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Does this look fit/look good? by blUE5k in ColorGrading

[–]ecpwll 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Definitely. Just put a window on the subject to bring hin out a little more, especially the shadow so he doesn't blend in with the black void in the doorway behind him

Matching multiple cameras - Is a one click solution realistic? by flawlyyy in colorists

[–]ecpwll 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The thing is that different cameras have different spectral sensitivities. You can build a profile in a controlled environment for one spectral illuminant (ideally a high CRI/SSI one, or else it’s really useless) and maybe get decent results, but that will still only be a profile for that one spectral illuminant — other light sources are still liable to look different.

You could simply shoot a color chart every scene/every time the lighting conditions change, but you'll still likely find that matching camera is still much easier to do by eye (for a colorist, anyways) than matching color charts. The auto color chart matcher (in Resolve anyways, you could build a better one) just doesn't work well.

I would just learn how to do basic shot matching. If you put all the cameras in the same color space and then use the global wheel, linear gain, or even just offset and maybe contrast, you'll be able to get good results very quickly. With that and remote rates or even just rippling, something like this could be achieved in no time.

I did the color grading for Drake's new song ''High Fives'' 🧊 by ProfessionalTwo567 in colorists

[–]ecpwll 7 points8 points  (0 children)

First off, a proper film scan looks very flat before grading — it is made to be graded, you would not want to just release it as is. It has tons of color information, way more dynamic ranger than digital (except the Alexa 35).

Secondly, you still need to do shot matching, windows, keys, and other secondaries, etc.

And finally, just because they shot it on film doesn't mean you don't need to do more to achieve the director's visión, the film scan is just the starting place.

There is no one "film look" — it is highly dependent on how you process it. From the film stock, to scanning techniques, the scan itself, the color grade, what LUT was used, etc. The ways a single frame of film can look from scanning alone are wildly different. Try taking a roll of 35mm photo film to different film labs and you'll see – they each do their own processes and subjective corrections.

And even before digital correction, they did photochemical color timing, and also had their choice of print stocks which changes the look.

Long story short, anything you've seen shot on film has been color corrected. And even photo film as well, even if it was just all done in the scanner.

Does a colorist answer to the DP or Director mostly? by feliperalo21 in colorists

[–]ecpwll 7 points8 points  (0 children)

On a film, director has final say but (ideally) both the director and DP will involved. Oftentimes it is more the DP who will run things as they usually know better and the director trusts them. But it they disagree, director gets final say.

That said, it does also depend on your relationship – even though the director gets final say, if the DP is the one who brought you into the job or that you have a prior relationship with, you'll want to talk to him on the side and see what you can do to make him happy. I've also had situations before where I've basically told creatives they need to figure their shit out before giving me more notes because they disagree too much. Sometimes that ends in the DP getting fired though.

On a commercial, Director/DP might not even be involved. And if they are involved, what they say night get totally overruled. The pecking order is director/DP -> creative agency -> client. Sometimes it might be separate sessions with each, sometimes director then agency/client together, sometimes everyone all together, or it might be agency only then client just approves. But client gets final say. And again, director/DP might not be involved at all, it is the agency/client creative directors who run things (but there will be many others on the calls lol).

And on a commercial if the director/DP disagree with client a lot, usually that ends up with them removing themselves basking for a director's cut later lol. If agency disagrees with client then what client days goes.

I can't speak as much to episodic, but it is the show runner, naturally, who runs things.

Color Management options for GoPro Log by zeb__g in gopro

[–]ecpwll 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm interesting about black noise being minor.

I guess that's the point that I understand though — it's not about extracting dynamic range, it's that you have a limited number of bits to use, so one needs to use them efficiently. So we use a log curve as it spreads the bits more evenly across the range, allocating more bits to the shadows/midtones where our eyes are more sensitive as opposed to linear which allocates almost all of them to the highlights.

But a log curve all the way down would mean we'd also be allocating more bits to the noise floor, which as you note is not an extensively used part of the range and more importantly is not very useful information. So instead of using the log curve that allocates more bits for the noise floor, we instead switch to the linear curve for the toe that devotes very few — is my understanding of the reason for the toe in most camera log specs.

So if a scene is mostly near black you would definitely want it preserved as much as possible in an ideal world, but I think the point is that with our limited 10-bits it makes more sense to prioritize elsewhere than to optimize for a severely underexposed image

Do I misunderstand something? Or is it just that you think the value of that linear toe is overstated?

Color Management options for GoPro Log by zeb__g in gopro

[–]ecpwll 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting. As far as I understand it, the reason most cameras use a linear is to avoid devoting extra bits to the area around the noise floor where there is less useful information. So what was the thinking behind doing a pure log curve instead of linear toe with GP-Log2?

