognize in the parade the parts the scope that are supposed to be representations of neutral colors,
especially because every single shot and set up is unique. After a while, though, you get the hang of it.
FLAIN
 February 13, 2012 at 11:10 AM
Some people say;Premiere pro HDSLR native edit doesn’t give 10-bit color space..Is it true?
Thank you!
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 3:24 AM
Hi FLAIN. Canon HDSLR footage is 8-bit but once it’s dropped into a timeline…Premiere will apply many
effects in 32-bit oat to gain you full access to the most color space available to h.264 footage. The other
option is to convert the HDSLR footage to 10-bit Pro Res and edit that but that takes time and much more
hard drive space. I cut/color everything natively in Premiere and have had wonderful results. I hope that
helps!
IGNACIO
Hello Vashi and Shane, thanks for this inspiring post.

I got a question not far away from this topic, it´s about black and white shooting.
Shane told us in the blog that it would be better to shoot with the monochrome PS, for better lattitude.
     
Vashi, did you nd it better for grade? and Do you tint the footage to get an old look?.
I nd that the monochrome is too cold and plastic and I would like to get a vintage look, How could I achieve this?
CAMERA Thanks Masters.

CINEMATOGRAPHY LENSES LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 3:28 AM
Hi Ignacio. I defer to Shane on this one as he is the HDLSR master. I’ve edited and colored both color and
BW footage that was delivered BW for nal image…each has its own challenge but from discussions with
other colorists…they prefer color footage so they can have more options in making the nal BW grade
which could have Sepia or Duo-tone or a number of other BW tinted nal looks. Good luck!
SHIKAI
 March 3, 2012 at 6:21 AM
I cannot express enough how great this article is. It’s been of great help. Thank you very much. However, I do have
questions. I still don’t really get the waveforms entirely.

First, I use Premiere Pro, so, can I simply use the Luma Corrector effect to x the luminance or do I have to use many
other effects? Or should I stay away from that effect?
Moreover, where should my nal IRE levels be at? I heard from 7.5 to 100 was the normal, although another version
says from 0 to 100 is what you should be comfortable with.
Sorry if you covered these questions already and somehow I did not get it.
Thank you.
VASHI
 March 10, 2012 at 3:32 AM
Good question Shikai. For basic color correction in Premiere, I recommend the Fast Color Correction to
keep things in real time and have accesss to luminance, saturation, contrast and color cast. In terms of
IRE…0 to 100 is the normal range you need to stay inbetween. 7.5 is a step-up which refers to analog only
video images and I doubt that is in use for anyone using HDSLRs or any other HD format. I hope that
helps!
FLAIN
     
 March 16, 2012 at 2:02 PM
Thanks Vashi.
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 March 21, 2012 at 2:32 PM
[…] Hurlbut auf die Frage eines Lesers, ob er anstelle eines Artikels ein Videotutorial zum Thema Color Correction
mit Premiere Pro aufnehmen könnte: I am a working cinematographer. I don’t run a blog that talks […]
RAFA
 April 16, 2012 at 11:38 AM
Thank you Vashi for this fantastic article!
VASHI
 June 12, 2012 at 2:58 PM
My pleasure Rafa! Glad you enjoyed it. Color is a never-ending quest!
DRE
 May 16, 2012 at 10:37 AM
Hi Vashi,
Could you elaborate a bit more on the skintones needing to fall between 60 and 70 IRE? Mine look perfectly ne (hit
the skintone line), levels are correct, etc. But when I isolate the skintone with the crop tool, it seems to be stretched
between 20 and 50 IRE on the YC Waveform. Unless I’ve misunderstood what you meant about making it hit 60-70?
VASHI
 May 16, 2012 at 2:33 PM
Dre,
Thanks the question…let’s see if I can elaborate. My 60-70 IRE reference would apply to a properly
exposed face in a well lit scene. This could be an exterior with sunlight or interior with ample lights
hitting the subject. The face could have have darker regions that fall into shadow (almost to 0 if I chose) or
highlights that can hit up to 90 IRE. The 60-70 is a target that will allow you to push it around in post if
needed. If you isolate to small a zone with your crop you will get a speci c IRE but not an overall for the
      whole face…if we are using a face. Feel free to send me a screengrab of the image/video you are using for
this measurement. If your skintones are between 20-50 IRE…without looking at it…I would guess you have
CAMERA your subject in a low LENSES

CINEMATOGRAPHY lit situation with not much hightlight
LIGHTING on the skin? If youPROJECTS
PRODUCTION are using a/ FILMS
at pro le that
compresses both top and bottom that will squash your measurements into the middle as well. I use 60-70
as a guide to know I have nice exposure but every situation is different. With DSLRs and h.264 8-bit
compression…I like to have ample light or at least a good spread of light values…even if that is from a
small LED or practical. The wider the spread of light…even in low light…will give you a more pleasing
image and be easier to work with in post. I hope that helps…and sorry if I rambled!
DAVID A.
 May 17, 2012 at 5:58 AM
As I continue to grow my skills as an editor and a lm maker, resources like this have proven to be priceless. This is
by far on of the easiest to read, and most practical guides for getting started with color correction. Thank you so
much!
VASHI
 June 12, 2012 at 12:22 PM
My sincere pleasure David! I’m glad to help out and share some knowledge. Pass it on!
NEOPANGAIA
 May 19, 2012 at 8:44 PM
this is the awesomest guide to color correction for a noob ive read in 20 years. thank you for nally explaining it to
me.
VASHI
 May 21, 2012 at 1:50 PM
Neo, thank you for your generous comment. You are too kind! I’m so glad anytime someone can learn
something from my posts. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions in the future. You made
my Monday extra bad ass!
ABDELRAHMAN LATIF
     
 May 20, 2012 at 11:42 PM
Man, you’re brilliant, that was really helpful, keep it up !!!
VASHI
 May 21, 2012 at 1:52 PM
Abdelrahman, Thank you for your super kind words. I will keep it up and more to come!
MICHAEL
 May 29, 2012 at 1:32 PM
Thank you so much for this article! Love it!
One Question though: do you denoise every shot even before doing your edit? right now i have a single dynamic
Link for every cut to denoise it in AfterEffects using Denoiser II. Is there a less fragile Work ow?
I would love to see a work ow on how to move your nal edit into Speedgrade. There are some out there on how to
work with speedgrade but no one talks about the best way to transfer it to Spededgrade.
Keep it up!!
VASHI
 May 29, 2012 at 3:34 PM
Hi Michael, thanks for the comment and glad you enjoyed the article! In regards to denoising…I only start
that process (and color correction) after I’ve locked my cut. So many things constantly change in the edit
that if you start picture adjustments before a locked cut…it will bite you in the butt.
I don’t denoise all my shots…just the trouble shots that stand out. Since each shot has its own inherent
noise pattern, the level you nd acceptable varies on each shot. It’s also dangerous to try to denoise every
shot as you can lose resolution/sharpness in the pursuit of a perceived “perfect” image. Finally, since I like
to add grain to my nal product for a more organic look…I found out it also smooths over or negates a
certain level of noise. So long story short…I just denoise the bad buggers.
I have not used Speedgrade on a paying gig yet…still riding Colorista and other plug-ins for quick work
and Davinci Resolve for larger or more intensive work. The Speedgrade work ow is very much like the
Resolve method which is: 1.Load your media. 2.Load an EDL export from Premiere. 3.Conform your media
to the EDL. 4.Export your nal footage in the avor of your choice. I will keep tabs on Speedgrade but am
content with Resolve as of now. I’m sure the next upgrades for Speedgrade will make the integration more
      uid for Premiere users.
I hope this helps a bit and let me know if you have anymore questions!
CAMERA Thanks again!
Vashi
COLOUR GRADING TIPS (WHY IT IS IMPORTANT) « INDIEFILMSTUDENT.COM
 May 30, 2012 at 11:59 AM
[…] TOP TIPS: Shane Hurlbut […]
GLENN WHORRALL
 June 5, 2012 at 4:18 AM
I might be a bit late joining the conversation but I have two questions regarding using an external monitor…
* I edit on a 27″ imac but have an older 20″ imac which I hardly use…. is it possible / feasible to use this as a second
colour correction monitor?

