To access the old thread - go here: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1817/colorghear-toolkit-color-grading-system-for-ae/p1

So as not to be misleading, ColorGHear is a system, and not so much a plug-in... a school of thought supported through the ColorGHear Toolkit -which is a set of MODULAR PRESETS for After Effects and ColorGHear Pro - which is a set of MODULAR LUTs for Davinci Resolve, FCP7, Premiere Pro, and Adobe Speedgrade, and is not what you'd consider a classical style plug-in.

The toolkit isn't a collection of drag and drop "looks" like Magic Bullet. It is a series of nodes which contain a set of grading instructions or "macros" (a set of operations), specially designed to work with each other to speed up your workflow. Along with these nodes, comes a system of grading which replaces having to perform the minutia of individual corrections by hand. Learned through the online tutorials, this system will give you speedy and precise grades. It is this precision that prevents you from "bending" your images like with standard methods which is what allows me to get such drastic and dramatic grades from normally flimsy DSLR codecs.

As a professional colorist, I noticed that because of the way the color channels in RGB video are tied together; that typical methods like the Color Balance tool, and the 3-way Color Corrector will actually bend an RGB image out of shape. So in order to maximize the full potential of any given image, I had to learn a method of grading that would avoid damaging the footage. I called this method "precision grading."

I also noticed that in executing these precision grades, I was performing the same operations over and over. I began taking notes on what these operations were, and trying to determine if it were possible to create a set of interacting preset nodes that would save me time in having to repeatedly perform these operations.

I soon discovered 37 distinct sets of operations that would serve to correctly grade any, and all footage. 6 of these macros cancel each other out, and only 1 of those 6 could be effectively used at any given time leaving me with 32 nodes - giving me 1,024 possible combinations. Over a thousand distinct grades. Over time, I added some other tools to the set which now sits at 74 nodes all of which are designed to be used in conjunction with the other nodes. (69, if you subtract the 5 canceling nodes) which brings the total to 4,761 distinct grades.

The precision method I mention above is demonstrated here. Along with how the 3-way Color Corrector damages your footage.

The power of ColorGHear is presented in the video demonstrations below.

ColorGHear is available at http://www.ColorGHear.com

(ColorGHear Pro not yet available to the public)

Since it's Friday I decided to make a color grading tutorial for you guys on how to create the cinematic golden look as you can find in the beautiful film A Very Long Engagement.

I'm doing this all inside of Adobe Premiere Pro since that's the most common software you guys asks me to do a tutorial on.

Hope you'll like it!

• ColorChecker like colors
• 24 colors
• 21.5cm x 14.7cm
• Package weight - 146g
• $19 only including shipping

Note - do not use ColorChecker references for this, but for matching shots across different takes, places or cameras it works perfect.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Professional-24-Color-Card-Test-Color-Balancing-Card-Palette-Board-for-Superior-Digital-Color-Correction-Photography/32838095942.html

On my own experience, I would say not so sure as I am very pleased with the result I am getting out of my GH1, GH2 and now GH3. And my GH3’s video is not making a huge difference compare to what I got with the GH1 or GH2. I am still using the hacked GH1 every summer, as a copy is stored in my home country (France) and I love its color rendition compare to GH2/3. FYI, I am living and working in China since 9 years.

Every year I am shooting a short movie or an experiment with the hacked GH1. Some complained about the AVCHD format, but I never got problem in post with it as I am using Premiere CS6 on a powerful enough PC (Dell M6400). I also tested heavy color grading without problem on my GH1 footage, as you can see here on the following videos. Sorry one of the short film doesn’t get English sub yet, but I am posting a link to those video for their visual quality first, so enjoy that part. La Deuche from Hell HD (US sub Version) (there is a longer French version too)

Revolverte HD (F)

In China, I am also using my GH camera beside a Panasonic AF100, which is well known to NOT be the most exciting camera on the market (4:2:0 8 bits, AVCHD at 28MB/s, what a shame!). I had to buy an AF100 as no serious client in my field would accept to pay my usual fee (I was working with a HVX200 + Letus Ultimate prior to the AF+GH) if I were shooting with a GH2 only. After 2 jobs my AF100 got paid back and I can enjoy the use of it with my GH2 and GH3 on project now. ,

AVCHD, 4:2:0, bits… Nevertheless, I shot this Making Of video on huge project with my newly arrived AF100 and GH2 (not hacked yet). Production house, agency and client were delighted by the result. I did everything: shooting, lighting (for interview), sound recording and editing… I am a one man crew shooter (kind of MacGyver sometime) and I prefer to keep things, cheap, simple and light. CrossPolo TVC Making OF HD (US)

To keep the story short, since 2012, I had completed bunch of projects with my M43 equipment without any complain from clients (VW, Audi, French Consulate, TV Channel…) and I might invest in the GH4 if it solves the 3 main problems of the GH3: Viewfinder definition (GH3 is a nightmare compare to GH2 for manual focusing) + real video assistance (Peaking + zebra + waveform) + full time display of histogram and sound recording level while shooting.

