Denver killed it! In a good way. #2 - The fact that he went ahead and did every single shot, with minimal nodes and ultra clean keys was the difference maker.
When I heard his voice, I was like, hey, this is the color grading centre guy, I learn how to color grade from him! Recommend everyone who’s into color grading to check out his course. I tried other color grading course as well but his course is the easiest one to understand and learn from.
color graders are like the audio mixers of video production, wildly underrated/underrepresented, and most consumers don't even know they exist, but the incredible and specialized work they do is what gives the final thing the professional touch that we all see and go "that's some good shit right there" It's incredible to see masters of their craft at work, I'll never get tired of humans
It would have been really helpful to compare the final results side by side. This format made it very difficult to choose. That said, although I liked the contrast of on the denim shots of #2, I would definitely lean more towards #4 for the overall look and super clean/sharp skin tones.
4 did an incredible job correcting the initial flaws in the footage. And to me, that made a bigger difference in the final image than the more minute things the other artists were able to accomplish.
And most importantly, he didn't ball out on qualifiers and windows - that are prone to easily break an image and cost time to ripple across shots - like the others did.
I noticed that he clipped the specular highlights quite a bit. The luminance on the white jacket is much higher than anything else in the scene, almost matching the actual light source. Maybe if he graded the whole scene, I would be able to see and appreciate how the look ties it all together.
I tried my hand at this. As someone fairly new to the color correction side of editing, I think this was a great exercise and lesson, Thanks for making the test available to the public, and thanks for this amazing video!
@X D From these comments, yours is actually on point. To add to this and I think you would agree; need log-like footage or raw footage. Need to get the specs from DP from what camera it was shot for proper color management pipeline with gamma and gamut transform to working color space. I tried this and made it corrected with 3 parallel nodes with custom curves. Not a hard task if you just try to counter what camera did. Curves curves.
@X D Also, they are youtubers in the end. They need to make them selves "a spectalcle" for ppl to be amazed at. Adding extra to a correction will make them stand out more. But it was not the assingment, just like you pointed out. :)
#2 -- for a couple of reasons. First, the final tone matches the mood of the shoot location's attributes: dramatic, dark, a little "secretive." Secondly, he actually graded the other clips accordingly. The other contestants also did a bang on job, too, but the standout is #2.
Dang those are all really good! I liked the one by Hopkins best because it looks neutral (to me). Everyone else made it look "cinematic" shifting into blue-yellow contrasts. If Hopkins wanted to he could easily set up a filter on top of his footage that achieves the same look as the other guys, but it wouldn't work the other way around for them. He really cleaned up the footage and made it ready for styling it. And as I understood it the challenge was to "save the footage"
Agreed - I felt Hopkins' grade had the most "natural"/neutral look, and could easily then have been tuned further into the "Dark Knight"-style or any other desired look. I'm sure the other guys could do the same, but I felt like he nailed the spirit of the challenge. Also, beyond the main challenge, I really appreciated how understandable and accessible his breakdown felt.
4, because he gets the spirit of the scene, not just grading this like any other scene. He’s done his homework before diving in and that’s what efficiency and accuracy is about.
Like, what color grade tutorial can be more helpful than this: show how 4 talented colorists attack a crazy problem in their own way. THANK YOU for this!!
4 for me. I love how details feel soft and balanced. Others were too punchy for me. I also like 3rd artists aproach to color. I just prefer cyan over blue.
An opinion from someone who knows nothing about coloring, I prefered #2's more detailed version that the softer version because it represents the texture of the denim jacket as it is
#3. Really liked Denvers contrasty approach, but Hopkins made the colorgrade that works on every smartphone well and that‘s key for an advertisement many people on different devices should enjoy.
I vote for #2 - The systematic approach to fixing the footage by using the least amount of nodes. Node organization is top-notch. Color grading is also expression - the others did great but #2 added a look that works for the shot. Denim is woven and so the textures needed to pop out. The grungy look made for a great contrast to the "clinical" studio setting. It made the most statement out of the rest IMO. As someone studying color grading this video is great!
I think #4. Don't think I can do a better job yet, but these kind of videos really help with understanding that most things can be done in so many different ways when it comes to color grading. It gave me a feeling of freedom. One of my favourite videos from you Josh!
#1 looks super professional super well balanced! He brought the sealing down and has the smoothest highlight rolloff which I like. But the others are awesome too. Great video!
Maaaan, this is a masterclass in one video! I haven't really looked, but without research, I can already imagine this as someone's niche on RUclips: taking bad footage and fixing it. We learn a lot from bad situations than anything, so this is the most ideal type of tutorial. My philosophy is, if you can make shitty footage/images look good (or when it comes to music, if you can make a song sound good on crappy earphones), then when you have higher quality options, you're UNSTOPPABLE! It's like training with weights!
