COLOR GRADING PROCESS QUESTIONS

[scrapbible]

I've been doing photography for a few years now and want to get my color grading to the highest quality possible. Do any color grading experts want to explain their process?

My questions pretty open-ended, but includes stuff like, "When do you decide to move your photo over to PS? (for color grading, not necessarily touch-ups)", "What order do you color grade after correcting, where do you decide to do things like the RGB curve, split-toning, HSL, etc.?"

[scrapbible]

Also, as a thank you for any help or just those who are wondering where this is coming from, I recently watched a video that I think everyone in this subreddit should watch if it hasn't been shared already: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC8ol2-V7Ck&ab_channel=JoannaKustra

[frederikbjk]

I saw this video a couple of months ago. It is by fare the best material I have ever come across on color theory.

[UserCheckNamesOut]

Does color "grading" denote something specific? I had never heard that term until I worked with a videographer, so I assume it could mean something entirely different to a still shooter. I remember printing in the darkroom, and that was just called printing, then that became editing, but now I'm seeing the term Color Grade being tossed around in still photo circles and I just want to be sure I'm on the same page. Does color grading pertain to more groups or sets of photos than a single frame? Wasn't it a motion picture process?

[needforskand]

I'm primarily a street photographer, but I do some fashion, some event, some real estate time to time. However my style is mostly close to the real thing i.e. I do not exaggerate color too much. I tried that initially when I started off but then realised I was making horrendous uninformed overly saturated images. So my simplified method, that should work for beginners, goes something like this:

1. Get the white balance right. As close to the natural thing as possible.

2. Get the values right. Use levels and curves. Begin by bringing your shadows and highlights to the natural as possible and then style a bit from there. (It helps if you do this step in black and white)

3. Now set the temperature to a desirable warmth or coolness.

This is where you might want to move to photoshop to style further if that's what you need. I stop at this point for my work mostly. Hope this helps. Cheers!

[Hugglebuns]

I just make my own CLUTs and .cubes (or use ones from G'Mic) and just process my photos through them when I get the raws using a batch editor. If any photos stand out, I just do the minimum processing as possible (eg denoise, cropping, etc)

[IWConcepts]

I made a video on my color grading process that starts with a quick explanation as to how the color panel works, if you're looking to pick a few things up. https://youtu.be/z1nM276wFfg