* Using the Matrox MXO2 mini and hooking it up to a consumer LCD TV… are there any speci c models of screen you
should go for??
Thanks for a great post… this knowledge will bring my work to another level.
VASHI
 June 5, 2012 at 3:11 PM

Hi Glenn, thanks for reading the blog and your kind words.
I know one solution that is pretty elegant for hooking up another Mac and using it just as a second
monitor. The program is Air Display ($19.99) and here is their website: http://avatron.com/apps/air-display
It won’t give you a calibrated display but you can that second display to leave full scopes up there or use
as a reference monitor to keep an output video image up there. Extra real estate is always welcome when
you are color correcting!
When using Matrox MX02 mini with a consumer LCD/LED TV…I look for 2 things that are absolutely
necessary.
1. 1080p playback…which luckily know comes with most TVs starting at 24″. I use a 47″ Vizio via a Matrox
mini to my Mac Tower and it works fantastically. Matrox just released new drivers for OSX Lion and Adobe
CS6 Suite…which is my basic set up.
2. Make sure the TV does not scale to 1080…it should be native 1 x 1 pixel representation and be true
1080. Matrox mini lets you calibrate a TV that DOES scale the image…but you lose 3 of the 5 parameters
      that are used to calibrate the TV to broadcast specs.
If you make sure you are aware of both of those points…you should be up and running with a viable,
CAMERA affordable, accurate coloring
CINEMATOGRAPHY LENSESstation. LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS
I hope that helps and let me know if you have further questions!
All the best,
Vashi Nedomansky
GLENN WHORRALL
 June 6, 2012 at 3:25 AM
Thanks for sharing this information Vashi. Take care out there..
KATYI ANTAL
 July 2, 2012 at 12:59 AM
Hi Vashi
Nice article and conversation here. Congrats.
Many time mentioned the Da Vinci Lite. And you mentioned you use Matrox Mini. How they cope together? Because i
read Da Vici work only with Black Magic Extreme 3D. In this case how can you calibrate your monitor? And nally:
why don’t you use Dreamcolor for calibrated monitor, or is cheaper and better other consumer LCD/plasma? Thx.
VASHI
 July 3, 2012 at 12:10 PM
Hi Katyi and thanks for the kind comments and questions. With Da Vinci Lite I use the included scopes
inside it to make my grading decisions. The Matrox mini works with Premiere and After Effects for a
calibrated output but not with Da Vinci (as of now…but who knows what will happen!). The Matrox Mini
comes with calibrating software which is a 10+ step process to calibrate an external monitor/LCD/LED TV
and has been spot on for me. I use Dreamcolor monitors on set and when I color for agencies or at various
post houses but at home…I prefer my larger 46″ LED Vizio to display the image for clients and color in
house. Between the scopes of Davinci and Premiere and After Effects…I’m always satis ed with my results
and have always nailed QC for broadcast and air. ( ngers crossed!) Dreamcolor prices have come down and
it is on my list for purchase in the near future!…thanks again for your questions and I hope to have helped
you out!
      BRIAN TOUHY
 March 30, 2013 at 12:48 PM
CAMERA Vashi, in regards

CINEMATOGRAPHY LENSESto your Vizio Led are you on aPRODUCTION
LIGHTING 60hz or 120hz. Is thePROJECTS
120 better /
forFILMS
video or does
it make it look like bad hd?Also, you use the vizio as your main monitor correct? Thanks again
for this post. Huge help.
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
 April 1, 2013 at 10:39 AM
Hi Brian, thanks for your question and support of the blog. I do not use 120hz or any
“Smoothing” function when I edit or watch lms. It just doesn’t look right. The motion
blur and cadence of 24 fps is magical and ethereal. I use the Vizio as my main output
monitor in my edit suite. To be clear, I edit on 2 Apple Cinema Displays and at the
same time, output an HDMI reference feed to the Vizio for the director/client to review.
It mirrors my source or program panel in Premiere as needed. I hope that helps!
the best…
Vashi Nedomansky
BRIAN TOUHY
 April 3, 2013 at 1:17 AM
Thank you very much!

IOHANAN
 October 28, 2012 at 10:11 PM
Hi, nice review.

I did a short so far, 22min long.
I’m thinking of buying a Panasonic GH2, because it’s a nice budget and resolution.
I have Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas, and the plugins Colorista, Looks, Neat Video and Mojo.
How could I copy the lm look?

Should I just crush shadows or work with the midtons?
Improve contrast or reduce it?
Thanks
      VASHI
 October 29, 2012 at 11:07 AM
CAMERA CINEMATOGRAPHY LENSES

Thanks for the LIGHTING
comment Lohanan…much PRODUCTION
appreciated. The lm lookPROJECTS
is different /aesthetically
FILMS for
every person but there are some traits that everyone registers as the feel of lm.
A nice wide spread with deep (not always crushed!) blacks and non-clipped whites will give a
perceived sharpness and clarity that “feels” right. The midtones can then be dialed in to bring
out the meat of the scene including skin tones of faces and the things you want to emphasize.
lot of commercials and lms are using low contrast looks lately which is a different direction but
also looks like lm.
Adding lm grain to your footage will also add an organic feel and approximate some aspects of
the lm look. As will: vignettes, bloom in highlights, color casts and even 2.35 aspect masks that
give a widescreen look to your 16:9 footage. The possibilities are literally endless!
There are no right or wrong answers so choose the techniques that please you and even strive to
set new standards for the term “the lm look.”
I hope that helps and best of luck!
NEIL MOYER
 July 2, 2012 at 11:41 PM
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you – great tutorial! Really helpful info.
VASHI
 July 3, 2012 at 12:11 PM
Neil! Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. I really appreciate your words and I hope you
learned at least 1 tip you didn’t know before! All the best…Vashi
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING…COLOR CORRECTED « ELON IN LOS ANGELES

 July 3, 2012 at 12:18 PM
[…] hurl blog article gives some very handy tips on color correction/grading with DSLRs. The article focuses on […]
FRANKIE
 July 3, 2012 at 9:57 PM
     
exactly what I have been looking for a guide with a guide…I can use this is my baseline for future edits and work
from here. Great stuff… bookmarking and saving in multiple locations…just like a bank account backup. Thank you
VASHI
 July 10, 2012 at 10:09 AM
Frankie…
Thanks for the kind words and glad you enjoyed the article. The response has been fabulous and I’m just
happy to share some of the knowledge I’ve learned over the years. Enjoy!
RADIDO
 July 6, 2012 at 12:49 AM
Hi Vashi,
First of all, thank you Vashi. I’ve been searching for such info for literally months now. I live in Nairobi and around
here if youre not working with Apple no one takes you that serious. But Apple isnt affordable (tech-wise). You have
shone light on how general these “hidden” methods are and for that I’m grateful. Just a last question, are there so far
known and categorised types of color correction/grading especially for music videos (which is where I’m starting at
for the moment :p)?
VASHI
 July 10, 2012 at 10:15 AM

Radido,
Thank you so much and I’m very glad you learned something from my article! Apple is expensive, but it’s
just a tool. PC do the same work and export the same end product…often for a much cheaper cost.
Remember…the client only sees the nal image, not the process it took to get there!
In terms of speci c color grading for music videos…I nd that in the 3 or 4 minutes you are trying to tell
your story…I like to exaggerate the intensity of colors and really have some fun with it. There are no rules!
Make it memorable and stylized and make strong decisions and stick to them. Super-saturated? Why not!
Black and white for certain shots? Sure! Tell your story and make it stick in people’s mind. ENjoy!
JULY: COLOR CORRECTION
 July 26, 2012 at 8:45 PM
[…] proper skin tones and they always go back to the I-line. And I’ve seen a couple of tutorials where people grade
     
the skin tones right on to the i-line. I think that’s a big […]

NONEX
 July 27, 2012 at 1:08 AM
Amazing article, exactly what I was looking for. How about making a video version of it with some more hands on
tips and tutorials, would be the best guide EVER!
VASHI
 July 28, 2012 at 5:54 PM
Thanks for the kind words NonEx! I hope to have some more tutorials out soon. Stay tuned…
DAVID
 July 28, 2012 at 5:57 AM
Hi Vashi!
First of all congratulations for your article, it’s amazing.
I have a some questions: De-noise and sharpen a video… with what? A special plugin? After Effects? I know the de-
noise plugin is called “Neat Video”, and sharpen mask with After Effects.
What do you think about this?
Thanks
VASHI
 July 28, 2012 at 6:08 PM
I’m so glad you enjoyed my post David. You have some valid questions so let me try to illuminate. For my
denoising work I use either Red Giant’s Denoiser 2 plug-in or as you mentioned…Neat Video. They are both
solid options and can really save your footage from artifacts, blocky dark areas and general digital grain
patterns.
In terms of sharpening…every NLE has either a sharpen or unsharp mask lter effect. In my editing
software of choice, Adobe Premiere CS6…I use the unsharp mask lter that one of the most knowledgable
and accomplished gurus, Stu Maschwitz, has recommended…especially for DSLR footage. I use Unsharp
Mask: Amount=120 and Radius=1.1 as an excellent starting point to pop the footage.
My other choice for sharpening is using the “Pop” setting in Colorista II and dialing it up as needed. It adds
nice contrast to give perceived additional sharpness and can be used in both the positive and negative
      direction to sharpen or soften.

I hope this helps you out and you can get better results with your work!
CAMERA all the best,
Vashi
DAVID
 July 29, 2012 at 8:36 AM
Perfect! Thanks for your answer I will try it on my footage!
All the best!
JIM B
 August 1, 2012 at 11:33 AM
Vashi
Great no-nonsense article. How about a follow up article using Davinci Lite? Since SpeedGrade still doesn’t offer a
true roundtrip solution, I don’t see what advantage it has over Resolve.
I’ve tried doing all my CC in PPro, but for the type of short lms I do, I nd AE offers much more power, nesse, and
options when it comes to CC and grading. The two major disadvantages with Dynamic linking are
1) I nd its a lot more CPU intensive

2)It forces you to be a LOT more organized
VASHI
 August 2, 2012 at 3:42 PM
Hi Jim B!
Thanks for the comment and question. i’ve been using Resolve 8 for the last 6 months and just
downloaded Resolve 9 a couple days ago.
For quick color tweaks where I don’t need secondary color or power windows I stay in Premiere…but for
any paid jobs or intensive work I have fallen in love with the ease and power of Davinci Resolve. I can kick
out a Final Cut XML from Premiere or even a attened le and use scene detection to cut it up.
I’m very comfortable and uid in Resolve and it really allows me to do anything I need. I also nd that the
real time playback is great for when the director or client is sitting in with me. I’ve used Speedgrade but
right now I’m faster and more effective in Resolve.
In terms of organization…I nd that I have to be as organized as possible on any project as they inevitably
      become bigger and more clustered faster than you can image and at the end of the day…my bins and
timelines can be look like a bomb went off. I always spend time at the end of the day to place items where
they belong so that the next morning it doesn’t look like a tornado tore through my project.
Each project has different needs and deadlines and prerequisites and I apply whatever tool I need to make
it as painless as possible. As of now…I nd Davinci Resolve my favorite color correction/grading tool and
use it as much as I can. I look forward to the upgrades coming to Speedgrade and Premiere and Colorista
so that they can help me nish my days quicker and smoother.