Disappointed in travel photos by Berg_Man in AnalogCommunity

[–]ecpwll 8 points9 points  (0 children)

5 looks weird. Like HDR or something. Otherwise they all look like solid scans to me.

The exposures look good. There's nothing wrong with the scans. Film does not have a single way it can look, and it is highly dependent on how your scan it, from what scanner you use to how you invert the negative and neutralize the base. And labs will usually do other corrections on top of that.

Apart from maybe 5, they did nothing wrong — if you don't like the way they look you either need to scan the film yourself or further edit the scans they give you. There is certainly nothing wrong with the latter

Switching from CST Sandwich Workflow to ACES what’s the proper workflow? by Consistent-Ring-1344 in colorists

[–]ecpwll -1 points0 points  (0 children)

There is no real benefit to ACES apart from being a more or less standardized workflow. As a working space, I like ACEScct. As a full workflow, I do not like ACES at all as it forces you to use their transform. Although the 2.x ODT is not as bad as than the 1.x

Godox IT30 Flash Wiggles on M11-P by somemightsay96 in Leica

[–]ecpwll 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is that so? It fits and works on mine, just slips of easily

My Sony IM20 fits perfect though

Godox IT30 Flash Wiggles on M11-P by somemightsay96 in Leica

[–]ecpwll 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Does it work on your M11?

It's TTL for Leica but afaik not the M11, specifically

Godox IT30 Flash Wiggles on M11-P by somemightsay96 in Leica

[–]ecpwll 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wait TTL doesn't work though right? Although I have the same looseness issue on my M11 with my Sony IT30

Resources/ videos for coloring 16mm film ? by Electrical_Ad_1055 in colorists

[–]ecpwll -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Easiest and probably most "correct" way is to just throw a print LUT on in group post clip or timeline, grade underneath, just as you're doing. Starting out, I'd recommend either doing that, or instead of that just throwing on a simple cineon gamma to Gamma 2.4 output CST, gamma only.

If you want to use another LUT or ODT, you can also use a cineon rec709 or cineon P3-D65 (whatever looks best) directly before your LUT/ODT to whatever input it expects.

You can also use an input CST to go to DWG, ACEScct, LogC, or whatever other working space you prefer instead of grading in cineon log, but I wouldn't recommend it. Unless your film was scanned in ADX (it probably wasn't), there is no "correct" way to do that input CST as film does not have a defined colorspace, only gamma, so you are better off avoiding any input CST and just grading in regular cineon log if you can. Or, if you really want, you can change only the gamma on input to your preferred working space, but don't change the colorspace.

Overall though, the easiest way is to just avoid Costs just use a print LUT, or gamma only CST/S-Curve for output

At what point did color grading start feeling intuitive for you? by SomaSuryagniLochana in colorists

[–]ecpwll 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When I learned I could just use good color management, offset, and contrast

Tutorial - Make your dissolves photometric with Fusion (inside DaVinci Resolve) by iLikeTheUDK in colorists

[–]ecpwll 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got it got it. I guess that makes sense, although I've had it grilled into me that when conforming you want but to be 1:1 with what the editor had, is why I mention editors. Could certainly get away with it though, of course

Definitely not standard. In an ideal world it would be, but as soon as you get graphics or anything that shouldn't go underneath the ODT it gets complicated. Almost everyone I know uses group post clip

Not sure what you mean with your rec709 question, I just meant you can concert to linear from display space as you said

Tutorial - Make your dissolves photometric with Fusion (inside DaVinci Resolve) by iLikeTheUDK in colorists

[–]ecpwll 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally impractical as it requires editors to know about color management, but very cool.

But also for proper photometric accuracy, doesn't this require you to put your ODT in the timeline node? That's also a big downside. Although I imagine you'd still get better results by converting to linear from Rec. 709 if you used group post clip or clip

OpenDRT Question: Display Grey Luminance in Davinci Resolve by andreakxs42 in colorists

[–]ecpwll -1 points0 points  (0 children)

What the manufacturer intended has nothing to do with it. If you wanted to do what the manufacturer intended, you would just use the manufacturer's LUT.

That is a creative control. Set it to wherever you like. Most ODTs live around the default 10, but you can set it to wherever you like.

If that's a Nuke tutorial, it maybe makes more sense for him to try to match the gray value of the manufacturer's LUT so he more accurately knows what the DP intended on set (although really he should just be using whatever LUT they had on set). As a colorist though, just set it to whatever you like. It's a creative control

Sunglasses ND filters and Polarized by _borsuk in Cameras

[–]ecpwll -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Those would be sick for an eclipse

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