What is color grading?

Colour Grading is the process of adjusting the two core components of what makes up a visual image:

• Luminance: made up of the parts of the image that are the highlights (brightest parts), midtones (anything that isn’t very bright or dark), and shadows (the darkest parts of the image.)
• Colour: made up of hue (specific shades of color that are visible) and saturation (the strength or intensity of the hues).

All parts of luminance and color can be adjusted in DaVinci Resolve, granting the user complete control of the visual result.

Preparing the footage

In our example, we will be using footage from an airshow in Poland, labeled Ungraded_Video.mp4. It has not been color-graded or altered at all.

1. Press CMD + I (Control + I in Windows) to the media files to color-grade. Click Open to import them.

   

2. Click on the Edit tab at the bottom of the workspace – the blue and green icon that is 3rd from the left.

   

3. Drag the footage and audio from the Media Pool into the Timeline. Your audio will go in A1, the audio channel and your video footage belongs in V1 for Video.

   

The footage is now ready to be color-graded.

Color Grading tools in DaVinci Studio

Color Workspace

The Colour Workspace is where the tools for color grading are located. Click on the Color tab, the rainbow-colored circle at the bottom of the workspace.

Here’s a quick rundown of the panels involved:

• Viewer: Where footage is seen during the editing process.
• Nodes: The nodes panel allows you to edit clips – similar to layers in Adobe Photoshop.
• Scopes: Used to compare color levels from shot to shot.
• Colour Wheel Panel: where the key color-grading tools reside.

  

Colour Wheel Panel

The bulk of color-grading adjustments are done using the Colour Wheels Panel.

To open it, click on the round ‘target’ icon.

Color Wheels

Colour Wheels are the primary tools used to color grade in DaVinci Resolve. They control the luminance and color values mentioned earlier.

Here’s a quick rundown of what each color wheel does:

• LIFT: Affects the shadows, the dark and darkest parts of the clip.
• GAMMA: Affects the midtones; anything that isn’t too bright or dark.
• GAIN: Affects the clip’s highlights or brightest parts.
• OFFSET: Offset adjusts all of the above three simultaneously. Think of it as a ‘master switch’ for the former panels.

  

Parts of a Color Wheel

• Main Color Wheel: Comprised of a ‘rainbow ring’ with a white dot in the middle. The dot is dragged towards the desired color on the rainbow ring, changing the color of specific areas.
• RGB Values: The amount of Red, Green, and Blue.
• Color Wheel Slider: This controls the strength of the respective value each panel is named after.

  

Colour-grading using the Colour Wheel Slider

1. Determine what needs work. Is the image too dark? Lacking in vibrance? You can adjust those in the process of trial and error with the color slider.
2. Click and drag the bottom Colour Wheel Slider to adjust its strength. Drag left for a weaker effect and right for a stronger one. Repeat this process for the Lift, Gamma, Gain and Offset color wheels.

• Lift wheel (shadows) slider for the dark areas in the clip.
• Gamma (midtones) slider for the mid-tones.
• Gain (highlights) for the highlights.
• For an overall adjustment, click-drag the Offset Colour wheel slider.

Once done, this is the result. The “haze” in the mid-tones is gone, the dark colors of the plane are fuller, and the jumpsuit is less washed out.

Colour-grading using the Main Color Wheel

The main color wheel offers a way to manipulate the shades of colors in specific areas such as the lift (shadows), gain (midtones), and gamma (highlights).

For example, let’s say that we want our footage to appear to be in a hot, desert country and need it to look more ‘hot’ and sunny. The bright parts of the image can be tuned to a ‘warmer’ color to resemble a hotter climate.

Step 1: Choose which color wheel to use.

Position your cursor to the middle white dot of the rainbow ring of the desired color wheel.

Step 2: Change the hue

You can now change the hue. Click-drag the middle white dot to the desired hue on the color ring. The closer the dot is to the outer ring, the stronger or more saturated the hue will be.

A striking visual change can be attained with a simple adjustment in the color wheel. We now have a scene that looks like it’s filmed in a hotter climate!

Note: to reset the values, double click anywhere inside the circle.

Colour-grading using the Adjustment Rows

The rows of values running along the top and bottom of the Colour Wheel panel are potent tools for color grading. They are a great way to fine-tune the clip overall. Eleven different values can be adjusted.

