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Please check out my color grading video!


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  • 2 weeks later...
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Its hard to judge color grading if we dont know the look you are going for. The end result wasnt my cup of tea because it looked really harsh and overly contrasty for my taste. I prefer a more graceful lumen curve with soft highlights and shadow detail. This had crushed blacks and hard highlights. It also looked a bit desaturated for my taste but I see this look all over the place and it seems to be in style now. If you were going for a raw, reality look I think you did well.

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Just to help, I decided to add my own color grade of a still from your shot.

 

This is the original

post-14289-0-07765200-1356484090_thumb.jpg

 

This is my color grade

post-14289-0-49959700-1356484128_thumb.jpg

 

It may look subtle at first but some shadow detail is still there, the highlights have been brought down, and it has a more organic look than the raw (not as flat) Also it still doesnt look harsh. Hope this helps.

 

The vignette was an optional thing that I thought looked cool but some dont like it ;)

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Not bad, though they look a little pink- or is that just me?

Its hard to judge color grading if we dont know the look you are going for. The end result wasnt my cup of tea because it looked really harsh and overly contrasty for my taste. I prefer a more graceful lumen curve with soft highlights and shadow detail. This had crushed blacks and hard highlights. It also looked a bit desaturated for my taste but I see this look all over the place and it seems to be in style now. If you were going for a raw, reality look I think you did well.

Thanks for the feedback! I was trying to go for a blue/cool look. Also, for me, I like heavier cc's and grades so that's why this one seems so harsh. I see these in a lot of music videos and I've been doing these for a while so It's harder for me to make a simple grade because it just seems somewhat too bland for me. Like you said though, it's just preference really. I'll try making a simpler grade next time I do one of these :)
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Thanks for the feedback! I was trying to go for a blue/cool look. Also, for me, I like heavier cc's and grades so that's why this one seems so harsh. I see these in a lot of music videos and I've been doing these for a while so It's harder for me to make a simple grade because it just seems somewhat too bland for me. Like you said though, it's just preference really. I'll try making a simpler grade next time I do one of these :)

 

Fair enough. Some people like an extreme grade. But it was on definitely on the side of overly contrasty. I dont think highlights should be blown out to that extreme, even for a stylistic choice but thats just IMO. Sort of like breaking the 180 degree rule "just because you can doesnt mean you should."

 

And many music vids Ive seen looks very even and well color balanced.

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All a matter of taste really but I thought you went a bit too far with it, especially with the second shot. And I'm not really talking style, I'm talking technique. I don't like the transitions between the highlights and the mids on her skintone. It seems you have flatten the image by adding too much contrast on her. The first one is better, because you did preserve the details in her skintone. Just my opinion..

Edited by Hyun De Grande
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