I hope that helps and let me know if you have any more questions!
all the best,
Vashi Nedomansky
DAVID
 August 3, 2012 at 9:55 AM
Hi again Vashi!
We liked your guide and have translated into Spanish on our website. Logically, you quoted a source in our blog. We
hope you like.

You can see this link:
http://www.d2visual.net/d2v/correccion-de-color-en-video-hd-guia-trucos-y-consejos/
Thank you
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
 August 4, 2012 at 9:28 PM
Thank you David for spreading the knowledge and sharing the info!
BLAKE NOBLE
 August 10, 2012 at 9:04 PM
Hey Vashi,
Great article and was wondering where you would put the Technicolor LUT that they provide with the Cinestyle into
your work ow. Thanks!
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
 August 11, 2012 at 12:40 PM
      Hi Blake,
Thanks for the question…it’s one that’s important and has a couple answers. I have shot a lot with the
CAMERA Cinestyle pro le andLENSES

CINEMATOGRAPHY as you know LIGHTING
it creates a veryPRODUCTION
at image with lowPROJECTS
saturation/ (and perceived
FILMS
sharpness) that looks nothing like what your nal graded image will look like. That’s because the purpose
of Cinestyle (as opposed to my Neutral default pro le) is to capture the most latitude and give you options
in the grading phase.

The Technicolor LUT applies a preset of color corrections over the Cinestyle footage to give you a “normal”
image based on Technicolor’s specs. From there you can further tweak, grade, push and pull the footage.
In Premiere, After Effects or Final Cut or Motion you can download Red Giant’s LUT Buddy for free and then
apply the Technicolor LUT over the footage. This is ne and dandy but causes one problem for me. I might
not get real-time play back and for me is a non starter. Here’s how I like to work with Cinestyle footage.
In Premiere or After Effects…I apply a curves effect to an adjustment layer over the footage and use a basic
s-curve as a starting point. This will play back in realtime on just about every computer given you have the
minimum specs for Mercury Engine playback. This s-curve effect is only to allow me to get a better idea of
how the nal footage will look and will also allow you to show the director or client a more faithful and
well exposed image. Cinestyle at footage, along with Alexa Log and Red Raw and C300 C-log footage all
looks uber- at and not cinematic in its “raw” state. It’s supposed to. No work has been done to it yet.
times directors and clients cannot edit without seeing some approximation of the nal color look so by
using a curve effect adjustment layer…I can make a real-time “one-light” color pass so they can better wrap
their brains around what the footage is supposed to look like.
When I do nal color, I export the timeline to Davinci Resolve 9 (or whatever color grading software is
required) and I grade from scratch. At this stage (again on a well-equipped machine) the Technicolor LUT
should play back in real time and I will make all further color decisions as needed.
So long story short…I use a curves effect in Premiere to get real-time playback and a useable, well
contrasted image…then do nal color after the cut is locked.
I hope this helps answer your question and remember…this method is just what I use and there are many
ways to skin this cat!
all the best,
Vashi
BLAKE NOBLE
 August 13, 2012 at 7:36 AM
Hey Vashi,
Thanks for the great and detailed answer! Excited to see more blog posts on color
      correction/grading.

JONAS
 September 20, 2012 at 5:26 AM
Thanks for all the information.

Will the technicolor LUT playback in real time on a mac laptop computer?
VASHI
Jonas, that would depend on many factors including: laptop processor, RAM, running in
Premiere, After Effects or Resolve? The technicolor LUT will run in realtime on my Mac
tower in Premiere but not at full resolution. After Effects I don’t use for realtime
playback. Resolve 9 achieves realtime playback for me.

It will be harder for a laptop. If spec’d to the minimum requirements I think your best
results for realtime playback would be in Resolve 9, then Premiere and After Effects
last.
JONAS
 January 24, 2013 at 3:17 PM

thank you for your answer. I am using premier. I really appreciate your time,
expertise and i want you to know I’m using your technique with the S-curve.
Very smart!
WILLIAM
 August 13, 2012 at 4:07 PM
Awesome. You could spend weeks watching and reading online and not get information this concise and good!
SHANE
 August 14, 2012 at 5:21 PM
WIlliam, thank you so much. Vashi is a master
     
COLOR GRADING- AN ABSOLUTE MUST « MICHAEL C. POTTER
CAMERA  CINEMATOGRAPHY
August 16, 2012 at 5:11 PM LENSES LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS
[…] I thought. “I thought there were like… 3, max!” (Again, IDIOT.) but I read his entry, and followed the steps, and
used the thorn in my side- my own lm. I reduced noise, I white […]
TYLER HOLLOWELL
 August 19, 2012 at 9:24 PM
Vashi,
This is one of my favorite posts on the blog. Very inspiring. I was wondering: how did you get the theatrical aspect
ratio bars on the top and bottom?
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
 August 19, 2012 at 9:56 PM
Tyler…thanks for the wonderful comment and glad you enjoyed the post. In answer to your question…I
made a PNG image le that I lay over my timeline on its own layer. I then stretch it out to cover the whole
timeline.
That way I can reposition the individual clips vertically to recompose as needed. In Premiere (and other
NLEs) this is a real-time process so you don’t have to render as you go.
Here is a link to the actual le I use! https://www.dropbox.com/s/lakg hbh5yl0c7/VASHI235matte.png

Enjoy!
STEVE RILEY
 August 25, 2012 at 10:35 AM
Thanks,I did learn one thing I could never get answer for.60-70 IRE for good skin exposure.
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
Thank you Steve! It’s a good general range to keep in mind when you are balancing. Glad it helped ou.
     
STEVEN P
 August 28, 2012 at 4:01 PM
The best tutorial on the internet by far!! Thankyou so much for this!! You have helped me so much!
Best Wishes!
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
Thank you so much Steven. So glad you enjoyed the tutorial and hope it helps you out in your work.
GREG
 August 28, 2012 at 7:42 PM
Vashi, thanks for all this.. I am trying to build up courage to shoot a (Canon 7D ) commercial with one of the at
pro les. Thinking of using Neutral, but I am looking for information on the tweaks – reduce sharpness, sat and
contrast? by how much? I know it is subjective, but I am looking for a starting point… shooting exteriors under partly
cloudy skies, and daylight interiors.
ANDY C
Hi Vashi,
Thanks for your informative post. I use nal cut pro, and I was wondering if you have used the app ‘5DtoRGB’ to
conform H.264 les into prores before? Would you know if 5DtoRGB is any better than nal cut’s ‘log and transfer’ or
‘mpeg stream clip’ for squeezing the most outta the H.264 les?
Cheers
Andy
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
Good question Andy. When I edited in Final Cut…I found 5DtoRGB gave me less artifacting than “log and
transfer” and MPEG streamclip. There are always gamma differences between the 3 methods but that is
tweakable once you are editing/coloring. The les are considerably bigger with 5DtoRGB but if storage is
no concern than it is a great way to go. I do all my H.264 editing now in Adobe Premiere and cut natively
      in realtime at the highest quality.

ANDY C
 September 9, 2012 at 9:22 PM
Thanks for your reply Vashi, and all the Best!
RAGHU IRIKKUR
Hello Sir,
I have cimematographed a feature lm using Canon 5D Mark3
( with old Nikon AI, AI-s lenses).

The footage (H264-ALL-I-compression) directly imported to Adobe Premiere Pro CS-5, and have tested editing and
colour grading.
It produced satisfactory results.
Instead of doing that, if the footage is decompressed,

can we expect further more image quality?
(I am Raghu from Kerala, India)
VASHI
 October 16, 2012 at 10:38 AM

Hi Raghu! Congrats on completing your feature lm. It really is a dif cult task and I hope you are happy
with the results of the imaging through the 5Dmkiii and your Nikon glass. I have 2 full sets of Nikon AIS
glass that I absolutely love and I’m sure your footage shines!
In regards to your question…if you imported into Premiere CS5…you will be accessing all the information
possible in terms of color space and range in 32bit as that is how Adobe Premiere is optimized for.
have a certi ed CUDA card and a decent amount of RAM you should be getting real-time playback for your
whole edit process.

