Removing the guesswork from grading

Hi Folks,
I am new to color grading and need some help to overcome repeat trial and error fails and attempting flukes. I split a clip into two and graded one. Now I am trying to grade the 2nd clip to exactly match the 1st. However I am struggling to make that exact match.

I am attaching the scopes of each clip and would like some tips of what exactly to adjust from the lift gamma and gain to have the clip 2 histogram exactly match the scope of clip 1. After hours of trying I am exhausted.

clip2.png (325.6 KiB) Viewed 1398 times

clip1.png (338.95 KiB) Viewed 1398 times

Note: The 1st clip did not have nodes/layers and when I attempt to add the node to the 2nd one the grading goes way off. Is there a way to transfer the grades to a new node of the same clip and leave the original input node intact if I forget to originally?

Thanks
Rahul

Are the scenes identical? You can't expect an exact match if the scenes are different.

Are the scenes identical? You can't expect an exact match if the scenes are different.

Yes exactly - I only split the clip because I did not want footage from in between.

Rahul

Why don't you copy the grades from one clip to the other? In the color screen, left click on the clip that is to receive the grade and then middle-click on the scene that contains the grades you want to transfer. Job done.

Why don't you copy the grades from one clip to the other? In the color screen, left click on the clip that is to receive the grade and then middle-click on the scene that contains the grades you want to transfer. Job done.

I tried that, unfortunately doesn't work. (see my edited original post)

Thanks
Rahul

Hi Rahul,
Both of us are in a quite similar position, as I’m also a fairly beginner to color grading. It took me a while to come to the conclusion that the best and fastest way is to learn color grading systematically.
One can start with free available resources. One of them is ‘Goat’s Eyes View’ channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/goatseyeviewUK. Though it deals with version 12 and 12.5 of DaVinci Resolve, the basics of editing and color grading haven’t changed much between versions.
Another one is Blackmagic Design training video ‘The Art of Color Grading’: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/suppor ... c9ed631395.
Those two free resources are good as a starter, but do not replace methodological learning. For that I’d recommend Ripple Training training videos on Resolve: https://www.rippletraining.com/product- ... ning-path/. If you want to learn only about color grading, the following tutorial, 'Advanced Color Grading in DaVinci Resolve 15' ($129.00) will do: https://www.rippletraining.com/products ... esolve-15/.
Also, a highly recommended book is ‘Color Correction Handbook’ by Alexis Van Hurkman (who originally wrote the DaVinci Resolve manual): https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction ... 0321929667.
All the best and good luck.

Why not the free official book on color grading from Black Magic? The PDF is on the training web page, and a link to the project material is in the text.

Time and experience will give you the tools necessary to match shots. I don't think there's an easy way beyond trying and failing. Do that a few thousand times, and eventually you'll learn the methods that work, and throw out the ones that don't work.

I generally will try the first correction, and if that doesn't work, I'll try to trim that and compare the results to stills to see if the levels are reasonable. I use both the monitor and the scopes to judge whether the match works or not. Often you need to see the shots moving in a series of shots to really judge if they match in terms of telling a story; sometimes a precise technical match doesn't work as well as a subjective match that helps make the edit work. Also note that sometimes, power windows and other techniques are necessary to match the shots, going beyond just normal lift/gamma/gain. Figuring out what needs to catch the viewer's eye is key.

I split a clip into two and graded one. Now I am trying to grade the 2nd clip to exactly match the 1st.

Make the first clip longer so that it includes the second part of the clip.
Now split the clip again.

If the material is different in the first part and the second part and you want to match that up you do NOT want to try to have the scopes match exactly, range-wise yes but not in details, that would be impossible.
Instead, you should focus on having the same exposure and color look.

Just grab a still on the graded one. Create a new node in the second clip and paste the still to the new node. It should paste the grade.

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Don't match using the scopes, use your eyes and only use the scopes when you are doing the fine tuning. The scopes very rarely match exactly due to movement in the shot. If the middle click action is not copying the grade then I suspect there is something wrong there. Try grabbing a still from the graded clip to a new still gallery and then select the second clip on the timeline, go back to the gallery, right click on the gallery clip and choose "Apply grade..." If that doesn't work I would seek out some tutorials.

Grabbing stills and appending nodes did not work. Nor did repeat attempts at eyeballing and tweaking the controls... However the advice to extend the duration of the clips worked like a charm!

Thanks everyone for helping out!

Cheers
Rahul