After looking at the Industrial Media: Colour Grading tutorial I tried to interact with elements it had discussed. This meant adjusting the qualities of colour, hue, saturation and luminance as well as the other attributes of colour and light such as the whites, blacks and shadows. To adjust the hue and saturation I also used the RGB curve and colour wheel. I colour graded 3 different versions for three different stills shot from a class activity.
The still on top is the original and the still on the bottom is the colour graded version. For the first colour grade I was trying to make some slight adjustments rather than doing anything drastic but I really did think it would look more different considering all the different adjustments I made. Maybe you can’t tell by the still here but the original still has a warm tone to it so I tried to make it slightly more cool tone by adding in some blue. I also wanted to adjusted the brightness of the room to make it darker partially with the shadows, the hair and the black seat.
Adjustments: Colour Temperature: -14.4, this made the cooler tone. Light Blacks:-18.4, Whites: 37.4, shadow: 41.5, This made the seat darker and increased shadows
Again, the original still is on top and the colour graded version is on bottom. In this version I decided to make it a lot more cooler tone than the first edit but also played around with the shadows to achieve a darker scene than the original. With this colour grade I feel like that the scene could be interpreted as having a darker narrative context and maybe if it were more blue it would be cold and unnerving.
Adjustments: Colour Temperature: -44.2, Light Shadows: -51.0, Whites: -23.8
In this colour grade I decided to experiment with the hue and saturation curves and found that I was able to bring out the colours of the sweater a lot more and made it a lot more vibrant. When playing around with the curves I found that the top half of the rooms light adjusted and it kind of made it look more interesting narrative wise. Perhaps something or someone is illuminating the room as she accepts the book and this made me think more about the purpose of lighting and and how adjusting colour can add to a story. The curves were also a very creative option because a lot of vibrant colour combinations were made as I adjusted it. The skin tone is noticeably darker which was instantly changed when using the curve so it gave me less control in that aspect.
Adjustments: Curves Hue vs Sat, Hue vs Hue, Hue vs Luma- this last curve in particular really made the colours of the jumper pop.
This still looked like I could either lean towards a warm tone or a cool tone because of the orange shirt vs the light blue wall. I couldn’t figure out wether I should make it more cool and warm tone so I tried both. With this colour grade I tried to make the tones more blue which made the wall more vibrant. The scene now looks like it could be taking place in a hospital room.
Adjustments: Colour Temperature -21.1, saturation 170.1 Light contrast -12.9, shadows -14.3
In this colour grade I adjusted the colour to try the opposite this time, going for a warmer tone scene. By doing so I was able to add more depth and highlight the face more for this scene. Somehow it made her face appear sharper.
Adjustments: Colour Temperature- 44.2, Light Highlight -78.2, Shadows -78.2, Whites -17.0, blacks -38.8
In this colour grade I purposely tried to style it to be blue and cool tone because it reminded me of the movie Twilight. It was already kind of leaning that way so I just enhanced he colours a little more. I think if the still was darker in its shadows and blacks it would be closer to the inspiration below. This colour grade was easy to achieve as all I did was adjust the RGB curve slightly.
Adjustments: RGB curve, red line
For this still my intention was to improve the colours and lighting to not look so dull and over exposed. The purpose was to keep it simple and improved.
Adjustments: Colour Temperature -17.0, Saturation 172.8, Tint 0.7, Light Exposure -0.4, Highlights -15.6, Whites -27.9, Contrast 12.9, Shadows -12.9, Blacks 23.8
In this colour grade I was focused on drawing more attention to the shoe thats being taken off however the image is still pretty similar to the original.
Adjustments: Light Contrast -45.6, Highlights -38.8, Shadows -26.5, Whites 51.0, Blacks -11.6, RGB curve
Out of curiosity I adjusted the curves to see what kind of results I would get and I found that by doing so I can achieve a decent colour grade very easily. I think it’s a quick option and seems to be just as good as going through all the different colour and light qualities separately. The only problem is the skin tone has changed. I do like the fact that it’s a lot more colourful than the original.
Adjustments: RGB Curve, Hue vs Sat curve