4K or higher bit rate are not important to me as my video will NEVER be projected on a big screen and the file of the GH3 are already big enough in term of storage. Quality wise, I really like some of my GH1, GH2 or GH3 shots, and I don’t see much of a difference in term of emotion, and I think this is a more important feature for an independent filmmaker than pixel count or comparing numbers on data sheets…

You can see more of my work here: http://vimeo.com/channels/659428/videos

Not to be confused with a ‘Stylized Look LUT’ – I created the BozBMDFilm_to_Rec709 Utility LUT out of a need to make my own color grading life easier when dealing with the Blackmagic BMCC / BMPCC Cinema Camera Film LOG and RAW files. And now I'm making it available to you.

Download Page: https://bulentozdemirfilms.wordpress.com/downloads/bmcc-bmpcc-bozbmdfilm-to-rec709-lut/

The LUT brings out the contrast and color values captured by the BMCC / BMPCC in Film or RAW mode and strives to preserve highlight and shadow detail [more examples can be found on the download page]

Though it's not free, I think the small asking price of £3.00GBP (approx $3.80USD) is enough to take a leap of faith on. Made a difference to my work flow as I’m sure it will with yours :)

Download Page: https://bulentozdemirfilms.wordpress.com/downloads/bmcc-bmpcc-bozbmdfilm-to-rec709-lut/

Thank you.

It was described in the following paper "Automated Colour Grading using Colour Distribution Transfer” by F. Pitié & al.

Although there already were other similar techniques, none of them seemed as promising as this one because not only was the color palette of the source image transferred to the target image, but also its average luminance and contrast. I decided to give it a try. I programmed the algorithm with of few tweaks of my own and applied it to a bunch of random photos taken from the Internet.

Below is a Vimeo video showing the results of the experiment:

• in the first part I applied the look of 70 different source images onto the same target image,
• in the second part I did the opposite: I applied the look of one unique source image onto 70 different target images,
• finally in the last part I cross-processed a few pairs of images, exchanging their roles as source or target,
• all photos were processed with the same standard parameters and the results are raw without any post-processing.

Bottom line: although the technique doesn’t work every time, it has a high success rate and delivers very convincing results on stills.

Next step: see if it holds up on real footage.

Vimeo clip (password: photolook) :

Enjoy!

Obviously, my question's about matching the color grades. I can't see to find a set of settings or a LUT that would take my GH4 footage and conform it to the standard Panasonic curves in any consistent way. The LUTs that are closest-- the standard Vlog to v35, Balazar's luts-- have two faults: they're a bit greyish in the low end, and they're actually kind of dim, so I have to adjust the floor and boost the low-to-midranges.

Seems to me that there ought to be a LUT that accurately brings the Vlog footage to something very close to Standard. Any suggestions?

"...As Apple released the third generation iPad we saw two different reports suggesting that this new device had very accurate color – even describing it as being close to a professional broadcast monitor. That claim seemed like something we should check out so we loaded up an iPad 3 with normal test images and borrowed a Photo Research PR-650 SpectraScan Colorimeter to test it. Testing a $500 consumer device that has only a brightness control with a $12,000 Colorimeter – Hey why not?" Rest of article is here: http://www.fxphd.com/blog/just-how-good-is-the-ipads-color/

Also I've attached some color gamut comparisons from this article: http://www.negativespaces.com/blog/2012/3/27/new-ipads-color-gamut.html

Other useful articles: - http://michaelcioni.tumblr.com/post/19561057034/ipad-going-invisible - http://www.displaymate.com/iPad_ShootOut_1.htm

I know there is an ipad 3 thread, Vitaliy, so feel free to close this if you think it fits there. But I think it's maybe worth talking about and having people share their experiences of using the ipad 3 as a color reference device both on set and during color correction. So what do you think people?

It's true that we can't really use it as a "grading monitor" in the sense of connecting it to Davinci, BUT it provides a way to check any color grading you do on something that is basically as reliable as a broadcast monitor: you'll just have to take the extra steps of exporting a file (like h.264) for viewing on the iPad. Sure it's not perfect, but otherwise you'll have to spend over $2.5K to get a "professional" monitor.