If you choose to convert/transcode into Pro Res or another codec…you will not get more information or
quality in the image but you will get larger les. Playback with Pro Res will be smoother on less powerful
systems but no boost in image quality. The choice is yours but I prefer to stay in native format for my edits.
I hope that helps and best of luck on your feature lm.
      SRINU
 November 26, 2012 at 1:43 AM
CAMERA Hi Raghu,
can you share the name of the feature lm you have worked. Want to see output of the 5D mark 3..
Thanks alot.
Sri.
PAUL ABRAHAMS
 October 13, 2012 at 11:54 PM
I’ll be tackling editing/grading for the rst time soon. This guide looks like it will give me a head start. Many Thanks
VASHI
 October 16, 2012 at 10:42 AM
Thanks for the comment Paul. Best of luck on your projects and I hope my article will give you some
helpful reference info if you need it!
SRINU
 October 15, 2012 at 5:44 AM
HI Vashi,
I am planning to make a feature lm with Red Scarlett, I am planning to have the basic color grading setup and hire
a Gradist. My only doubt is how to know how the scene look on the big screen while grading…i know the question is
stupid , but i just want to be sure that having the setup will not have any negative affects. Thanks in advance.
Thanks,
Sri
VASHI
 October 16, 2012 at 11:00 AM
Hi Srinu….very good question. There are many, many factors to consider when you are talking about
projecting a lm on a big screen but only some are in your control.
Given the fact you could be screening 35mm lm, Pro Res, DCP, DPX, Quicktime or various other le
formats through various kinds of projectors or on screens…we go back to the only thing in your power.
      I recommend using calibrated monitors during your grade as that will ensure your colors and levels will be
as accurate as possible before you push your footage downstream and into exhibition.
CAMERA Your options for calibrated

CINEMATOGRAPHY LENSES monitorsLIGHTING
range from a Matrox Mini connected to
PRODUCTION a LED/LCD/Plasma
PROJECTS / FILMS TV via
HDMI and calibrated through the Matrox software….all the way to a grading suite at eFilm or Company 3
or any other high end facility that could cost thousands of dollars an hour. Other options are the HP
Dreamcolor monitor that Shane uses both on set and in post or also Flanders Scienti c Monitors or others.
Finally, even using scopes within Premiere or Davinci Resolve or another grading program…you can
comfortably get 90% of the way there if you are knowledgeable in the basics and good at reading the
scopes. Believe it or not…there are a couple professional color graders that are actually color-blind!!!
rely on scopes and do amazing work so trust those scopes!
So the answer lies in your budget and your resources….but for $500 (Matrox) and a LED/LCD/Plasma you
can have a calibrated image that can deliver and pass QC for broadcast or exhibition.
I hope that helps and best of luck….
Vashi
SRINU
HI Vashi,
Thanks alot for the reply. I already got the CS5.5 and i will purchase the Matrox mini. Is Magic
Bullet an ef cient Color Grading software for the Feature lm? I hope this one completes my
Post Production set. If not magic Bullet please suggest me some budget Software. Thanks alot in
advance.
P.S : It is because of this Blog i got con dence in making a movie of my own. I bought the kit of
7D, Zoom H4N, Tokina 11-16, and rented Leicas and Scarlet.
Thanks,
Sri
DENNIS CEPERO
 October 15, 2012 at 8:09 PM
Great article. This is a lot of the stuff I’ve gured out through trial and error (especially the bit about adjusting
blacks rst). There’s also a great deal in this article that I DIDN’T know so thank you for that.
Wish I had read this years ago – it would have saved me a lot of time!
     
VASHI
 October 16, 2012 at 10:39 AM
Dennis, thank you for taking the time to post your kind comment. I’m glad you took away some knowledge
from my post and I hope it makes you a smarter and more ef cient lmmaker!
All the best!
Vashi
NIVAS
 October 19, 2012 at 10:43 AM
Hi Vashi..Awesome info. I want to read this article 100 times & do it practically word by word with my canon 5d
footage.
I read lot of articles on color grading BUT THIS THE BEST ARTICLE. Especially i liked the fact that WE CAN DO
COLOR GRADING IN DESKTOP & the way you are saying it con dently. All of my doubts cleared.
PLEASE, PLEASE DO A VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR THIS ARTICLE..ESPECIALLY COLOR CORRECTING 5D MK2 FOOTAGE
FOR DISPLAYING ON BIG SCREEN, ESPECIALLY COLOR CORRECTING IN PC(MAC/PC) – IT’LL BE A GREAT HELP TO
LOT OF PEOPLE LIKE ME.
Thanks in advance.
Have a great Life.

Happy Film making.
Nivas
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
 October 29, 2012 at 10:53 AM
Wow! Thank you so much Nivas for your generous and kind words. It really means a lot and I’m glad you
took away some good points from my blog post.
In the future I may be able to do some video tutorials but I’m involved in some projects through the rest of
the year that are taking all my time. I would want to do a video the same justice as my blog posts and I
would want to plan it out properly. There are so many wonderful videos out there right now to keep you
busy!
Thank you again and I’ll let everyone know when and if I can make that happen…
     
MARCUS
 October 19, 2012 at 2:18 PM
Hey Vashi,
Amazing tutorial man. I’ve been Color Correcting resort videos and vacation videos for about a year now. I’ve usually
stuck with the Three-Way color corrector built into Premiere and occasionally using Looks. Thank you so much for
these tips, they will help me out tremendously.
Just a few questions. I just purchased some Magic Bullet products and am looking to start using Colorista a lot more
than Three-Way color corrector. Do you have any suggestions on where I could learn to use Colorista and any tips
you could point out to make my videos look better than they do now?
Thanks,
Marcus.
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
 October 29, 2012 at 10:57 AM
Marcus, thanks for the comment and reading my post…I really appreciate all the wonderful feedback.
In terms of Colorista and tutorials speci c to that….jump over to the Red Giant website and check out their
Red Giant TV tutorials. There are many amazing Colorista speci c video tutorials that will really explain
the ner points of that amazing plug in.
Stu Maschwitz also has some great insight into Colorista on his blog http://www.prolost.com
I hope that helps and best of luck in making your footage look better and pop!
PAUL ABRAHAMS
 October 20, 2012 at 3:22 AM
A quick question about canons neutral pro le. Do you leave it as is?
VASHI
 October 20, 2012 at 9:05 AM
Hi Paul. When using Canon’s Neutral Pro le…I use what Shane recommends. 0 for sharpness (all the way
left), 0 for contrast (all the way left), -2 (two clicks left) for saturation and no change (middle setting) for
color balance. Numerically, it is -4,-4,-2,0. It is a great, atish, starting point for capturing a wide latitude of
      exposure and color. I hope that helps!
CAMERA CINEMATOGRAPHY
SHANE LENSES LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS
 October 23, 2012 at 9:58 PM
Paul Abrahams, -4 contrast, -1 saturation, 0 color tone, 0 Sharpness
BILL HAMELL
 October 25, 2012 at 7:42 AM
Vashi,
Thank you for a fantastic blog! My imagery is vastly improved!
I am using CS5 and have a question about TIP #3 – ORDER OF OPERATIONS
Specify #8. Resize and sharpen

Sharpening last is easy, however in Premiere the resizing or Motion effect is not moveable. How do you resize last in
Premiere? Another effect or plug-in? Inquiring minds want to know!
Thank you,
Bill
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
 October 29, 2012 at 10:49 AM
Hi Bill and thanks for the kind comment and good question.
The last step of RESIZING generally refers to the nal output given the delivery format. This could mean
converting down from 4K/HD to 720p or 480p for the web, or even smaller for mobile devices. If that is
the case…I use Adobe Media Encoder and use of the presets speci c for that delivery format. Adobe’s
presets are wonderful on their own and you can always tweak them for larger bitrates if you aren”t happy
with the results.

If the resize at the end of the pipeline is a larger spec size…1080 up to 2K or even 4K…I like to use Red
Giant Instant HD or custom After Effects presets made from scratch.
The RESIZE at the end is different from the reframing or gentle scale adjustments (5-15%) I might do
during the edit…and I let Premiere handle that inside my editing timeline.
i hope this helps and answers your questions! Thanks again for reading the blog!
Vashi
      BILL HAMELL
 October 30, 2012 at 12:25 PM
CAMERA Thank you, LENSES

CINEMATOGRAPHY yes this clears LIGHTING
things up, after I PRODUCTION
clean up after Sandy it is back to/editing!
PROJECTS FILMS Thanks
again Bill
JHIL FEMI BLANKET BFX
 October 28, 2012 at 10:44 AM
I have written a script for a season feature lm project with the working title: WANDERING, it’s project that comes
with some branded products like: Drinks Telecommunication products and out ts to mention but a few. i am an
individual with passion for QUALITY picture and post production, I can send u sixty scene of this script comfortably
because i really want to work with your out t.
SHANE
 December 8, 2012 at 10:46 AM
JHIL Femi Blanket bfx, that would be great. We would love to check it out. thanks for believing in us.
DAGUR OLAFSSON
Great great great blog! Learned a lot in 10 minutes of reading.

