How To Color Grade
- Thread starter Adam Beck
- Start date
Matt Grunau
Adobe Demigod
I haven't seen many tutorials on color grading. It is more a finishing aspect.
Color grading depends on the particular mood or feelings you want to evoke and hold by your audience. Blueish and Greenish (even bordering on yellowish) is uaually used to make something seem cold, foriegn, detached, or scary, reds and oranges can be used to bring out anger or hostility, and so forth.
Play with the color of your footage. What program are you using to color grade? If possible, play with the color of your footage and begin experimenting. I use After Effects so I simply put a blue solid on top of the stack, set its blending mode to "Color" and begin changing the Hue until something looks interesting. That is just for the "rough draft" and when I find something that fits, I use Curves or whatever different method I can to get the finished look.
Be sure to think about the sound as well, and make sure it supports the mood and atmosphere you are looking for.
Color grading depends on the particular mood or feelings you want to evoke and hold by your audience. Blueish and Greenish (even bordering on yellowish) is uaually used to make something seem cold, foriegn, detached, or scary, reds and oranges can be used to bring out anger or hostility, and so forth.
Play with the color of your footage. What program are you using to color grade? If possible, play with the color of your footage and begin experimenting. I use After Effects so I simply put a blue solid on top of the stack, set its blending mode to "Color" and begin changing the Hue until something looks interesting. That is just for the "rough draft" and when I find something that fits, I use Curves or whatever different method I can to get the finished look.
Be sure to think about the sound as well, and make sure it supports the mood and atmosphere you are looking for.
Last edited:
slimchrisp
Well-known member
check out lynda.com. $25/month with TONS of software tutorials. i learned my way around apple color from lynda.
Fobdor
New member
Just to get you started though, a good technique is to start by making all the shots in your scene look the same (generally using curves can get the job done pretty well). Once the whole scene matches then (if you're using after effects or something similar) you can put an adjustment layer over the whole scene and use that to give the scene your "look"