Test: Raw footage color graded with a new plugin

[John Hope]

Hi everybody
In a week i will receive my Scarlet :emote_hippie:

BTW I'm testing a new plugin (beta testing) to color grade the footage that i will record into my Samurai Blade.

This is my first test, with the famous RAW Mercedes footage
(i tried to respect the contrast and the mood of the scene. No artificial lighting, just a film look emulation attempt)
1080 version from Premiere Pro CC:
Originalwww.cineplus.ch/downloads/1Mercedesraw.jpg
Color gradedwww.cineplus.ch/downloads/2Mercedescc.jpg


How would you rate this color grading?Thanks

 

[Noel R.]

I think you need a shot with better separation and exposure on your subject. As is you can barely see the subject which is almost camouflaged into the background. Those high contrast shots are difficult without lighting or bounce.

 

[John Hope]

Totally agree with you.
I used this shot because it's a difficult one.

 

[Noel R.]

Then it's not so much a grade as it is correction. Making this shot look interesting through the grade is futile. If it's coming off your Samurai that leaves even less latitude to correct it.

 

[John Hope]

I see.
Problematic shots (low light, high contrast) should be done in RAW anyway...

 

[Bob Gundu]

I'm confused. Is the poll about your colour grade? If so, what are you hoping to learn from the outcome since cc is personal preference?

 

[John Hope]

I agree, very personal.

 

[luigivaltulini]

Hi everybody
In a week i will receive my Scarlet :emote_hippie:

BTW I'm testing a new plugin (beta testing) to color grade the footage that i will record into my Samurai Blade.

This is my first test, with the famous RAW Mercedes footage
1080 version from Premiere Pro CC:
Originalwww.cineplus.ch/downloads/1Mercedesraw.jpg
Color gradedwww.cineplus.ch/downloads/2Mercedescc.jpg


How would you rate this color grading?Thanks

hehe hello Giovanni,
finally between reduser

ProRes ... : (
With an RGB codec, like ProRes, you must apply some form of processing to get there, you must set white balance, mid-gray (ISO level) and apply a look. This can not be undone. Furthermore, with the RAW data, any future improvements to the de-bayer or RAW-processing algorithms can be applied retroactively to Already footage shot.

I understand the needs but it 's not the philosophy RED.

Raw R3D grade easy and fast,can personalize as you wish ....

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Luigi

 

[John Hope]

Ueeeela! thanks for y our precious suggestions Valtu...
I like your CC version.

 

[John Hope]

I'm confused. Is the poll about your colour grade? If so, what are you hoping to learn from the outcome since cc is personal preference?

Sure, but i tried to emulate an old style film stock,which was more of a standard in Hollywood.
In Hollywood there are a pair of standard looks and i like them very much.
Now with digital cinema, those looks are no more a standard, and personally, i hate that new digital look. Modern RED and Alexa movies look like a CNN news with some more bits and pixels

 

[Noel R.]

Well Luigivaltulini proved me wrong, his grade looks good. I wasn't aware that this was an R3D shot, but this really demonstrates the value of what you can pull from RAW.

 

[John Hope]

Yes incredibly versatile.

 

[paulherrin]

it's feelin kinda oversaturated and yellowy to me (i.e. unmotivated unrealistic colors)... emulating film stock can be a great option and some people seem to like to use LUT's for creative purposes... OK, but without clear creative purpose i don't understand the arbitrary philosophy of pretending like a digital file is anything other than what it is - but apparently i'm in the minority and pretty biased about that, so take that with a grain of salt and go with what you like and what fits the project. not everybody needs to be a colorist, just on a technical level there's too much to learn for everyone to be good at it, not even getting into color perception and creative talent which can't be learned - but we can always get better. careful observation is key. anyways, it's always good to know how things work - keep working at it, good job just puttin something out there, you're already ahead

 

[John Schick]

I agree that it feels a bit over-saturated.

Here's an example using log grading (contrast, offset, pivot) along with a display LUT:

 

[Doug Beatty]

Hi John - so getting back to your original post, could you elaborate on the plugin? Is this from Atomos or something you cooked up?

It would be awesome to be able to replace an HDLink + Livegrade to be able to load up a 3D LUT/ICC profile onto the Blade and then loop it through to a client monitor.

 

[Robert Ruffo New]

Sure, but i tried to emulate an old style film stock,which was more of a standard in Hollywood.
In Hollywood there are a pair of standard looks and i like them very much.
Now with digital cinema, those looks are no more a standard, and personally, i hate that new digital look. Modern RED and Alexa movies look like a CNN news with some more bits and pixels

I can't see how you could say that. That is simply not true. Many top DPs have said that Alexa is hard to distinguish from film, and other have said that about Epic. Test audiences (surveyed general public) have said that about both cameras.

 

[John Hope]

I can't see how you could say that. That is simply not true. Many top DPs have said that Alexa is hard to distinguish from film, and other have said that about Epic. Test audiences (surveyed general public) have said that about both cameras.

As cameras they are perfect. But many movies lack a good color grading. They really look ugly as hell.

 

[John Hope]

Hi John - so getting back to your original post, could you elaborate on the plugin? Is this from Atomos or something you cooked up?

It would be awesome to be able to replace an HDLink + Livegrade to be able to load up a 3D LUT/ICC profile onto the Blade and then loop it through to a client monitor.

Wow this would be great!.
If it was possible to put such thing in Atomos i would for sure. We are a bunch of software designers and coders and we can do almost any kind of code.

 

[John Hope]

I agree that it feels a bit over-saturated.

Here's an example using log grading (contrast, offset, pivot) along with a display LUT:

I really like this one!

 

[Bob Gundu]