SHANE
 November 14, 2012 at 9:01 PM
Dagur Olafsson, thank you so much for your kind words
COLOUR GRADING | SEBASTIAN SOLBERG
[…] http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/01/7-tips-for-hd-color-correction-and-dslr-color-correction/ […]
MAARTEN TONER
     
This really inspired me to get busy with color grading and building a mood with Colorista this week! Only had a
slight mismatch with some sea foam, but will re do that later. Here is what this article inspired me to do:
https://vimeo.com/54044785
My second project in Premiere Pro CS6 by the way, slowly switching from FCP and guring out new worl ows, this
site is really helpful in organising hidden knowledge. you know, the stuff you kinda know but is in the background
and just fresh takes on old stuff.
ROZI 1969
Hi Vashi,
Thanks for your article – a great resource! One aspect that I’m still not clear on is when using the Cinestyle LUT in
Resolve (version 9) is it best to use it as a Input / Display or Output LUT , or do you apply the LUT as a node.
you stated above that you grade from scratch in Resolve, where does the LUT come into play in your work ow?
I’ve heard different work ows, and just don’t fully understand the process to get the most out of your les. If you use
the LUT at the incorrect time do you actually lose the info you captured by shooting with the cinetstyle as I’ve read
in some blogs? That doesn’t seem to make much sense. I’ve also read that some grade w/o the LUT, then apply it to
a node and regrade with it- wouldn’t that double the work load?
Your thoughts and process are much appreciated, thus far I’ve found results all over the place.
Thank you again!
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ABBAS KHAN FROM PAKISTAN
     
 December 6, 2012 at 1:28 AM
Really Thankful to you for such knowledgeable Tips, which we could hardly know..
Hope you will keep on giving more tips as well…

Regards..
SHANE
 December 6, 2012 at 1:03 PM
Abbas Khan from Pakistan, thank you for your kind words and support
VASHI
Abbas…I’m so glad you enjoyed the post and thank you for taking time to comment. I hope you learned at
least one tip which will make your editing and color correction work easier! All the best to you…
JIBNULL
Hi. how do u feel?
i have a qeusten. u written : I choose to use Adobe CS5.5 for my Color post work and bounce between After Effects,
Photoshop and Premiere as I love the seamless integration it provides.
i understand that us After Effects and Premiere, wich charakter plays Photoshop here? i mean why is Photoshop
importend for the video color correction ? thx and sry for my bad english
VASHI
Hi Jib! Thanks for the question. Just to clarify…I use Photoshop in my work ow to handle stills, text and
titles when I’m editing. I use dynamic link inside Premiere and After Effects to make adjustments to the
Photoshop les.
You CAN edit video les (and jpeg/dpx or other image sequence les) in Photoshop…but it is a
cumbersome process with no real-time playback but in the future I’m sure we will be able to link to and
edit smoothly video les in Photoshop and gain access to all the other plug-ins available in Photoshop.
Until then…I am very happy with my Premiere/After Effects/Photoshop integrated work ow. I hope that
      helps and thank you again for the comment!

JUSTIN
Hey Vashi, great article man! I was just wondering, for primary correction, crushing blacks and increasing highlights
adds saturation to your image, so would you have to compensate by desaturating as you’re adjusting those?
VASHI
Hi Justin and thanks for the comment and question. For my work ow, I like to color correction in passes.
The rst pass I will level out the shots and match them as needed. I never crush blacks or blow highlights
out at this stage. On the overall grade for the last pass is when I will choose (if the story/director/dp want)
to crush blacks (lose information) or blow stuff out (again losing info). Many lms make creative or artistic
decisions to aggressively grade to that extent. Film will hold up better to crushing/blooming as there is
more information and latitude to begin with. DSLR footage can take less before you lose an overall
perceived latitude…so use judicially!
To nally answer your question!!!!…if you push blacks down hard and boost whites in the primary grade…
you will be adding saturation as a result. You can either lower saturation inside Fast Color Correction or 3-
way. Another approach is to use Luminance Curves to lower blacks and raise whites as they do not affect
saturation. RGB Curves will affect saturation like Fast Color…so if you want to skip the desat step…use
Luminance Curves in Premiere or AE to push the image around.
I hope that helps and good luck grading!
ALAN AUSTIN
Very Helpful. It’s a bit off topic but I’m wondering if you could outline a good work ow approach between Premiere
CS6 to After Effects CS6, Magic Bullet software and perhaps DaVinci Resolve. There are also a couple of new
programs out there to consider: FilmConvert/ Technicolor-CineStyle etc. It’s a little confusing when to use what and
in what order.
Thanks for you great tutorial.
Cheers,
     
Alan

VASHI
Hi Alan and thank you for your kind words and good question. There are many different ways to skin a cat
so I can at least share with you how I would do it.
I have purchased Magic Bullet Looks, FIlm Convert Pro and have used Cinestyle extensively so I’m
comfortable speaking to that.
Once my edit is locked in Premiere, I will use Dynamic Link to send any shots to After Effects that will
need high quality FX work that I can’t do in Premiere. One trick I use is to copy the le I’m sending to AE
above the original le and THEN make that an AE composition. That way I always have the original le in
my timeline if I need it.
Once all my FX work is done…I like to render out the AE les and swap them out with the compositions in
my Premiere timeline. I then atten the timeline down to one layer if possible. I keep titles and cards on a
second layer above the video les. I then send an XML over to Resolve and apply my color corrections and
grades. I
can then either send an XML back to Premiere or I can render out the les from Resolve in ProRes 422 and
swap out my Premiere timeline.
If it is a short 30 second spot or something similar…I will often just kick out a attened le from Premiere
and use scene detection in Resolve to cut it up and then grade it.
Finally…Back in Premiere…I will add an adjustment layer above the nal footage and apply Film Convert
Pro to that layer. I nd using a lm stock at no more then 50% color and no more then 50% grain (super 35
or full frame) really uni es the nal footage and gives it a very organic and pleasing look.
My favorite lm stock in Film Convert right now is Fuji RL or VD for a contrastier look.
I hope that helps and remember this is only the way I chose to do it…there are no rules…no right…no
wrong.
all the best,
Vashi
SAM
 December 12, 2012 at 12:55 PM
FYI: vashiedit.com is a “parked” website. Will you be adding content?
     
VASHI
Hi Sam! Thanks for pointing that out. My website is http://www.vashivisuals.com and I will have to update
that in my post. I will be sharing new content on my website frequently and will hopefully be contributing
more here at hurlbutvisuals as well. All the best! Vashi
AYEMIN
 December 29, 2012 at 10:03 AM
Really helpful one for the beginners too. Thanks.
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
 January 2, 2013 at 1:26 PM
Thanks for the comment AyeMin and have a wonderful 2013.
CARLOS
 January 5, 2013 at 11:28 AM
Hi, great article, it really helped!
I was wondering if you could tell where to learn more about grading colour and the 3 way color grade, about how to
use it beacause is a bit dif cult though touching around
Thanks a lot, have a great year!
CONQUERING COLOR CORRECTION: MAKE IT POP! | EDIT CELLAR
 January 7, 2013 at 4:49 PM
[…] reading one of my favorite blogs from Shane Hurlburt, I picked up the details I had been missing in my process
from a post by Vashi Nedomansky of Vashi […]
MR.THAWZIN
 January 9, 2013 at 9:28 AM
Thanks for your tutorial le,I’m video eidtor from myanmar and interest color corrcetion
     
and visual effect.
I hope you can help me.
pls reply,
thanks a lot
MARIO
 January 11, 2013 at 8:02 AM
Hi!
I’m just getting into the CC thing and need a new monitor, so maybe a basic question but here it is:
Does wide color gamut and Adobe RGB matter in terms of video postproduction and color correction / grading ? Or is
there no need for it and a good sRGB color space is the thing to look for as RGB 601/609/709 is very much alike the
sRGB space?
Thanks for helpful information!
TIFFANY-JAYNE MARTIN – CREATIVE FILM PRODUCER | LEARN MORE ABOUT COLOUR

CORRECTION…
 January 15, 2013 at 12:16 AM
[…] But what is the difference between colour correction and colour grading? According to Hurlbut Visuals: […]
LAURENCE
 January 17, 2013 at 7:51 PM

Hi Guys..
anyone at Hurlbut Visuals played with lmconvert software yet? I imagine it would be right up your alley : )
http://www. lmconvert.com. I’m sure Craig would love to hook you up with a free copy to experiment with.
craig@rubbermonkey.co.nz
Love your work guys.

Rubber Monkey Team
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
 January 19, 2013 at 12:34 AM
Hi Laurence,
I bought the Filmconvert Pro plug-in for AE/Premiere a couple months ago and absolutely love it. I’ve used
it on 3 projects so far and the results have been spectacular. The organic results achievable of the plug-in
      along with the wide variety of lm stocks have really made my footage sing! The new 5D presets have
made my color work ow even easier and quicker and I have breathed new life into my DSLR arsenal.
CAMERA be sharing some blogLENSES

CINEMATOGRAPHY posts featuringLIGHTING
Filmconvert in action soon. Kudos to the
PRODUCTION team at Rubbermonkey
PROJECTS / FILMS for
a wonderful product.
PAUL CASCIO
 January 23, 2013 at 1:43 PM
Great tutorial. Lots of useful info. Thanks!
VASHI
 January 24, 2013 at 9:43 AM
Paul, my sincere thanks for the comment. Im glad you enjoyed it!
JASAN
 January 27, 2013 at 2:56 PM
Great read. One question, Im using canon 5d mark II as my primary camera. I edit using Premiere Pro CS6 and want
to add Davinci resolve in the work ow. My question is will I bene t from transcoding my 8 bit h264 footage to 10 bit
DNxHD for color grading in DAvinci? I do thinks premiere and resolve both work in bit oat.
JASAN
 January 27, 2013 at 2:58 PM
I meant 32 bit oat and its actually Canon MARK III camera.
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
 January 27, 2013 at 7:57 PM
Hi Jasan and thank you for kind comment and good question. If you are editing in CS6 then I
would export an XML and open your original footage in Davinci Resolve. Both Premiere and
Resolve work in oat so you won’t gain any advantage by transcoding to DNxHD or any other
codec. Keep it native then export once when you create your master les. Best of luck!
     
