• The Tao Colorist Newsletter staff is taking a well-earned vacation, being the Fourth of July holiday weekend here in the US.

• This edition is the collection of the three most popular stories from each edition in the first half of 2014 - as voted by you, our readers.

• We know we highlight a lot of stories, weekly... 

• This semi-annual wrap-up is a great way to catch up on stories you may have missed that other readers found interesting.

(change of subject)

• This weekend the Tao Newsletter's sister site, MixingLight.com, is running a Fourth of July sale.

• New members can save big on their initial membership and existing members can crossgrade to a longer term and enjoy the savings of new members.

• So if you've been seeing stories in the Friends and Family section of this Newsletter you'd really like to read - this is a terrific time to sign up.

• Have a great day and we'll see you next week with an all-new edition of the Tao Colorist Newsletter.

• Keeping 'The Godfather' Look - DP Gordon Willis created a dark and unique look for the Godfather trilogy. This is a blog post by a young filmmaker trying to replicate that look for his film based on Willis' own descriptions of his thought process. Click through to read what the young filmmaker discovered is the key to creating 'natural looking' Looks. (officialtombennett.blogspot.com)

• Grading Wide Shots - The opening line in this blog post sums it up nicely: wide shots are tricky. And a great point: grade for the central focus of your wide shot and ignore what happens elsewhere in the image... you can deal with those problems separately. A great Craft blog post. (blog.iseehue.com )

• Splice Community: Craftsman on their Craft - BlackMagic Design quietly launched a new website a few weeks ago. It's dedicated to filmmakers and the people who toil on those films. Other than a small logo, you'd have no idea this site is supported by BM. Surf the site and then visit back every Tuesday as it gets refreshed with new profiles. (splicecommunity.com)

• Basic Colorimetry - Digital Imaging Technician Ben Cain goes in-depth on how to use test charts to match cameras and to paint looks into recorded footage. (negativespaces.com)

• [video] The mystery of magenta - this is a short 5 minute video that explains why the color magenta does not appear in a rainbow. The answer is more proof that your eyes can fool you in a lot of different ways. (vimeo.com via @jonnyelwyn)

• The Art Of Colour Rendering Skin Tones - Article showing varying skin tones... and why it is that such varied renditions seem acceptable to the audience. (redsharknews.com)

• Color Concepts and Terminology - Informative article by Oliver Peters about the history of digital color correction and the terminology of the craft. Must read. (digitalfilms.wordpress.com)

• Color Theory - A good page to bookmark. Links to tools to help you choose colors, color palettes, etc. (zzolo.org via Tom Parish)

• DSLR color profiles: can your pictures be too flat? - The last 15 seconds of this video says it all. (filmmakeriq.com via Tom Parish)

• [videos] Grading Rich Hill - Colorist Chris Hall talks about grading a film for the Sundance Film Festival. His blog post opens up with an interesting perspective on the job of a Digital Colorist that all of us might identify with. (chrishallcolor.blogspot.com)

• Honor and Craft - Cinematographer Shane Hurlbut insight about finding the honor and discipline to do what you do. It's not the how, it's the why. Click through for some great video embeds and sage advice. (hurlbutvisuals)

• DIY Control Surface - Literally. Friggin' awesome! It's both familiar and retro. A must click through! (liftgammagain.com)

• A Short History of Camera Color - "Video cameras are very similar [to film stocks]. Each company has a base look, and in some cases this look has evolved over time." (dvinfo.net)

• [video] Shot matching - matching sunny and cloudy shots is a common task for the Colorist. Canadian-based filmmaker Tom Antos shows you how.  (vimeo.com)

• Inhabiting Wes Anderson's World of Color - Colorist Jill Bogdanowicz on grading Wes Anderson's 'The Grand Budapest Hotel.' Click through to see what role her father played in creating the film's unique look. (studiodaily.com)

• [video] Serially Dependent Visual Perception - why is it that you rarely notice major movie bloopers? The answer has to do with our built in perception. Understanding this concept may help you understand why color grading is simple... but not easy. (psmag.com)