TOP ROW:

• Temp: how ‘warm’ or ‘cool’ color tones in the video clip are.
• Tint: the color of the gain (brightness value).
• Cont: darkens dark colors and lightens light colors.
• Pivot: a control for contrast, used to set the ‘mid-point’ between contrast values.
• Mid/Detail: improves detail or sharpness in the overall clip.

BOTTOM ROW:

• Col Boost: color boost makes colors more vivid without affecting their contrast.
• Shad: adjusts shadow visibility across all areas.
• Hi/Light: affects the brightest areas.
• Sat: affects the minor saturated areas
• Hue: changes the shades of color across the overall image. Use sparingly.
• L.Mix: luminosity mix is used only in specific advanced situations.

To change these settings, click-and-drag your cursor left for a lower effect and right for a stronger effect.

Note: to reset changes in the adjustment rows, double click on the name of the value you want to reset.

When combining Colour Wheel corrections with Adjustment Row changes, you can have a more vibrant, visually compelling result.

This tutorial shows you how to perform a quick mask in DaVinci Studio. A section of footage is removed to reveal footage placed underneath – like eyeholes being cut out of a mask to reveal eyes underneath, hence the name!

In our example, we will be using two media clips:

• Footage to Mask which features a laptop where we will make our ‘cut-out’ on the screen.
• Background Footage featuring a curious little frog. This clip will be placed directly underneath the Footage to Mask clip and will be visible after the masking procedure.

This tutorial is performed on a 2019 Macbook Pro, running OSX Catalina 10.17 on DaVinci Resolve 18.

Preparing your footage

Step 1: Ingesting the footage

1. Open the Ingestion Window to select the footage you’re going to use. Press CMD-I (Control-I in Windows) to locate what you want to mask. Click Open to import them.

   

2. Click on the Edit tab – it is a blue and green icon at the bottom of the workspace.

   

Step 2: Adding to Timeline

The timeline is the ‘working area’ of DaVinci Resolve, where you can edit the video and audio tracks.

1. Drag Background Footage to the V1 Video, the first video channel. As the name implies, this will be the background layer underneath. When the mask is created, it will be revealed.
2. Drag your footage that will be the Masking Footage to V2 Video. You will create a ‘cut-out’ through which the background can be seen.

The masking process

Step 1: Navigate to Fusion

1. Click on the Footage To Mask.

   

2. Next, click on the Fusion Tab at the bottom of the workspace. It is the 4th icon from the left that looks like a magic wand. This is where the masking process will take place.

   

Step 2: The Fusion Workspace

1. In our example, the Footage to Mask clip is a laptop, and the screen area will be removed to reveal the footage underneath. As the screen is a rectangle, a rectangular mask is an ideal choice for this situation. Click on the Rectangle Mask icon in the middle of the workspace. It is a square-lined icon.
   There are three other mask choices next to that icon:
   1. • Ellipse: a rounded mask selection option, ideal for circular and round shapes to cut out.
      • Polygon mask: The most flexible option for drawing masks. Great for irregular shapes, one can plot points around just about any shape.
      • B-Spline mask: Formerly known as the Bezier curve mask, similar to the Polygon mask, it only involves more curves when drawing masks.

   

   After the Rectangle Mask icon is clicked, a Node will appear with the name of Rectangle1, and a rectangular outline will appear on the video clip in the Viewer.

Step 3: Masking Process

1. The Rectangle1 node has a small grey square on it. Click and drag that small square to the MediaIn1 node, and a blue arrow will join them. When that happens, the image in the viewer will be cropped to the rectangle in the Viewer.

   

2. We want the opposite of this. Click on the Invert box in the Inspector Panel on the right.

   

3. A rectangular cut-out will appear with a checkerboard pattern. That means that it is now transparent. The Background Footage placed underneath the video clip can now be seen through it. The process is nearly complete!
4. The mask has to be positioned. Click-drag the red box with arrows in the center of the rectangle into position over the desired area, in this case, over the laptop screen.

   

5. Once in place, the mask has to be adjusted to fit. Use the Inspector sliders to accomplish this. The height, width, and angle can be fine-tuned until the fit is satisfactory.