The "measured" is the iPad 3.

Recorded with Lumix GH4 with 45-200 / 40-150 F2.8 and Extender

Cine D and non-graded image

Color Graded Version by Magic Bullet Look and Sony Vegas

Enjoy!

Panasonic Lumix GH4 CINE D -5,-5,-5,0 With Vision-Color M31 LUT

Samyang 35mm T1.5 Cine Lens

Is GH4 Cine D and Cine V photo style can work as good as Log file like S-Log or C-Log ?

GH4, Leica 25mm 1.4, Panasonic 12-35mm, Rode VMP Osiris LUTS, Colorista 2 and Levels in Premiere pro CC.

Cheers,

D.

Their other stuff - ClipToolz Monocle | ClipToolz Convert | ClipToolz fourK | ClipToolz Thumbs - is worth checking also.

http://www.cliptoolz.com/colorFeatures.html

 
Download Links:
                             WIN 64                                  WIN 32

 
gashô

ProLUT is a color grading pack of looks based on real films and movies.

It comes in every format you can think of so that you can use it in whatever software you're using.

Watch the demonstration video here:

More info http://www.davidhjlindberg.com/?product=prolut

Does anyone know how to get this grade with Magic Bullet Looks? I've tried raising shadows and lowering highlights then decreasing contrast but it doesn't look nearly similar to this. Please help, this is like a puzzle that's been driving me crazy!!

AWB:

EM5:

• Natural -2
• Shadow&hilight +1-2

GH2:

• Smooth -2+1+2
• WB 1 blue 1 magenta

WB Sunlight setting:

• EM5: wb: a-3 g-1
• GH2: wb 1 magenta 4 blue

Manual WB SET mode:

• EM5: wb a-2 g+1
• GH2: wb 2 magenta and blue

If you have any suggestions i'd love to hear, my main goal is to match color tones.

This is a no charge upgrade for existing customers and will be available in Q3.

What's new in DaVinci Resolve 10

Resolve Live

• Grade Live incoming SDI video and save grading snapshots with metadata and stills

New Editing Enhancements for Project Finishing

• Multi track video and audio editing
• Extensive clip trimming support
• High quality optical flow image processing
• Static, lower third, scroll and crawl titles
• Compound clips
• Three point and four point fit-to-fill editing
• Transform, crop and opacity video effects
• Multiple Take selection
• Expanded XML and AAF roundtrip support
• Built-in generators for bars and test patterns
• Audio level controls with track mixing
• Matchframe linking for source and timeline viewers
• Stereoscopic 3D editing
• Media Pool list view now includes a filmstrip view

New Color Correction Enhancements

• Support for an unlimited number of industry standard OpenFX plug-ins per clip
• Unlimited Power Windows per node
• New Gradient Power Window
• Power Window presets to combine multiple windows
• PowerCurve Window freehand drawing and processing enhancements
• Copy and Paste of Tracking Data between Power Windows
• Power Window rotation available on the 4th trackball on the BMD control panel
• Motion Effects palette - In full version of DaVinci Resolve
• Chrominance control for Spatial noise reduction - In full version of DaVinci Resolve
• Temporal noise reduction - In full version of DaVinci Resolve
• Motion blur - In full version of DaVinci Resolve
• Enhanced blur with 10x range increase
• Contrast and pivot controls in 3-Way color and Primary palettes
• Split screen viewer display with SDI output
• CinemaDNG and ARRI Raw decoder options for half and quarter resolution
• Debayer and image scaling quality modes for systems with low GPU power
• Keyframe Timeline metadata now saved with Gallery Stills
• Drag and drop stills between Gallery pages
• Grab missing stills for all clips
• PowerGrades will now be append to the node editor with double click
• Enhanced Lightbox display with colour correction controls and SDI output
• Node based PTZR controls
• Corrector Node RGB/YUV selector for channel isolation
• Splitter and Combiners Nodes for single channel effects
• Optimized latency while grading complex node graphs
• Render Cache metadata is now saved with the project
• Global grade bypass for quick before/after grade review
• Auto Stabilization improvements to track shots with camera pans
• Additional External Matte Freeze and current clip settings
• Burn-in options for individual and global formatting and whether to display item labels
• User selectable LUT selection for GUI Viewer and Scopes
• Printer Light Hotkey grading
• Additional timeline filters to sort the colour and deliver timelines
• Keyboard shortcut to full screen viewer mode
• Media and Edit page viewer now includes a zoom to fit selector
• The switching clip selection now also in the node editor options menu
• Projects can now be arranged and saved within project folders for easy organisation
• Projects and project folders can be cut and pasted between project folders
• 3rd party panel improvements