• Color Correction vs Color Grading - as a Colorist, you know the difference, right? Dive into this blog story by Toolfarm's Michele Yamazaki as she digs deep to explain the craft of both and the tools of the trade. (toolfarm.com)

• The Art and Science Of 'The Big Bang Theory' - Colorist and author Steve Hullfish talks workflow with editor and assistant editor of one of the most popular comedies on TV. As it turns out, the 'The Big Bang Theory' has a funny workflow. (provideocoalition.com)

• Sensor Color Balance - there is a lot of good intel in this blog piece for the working Colorist to know about. Doing a black test can really open your eyes to what is going on inside the camera. (dvinfo.net)

• [video] Color Depth vs Image Quality - why color depth (or the lack thereof) is often responsible for the distracting visual anomalies in video content. (youtube.com)

• DPs: Guaranteeing your first color grade is a success - I'm fond of saying that color grading begins in pre-production. This post proves the point. Great advice to DPs on how to get the most from their images. (blogs.indiewire.com)

• [audio] 'Shoot Soft, Print Contrasty' - the late Harris Savides, ASC, helped lens 'Milk,' 'Zodiac,' and 'American Gangster,' among many others. Click through to read and watch as Harris talks about why he shot low contrast in production, to control it better in post. An excellent example of craftsmanship. (theasc.com)

• How to Color Correct for Skin Tones - beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but skin tone is everything. Check out this blog post on how one photographer uses Photoshop to get his photos picture perfect. By the numbers. (eduardoangel.com)

• Gamma vs Gamma - what is the difference between Display Gamma and Gamma Correction Whether you are just starting out or a seasoned professional there is a lot of info packed into this post. Click through to dig deep.  (wolfcrow.com)

• How to master color theory - clear, basic concepts and terminology are laid out in a way and in words that nonprofessionals can understand. (creativebloq.com)

• [video] Color Management 101 - an introductory explanation about color spaces and calibration. A good overview to send to clients who get confused about these issues. (youtube.com)

• [video] Color Grade Breakdown - Colorist, and friend of the Tao, Rob Bessette, does a very nice breakdown of a grade he did for a TV Commercial campaign, including a Look they tried but decided not to go to air with. (robbessette.com)

• [video] What is the 'film look'? - check out cinematographer Matt Scott as he breaks down how to create the elusive film look. And he does it using - wait for it - Edius 7 Pro. His early comments on how to achieve the film look are spot-on! (mattscottvisuals.com)

• [video] Keepin' it consistent - Colorist Chris Hall has produced a new episode in his continuing web series, Anatomy of a Grade. This issue deals with color consistency. Click through to learn why Chris says it's important from start to finish. (vimeo.com)

• Grading 'Modern Family' - colorist Aidan Stanford talks through the challenges and approach of grading an episodic comedy with short turnarounds. Good insights, this interview. (studiodaily.com via Marc Wielage)

• The Edge of Light - although this blog piece is written for still photographers, there is some good stuff here for Colorists to understand about the Golden Hour, the Blue Hour, and Twilights.  (petapixel.com)

• Histograms for Dummies - dig into this pithy blog story on the Histogram by one of the teachers of RED's Reducation class. (offhollywoodreporter.com)

• The yRGB of X-Men - go behind the color of 'X-Men: Days of Future Past', an interview with Colorists Adrian DeLude and Stephen Nakamura (provideocoalition.com)

• QuickTime is deprecated? - What does that mean in practice? (philiphodgetts.com via @FrankGlencairn)

• [video] Trouble with the curve - Colorist Josh Petok takes just 12 seconds to point out a behavior with custom curves in Resolve that every Resolve Colorist should understand. (vimeo.com)

• [video] Color Grading Breakdowns - want to become a better Colorist? Dive into this post and watch the amassed video embeds to see how Colorists created particular looks. (premiumbeat.com)