   

Step 4: Viewing the result

1. Click on the Edit tab, the icon with the blue and green lines.

   

   The Background Footage is now visible through the mask!

2. Finishing touches: click on the Background Footage clip in the Timeline to activate it. A red outline will appear. Now you can adjust the Background footage to fit within the mask outline with the sliders and values in the Inspector.

   

Stand in front of your green screen, pull up your copy of DaVinci Resolve, and you’ll be standing anywhere you want with just a few clicks!

We assume you’ve already shot your green screen footage in this tutorial. We’ll use DaVinci Resolve v17.4.6 to remove the green screen.

Remember, a good outcome is only as good as your preparation. Therefore, ensure that the green screen and your subject are evenly lit for the best results.

How the green screen process works

A couple of things that aren’t common knowledge is that green screens aren’t always green. Sometimes they’re blue or a different color. And the professional film and video industry don’t call ’em green screens, either. The industry term for this process is Chroma key.

We use video editing software like DaVinci Resolve to chroma’ key’ out or delete the green screen behind the subject in post-production.

In the final result, the subject is the only thing in the shot, leaving you to change the background however you wish!

Step 1: Ingest your footage into DaVinci Resolve

Press Command ⌘ + I (Control + I in Windows) to bring up the footage ingestion window (where you will browse for your footage). Select the clips you want to use and press Open. The clips you want to import are

• The Chroma key clip (the one with the subject and green screen).
• The Background clip, which we’ll ultimately see behind the subject.

Step 2: Drag your clips into the Timeline

The Timeline is where the footage is inserted and arranged for editing use.

Drag and drop your Background Clip into the Timeline in the Video 1 channel. Drag your Green screen Clip on the Video 2 channel.

Step 3: Select a green-colored segment to chroma key out

1. Click on the Color tab at the bottom of DaVinci Resolve’s workspace. It’s the icon that looks like a rainbow flower.
   

   

2. Click on the 3D Qualifier icon. It is the eyedropper icon highlighted in the screenshot. The Qualifier-3D window will become active, revealing your options on the left-hand side of the Color Workspace.

   

3. In the Qualifier-3D window, click on the Color Picker Eyedropper, the farthest eyedropper to the left. We’re going to use that to select the green in the video.

   

4. Next, click on a green part anywhere in the Power Window (where we see our footage). If you can’t see your green screen footage, select it from the clips right above the middle row of icons. Ensure you are only selecting the bright green of the green screen and no other area.

Step 4: Key out the Green

1. Right-click anywhere on the grid in the gridded window to the right of the Power Window. A dialog will pop up. Select Add Alpha Output. The small box with a tiny version of the Power Window is called a Node.

   

2. After clicking Add Alpha Output, a blue square will appear on the right side of the node and a blue circle on the grid not far from the node box.
3. Click on the blue square on the Node, and drag-click it in a line to the blue circle on the right. Pretty weird, right?

   

4. Now the background is visible through the silhouette of your subject!

   

5. We want the opposite – our subject to appear and the green background to vanish. So, let’s go back to that little row of eyedroppers to the left in the Qualifier – 3D section and select the Invert icon. It’s the one with the “spinny” arrow.

   

6. There you go! The green of the chroma key is “keyed out” or removed from the image. Your subject is now in front of your background footage! We are nearly done!

   

Step 5: Cleaning up and applying finishing touches

Nearly done! If there’s still a green “halo” or outline around your subject, zoom in to your subject (either by rolling your mouse wheel or pressing SHIFT + F on your keyboard).

We can remove the remaining green screen remnants in a few ways.

1. The quickest way is to use the DE-SPILL slider, which removes the “spill” from any green reflection.
2. Use the Matte Finesse sliders to draw back any part of the “halo” until most of the green is gone. Then, use the Picker Add (the eyedropper with the + sign) along the margins to get rid of the rest. The Feather options can also be used to “feather” out any extra remnants of green.

   

   Either way, you can make gradual adjustments with a combination of these options to reach the sweet spot where only your subject will remain.

3. Play the footage all the way through to ensure no green halo remains in the image. Press the Right  Left Arrow Keys to move your footage frame by frame for the best level of inspection.

And there you have it, a quick and easy way to green screen in DaVinci Resolve!