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How would you grade this?


mercer
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I'm not sure I know what I'm doing but I wanted the foreground to feel cold and unwelcome which is augmented bu the somewhat rough bokeh of it. I wanted the slight sunlight in the distance to be warm-ish like a small glimmer of hope, and the face not too cold but still a bit weather beaten so to speak.

I have not really calibrated monitor so I'm not sure what it will look like.

cc_test_01.jpg

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7 hours ago, mercer said:

Not spoiling anything, I asked for other attempts because I didn’t like what I was getting. But yeah, I think it’s flawed... maybe the lens... maybe because I exported the files out of Resolve as ProResLT... I don’t know. 

@webrunner5

You have the winner so far... so did you mask out the face and add sharpening?

Man I need to read a book on color correction/grading or take a workshop or something... I’ve been tinkering for far too long now. 

Yup just a circular mask in Resolve. masking.thumb.jpeg.fc4eb4bca8a0c24fb14768562f47af25.jpeg

 

Honestly I think my biggest issue is the background is incredible busy. Here's adding another element, brightening the background and dropping contrast. Used the same mask as the sharpening, just reversed it.


Yes I do recommend practicing grading, especially masking, curves, and color wheels. Don't just throw a LUT on it. 5a8d64678fb47_contrast3_1_32.2.thumb.jpg.a20bb276869913cf630b3a4d6a74336e.jpg

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Hi Mercer, since I don't have my laptop right now (it's being fixed) I will just tell you what I think from a storytelling perspective. I guess your shortfilm is not just a thriller or action movie. But your actor already has this fierce look on him. For that reason, i would really go for a warm look in his face to make your storytelling more ambivalent. The warm gradings by the other commenters I like the best.

Do you have raw or compressed footage? In this background I can see blue and yellow kind of houses. If I used that for grading, I would try go for a light blue-to yellow complementary contrast. Don't make his face too yellow, do it subtle. For grading in premiere I sometimes use a trick that I haven't seen anyone else using (it also works in lightroom). Put on close to full saturation, than do the color grading, go for a light blue in the background and a yellow (with a bit of orange) look on his face, than saturate all the way back until it is just subtle. Use RGB curves and your eyes, there is more learning in that than real "grading", if you don't have a calibrated screen anyway.

Since everyone is about calibrated monitors at the moment: I guess if something on your screen looks really nice, there is a 98 percent chance that it will look good on my screen too. If we studied statistics, that would be more than enough :D 

Cheers
 

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Yeah, it’s not my best work. At the time I liked the busy background but the bokeh is a bit harsh, as no_connection stated.

But I will say, finally settling into one camera has made me a better craftsman all around. Some shots are just tougher than others.

I’m out of “likes” for the day but it’s fun to see others interpretations and definitely a learning experience. 

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Thanks @canonlyme ... great points.I can just barely afford to make this film, so sadly pennies need to be pinched elsewhere... like craft services, new computer, calibration doo hinky... lol. 

Just now, canonlyme said:

I think this shot looks grade (budumm). No really :) I like that shot. What gear do you use? Do you still use minoltas? I followed your posts for a while. 

Thanks... Ha. I’m shooting with a 5D3 and ML Raw and mostly EF lenses. This was with a Canon FD 50mm 1.4 that was modified to a Nikon mount so it mounts to EF with a simple adapter. I actually found a Minolta 35mm 1.8 that was modified to EF as well... It needs to be serviced but it works amazingly well with ML Raw...

 

3A368F65-0338-4795-A4F7-26E61341CC27.jpeg

3D838EF6-BBDF-4EA4-A56A-D65C0A484E1D.jpeg

825FC610-9A62-4979-A44E-C08B8A6782D5.jpeg

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11 minutes ago, deezid said:

Another attempt, this time with cleaned up background, less contrast in bg (some grain added to hide). Brightened up skin for more contrast between background. Overall richer blacks.

Untitled_1.1.4.thumb.jpg.3b65045efcb93cd5e36f7174a7f27f50.jpg

That looks pretty good. I was trying to keep a little detail in the actor’s jacket, but I like what you did there. 

5 minutes ago, sqm said:

S-curve, slightly desaturated and secondary skin tone correction towards orange.

eoshdii.tif

edit: sorry, no idea how to display the photo directly

That’s really nice too. Thanks. You guys are giving me some good reference ideas. Btw, the site won’t show tiffs, only jpegs.

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5 minutes ago, mercer said:

That looks pretty good. I was trying to keep a little detail in the actor’s jacket, but I like what you did there. 

That’s really nice too. Thanks. You guys are giving me some good reference ideas. Btw, the site won’t show tiffs, only jpegs.

thank you for the jpeg info :)

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13 hours ago, mercer said:

@Stathman they look cool. I think I’d like a mix between the 1st and 2nd one. 

Ok, mixed the two of them.

Also added sharpness to the face, liked what @Geoff CB did there, and blurred a bit the background.

Nice to see what others tried.

Well done creating this thread @mercer!

I believe this is the main reason a forum should exist, among others.

Exchange of opinions and knowledge.

Well done mates! :) 

2 hours ago, mercer said:

Sorry, finally started using MLVFS... no DNGs required. 

@mercerActually, if you open the mounted mlvfs folder the dngs are there!

Marina Foreground Graded V4.jpeg

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2 hours ago, Geoff CB said:

masking.thumb.jpeg.fc4eb4bca8a0c24fb14768562f47af25.jpegYes I do recommend practicing grading, especially masking, curves, and color wheels. Don't just throw a LUT on it. 5a8d64678fb47_contrast3_1_32.2.thumb.jpg.a20bb276869913cf630b3a4d6a74336e.jpg

Thanks for the tips. I actually stopped using LUTS altogether and I think, in the long run, I’ll understand the process a lot better.

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