Blackmagic Forum

I'm not sure if what I've been doing makes much sense.

When color correcting I've found myself using the same nodes repeatedly, but not the same corrections.

Here's what I've done to speed up my CC work.

1. I have a PowerGrade Saved under the Gallery that has my common nodes all labeled but no corrections applied. At the end of the nodes, I have a few nodes with effects that I normally will use in all (or many) of my shots (glow/LUT/vignette). When I saved the grade these are disabled so I start coloring without any of these effect nodes active.

This is what the current clip looks like after I apply the power grade:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Mp9MB5LbfZEnEuxEA (sorry, I'm not sure how to embed a photo.)


2. I select my hero shot and then apply the PowerGrade to it.

3. I change any effect nodes that I want to adjust on multiple shots to shared nodes. (I've found that if I try to save a PowerGrade with a shared node in it, that it ended up making a new shared node every time I used the power grade.)

4. I save the current shot as a Still in the project. I can then apply this grade to every shot all at once, or as I start grading the node.

I've not seen other color graders doing this, so it makes me wonder if I may be making this more complicated than it needs to be. My main problem with how I was grading is that I was adding nodes and not labeling them, so when I went back to make adjustments, I had to try to figure out what I was looking at.

Am I crazy to start a project this way?

Yes, I know quite a few LA colorists that use a Fixed Node Structure, so they already have nodes pre-labeled and loaded with a specific function (like a key or a window or a vignette or a clip). Every shot in the entire project gets the same node structure, and you only turn on and adjust the actual functions you need.

Here is one Mark Todd Osborne showed some years ago on noted DP Shane Hurlbutt's website:


https://www.thehurlblog.com/director-of ... -we-color/

I use a variation of this method, and I also have about 100 PowerGrades saved, some of which I use for specialized looks as a Post-Clip grade, or I have a specific function (like a tint or an OFX plug) that I can drag on to an unused node as needed.

I also have a half-dozen different kinds of Fixed Node Structures I use depending on the complexity of the project -- some simple, some fairly involved. And every project invites some new twist I hadn't thought of before, so it's an ongoing process.

Thanks for the response!

I've been mostly experimenting on how to best speed up my color grading.

The scariest part from the Mark Todd Osborne blog post is where he mentions having a client sitting with him for 8-10 hours a day.