Professional color grading is as much a technical skill as it is an art, and there are few places where this is more evident than filmmaking and looking at what color grading is in video formats. We can bet you’ve used a filter on Instagram or other social media platforms before-you might not have realized at the time, but that was color grading! But most of the time, you’ll want to make edits to achieve the look and feel you’re aiming for. You might be wondering why you can’t use whatever footage you have directly from your camera, and you definitely can if you’re happy with how it looks naturally. This can be anything from the color itself to its saturation, contrast, detail, and hue, or the black and white balance. What Is Color Grading?Ĭolor grading, at its simplest, is the process you use to change the visual appearance of a still photo or moving image like a video. We’ll also give you an overview of some of the best color grading software available so that you can start applying it to your own projects. In this post, we’ll answer some of your top questions, like “what is color grading in video editing?” with before and after examples to help you understand how this process can dramatically alter your work. You’re probably more familiar with this concept when it comes to still photography (who hasn’t played around in Photoshop or Lightroom these days?) but it’s a technique that can be applied to any form of visual media. It all comes down to the edit and what’s called color grading. When it comes to movie-making, there’s a big difference between what the director sees on the monitor while shooting compared to what we, the viewers, see in the final product.

Davinci resolve color grading basics