ANDREW DE ZEN
 January 30, 2013 at 4:31 AM
Hey Vashi,
I’m still relatively new to colour grading and Ive found your article extremely helpful! So thank you for that. I shoot
with the Canon 5D Mark 2 and have been bouncing around with the Cinestyle pro le and the Neutral pro le. It
seems like Cinestyle, with everything far left for the attest image, creates more noise. Would you recommend one
over the other? Also, after trying to get a low contrast look by grading in After Effects CS6 and using Curves mostly,
I’ve been getting quite a bit of artifacting. I’ve been mostly colour grading by eye rather than using a professional,
technical work ow so am I simply pushing the mids and shadows too high? As an example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijVYSVu9Y7E that is a video of mine which highlights all of the problems I’ve
been having. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and I admire your work. Thank you.
VASHI
 January 30, 2013 at 10:42 PM
Andrew! Thank you for kind words and excellent question. I watched your short lm to get a better grasp
of what you are dealing with. It was a very nice slice of life and the editing and music were very well done.
Kudos! I could see from the video what you mean and hopefully I can guide you with some suggestions.
Judging from the lm I would say that you are closer than you think to having a congruent, matching nal
product. The exposure of your shots tells me you could make it all feel as if it all lives in the same world.
Nothing underexposed or blown out…that alone is a good thing. I’ve received much worse footage on
professional jobs that needed all my skills to make them ow together and give the illusion of “oneness”.
The white balance of your shots would be a starting point for me. Some shots had a green cast and some
had a blue cast…especially in the darks. When the blacks aren’t black it really makes it hard to immerse
yourself. Without using scopes and comparing shot by shot where the story is going it is very dif cult to
deliver a visual experience that feels like it is all happening at one time. There is no “one solution” and not
every person is amazing at every step of lmmaking. You shot beautiful footage that looked cinematic but
nothing I could say in a quick blog response will make it ow. What I can do is address your rst concern
about picture styles and artifacting based on my shooting experience. I DP’d a half dozen projects using
Cinestyle and got very nice results in bright light situations but in any low light scenes…I always had
noise. The post work work I employed got me back to a healthy, great image but at the cost of time and
rendering. I prefer to shoot Neutral with Shane’s classic settings to get a solid, low noise image in most
circumstances. Lately, I’ve been using the Visioncolor picture style for it’s excellent skin tone rendition and
Neutral-like response. Grading a lm is so subjective and I’ve seen amazing results in both low contrast
and high contrast approaches. The only limitation in shooting 5Dmkii 8-bit color space is that you need to
      expose accurately and get as close as you can on the day to give you the best image to work with later.
You are very close with what I’ve seen and I know with more practice and experience color grading…you
CAMERA will get results more in
CINEMATOGRAPHY tune to what you
LENSES see in your head.
LIGHTING I hope that helps and
PRODUCTION best of luck
PROJECTS in the future!
/ FILMS
ANDREW DE ZEN
Thanks for replying Vashi! Your comments are very helpful and I think I’ve learnt a lot about
Cinestyle, especially in this video I just nished yesterday. The only problem is now I’m
experiencing quite a signi cant amount of banding. I’ve been doing a lot researching about
banding and how the MK2 shoots 8 bit 4:2:0 les, and how using Magic Lantern or 5DtoRGB can
boost the les to 10 bit. I’m dying to gure out some way to reduce these results because there
are so many videos I’ve seen of stunning work with the MK2 and it’s obvious they’ve heavily
graded it, but they have the cleanest images. Would you recommend uptranscoding?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB2FLaNiIDE
In this example, this is the rst time I’ve used denoiser 2 from magic bullet (i wanted to use neat
video) and then layered 35mm 1080p lm grain, which I do all the time. After using cinestyle in
the subways with low light, I’ve realized that shooting neutral is the much better to reduce the
noise. Also, the codec is exported is Apple Pro Res 444, with maxed out everything lol. Is the
colour grading the cause of all this banding?
RAY ROMAN
Hi Vashi,
Thank you for sharing this valuable information! Do you offer workshops or private consultations?
-Ray R
VASHI
Hi Ray. Thank you for reading and enjoying my article! I will be involved with workshops in the near future
and I do consult on all sorts of projects big and small. If you need more information…please visit me at my
site http://www.vashivisuals.com and please leave me a message there so we can get back to you. Updates
for my projects and future work will be available there. Thank you again for reaching out and the kind
      words.

MICK
Wow, this was SUPER helpful. A great way to get started into properly color correcting. I am amazed at the impact
color has on the overall feel of a scene.

Thanks a lot!
VASHI
Thank you Mick for your kind comment! I hope you can take away something from the article and use it
your advantage. All the best…Vashi
ADOBE CS6: 5 EDITING TIPS FOR MUSIC VIDEOS | VASHI VISUALS
[…] jump into Tip 4…I wanted to quickly touch on the actual color grade before the VFX was added. In my article on
Shane Hurlbut’s Blog (and the most viewed article of all time on his site!), I go into depth of how I color correct […]
JAVIER
Sharpen goes rst. Because modify the black curves. After you lost a lot of shadows information. Try it!
ALLARD
 February 28, 2013 at 10:17 AM
Hey Vashi,
Great post, very usefull, thank you! One question:

You say you rst denoise your source material, so you can have a clean start.. Do you mean you apply the denoise
lter to your clips, and then export everything, and then reimport the rendered les into premiere?
If so.. what do you export as? What container/codec? Cause that would have to be lossless right?
Thank you!
     
IVAN LEE
 March 16, 2013 at 9:46 AM
Wow, that was super! very nice tutorial! thank you so much!!
I have just one question…tell me if this is correct: I always use the LIFT and GAIN to stretch the individual RGB
parades while matching them, instead of using the “master” slider. Is this the proper way of doing this? because
sometimes your image may have more blues… or greens… I don’t know if that’s the correct way.
this blog is the best, Shane is great!

thanks again
Ivan Lee
IVAN LEE
 March 16, 2013 at 9:47 AM
Sorry, forgot to mention that I use Apple Color

thanks
VASHI
 March 18, 2013 at 10:58 AM
Thank you for the kind comments Ivan! I’m glad you enjoyed my post and Shane’s amazing site. In answer
to your question…you are doing it the right way. By using the separate color channels to balance the
image, you have much more control and accuracy in your color grade. The master slider will usually affect
RGB and Luminance which in turn effects saturation as well. The master slider is ne for overall changes
but not for speci c or isolated tweaks to your image. I hope that helps and best of luck in your endeavors!
All the best…
Vashi Nedomansky
vashivisuals.com
FILM LTK – FILMMAKING LINKS, TUTORIALS & KNOWLEDGE (2013) | U, S AND TOBY
 March 18, 2013 at 2:09 AM
[…] Tips for Color Correction: http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/01/7-tips-for-hd-color-correction-and-dslr-

color-correction/ – great tips from Shane Hurlbut, DP of “Terminator: Salvation”. All based around […]
     
NIKOMEDIA
 March 21, 2013 at 11:36 AM
Excellent tutorial! I denoise the original footage with neat video in AE, then color grade in davinci resolve and for
the nal touch I apply holygrain lm grain for the lm look and to reduce color banding.
VASHI
 March 22, 2013 at 12:04 AM
Nikomedia, thanks for the kind comment. Your work ow is solid and very similar to mine. I haven’t tried
holygrain but will look into it. I’m always searching for new ways to improve and “cinematize” digital
footage. Thanks for the tip!
A PASSING GRADE | TROJAN HORSE FILMS
 March 24, 2013 at 8:08 AM
[…] great tutorial session with Vashi Nedomansky (with a nod to Stu Maschwitz) from hurlblog:
http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/01/7-tips-for-hd-color-correction-and-dslr-color-correction/ This entry
was posted in Color Correction, Editing, Production and tagged color correction, […]
VASHI
 March 24, 2013 at 10:58 PM

Thanks for the repost and your support! Glad you enjoyed the article…All the best.
GETTING IN-DEPTH WITH COLOR CORRECTION/GRADING | CRADLEBRAIN PRODUCTIONS, INC.
 March 25, 2013 at 9:43 AM
[…] COW” on Color Correction/ Grading. And I am also looking at this blog on “7 tips for HD Color Correction and
DSLR Color Correction“. Please click the pink links so you know what I am currently talking […]
SONICJAR MUSIC
 March 26, 2013 at 1:28 AM
Denoising your videos earlier the better!! and vashi thanks for for sharing some great tips on boosting the esh
     
tones!! Thats why I thought that your video has a great lighting!!

