Today I gave a color grading demo using eight different techniques. I also showed students how to record photoshop actions to automate basic color corrections and dodge burn techniques.
The first step is to perform basic color corrections to create a faithful reproduction of the scene. This involves recognizing the difference between how our human eye perceives a scene and how the camera records it. I describe this as creating a High Fidelity image.
The next step is to apply color grading based upon interpreting the image to evoke the emotion the maker wants to convey. There are literally unlimited ways to interpret an image. Here is a list of eight techniques I demonstrated.
- Use Color Balance Layer and adjust Highlights and Shadows to war and cool color contrast.
- Use a Gradient Map Layer and set blend mode to Soft Light
- Use Solid Color Layer and set blend mode to exclusion and then adjust layer opacity
- Use LUT
- Use a combination of these and then explort as 3D LUT
- Use Color Grading feature in LRC
- Use Lightroom Classic Presets
- Create Lightroom Preset
