Color management

I'm just starting out in Resolve and trying to wrap my head around color management. I did the following test, but it doesn't make sense to me:

I created an image in Photoshop, assigned the sRGB profile to it, and saved it. I brought it into the Media Pool, rt-clicked, and set its Input Color Space to sRGB...then dragged it into the timeline.

So now in the Color Mgt dialogue, I set:

- Color Science: DaVinci YRGB Color Managed
- Automatic color mgt checked
- Color Proc. Mode: SDR
- Output Color Space: Rec.709

With these settings, the image looks slightly washed out - especially in the dark colors. If I turn color mgt OFF, the image looks fine - i.e. exactly as in Photoshop. What's going on here...shouldn't the image look wrong (due to mismatched profiles) with color mgt OFF, and correct with it ON? Why is it doing the opposite?

What's going on here...shouldn't the image look wrong (due to mismatched profiles) with color mgt OFF, and correct with it ON? Why is it doing the opposite?

No, it's the opposite. Resolve's viewer is not color managed by default like in Photoshop. So using color management is only doing the work on the data, not back to your monitor.

You can enable monitor profiles if you're on a Mac, you can't do this on Windows.

And the reason why it changes is because you turn sRGB data into rec709 data which has different gamma curve, thus the slightly changing look.

Okay, so another question...here's the situation:

- I'm working on a consumer grade monitor (so sRGB)

- I'm working with images that I've rendered out of 3ds Max and/or created in Photoshop (working color space in Photoshop is sRGB)

- Colors are looking correct in Resolve as long as color mgt is turned off

- Delivery format will be MP4 (h264) for now, to be uploaded to Youtube

-At some point I'll also need to export as 16 bit TIFFs to have made into a DCP

So, given the straight sRGB workflow, do I even need to use color management at all? Is this just a case of "if it looks right it is right", or am I missing a trick?

So, given the straight sRGB workflow, do I even need to use color management at all? Is this just a case of "if it looks right it is right", or am I missing a trick?

It "might" work, but how do you know you can trust the monitor? Without calibration and without color management (separating the monitor from the OS), this can go off the rails very easily. Even worse for theatrical DCPs, which use a completely different color space / gamma space and environment. Display-referred color management can work if everything is perfect and you can absolutely trust it.

Read page 2756 of the Resolve 18.1 manual, "Limitations When Grading With the Viewer on a Computer Display." This explains why it's unwise to try to use a computer display for final color correction. The same problem also exists with the "Clean Feed" output, since it's not color managed.

Don't try to make judgements on uncalibrated GUI displays. That will lead down a perilous road of pain and suffering... I think even more so with uncalibrated XDR displays. And if you do look at anything in the GUI display, don't compare it to what you see in Resolve.

Steve Shaw of LightIllusion has a good essay on the importance of using grading displays for judging color:

https://www.lightillusion.com/grading_displays.html

And another on the importance of calibration:

http://www.lightillusion.com/why_calibrate.html

Blackmagic has a tutorial video on Color Management on this link (towards the end of the page):

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... e/training

and there are numerous videos on "Resolve 18 Color Management" on YouTube.

Thanks, all, for the info.

I'm checking out those links, Marc...I'm sure I'll have more questions!