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Welcome to the Best Of 2017 Part 2 Edition - Typically, we publish this the first Sunday in January. It's a collection of the top two stories from each Newsletter in the final 6 months of 2017.
- This edition is an opportunity for you to catch up on stories you may have missed - and which many of your peers found interesting.
- The week leading up to teaching is always super-busy, so we decided to hold off the Best Of
until this weekend. It frees up time for teaching preparation.
- Next Sunday we are back with an all-original edition of this Newsletter
Happy Grading!
See you next Sunday.
P.S. - If
you're at the BMD Conference with Patrick this week, let him know you're a Newsletter reader and he might have something special for you (while supplies last).
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- The Basic Properties of Color - You can’t walk the talk unless you know the vocabulary. A good primer for the Tao reader just starting out on their color journey. (premiumbeat.com)
- Color Correction and Underwater Boudoir Editing - boudoir photos. And they’re underwater. So there’s that. But hey, they still color correction, Right? And the biggest surprise? “the red spectrum is lost barely one meter underwater.” (fstoppers.com)
- [video] Dark Art of Light - a compilation from a series of interviews with top colorists. If you missed these when this Newsletter featured them, then
start here. After, watch the full channel as part of your 'summer reading'. (youtube.com)
- The Importance of Color Grading - “Color grading shouldn't be the last, barely cared about step in a complex workflow. Rather, it should be what drives the entire process.” A pithy treatise on color grading, written for the still photographer. (fstoppers.com)
- [video] I Can't Show You How Pink This Pink Is - the first 1:30 is the setup. Then the explanation of 8-bit in a easy-to-grasp manner
wrapped in the story of a pigment designer, "You will never know how pink this pink really is. That’s because a camera can’t capture it, YouTube can’t store it, and your computer screen couldn’t show it anyway." (youtube.com)
- [video] A Day in the LIfe: Dunkirk in 70mm - "the link below that shows the work that went into the processing and distribution of Dunkirk in 70mm. While it doesn’t get too in-depth, it’s a lot of fun to take a peek
behind the curtain and see what goes on behind the scenes." (robbessette.com)
- Log is the New Lin - "There are many misconceptions about Cineon files and the color spaces known colloquially as log and linear. The first is that Cineon files are stored in a log color space. It’s not that this is entirely false, it’s just that it’s not that simple." In this oldie - that recently found its way on our radar -
filmmaker Stu Maschwitz explains it all to you. (prolost.com)
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- Netflix Production and Post-Production Requirements - delivering your project to Netflix? You need to bookmark this. Like the title says. (backlothelp.netflix.com)
- [forum] Resolve 14 beta 5: Hue vs Lum - if you wanted to damage your image in DaVinci Resolve then the first tool you'd grab is the Hue vs Lum curve. Has Blackmagic fixed it in the latest beta release? Check out this thread for initial impressions. (liftgammagain.com)
- [video] 10 Tips for Beginners for More Cinematic Videos - like the title says. Our personal fav is number 6. (fstoppers.com)
- How to Create a Vintage Look in a Digital World - "People come up to me all the time and say, ‘Fargo reminds me of this street I used to live on in the ’70s without knowing why.’ Well, a lot of that feeling has to do with the color of the light." An interesting look from the creators of Fargo and Stranger Things. (premiumbeat.com)
- Why DaVinci Resolve May Be the Single Most Powerful Tool in Post - Everyone’s talking about Resolve as an NLE, but that’s not why it’s exciting. (blog.frame.io)
- Reduce Unwanted Skin Shine in Post-Production with Davinci Resolve - simple and often effective. (premiumbeat.com)
- [video] Orange and Teal Technique (in DaVinci Resolve) - just in case Michael Bay walks into your color suite and says, you know, “need you to give me some...” (youtube.com)
- Create Your Own DCP in Resolve 14 - "Resolve is my go to application
for doing this, and I use it on every DCP project that I create." (provideocoalition.com)
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- [training] Color Theory: Essentials for Color Mixing - do not pass this online video tutorial series because it is designed for painters. As a digital colorist it will help you learn "the power of complementary colors and why they are so valuable," and develop a deeper understanding of color relationships. Inexpensive. (artistsnetworkuniversity.com)
- Understanding Tonal Values and the Importance of Contrast - getting back to basics. (premiumbeat.com)
- The Post-Production Process of 'IT' - "one of the most unique aspects of the film’s grading was how the film changed once the initial trailer premiered." The editing workflow, color grading and thought processes behind the all-time horror box office success. (premiumbeat.com)
- [video] Grading in Mixed Lighting
Environments - "Obviously there is a ton going on with the lighting. Red, blue, yellow, cyan – it’s all over the place (in a good way). This can be incredibly challenging as a colorist since it’s very hard to find a normal reference point. Black is rarely black, skin tones rarely have a “normal” feel, and continuity depends entirely on where the action is in the scene." Nice post. (robbessette.com)
- [video] 3 Ways David Fincher Uses Color - "The color palettes Fincher uses in his films are just as powerful as his dark, unstable characters." (nofilmschool.com via Marc Wielage)
- [forum] Roger
Deakins on colorists - "...the cinematographer is responsible for the image from start to finish.” So said Roger Deakins, ASC, in a post on his website when asked, "who exactly is responsible for post as well color correction...is it (the) colorist or cinematographer?” That ignited a fiery conversation amongst colorists on Lift Gamma Gain. (liftgammagain.com)
- 12 Movies with the Best Color Cinematography of All-Time - "Roger Deakins does incredible things with color in "Blade Runner 2049," but