BRAM
 April 2, 2013 at 8:55 AM
I’m impressed. I’m on my 3rd serious lm , ever in my life and its a documentary. This tut quickly helps me
understand on how to get rid of a given colour tone i dont like. My EX1r’s tend to f^&*-up the WB if the lightning is
accompanied by a softbox. A certain scene was too greenish so i did what i usually do with my pictures and crush the
blacks and lift the whites, adjusting greys for brightness. After tugging on the fast colour corrector as explained here
i went to the opposite coulour of the green tone and just loved what i saw. I’m gonna get deeper into this now with
better understanding. Just 1 thing:
3. Relight within a shot using power windows or masks.
4. Add gradients, diffusion and other lens lters.

I’m curious on that. Do you have any more tutorials on that?
VASHI
 April 2, 2013 at 6:23 PM
Bram….thank you for the kind comments and I’m glad my tutorial helped you get better results with your
work.
I will be posting more tutorials on color correction, editing and sound work on
http://www.VashiVisuals.com There are some new tutorials there that cover color correction. All the best
and thanks for your support!
ADAM
 April 2, 2013 at 1:12 PM
Hi Vashi.
Send you a huge ‘Thank you’ from Germany.
I was looking about a week for the right order of doing my CC.
And for luck I found it here.
These eight points and the ‘one-after-the-other’ was really helpfull!
(Beside: I came to this article via this: http://vashivisuals.com/adobe-cs6-5-editing-tips-for-music-videos/)

So – and now I do have a question to the skin tones:
     
I found that it is helpful to use the ‘Four-Point-Matte’ (hope this is the right name for this tool in english) to select
only skin-tones (for ex. a part of the face, without hair). So I can see if the skin-tones are at the ‘skin-line’.
CAMERA ButCINEMATOGRAPHY
if not? LENSES LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS
I have a clip here, which is shot with arti cial lightning and which is somehow redish.
I tried to use the 3-way-color-cor. and push only the mids till skinline is reached. But: The whole clip gets really ugly
(greenish).
And/or I also tryed the RGB-Curves. But it didnt work.
‘3-way-color-c. second cc with mask’ didnt work well becouse the whole image is kind of redish/orange and so it isnt
possible to mask only the face.

Am I doing wrong?
What else could I try?
Do I have to accept the little to red skin?
Thanks for an answer

Adam
VASHI
 April 2, 2013 at 7:07 PM
Hi Adam and thank you for reading my article and posting a very good question. You are on the right path
with your approach to x the skin tones and remove the red. The secret is that you need to combine both a
mask (matte) and secondary color correction. Ideally, you should make a matte around only the part of the
frame that has the skin tone. If you have already tried this and could not isolate just the face/skin tone
because everything is reddish/orange you will probably have to rotoscope the face frame by frame.
Another option is to open this clip in Davinci Resolve Lite (free!) and track a matte that only has the
face/skin in it. It will automatically follow the area you select and you can then change the skin tone color
with the same 3-way color wheels that exist in Premiere. Without seeing the image for myself, it is kind of
hard to say exactly which technique to use…but the tracked matte with secondary color correction would
be my suggestion. I know it can be frustrating, but good and believable results in post are often time
consuming. The more you do it…the easier it wil be! Good luck and I hope this helps answer your
questions! Vashi
YAGO
 April 4, 2013 at 5:06 PM
Thanks Vashi for this great work ow. It is really great. I have a further question:
     
In Tip 3
1. Remove artifacts and de-noise.
CAMERA What do you mean by “Remove LENSES

CINEMATOGRAPHY artifacts” and how is that done.
LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS
De-noise is that a step that can only be achieved by getting plug-ins ?
Cheers and keep up the excellent work
VASHI
 April 4, 2013 at 5:36 PM
Thank you Yago for the kind comment. Glad that you found it helpful! In terms of artifacts and de-noise…
artifacts are usually considered macro-blocks in the darker areas of footage and also banding in skies or
gradients. Both can be addressed with de-noising plugins like Neat Video or Magic Bullet De-noiser.
own or have access to After Effects, there is a “remove grain” effect that is already built in, but you really
have to ddle with all the settings to get a similar result to Neat Video or MB De-noiser. You would also
have to add back some sharpness with an “unsharp mask” in After Effects in my opinion. If you have a lot
of noisy or low light footage…it might be worth it to buy a plugin and save a lot of hassle and time.
choice is up to you! All the best…
YAGO
 April 4, 2013 at 5:46 PM

Hi Vashi
I was reading again the answers to Q&A’s and found the answer there already.
Thanks for your time
yago
CORRECCION DE COLOR EN VIDEO DIGITAL HD - GUIA PRÁCTICA I D2VISUAL
 April 15, 2013 at 5:42 PM
[…] trabajo es correcto o se ha de modi car. La mayor parte de la información está sacada del blog Hurlblog Educate,
que pertenece a Vashi Nedomansky, un profesional con años de experiencia en el mundo del […]
NEXT WEEK | 2013: ADVANCED MEDIA TECHNOLOGY
     
 April 18, 2013 at 12:39 AM
[…] this before Thursday 25th http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/01/7-tips-for-hd-color-correction-and-dslr-
color-correction/ Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:Like […]

REMCO
 April 24, 2013 at 2:01 AM
Woow great man! thanks alot. Especially the order how to aply color correction is really helpfull.
VASHI
 April 24, 2013 at 3:55 PM
Thank you Remco for the kind comment. That Order of Operations tip really helps in maintaining footage
quality through the color work ow. So glad it helped out!
BIEN
 April 28, 2013 at 1:30 AM
I noticed that you shot in cool lighting so that there’s no need to add add blue shadows and highlights in post
production so all you need to add in post production are the orange midtones. How do you shoot in cool lighting
when you are outside? What camera settings should I adjust to shoot in cool colors?
And by cool I mean blueish. Not the cool as in awesome.

VASHI
 April 29, 2013 at 10:35 AM
Hi Bien and thanks for your support and good question. We achieved the blue-tint look all in camera.
dialed the Color Temperature from 5600 (daylight) down to 4200 using the manual settings in the Canon
5Dmkii. That shifted the color to the look we wanted and then we added make warmth in the mids to the
skin tones. You can do all of this in post we had shot 5600…but with the 8-bit color space of the h.264
footage…we captured as close to the nal look straight off the bat. I hope that helps and best of luck on
your projects!
BIEN
 May 1, 2013 at 6:48 AM
      Thanks, Vashi! You’re a great help! You really helped me become better at color grading.
CAMERA CINEMATOGRAPHY LENSES

VASHI LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS
 May 1, 2013 at 4:05 PM
Bien…glad that it helped out! There is so much to learn…so every little tip and trick
gives you another tool to perfect your craft. Thanks again for your kind commment!
BIEN
 May 1, 2013 at 7:12 AM
That’s genious since you don’t need much effort in post anymore:D
AARON
 May 1, 2013 at 12:22 PM
How much sharpening do you typically apply with the Premiere Pro sharpening tool? I’ve been adding a value
between 30-50 to most of my shots. I have sharpening dialed down to zero in the camera. Thanks
VASHI
 May 1, 2013 at 4:03 PM

Hi Aaron. Good question…I will share my method of sharpening h.264 (DSLR) footage. First off, sharpening
dialed all the way down is essential as the in-camera sharpening will cause ugly sharpening and a lot of
moire and fringing edges. Second, I prefer Unsharp Mask in Premiere/After Effects for my sharpening.
it has more control then the Sharpen effect. After some testing to dial it in…my secret sauce for Unsharp
Mask is Amount 100 and Radius 1.1 for a good general sharpening effect. That’s the settings I use to give
my footage a nice pop. Give it a shot for yourself and let me know how it works for you! All the best…Vashi
ARIE
 May 2, 2013 at 3:49 AM
Wow.. I’m beginning my way to Color Grading.. and I stumble upon this article… Thank you… I think It’s a very good
headstart for me..
      VASHI
 May 2, 2013 at 6:20 AM

Hi Arie! Thanks for the kind comment and I’m hope it gives you a nice introduction to the huge world of
Color Correction! Best of luck!
FMP: COLOUR CORRECTION | FINALE YEAR

 May 15, 2013 at 7:56 AM
[…] http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/01/7-tips-for-hd-color-correction-and-dslr-color-correction/ […]
COLOR GRADING: THE PROCESS TO HELP YOU FEEL THE PICTURE | MYJIVE
 May 21, 2013 at 1:03 AM
[…] source: Hurlbutvisuals.com $(document).ready(function(){ $(".rightColumn"). tVids(); […]
7 TIPS FOR HD COLOR CORRECTION AND DSLR COLOR CORRECTION | ROBERTO CIMATTI
 June 3, 2013 at 9:40 AM
[…] 7 Tips for HD Color Correction and DSLR Color Correction Posted on 3 giugno 2013 by Roberto Cimatti
tutto in: 7 Tips for HD Color Correction and DSLR Color Correction […]
KIRAN
 June 6, 2013 at 2:04 AM
Great post….. vashi,loved it……I have doubt that which software is better for color grade, presently iam using premier
and fusion,i dont know where iam missing but iam not getting cinema style colors in it. plz guide me how to get
that.Thank you.
VASHI NEDOMANSKY
 June 6, 2013 at 8:49 PM
Thank you Kiran for the kind words. Really appreciated! Premiere by itself will allow all the tools you need
to achieve the color correction anyone needs for solid, cinematic images. That said…there are so many
components to creating a cinematic image with cinematic colors. From lighting to framing to lens choice
to set design and costume…all these factors must mesh and live together to form that illusive quest for
      Cinematic Colors. If you would like to share some stills from your project…I can take a look and give you
some feedback. You can contact me at http://www.vashivisuals.com and email me directly there. I look
CAMERA forward to taking a peek

