Primary Color Correction
Adjusting the overall color balance, contrast, and brightness of an image to achieve a natural look.
Refers to the color depth of an image, allowing for 1,024 shades per channel, resulting in over a billion possible colors.
Refers to the color depth of an image, allowing for 256 shades per channel, resulting in over 16 million possible colors.
The opening in a camera lens through which light passes to enter the camera. It is measured in f-stops and affects the depth of field and exposure.
A unit of measurement for luminance, representing the amount of light emitted or reflected from a surface in a given direction. It is commonly used to describe the brightness of displays and lighting devices.
The color information of an image, including hue and saturation. Chroma is used in conjunction with luma, which represents the brightness information, to fully describe the color and brightness of an image.
Color grading is the process of enhancing the visual look of the video. It's where we adjust the colors, contrast, brightness, and mood to give the footage its final, cinematic feel. It's one of the last steps before delivery and plays a huge role in setting the tone of your film or commercial.
A specific organization of colors, which helps in managing color across different devices and media.
Conforming is the technical process of matching the offline edit to the original high-quality footage. It ensures that every frame in the final version is exactly the same as the creative edit, just using the best possible source files. This step is crucial before color grading can begin.
The difference in luminance or color that makes an object distinguishable. High contrast means a greater difference between light and dark areas.
A color space defined by the Digital Cinema Initiatives, primarily used in the film industry. It offers a wider color gamut than Rec.709, providing more vibrant and accurate colors, especially in digital cinema projection. DCI-P3 is commonly used in digital movie theaters and high-end consumer displays, such as monitors and televisions, that support HDR content.
The ratio between the largest and smallest values that a certain quantity can assume. In video, it refers to the range of brightness levels in an image.
An alliance of public service media organizations, setting technical standards for broadcasting in Europe.
Edit lock — also known as picture lock — is the point in post-production when the edit is considered final. No further changes will be made to the timing, duration, or order of shots. Once locked, the edit becomes the master reference for all downstream processes such as conforming, color grading, audio mixing, and mastering. Working from an edit-locked version ensures that all departments are working with a stable timeline and avoids costly revisions or re-alignments later in the pipeline.
The amount of light per unit area reaching a frame, as determined by shutter speed, lens aperture, and scene luminance.
Adjusting the luminance of an image to match the display device's characteristics, ensuring that the image appears correctly on different screens.
High-quality monitors used for critical color grading, offering the most accurate color representation and consistency. These are typically found in professional post-production studios and color grading suites.
Monitors used for general editing purposes, providing good color accuracy but not as precise as Grade 1 monitors. These are commonly found in editing bays and production offices where high-quality editing is performed.
Monitors used for non-critical viewing, where color accuracy is less important. These are often found in offices, educational institutions, and environments where video content is reviewed but not critically edited.
A technology that allows for a greater range of luminance levels in video, providing more detail in both the shadows and highlights.
The attribute of a color that allows it to be classified as red, green, blue, etc. It is one of the main properties of a color.
A measure of a camera's sensitivity to light. Higher ISO settings allow for shooting in lower light conditions but can introduce noise to the image.
A component of a video signal that represents the brightness information of the image. It is derived from the RGB color space and is used in video and image processing to represent the grayscale version of the image.
The intensity of light emitted from a surface per unit area in a given direction. It is a measure of the brightness perceived by the human eye and can also be described as brightness. Luminance is related to luma, which is used in video signals to represent brightness information.
A LUT is like a color filter or preset used during the grading process. It helps quickly apply a certain look or style to the footage. Some LUTs emulate the look of film stocks, while others help create consistency across shots. They're often a starting point for more detailed color grading.
A unit of measurement for luminance, representing the brightness of a display. One nit is equivalent to one candela per square meter (cd/m²). It is commonly used to describe the brightness of screens and monitors because it is a more consumer-friendly term. The term 'nit' comes from the Latin word 'nitere', meaning 'to shine'.
The offline edit refers to the most up-to-date version of an edited project, containing all creative editing decisions — including shot selection, transitions, timing, and overall narrative structure. It is typically built using lower-resolution proxy files for editing efficiency, but may already include final visual effects, audio elements, or temp grading. The offline edit serves as the reference version for the colorist and other finishing departments. To ensure a smooth and consistent workflow, it should ideally reflect the final, approved cut — or an edit-locked version — with no further changes to timing, shot order, or structure once it's handed over for color grading.
Adjusting the overall color balance, contrast, and brightness of an image to achieve a natural look.
A proxy file is a lower-resolution version of the final video. It is used for editing purposes and is much smaller than the final file. Proxies are created by compressing the video using a codec like ProRes Proxy, DNxHD or Avid DNxHR.
A standard for high-definition television that defines the color space, frame rate, and resolution.
Also known as BT.2020, this is a color space standard for ultra-high-definition television. It supports a wider color gamut and higher dynamic range than Rec.709, allowing for more realistic and vivid colors in UHD content. Rec.2020 is used in 4K and 8K televisions, as well as in professional video production for UHD content.
Roundtripping refers to moving a project back and forth between different software programs while keeping everything in sync. For example, editing might happen in Premiere Pro, then go to DaVinci Resolve for color grading, and return to Premiere for final export. A clean roundtrip saves time and avoids errors.
The intensity of color in an image. Increasing saturation makes colors more vivid, while decreasing it makes them more muted.
Tools like waveform, vectorscope, and histogram used to analyze the color and exposure of an image.
The traditional video format with a limited range of brightness levels compared to HDR.
Targeting specific colors or areas of an image for adjustment without affecting the rest of the image.
The length of time a camera's shutter is open to expose light onto the camera sensor. It affects the brightness of the image and motion blur.
An organization that develops standards for motion picture and television production.
The process of removing unrealistic color casts so that objects that appear white in person are rendered white in your video.