#1 for sure. Focused on not only balancing the shot, but giving it character as well. He was also able to keep things much more simple than the other colorists, which shows he is a true professional.
#4 by far what the hell. No power windows, super clean look and he can apply it over the whole length of the clips. Skin tones on that grade look way healthier than the others.
# 2 - Even though I consider Denver a friend of mine. I thought that he pulled it together the best. Although the others were pretty good. The amount of nodes shouldn't be a good thing or bad, the finished grade is the most important. I am surprised that none of them talked about viewer eye trace and how they were guiding the viewer's eyes. I think on the wide shots I would have pumped some parallel nodes with some directional light. Especially in a batcave, the light needs to come from somewhere. Obviously you can't just draw lighting in, but done just right, you wouldn't notice, but it would look more natural.
watching this makes me realize how similar color grading is to my job as an audio mixing engineer. From the terminology used, to the techniques used, even to the interface design and the way the info is displayed. loved the vid very eye opening.
It's interesting how the color adjustment curves remind me of an EQ interface. There are so many parallels between visual art, music and even flavor balance/contrast in cooking, etc.
I do both and yeah it was incredibly easy to start with photoshop doing photo manips, move to a DAW and do mixing etc, and now to video editing doing transitions and color correction, it all flows together! Happy mixing my engineer brutha!
The cleanliness and textures from Hopkins (#3) give a nice edge/bite without going overboard on the contrast. He's my pick! They're all amazing though, and the approaches being so different is encouraging for beginners who may have different approaches to the same subject.
#2. I love his procedure. He seems to be very focused on the core issues, and attacks them straight on. He also finds those core issues not from what he sees, but what data shows him. Which may give him a more precise solution, over if he had looked at the color in the clip with his own eyes
Exactly like a real pro colorist would do. In just two nodes corrected the color shift properly without making two dozen secondary corrections with hue curves and qualifiers.
Denver's version is the best as for me. I would like to watch more colorists battles! Thank you PS: #4 Node structure is absolute mess. It's good for stills, but if you'll try grade feature film with such a node structure ... you'll die after it:)
Yo, seriously give these guys some love! And if you want to follow along you can download the assets here, and give it a shot! Don't forget to comment who you like the best! makeartnow.sellfy.store/p/save-the-skin-tones-challenge/ Colorist #1 instagram.com/amartincolor/ Colorist #2 instagram.com/colorgrading/ Colorist #3 instagram.com/jadonfilms.color/ Colorist #4 instagram.com/willmannering/ One last thing, I really have been using Canva for designing advertisements stuff for Orbit, its extremely helpful, been blown away at how fast and easy it is making products stuff---- Canva wants me to tell you about the video editing portion of the site, but honestly building well designed poster boards and advertisments squares is where its at, 100% Here's the MAKE ART NOW 45 a day free trial -- Worth checking out Canva.Me/makeartnow
Should have linked to their You Tubes so anyone could follow. I know Denver has a great channel as I've been a subscriber for years but would be good to see if the others have. Great stuff by all of them!
Really cool and informative to give a look into different workflows like this. I do have one remark concerning Denver's advice on desaturating the high's and low's using the luma vs saturation curve. As the head of colors cience at Arri in germany once told me: A high dynamic range image always has some color in both the high and low ranges. It's bad practise in many cases to desaturate these completely as it creates unrealistic looking images (unless this is what you want). You are more likely to get more pleasing results if you balance your high and low ranges using primary or log wheels while looking at your scopes. This is however a more tedious job. Kind regards from a pro colorist in the Netherlands.
#2 Denver Riddle is my choice. #1 is the runner up. What I would do is dial back the contrast a bit on Denver's look, just a smidge. And here's an idea. Do part 2 and invite: Waqas Qazi / Dado Valentic (colour training) / Cullen Kelly / Darren Mostyn. That would be amazing. 💯
I totally agree...Invite Qaz...just to see what he can do for fun, as his take is not only HDR-ready and nondestructive, but it can be adjusted to any style later, etc.
At first I thought there was a bit too much contrast in Will's rendition, but the end result compared to the other 3 looks so clean, crisp and simple. Great stuff!
I don't know what 90% of these terms are and this video was just recommended to me, but I always appreciate people taking time to explain their workflows.
Maaan it's a hard decision between 2 & 4 for me, but I think Will's final grade in that scene is my favorite. Huge kudos to Denver for editing all the shots, though!
Wow, they are all so good but yet so different! I didn't expect that. I flipped between them and it ended up between Denver and Will, with my final tip to Will, #4, came down to the depth, consistency and clarity of the ceiling across the scenes. All were great in their own way! Nice, guys!
Don't know if it's already been decided or not, but I've gotta cast my vote for #4. So clean, went the extra mile going for the Dark Knight look, used soften and glow nodes which make things look polished to me, and the skin tones look amazing.
