Secondary Color Correction - Blackmagicdesign Cinema Operation Manual

Using DaVinci Resolve
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The lift, gamma, gain and offset color wheels give you total
control over the color and tonal balance of your clips. To make
a uniform adjustment to all colors for each tonal region, drag
the dial underneath the color wheels back and forth.
The curves palette is another tool you can use to make
primary color corrections, or enhance specific areas of
your clip when using a power window.
Step 1. Adjusting the 'lift'
With your first clip selected on the color timeline, click on the 'lift' dial underneath the
first color wheel. Slide it back and forth and watch how it affects your image. You'll see the
brightness of the dark regions of your picture increase and decrease. Set it to where you
want the dark areas to look their best. If you decrease the lift too much, you'll lose details
in the blacks and you can use the parade scope to help avoid this. The optimal position
for blacks on the waveform is just above the bottom line of the parade scope.
Step 2.
Adjusting the 'gain'
Click on the 'gain' dial and slide it back and forth. This adjusts the highlights which are the
brightest areas of your clip. The highlights are shown on the top section of the waveform
on the parade scope. For a brightly lit shot, these are best positioned just below the top
line of the waveform scope. If the highlights rise above the top line of the waveform scope,
they will clip and you will lose details in the brightest regions of your image.
Step 3. Adjusting the 'gamma'
Click on the 'gamma' dial underneath the color wheel and slide it back and forth. As you
increase the gamma you'll see the brightness of the image increase. Notice the middle
section of the waveform will also move as you adjust the gamma. This represents the mid
tones of your clip. The optimal position for mid tones generally falls between 50 to 70% on
the waveform scope. However, this can be subjective based on the look you are creating
and the lighting conditions in the clip.
You can also use the curves feature to make primary color corrections. Simply open the 'curves'
palette and adjust the highlights mid tones and shadows by clicking on the diagonal line inside the
luminance curve at selected points and dragging them up or down. The optimum points to adjust
are the bottom third, mid, and top third of the curve line.
To get a larger view of the curves when making fine adjustments, click on the 'gigantor mode' icon
below the curves to maximise the window. Click outside of the window to return to the standard size.
There are many more ways of doing primary color correction in DaVinci Resolve and check the DaVinci
Resolve manual to learn how to use them all.

Secondary Color Correction

If you want to adjust a specific part of your image then you need to use secondary corrections. The
adjustments you have been doing up until now using the color wheels and lift, gamma and gain
adjustments affect the whole image at the same time and so they are called primary color corrections.