CINEMATOGRAPHY at your work!LIGHTING
LENSES PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS
NOUR
 June 24, 2013 at 3:42 PM
Hi Dear Vashi,
A big thank you for your sweet tutorial. It’s very helpful. I have a question if you don’t mind. I shot a short lm with
my canon 5d mark ii and I happened to notice now that I’m editing it, that many of my shots are very noisy. Do you
have a tip for me? It’s amazing how noisy my shot are, when I’m trying to correct that in color correction step in avid
MC, I want to kill myself. Everything seems so dirty. I tried to use BCC noise reduction plugin with the sharpen
option but I don’t get very good result. Please, give some tip. And thanks again for your site. French guy living in
Rome.
VASHI
 June 24, 2013 at 4:20 PM
Hi Nour and thank you for the kind comment. I would love to try and you help you out with your noise
issue. I’ve shot over a hundred projects using the Canon 5D mkii and using Shane’s guidelines and advice…
I almost never have any noise. If you could share with me the settings you used (picture style, settings for
sharpen,contrast,saturation,color) and also the ISO that you shot with…I would have a better idea of what
might be giving you the noise. My two favorite Noise Reductions plugins that I use are NeatVideo and
Magic Bullet Denoiser II. Shane also recommends the Dark Energy plugin (he has posted on it here on his
website) that he used on Act of Valor to clean up all the 5D mkii footage and match it to lm. Feel free to
post your camera settings and more info here…or email me directly at vashi@me.com with screengrabs to
show me what you are dealing with. All the best! Vashi Nedomansky – VashiVisuals.com
NOUR
 June 26, 2013 at 2:47 PM
Hi Vashi, thank you for your answer… I will send you an email brie y to explain to you all. Thank
you so much for wanted to help. Talk to you soon.
     
NOUR
 June 28, 2013 at 3:40 PM
Hi Vashi,
I sent you an email, I’m not sure you got it… Let me know. Thank you. Best!
DAVE PATTERSON
 January 6, 2014 at 6:25 PM
Solid information. I wish I was hip to this when I started learning color grading as it would have
saved me some time.
CONQUERING COLOR CORRECTION: MAKE IT POP! » EDIT CELLAR
 July 30, 2013 at 2:49 PM
[…] reading one of my favorite blogs from Shane Hurlburt, I picked up the details I had been missing in my process
from a post by Vashi Nedomansky of Vashi […]
ERWIN
 August 26, 2013 at 3:44 PM
I’m a graphic designer student and I want to create HD videos quality, this tutorial will help me with my semester
project, thnx 4 the info!
Erwin.
VASHI
 August 26, 2013 at 3:52 PM
My pleasure Erwin! Thank you for the kind words and best of luck in your projects!
ZOHAIB
 June 12, 2014 at 11:20 PM
Hi vashi,
I loved your tips and they really solved a lot of problems I was facing since I’ve started using
divinci resolve only few months back. I have a question if you don’t mind answering.
Ok so once we color correct using scopes and lift the highlights to the top and touch the black to
      the bottom and balance the whit Well what’s the point of all this if we are simply going to play
around randomly with the same values later to get that nal grade look which involves often
bringing the highlights down adding a tint meaning destroying the white balance. Hope you got
the question and would love your take on this
Regards,
Zohaib
DC
I love the blog post, I’d have to say that color correcting is the hardest part of nishing the lm process to me. I
would love a post elaborating on the steps/order of color correcting/grading. like a breakdown of the best
techniques for each.
PROPOSAL FOR PROJECT 3: CREATIVE HABBIT | HELLODANAREEVES
[…] Here are some visual references: […]
BEHIND THE SCENES WITH SHANE HURLBUT ASC | VASHIVISUALS BLOG
 December 11, 2013 at 11:39 PM

[…] rst blog post ever was for Shane and it turned out to be the Most Popular Post of All-Time on the Hurlblog and
the #1 Google search result for “HD Color […]
EVAN
hi vashi, your tips are great, thanks so much for this.
but i recommend you to make a tutorial video on this, so that people who are new to this can understand more
clearly.
COLOUR GRADING? CHECK THIS OUT? | ADAM PLOWDEN VIDEOGRAPHY
 January 5, 2014 at 2:24 AM
     
[…] A helpful checklist/guide to those embarking on colour correcting and colour grading for DSLR video –
http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/01/7-tips-for-hd-color-correction-and-dslr-color-correction/ […]
LUCA
 January 17, 2014 at 8:16 AM
Guys can i ask to you why you professional use everybody Premiere and after effect?! so i’m in the video world just
from one year, i’m feeling good with Fcpx everything there is more fast of the other NLE (for me) , but i don’t want
lost some point for learning much possible!
so what do you think?

thanks
Luca
SHANE
 January 22, 2014 at 9:56 AM
luca, Premiere and After effects is a far superior editing platform, that is why. Color correction, etc.
JOSH KANUCK
 January 24, 2014 at 7:00 AM
Great tips!
7 DICAS PARA CORREÇÃO DE CORES EM HD E DSLR
 January 25, 2014 at 5:43 PM
[…] Traduzido de hurlbutvisuals.com […]
JOSE
 March 3, 2014 at 3:12 PM
Hi Vashi!!
I’m so grateful for this article, it’s full of simple and effective tips. However is like to ask you! What do you
recommend me? FCPX+DaVinci? (This is what I’ve been using, as Final Cut’s color correction tools are obviously not
enough) or just the Adobe set of software? And why!
Thanks in advance!
     
ABDULLAH
CAMERA March 15, 2014 at 12:58 AM

 CINEMATOGRAPHY LENSES LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS
Hello,
Great tutorial. I am a newbie. I have a question maybe out of this topic. I dont really know what is the best setting
for 5d mark ii for shooting a at pro le.

My dslr setting for shooting is:
1. PAL 25fps
2. White Balance (auto)

3. Picture style
– Sharpness 0
– Contrast -4
– Saturation -4
– Color Tone -4
4. Shutter Speed 1/50
What is the best setting for 5D MK2 for shooting at pro le?
SHANE
 April 20, 2014 at 4:52 PM

7 Cinematography Tips For HD & DSLR Color Correction - Hurlbut Visuals

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ABOUT US FAQ CONTACT SHANE’S INNER CIRCLE SHANE’S STORE MEMBER LOGIN

7 TIPS FOR HD COLOR CORRECTION AND DSLR COLOR

Color Correction software.

accurate and creative decision making.

LIFT-GAMMA-GAIN / SHADOWS-MIDTONES-HILIGHTS / BLACKS-MIDS-WHITES

images almost at will.

TIP #1 – SHOOT WITH A FLAT OR LOG PROFILE

TIP #2 – TRUST THE WAVEFORM, VECTROSCOPE and PARADE SCOPES

TIP #3 – ORDER OF OPERATIONS

1. Remove artifacts and de-noise.

7. Simulate a lm stock of your choice

compensate by bumping up the SATURATION to keep the colors popping.

WOW, ALL OF YOU ROCK!

7 TIPS FOR HD COLOR CORRECTION AND DSLR COLOR CORRECTION

 January 20, 2012 at 3:28 PM

[…] — Hurlblog | Read the Full Article […]

 January 20, 2012 at 3:34 PM

 January 24, 2012 at 4:56 PM

 January 24, 2012 at 7:56 PM

      and eat the long render time?

CAMERA CINEMATOGRAPHY LENSES LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS

the optimal work ow.

SÉRGIO MIGUEL SILVA

 January 20, 2012 at 4:24 PM

CAMERA CINEMATOGRAPHY LENSES LIGHTING PRODUCTION PROJECTS / FILMS

Great Article, incredibly helpfull

 January 24, 2012 at 5:00 PM

Thanks Jorge! Feels good to share the knowledge…

 January 20, 2012 at 6:34 PM

Of Valor” take care.

 January 23, 2012 at 9:20 PM

 January 20, 2012 at 7:36 PM

Thanks Vashi. Step 3 was super useful.

 January 24, 2012 at 5:03 PM

 January 20, 2012 at 8:26 PM

 March 10, 2012 at 2:32 AM

 January 20, 2012 at 9:49 PM

 January 24, 2012 at 5:08 PM

 April 21, 2012 at 2:10 AM

handling in the NLE:

Screenies of Premiere CS5 handling of above test les.

again in the luma squeeze to about level 32.

Thanks for a great article btw.

 January 21, 2012 at 2:45 AM

and viewed on a large full hd screen.

Thanks for the tips.

correct it using the 3 wheels.

 June 11, 2012 at 2:37 AM

“your” not “you”

 January 21, 2012 at 6:21 AM

 January 21, 2012 at 12:13 PM

 January 23, 2012 at 7:20 PM

It’s FC but it applies universally.

 March 10, 2012 at 2:36 AM

Love this! Agree on importance of sequence of steps.

though am migrating to Davinci Resolve.

Also recommend Stu’s DV Rebel Guide!

 January 21, 2012 at 2:14 PM

can’t wait to hear what you think of my Flaat picture stiles!!

 January 22, 2012 at 6:14 AM

(or the 1DX, if you’re moving to that)

 February 22, 2012 at 11:38 AM

 March 10, 2012 at 2:38 AM