Grading R3D Stills

[Roy Gregorio]

Seeing some recent threads on sample R3D stills being graded and I'm loving some of the results. It's great to see what more experienced colorists are able to do with some of these images! I'd like to post my own sample to see what some of you can do with this and how you'd choose to grade it.

I'm also open to others posting their own R3D stills on this thread for others to grade, to avoid starting more threads like this :biggrin:.

Also, please post if you used RCX, Resolve, both, or other. Thanks!

Here is mine (ungraded):

Background: It's a drama. She just died and is in some "purgatory" place where she is being judged by God (in front of her).

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/42015886/A001_C011_11090M.0001249F.R3D

 

[Erich Roland]

pic

pic

pic

 

[William Robinette]

Just messing around on my laptop...

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Purgatory? Here's something quick and dirty...

 

[Justin Kirchhoff]

 

[Joseph Coleman]

sorry about the funky crop.. it was quick

 

[Matthew Scott]

This wasn't quick or dirty, I spent about 20 mins on it. I think the filmgrain helps. It's tough when doing an extreme grade like this, not to go over board...what do you think?

video showing before and after: https://vimeo.com/54742853


zombie_MTSgrade by [MTS]Films, on Flickr

 

[Robino_J]

 

[Derek Morrison]

Original:

REDCine X 1 Light:

Davinci Resolve Final Output:

I really like working on your stuff Roy.

 

[Derek Morrison]

Justin I like yours, kinda gives me a 16mm feel.

William I like yours too, cool grade with the low contrast feel.

 

[Jed Shepherd]

Just using color finesse in AE

 

[Matt Ryan]

Had a play in Resolve:

 

[Noel R.]

 

[Sreenivasa Pentela]

William Robinette I like your grade!

 

[Donnie King]

redcine x

redcine x

Thought I'd give this a try without going too extreme.

 

[Rami Mustakim]

 

[Eric R.]

Here are two with DxO Optics Pro (a RAW editing program for stills). The first is with the HDR preset; it preserves the most background detail. The second is with the postcard preset. The differences are subtle, but I like the second one better because it separates the subject from the background in exaggerated but iconic way.

 

[Juan Melara]

I can't resist these types of threads...

Graded in Resolve. Trying to get a harsh look through colours rather than pushing the contrast or exposure.

Her top was creating quite a few problems - the blue was a little too saturated compared to the rest of the colours in the scene. It also seemed to lack depth colour wise as it's basically all the same hue. Desaturating and pushing some red/brown into the shadows seemed to work.

Even though the grade is quite stylised I always try and retain / create dimension in the skin. Looking at some of the other grades in the thread, it's obvious people faced the same initial problem I did, where the skin starts to flatten out and become all the same tone. For some reason this seems to be quite common in Scarlet/Epic/digital originated material. To fix this, the skin shadows/mids/highs have to be treated separately to ensure adequate definition. I usually create a node that qualifies just the skintone for general skin tweaks and then a serial node after that, that tweaks just the skintone highs.

While the skintone in this shot is in no way natural, I think it still reads as skin within the context of the scene.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Her top was creating quite a few problems - the blue was a little too saturated compared to the rest of the colours in the scene. It also seemed to lack depth colour wise as it's basically all the same hue. Desaturating and pushing some red/brown into the shadows seemed to work.

Yeah, the shirt was a problem. I tried to change the hue and saturation a little, but didn't have much luck. I pushed the quick grade I did to an extreme since the O.P. said she is in purgatory looking at God. I'm curious what kind of look he was after.

I love your posts in threads like this Juan. I always learn something.

 

[Roy Gregorio]

Amazing. I love this forum. Thank you all for your time and participation in this!

Erich Roland - The bluish, unsaturated tone is nice and adds a ghostly look to her. Definitely gives it a feeling of being in limbo. Her face is a little dark towards the top. Is there a darker blue gradient that cuts through the top? Might just be my eyes playing tricks.

William Robinette - I DO like how you added gradient to the sky. Looks to be in the form of a vignette, but it works and wraps around the subject nicely. Not really getting a sense of a purgatory environment with the bright colors, but I do like the skin tones that you pulled from the pale original.

Brandon J.F. - Interesting interpretation of purgatory =).

Justin Kirchhoff - I like the contrast and skin tones. Really brought out the desert too, nice! Very gritty look.

Joseph Coleman - I like your choice in desaturating the shrubs. Gives the feeling of lifelessness in this state of purgatory.

Matthew Scott - Haha, thanks for the time and effort, for even putting together a video! The film grain does help. Not sure if I agree with the yellow tint though. Curious how you came to that decision. BTW, flipped through your other images and saw some familiar shots in a RCX coloring tutorial. Did you make that tutorial??

Robino_J - I like the desaturation and skin tones. Really "dirtied" her up nicely! Her face seems a little dark towards the top. Due to the darker gradient across the sky?

Derek Morrison - Derek! Thanks again for your time and interest. Definitely a fan of your coloring style. I like the bronze cast. Makes me wish there weren't any shrubs to give it a Mars desert look. I really like the desolate vibe it gives.

Matt Ryan - Very nice! I like the desaturation levels of the 2nd one best to match the state of purgatory. But I LOVE #9 strictly as an artistic look. In fact I'd like to have a high-res version to keep if you still have it available!

Noel R. - I like the discoloration. Especially in the shrubs! However I think it would be better if the magenta didn't spill over into the browns of the desert.

Donnie King - Hey Donnie. I actually went back and forth myself about what to do with those shrubs, but ultimately I did not like having them as saturated as they are in this one. Same goes with her shirt.

Rami Mustakim - I like the second one better. Great job with the browns and the skin tones. Overall desert looks great. Not something I would imagine purgatory to look, but looks great as a desert scene.

Eric R. - I do like the second one better as well.

Amazing fellas. You're all great for sharing your minds and creativity. I took a shot at it myself in RCX and came up with the following:

Wish I could bring out more color in the skin tones, but I guess that's when a second pass is needed in programs like Resolve.