Color Finesse Specific tips & techniques

[Walter Soyka]

Color grading reminds me of the old Othello board game tagline: “A minute to learn, a lifetime to master.”

I’ll quote myself from the post you linked to:

[Walter Soyka] “If you’re interested in color correction, look up the books by Steve Hullfish & Jamie Fowler, and Alexis Van Hurkman.”

These authors are wonderful teachers, and there’s a lot to learn from their books.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
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[Jim Bachalo]

Thanks Walter
I entirely relate to that and understand…EXACTLY why I want to avoid things like MBLooks for any grading…too easy and I think a LOT more you can achieve if you really master use of things like CFinesse and rgb curves, in combination with adjustment layers and blend modes.
Going thru 1 of Steve’s tutorials right now…

Local is the new global

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

To add to what Walter said, I would recommend spending some time with a colorist and “stealing” the art. It does not matter really what software/hardware he or she is using, but more the reasoning behind what they do. I know that it did me a lot of good to loose some nights working with a colorist and learning through seeing a master at work.
I remember that after the first 4 hour session I started color grading my dreams…

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist