DSLR grading tips

Phil Rhodes · March 6, 2011

Hi folks,

Something I did recently for B&H has just been published:

http://www.hdslrhub.com/tips/hdslr-color-grading-before-or-after.htm

All opinions welcome, but only if they're good. You do get to hear my dreary slug of a voice, as a bonus!

P

Gabe Spangler · March 6, 2011

Excellent video, Phil. And I couldn't agree more. I shoot neutral with sharpness and contrast turned all the way down, which is still too sharp sometimes, and the color saturation is close to where I like it. This allows me to make small moves, not big ones, in the grading, keeping the image together as much as possible. It always shocks me when people want to shoot super-flat or super-contrasy in-camera. Middle of the road is the way to go.

Hal Smith · March 6, 2011

Great video, I found it before you posted here...do I get a gold star?

The only thing I'd add is that it's helpful to think of shooting with a DSLR as if it was loaded with color reversal film. That helps to keep one conscious of lighting ratios and color temperature in real time.

By the way, your "dreary slug of a voice" really is quite good. You sound exactly right for the subject matter: Dry and straightforward. I'm also a bit of a patsy for a refined British voice.

A Hain · April 5, 2011

Does this apply to shooting black & white too? Is is better to use the internal configurations and shoot black and white or shoot neutral and de-saturate in post. If I was understanding correctly it sounded like one should do as much in camera as possible....

Miles Heckendorn · May 6, 2011

Something I did recently for B&H has just been published:

Thanks Phil, very informative.

I wonder if you've had time to test the new Technicolor CineStyle? And your opinion of its potential.

Thomas Worth · May 7, 2011

Does this apply to shooting black & white too? Is is better to use the internal configurations and shoot black and white or shoot neutral and de-saturate in post. If I was understanding correctly it sounded like one should do as much in camera as possible....

If shooting black and white, the best thing to do is extract the unaffected Y (luma) channel from the H.264 file. You can do this with 5DtoRGB.

I wonder if you've had time to test the new Technicolor CineStyle? And your opinion of its potential.

I played around with it, and during my tests discovered that the Technicolor style boosts black up to 16 from where it should be (0). This discards precision. Interestingly, it does not do this to the highlights (they're still at 255). I don't think this is a good idea with 8 bit data, especially with such a flat curve. We need every bit of data we can get.

Miles Heckendorn · May 7, 2011

I played around with it, and during my tests discovered that the Technicolor style boosts black up to 16 from where it should be (0). This discards precision. Interestingly, it does not do this to the highlights (they're still at 255). I don't think this is a good idea with 8 bit data, especially with such a flat curve. We need every bit of data we can get.

I'm curious about that myself. With my (very limited) tests so far, it has held up quite well. I'm not sure if that's due to the Technicolor style itself or due to the fact that I've used 5DtoRGB.

One thing that I have noticed, I find myself second guessing my choice for exposure. Since there aren't any true blacks, I feel like I'm overexposing.

Adam Ouellette · May 8, 2011

Very informative, brought up a lot of good things I have not thought about shooting in super flat. Just about to shoot a film in the next week on the 5D and this changed my mind about the color setting I'll be using.

Thank you very much.