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 p.9 #1 · Canon video thread for hybrid shooters... | |
Rudy Pohl wrote:
Hi Nate,
Just to give you a bit of context: I have been using Davinci Resolve 18 & 19 daily for the last 2 1/2 years. I love doing this kind of stuff so I spend about 20 hours or more a week at it and I've watched a gazillion online tutorials by pros over that time. Before retiring a few years ago my wife and I owned a small digital design business for almost 30 years during which time we did corporate and product videos for 3 years for some of our clients and I used Adobe Premiere Pro during that time. All that is to say that I'm no expert by any means with still so much to learn, but I'm pretty comfortable with the software and practices.
My editing process for C-log3 goes like this. Please keep in mind that I just started edited C-log3 a few days ago, but 99% of the process is the same for editing h.264 8-bit 4:2:0 files.
Because I still have only the free version of DR I am not able to import 10-bit files into DR, so step 1 for me is to transcode all my 10-bit files into ProRes files. I've set up a batch file converter and I go have a coffee while the transcoding is happening. (I'm a little miffed because I was watching for a Black Friday sale on DR and yet somehow missed the notification - bummer).
Setup
1. I import all my ProRes files (40 of them from yesterday's shoot) into DR and now I am able to examine them closely and decide which ones I'll work on. I kept 10 files of the 40 imported.
2. In the Edit page I cut the front end and back end off of each file (the shaky parts) and use the Stabilization tool in the Edit page to stabilize each file... it makes them nicer to watch as I'm working.
3. I go to the Color page and set up a C-log3 node tree template in one video clip and then apply that node tree to all the other files with a single mouse click. Now all my files have the same node tree and I'm ready to go.
4. My node tree has 7 serial nodes in it. They are all blank and are labelled as follows: Exposure, WB, Contrast, Color, Sharpen, ShadHigh, CST (Color Space Transform). The CST node is always the last one in the node tree.
5. I setup my CST node in the Effects menu of the Color page as follows:
Color Space Transformation
- Input Color Space: Canon Cinema Gamut
- Input Gamma: Canon Log 3
- Input Color Space: Rec709
- Output Color Space: Rec709
- Tone Mapping Method: Davinci
Regarding Luts, I haven't had the time yet to experiment using Luts and I thought I would first learn how to do my own Log processing from scratch since this is what I've done since the beginning with DR.
6. Applying the node tree template to the rest of the video files.
- In the Color page with all the clips visible, click and drag to select all the video files except the first one which has the CST node info in it.
- Right-click on the first clip and a pop-up menu will appear. Click on the Apply Grade menu item. This will apply your node tree in node 1 with the completed CST node onto all the other clips.
7. Editing
I select which of the 10 files I want to work on in the Color page and I begin working through the series of nodes in the node tree.
a. I start with Exposure using scopes (Parade and Waveform), some times I use the Lift, Gamma, Gain wheels but often I use the Curves tool.
b. I do a preliminary White Balance (I use 3 different methods including the WB Eyedropper (easy and good), balancing the RGB channels in the Curves tool, and I use the Vectorscope method.
c. Sometimes I jump to the Sharpening node just to see how the image holds up to sharpening (I almost never set the sharpening below 0.45 because of artifacts),
d. Next I'll play with the Contrast and/or the Shadows and Highlights (ShadHigh node).
e. If I need to do some local editing as opposed to global editing I use different approaches which include the Power Windows for masking (free DR doesn't have masking but Power Windows does a great job); I also often use Curve tool's Hue vs Hue, Hue vs Sat, and Hue vs Lum (these are invaluable).
f. Saturation is one of the last things I do, and only sparingly if at all, because the Color management processes done by DR through the CST node does a very good job. I have found that by using Exposure and Contrast on these Rec709 files the colors just come out of hiding. I prefer using the Curves tool pallet for saturation, especially the Hue vs Sat and Hue vs Lum tools, instead of the global Saturation tool or the Color Boost tool.
Anyways, I think I'll stop here because I'm afraid I've already written way too much for what you were actually asking for. Anyways, like I said I love this stuff so if you have any questions feel free to ask.
Cheers,
Rudy  ...Show more →
Thanks, Rudy. This is great. I appreciate the backstory and context, as well as the detailed play by play.
I only just started using Resolve a few months ago and am continuing to get familiar with it (still a lot to translate and unlearn from years of using After Effects for work - which I still do), but I’m really liking this workflow. Also really enjoy seeing / reading about others’ process. Always come out of it learning something.
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