he's part of a longstanding tradition." Our fav: The Godfather Parts I & II (indiewire.com)
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- 5 Useful But Unnoticed DaVinci Resolve 14 features - "Here are five new unsung features that make Resolve 14 worth a look." (nofilmschool.com)
- [videos] Video Editing Techniques for Color Correcting Skin
Tones - a roundup of video tutorials to "improve your workflow." (premiumbeat.com)
- [video] Resolve 14: Two Click Color Correction - "This is extremely important because it just makes color correcting images unbelievably easier and
faster." Skip the preamble, the meat of this tutorial starts at 2:15. (youtube.com)
- [video] Color Grade Your Photos Using Gradient Maps - Why would a digital colorist want to know about this? Because. "You can also use gradient maps to create a custom Look Up Table (LUT) which can be applied to video footage as a base color grade." (fstoppers.com)
- [video] Change Lighting In Resolve - using the combination of a monochrome node and a layer mixer to control the mixture of RGB and the exposure of
your images. A good explanation of an interesting technique when the client wants you to get more heavy-handed. (youtube.com)
- [video] 5 mistakes you should avoid when color grading - a beginner's guide to, " set yourself on the right path when working on your grade in post." (nofilmschool.com)
- Train your eyes to see color, the easy way - "Color awareness is a learned skill. All you really need is a car." From one of this Newsletter's favorite authors, Art Adams. Do not skip this. (provideocoalition.com)
- The $600 Brim Linny LUT: Deconstructed - "Amongst one of his claims was that there was no way to reproduce the LUT inside a grading app. Challenge accepted." Nice DaVinci Resolve node tree. Worth replicating on your own to better understand the Resolve toolset. (juanmelara.com.au)
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- Mac Pro: Features, specifications, and prices for Apple’s workstation - if you bought the 'new' Mac Pro when it was released 4 years ago then does it make sense to upgrade to the latest, refreshed version? (macworld.com)
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- Fear the Walking Dead: Getting the Parched Look - "Borrowing language from the photochemical days, he explains, “We wanted to start with a soft image and then ‘print’ really hard,” to yield the show’s edgy, contrasty type of look." Good stuff from series colorist Pankaj Bajpai, including how to deal with an unexpectedly lush desert location. (postperspective.com via Marc Wielage)
- A small post house embraces ACES - why? Because, “the best part about ACES is that it doesn’t matter if you are a student or a senior colorist in Hollywood, it’s available for everyone..." (postperspective.com)
- Inside the Netflix Original Series Mind Hunter - " One change from past projects was to bring color correction in-house. The final grade was handled by Eric Weidt on a FilmLight Baselight X unit, which was sourcing from the
EXR files." Your Tao Publisher really likes the HDR grade on this series - not over-the-top with a solid look. (digitalfilms.wordpress.com)
- [video] Five Color Grading Mistakes to Avoid - in your video work. This video is directed at filmmakers and
begins with this nugget: "The hard part is that color grading takes years to master. It's a really hard area to get really good at." (fstoppers.com)
- Art of the Manual White Balance - color correcting
shots that were never properly white balanced on set has become standard operating procedure for the colorist. Art Adams shares why you can't just white balance the camera. You also need to white balance your lights. Great stuff. (provideocoalition.com)
- Blinded by Color Science - "the problem arises not with the existence of the term color science, but with its casual hijacking." We ran this piece a year ago, but as our industry transitions into wide gamut color spaces, this is a good one to re-read. (endcrawl.com)
- Where should a look begin? - "Look back at all the frames in this post so far and ask yourself where you think these colour schemes have come from; do they look like something that have been created in the DI, or mostly put in place before the cameras ever started rolling?" Precisely. (samgilling.com via Marc Wielage)
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Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! We'll see you next week. Happy Grading! 13,050'ish Stories Shared
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The Book Shelf- Color Correction Handbook, Updated - Alexis Van Hurkman has updated his Color Correction Handbook, which has set the standard for learning all things color correction. (amazon.com)
- Color Correction Look Book - This is the second part of the Color Correction Handbook, exploring the creative techniques for over 200 different visual looks. A sort-of recipe book for colorists. (amazon.com)
- The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction - Read how a dozen different colorists grade the same footage with the same gear, differently. A fantastic approach to learning the craft of color grading by Steve Hullfish. (amazon.com)
- Color Grading with Avid and Symphony - Written for version 6. Fully applicable to version 7. I was a contributor. (amazon.com)
- Digital Cinematography: Fundamentals,
Tools, Techniques and Workflows - Don't let the title fool you. I'm only a third way through this book and its explanations of how digital images are recorded, sampled and viewed is essential knowledge for anyone who's craft intersects with digital images. Not light reading. But not filled with math either. I highly recommend this
book. (amazon.com)
Have a book you think should be in this list? Reply to this email and let me know!
FCC Disclaimer: Links in this email to Amazon.com, B&H Photo, or ToolFarm are Affiliate links that help support the TaoOfColor.com. FSI is a paid sponsor. Tao of Color, Inc. is part owner of MixingLight.com—which
is a sponsor. BlackMagic Design is sometimes a client.
We thank you for your support.
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Managing Editor:
Jim Wicks, CSI Co-Founder jim@jimwicks.com
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Published by:
Patrick Inhofer, CSI
Colorist, Coach: TaoOfColor.com | MixingLight.com patrick@taoofcolor.com
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