Media Support Enhancements

• AVI clip decoding
• JPEG 2000 decoding
• Viewer display with side-by-side audio waveform or VU display options
• Auto Sync of Dailies audio and video using matching time code
• Edit clip metadata concurrently with audio and video sync
• User definable preset list of metadata to be displayed on screen
• Log ACES support
• Sony Slog2 IDT for ACES
• Canon C500 IDT for ACES
• Additional Media Pool fields for clip metadata includes shot, scene, take, angle, circled and camera roll #

Deliver Enhancements

• Audio tracks are now displayed in the timeline with video clips
• Audio VU meters with dBu and VU range selection
• Additional render option to JPEG 2000 for DCP generation
• Additional render resolution templates
• Render settings now include optional render job version name
• Integration with easyDCP using license purchased from EasyDCP (Available for Mac and Windows)

General Enhancements

• OpenCL support for multiple AMD GPUs on Windows
• Menu bar support on Linux
• Linux CentOS 6.3 support
• General performance and stability improvements

Here's the download link: http://jmp.sh/e5IXKH1

I just answered a question I got a few days ago in this video. It's about using a flat profile picture style as well as setting up some of the settings in your camera to make it as flat as possible, and why you should leave some settings although everyone says you shouldn't.

Let me know what you think of these thoughts!

Alexis van Hurkman states in his Color Correction Handbook that "For purposes of color correction you can ignore analog NTSC video requirements for a black signal level of 7.5 IRE, because that is an analog issue that video output interfaces typically take care of during output."

In other chapter he says that "Maximum preferred white value for most broadcasters is 235, 235, 235, which sits about 93 percent when analyzed using a Waveform Monitor."

Should I use broadcast safe limits and what are they? Googling gives me incoherent information. Thank you.

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 filters.
5. Add vignettes
6. Grade your images
7. Simulate a film stock of your choice
8. Resize and sharpen

Since the introduction of Digital Cameras it became easy to film and to learn making indie films, you just grab your camera and experiment with it. However the look of the digital footage(even color corrected and graded) still leaves amateur and domestic camera impression, the digital footage doesn't look as good as straight out of the film camera.

What is it about film that people like so much? Simple - it's color. Maybe some will say dynamic range, some will say the motion and flares. But the best feel about the film is that it looks unique and cinematic. People say that film has a unique color processing that can never be achieved by a digital camera. I take a more scientific approach and after many researches I found some breaking points in simple After Effects effects profiles and LUT usabilities and achieved unique fake color caps which gives that beloved film feel. The limited color brightness is one of the most important things when trying to emulate film look.

The hardest part in grading Digital footage is that it needs to be RAW or LOG, that means a flat footage taken out of expensive cameras. Then it is graded digitally by shifting colors of keyed parts, adding tints and editing curves. Amateur and Indie filmmakers sometimes doesn't have all those REDs and Black Magics and ARRIs and other beautifully named machines and anyway they want to look pro, so what we all indie filmmakers do is not called grading we just do the color correction - just create some interesting looks by shifting and tinting video. But there is certain points and colors that will leave that digital and domestic feel in the DSLR video even when it is color corrected. The colors overbright, and oversaturated areas doesn't change with color correction. Many of indie filmmakers lowers the saturation, but what happens is that they desaturate all areas of the footage so colors in shadows becomes undersaturated. I tried to fix it by collecting some unique braking points of Adobe After Effects CS6 as known as ColorGhear techniques but instead of doing it manually I tried to automate the process. The process is not grading nor color correction - it's something very different and unique and is used as a simple preset for After Effects CS6, which will be available soon for just a few dollars ($5-$10).

So I made some tests. At first I didn’t even think that I would come up with something interesting but now I actually need your opinion, it is usable? Does it really make a difference and most important – does it make the footage look like FILM (kodak). It does certain things to a simple footage: adds color bright limit, adds saturation limit ONLY to oversaturated areas, increases saturation to undersaturated areas, makes overbright colors(not whites) more visible and appealing on screen (for human eye).

There was a guy who tried to create and then disappeared his plug-in known as "Filmvision plug-in" I think he used similar techniques.

What do you think ?

Also I will make a video with just original color limiting process because the current video also affects the overall saturation and makes it more blockbuster Blue Orange type of thing.

So my question is, what color grading software is best for yielding the best image - and WHY? Please be specific with how your favorite software yields a better image. All opinions are welcome and appreciated. Thanks in advance.