7 DaVinci Resolve Color Grading Tools and Techniques That Enhance Your Workflow

Gaku Lange

1. Color Warper [00:00:09]

• Functionality and Interface
  • The Color Warper is a new tool in DaVinci Resolve 17 and above, represented by a 3D color matrix.
  • It allows for intuitive, selective adjustment of colors by clicking and dragging directly on the image with an eyedropper.
  • As you hover over colors, the corresponding point on the 3D matrix highlights, showing which colors will be affected.

    

• Practical Applications
  • Skin Tones Correction: Easily make skin tones more orange, magenta, blue, or green.
  • Object-Specific Color Adjustment: Selectively change the hue of specific elements, such as a green beanie, to blue, yellow, or orange.
  • Shadow/Highlight Correction: Quickly remove unwanted color casts (e.g., blue or magenta) from shadows by selecting the area and dragging the color point towards the center to desaturate or changing its hue.
• Benefits
  • Simplifies selective color adjustments compared to traditional color slice tools.
  • Provides a quick and intuitive way to fine-tune colors.

2. Film Look Creator [00:02:47]

• Initial Setup
  • Drag the Film Look Creator effect onto a new serial node.
  • Start by selecting "Clean Slate" to build your filmic look from scratch, overriding the default "ugly" grade.
• Creating a Filmic Contrast
  • The tool offers a "Contrast" slider that adds pleasing contrast without crushing blacks or blowing out highlights.
  • Highlight Recovery: After adding contrast, use the "Highlights" control to gently bring back blown-out highlights, creating a natural fall-off.
  • Faded Blacks: Introduce a subtle "Fade" in the blacks to achieve a pleasing, non-digital fall-off, avoiding overly harsh black areas.
• Color and Tonal Adjustments
  • Richness (HSV): Use the "Richness" slider to bring back some saturation/vibrancy, often desired after film emulation.
  • Bleach Bypass/Subtractive Saturation: Experiment with "Bleach Bypass" for creative looks or use "Subtractive Saturation" (inverse of density) to subtly reduce overall saturation.
• Split Toning
  • Add a "Mid Hue Angle" and a slight amount of "Split Toning" to introduce warmth in highlights and coolness in shadows, enhancing the filmic aesthetic.

    

• Advanced Film Emulation Effects
  • Halation: Instead of using "Bloom," apply "Halation" and then subtract all its saturation. This creates a bloom effect that primarily affects the contrasty edges and highlights of the image, adding glow without overall softening.
  • Film Grain: Utilize the built-in "35mm Grain" which is highly pleasing and adds an authentic film texture without needing external plugins.

3. Dynamic Switching [00:06:12]

• Problem Solved
  • Traditionally, copying grades between different DaVinci Resolve projects involved cumbersome exporting and re-importing of PowerGrades or LUTs.
• Solution: Dynamic Project Switching
  • In the project manager, right-click on a project and ensure "Dynamic Project Switching" is toggled on.
  • Double-click a project to open it; a dropdown arrow will appear next to the project title.
  • This allows you to quickly switch between multiple open projects.
• Workflow Improvement
  • Enables direct copy (Command C) and paste (Command V) of nodes or entire grades between different projects, streamlining workflow and grade transfer.

4. AI Magic Mask [00:07:14]

• Evolution
  • The updated AI Magic Mask (version 2) in DaVinci Resolve 17+ is more intuitive and effective than previous iterations.
• Simplified Masking
  • Instead of drawing complex squiggly lines, simply place a few dots on your subject.
  • Press Shift+H to visualize the mask, adding more dots for accuracy.
  • Use the track forward/backward buttons to track the mask across the entire clip.
• Selective Adjustments
  • Subject Isolation: Once tracked, the mask allows you to apply color grading adjustments (e.g., exposure, white balance) exclusively to the subject.
  • Background Manipulation: Invert the mask to affect only the background, creating separation or depth without touching the foreground subject.
  • Feathering: Adjust the mask's radius for softer transitions, avoiding harsh edges.

5. Depth Masks [00:09:30]

• Concept
  • Depth Masks create masks based on the depth information within your image, providing a gradual selection from foreground to background.
• Implementation
  • Add a "Depth Map" effect to a node.
  • Map its alpha output to a subsequent node where you'll make adjustments.
  • View the "Depth Map Preview" (Shift+H) to adjust the "Near Limit," "Far Limit," and "Gamma" to refine the mask's spread.
• Creative Uses
  • Radial Blur: Apply a radial blur to the background by inverting the depth mask, creating a cinematic, depth-based blur that gradually fades.

    

  • Exposure Control: Decrease the background exposure using the depth mask to make the foreground subject pop, with a natural, smooth transition.
• Advantages over Magic Mask
  • Offers a more gradual and natural transition between masked and unmasked areas, making it suitable for subtle depth enhancements where a harsh mask might not be ideal.

6. Cinematic Haze [00:11:05]

• Purpose
  • Adds a cinematic atmosphere to images, especially useful for shots with harsh light sources.
• AI-Powered Haze
  • The "Cinematic Haze" effect uses AI to intelligently determine where haze and sun rays would naturally emanate from within the scene.
• Customization
  • Haze Adjustment: Adjust "Far Limit" and "Near Limit" to control the spread and intensity of the haze, ensuring it only affects desired areas. Use subtly for best results.
  • Light Rays: Enable and adjust "Light Rays" to simulate volumetric light.

    

    • Angle: Align the light ray angle with the actual light source in the scene (e.g., a window or the sun).
    • Softness & Brightness: Control the softness, brightness, and saturation of the rays to integrate them seamlessly.
• Optimal Usage
  • Best applied subtly and in moderation.
  • Particularly effective when there's a clear, strong light source in the scene (e.g., light coming through a window) for a more believable effect.

7. Filmic Curves [00:13:09]

• Mimicking Film's Dynamic Range
  • This technique uses custom curves to achieve a "filmic" look, particularly in how shadows and highlights are handled.
• Lifted Shadows (Non-Crushed Blacks)
  • In the custom curves, take the bottom-left point (representing blacks) and gently lift it up.
  • This prevents shadows from being completely crushed to digital black, giving them a slightly desaturated, lifted appearance characteristic of film.
  • Fine-tune by adding an additional point near the bottom to maintain some contrast while still lifting the darkest blacks.
• Rolled-Off Highlights
  • Take the top-right point of the curve (representing highlights) and gently bring it down a little.
  • This helps to preserve detail in bright areas and prevents highlights from being blown out, mimicking the softer highlight roll-off of film.

    

• Combined Effect
  • The combination of lifted shadows and rolled-off highlights enhances the image's dynamic range and adds a subtle filmic quality, especially when paired with film grain.