• Calibrate That Display! - Alexis walks you through calibrating a plasma using LightSpace CMS, DaVinci Resolve 10 (using a little talked about new feature) and a Klein K10 colorimeter. With an aside about the demise of plasma TVs. (vanhurkman.com)

• [Video] DaVinci Resolve and the New Mac Pro - colorist Dado Valentic runs a suite of codecs through the New Mac Pro and sees which ones can maintain real-time playback while applying blur layers. If you grade with RED or Sony RAW codecs, this video will definitely interest you. (vimeo.com)

• DaVinci Resolve 10 Keyboard - Blackmagic still hasn't released their keyboard shortcuts PDF. But Logitech has done their homework and produced a keyboard with the shortcuts burned on the keycaps. (logickeyboard.com)

• Get 'Spotlight' back under control - Mac-based colorists have surely run into the problem when their CPU usage goes nuts for no apparent reason. Sometimes, it's 'Spotlight' that's consuming all that power. Bookmark this blog post for what to do the next time it happens to you. (9to5mac.com)

• Solved: 2013 Mac Pro and DaVinci Resolve Problems - end-user described how they got their sluggish Resolve install working on the Mac Pro Tube in Mavericks. (forum.blackmagicdesign.com via @ayumash)

• [video] DaVinci Resolve: Highlight Difference - new in Resolve 10.1.2 is the Highlight Difference function. Colorist Warren Eagles shows you what Difference it's Highlighting. (vimeo)

• [forums] DaVinci Resolve: Can you mix and match GPUs? - answered by Resolve's Product Manager. (forum.blackmagicdesign.com)

• Resolve review - master editor Oliver Peters reviews Blackmagic Design's Davinci Resolve v10. Click through to find out why he believes the 'Swiss Army Knife' of color programs is a popular and an essential tool. (digitalfilms)

• [Forum] Digital Vision revamps product line, rebrands Film Master and slashes pricing - for a link to the press release and the subsequent discussion and more links, click through. Big news, major changes for Digital Vision. (liftgammagain.com)

• [video] Correcting White Balance in Resolve - if you are new to color grading, this is a decent little video how to correct the white balance when it's out of true. You can skip over the  preamble, the tutorial begins @ about 2:45. (youtube.com)

• [video] Grading Footage In DaVinci Resolve - a 'color correction 101' video on solving documentary-style problems. (nofilmschool.com)

• EDL Spy - German-based freelance Colorist Felix Hüsken is the genius behind a new application that lets you consolidate media files from an EDL, XML, or any other test list. €50 EUR Windows and Mac. Details on Felix's website. (edlspy.felixhuesken.de)

• [video] Offset Controls in DaVinci Resolve - workflow specialist Cédric Lejeune explains the Offset toolset (printer lights) in DaVinci Resolve. And tips on using it with other Resolve tools. (vimeo.com)

• How To Cure Banding In DSLR Footage - One word: Dithering. (eoshd.com)

• Resolve v11: The Features - you might want to take a short break from using v11 to read what Alexis van Hurkman thinks about the new Resolve. After writing version 11's User Manual, he's got a good perspective on this new release and the features you'll likely notice most. (vanhurkman.com)

• [video] How does a colorist set up his scopes? - I've been using ScopeBox software scopes for about 6 months. This is an overview of how I set them up and why I've stuck with these scopes. A free Insight from Mixing Light. (mixinglight.com)

• Coloristos: Their Impression Of The New Mac Pro - Blog post that embeds the latest Coloristos podcast, with a link to a LiftGammaGain forum thread about the same. (mixinglight.com)

• The art of editing - five tips to help improve your editing performance. (redsharknews.com)

• Comparing the Big 3 - Master Editor Oliver Peters does a comparison of Final Cut Pro X, Media Composer, and Premiere Pro CC. (digitalfilms.wordpress.com)

• [video] The one shot - this is one of the most entertaining and informative videos that we've seen about the 'oner' or, the 'one-scene.' Click through to learn what it is, it's history, and how Steven Spielberg has become its greatest practitioner. NSFW.  (vimeo.com)