This is on e of those difficult decisions where no matter who you choose their is an argument for one or more of the others to win... That being said, for me its between Denver Riddle and Will Mannering... I have to go with Denver for the win here. PS; love the simplicity and organization that hopkins brought to the table and Alex Martin bringing that old school effeciancyand quality! Like I said, this was a tough one.
My vote is for #1 because I just liked the workflow and the end result, but I’ve got the deuteron color blindness so I’m not seeing everything ya’ll are seeing. It’s as fascinating as it is frustrating. Thanks for the great content!
this stuff is crazy, i edit in Davinci Resolve and the only reason i go into the color tab is to bump up the highlights when it's too dark. it hurts my brain watching this tuff, good stuff, I vote 1234
1 and 3 end up looking the best, but #2 went the extra mile and did every scene. 2 and 4 are too heavy on the contrast IMO. Still, I think its a toss up between the final product actually looking the best and making the jacket look good while also staying realistic. So #1 gets my vote, with #3 close behind.
#4 - Will Mannering!! Everyone did such a great job but Will was my favourite. He gave a quick run through on what he did but that finish in my opinion is so sick!
man its tough. seeing the results back to back at the end im torn. My 1st thought was Denver had it but i see too much color shift in the lights. If he would've corrected them he would be my pick. Will Mannering did a great job with the Batman look but i see 2 pretty visibles rectangle blobs moving in the darkness unfortunately. I think they're power windows. My pick goes to #3. Mr Hopkins. Really clean and precise correction and grade. He got this imo. Good job to everyone! This is an incredible source of info being able to see a real life problem and how each of them approched it differently. Seeing their different techniques. I took something from everyone of them! Thanks a bunch.
Wow this is so tough to choose between all of them. #2 and #4 definitely stood out to me but so little separates them. I liked what Will did with the look so #4 it is.
I’ve watched the final clip of all their finished products 12x now. Three is the one more me. Thank you for the crash course. Learned so much so quickly.
I took a shot at the footage and honestly, the global offset wheel in the HDR panel and a minor hue rotation was enough to get to 90% of the balance for every shot. All of the skintone hue variance was retained and I barely had to touch secondaries for the whole set of clips. Five nodes max. As long as you respect the color space you're in, the global balancing tools can do a vast amount of your balancing work with little effort.
Seeing the difference and similarities in the workflow of all the color graders is really interesting to me. It’s cool to see people do something so similar in such a different way.
I think #1 was the nicest to look at. All the other color grades felt fatiguing in a way with too much contrast, but #1’s color grade just felt so much more pleasing to look at.
I'm not even close to understanding about color grading, but the result #2 got feels more realistic to me, rather than looking "cinematic" or pleasant. The skin tones are incredibly defined and distinguishable, which is really important when you remember about how blood subtly affects the skin and about subsurface scattering :)
This video is very helpful to get into the various approaches one can use as a colorist. It was really hard to choose from all of the grades, because each one of them have their pros and cons. I'll vote for #1 as it looks the cleanest in the light rolloffs.
#2 Denver Riddle killed it - I think enjoying high-contrast work is a preference, but what really got me was the simplicity and cohesiveness of his work. He clearly knows what he's doing and doesn't waste time trying to flex when it yields diminishing returns.
I vote #3, Hopkins. As somebody who knows nothing about color, Hopkins' work was the only one that didn't give me, and I hope I don't sound dumb/ignorant for saying this, "horror hospital" vibes. The teal and the dark walls lowkey make me scared because they remind me again of dark hospitals in horror films; Hopkins was the only one that made it blue-ish instead of teal, and it looked the most natural.
#1 gets my vote. #1’s process and workflow was the best IMO with #3’s being a close second, and #2’s workflow drove me crazy for some reason. #2 and #4 were a bit too heavy on the contrast.
I am not even a designer, never used Resolve, but still enjoyed this. I'd go with the "staightforwardness" of #2 for getting the job done, but with a special award going to #4 who clearly hustled his way through extensive research and "creative throughness".
I gotta throw my vote in with #4. Dude nailed the look of the scene from the film in addition to fixing something that I would have wagered was beyond salvageable.
#4 was my favorite. Love the final look. But you can tell some of the other colorists kept their node trees a bit cleaner haha. #2 had a bit too much contrast for my personal taste.
This is crazy to me. The only thing I have ever been able to learn so far is basic color correction in Premiere. I would love to get into more intense stuff like this!
WOW. Tough choice between #2 and #4. Will had the most movie-looking outcome. He needs to teach us how to BALANCE so perfectly! That single node itself was Spot On! and the idea of stealing the lut info from IMDB! EPIC! But Denver Riddle! What a workflow there. That was IMO the perfect way to tackle this shot, and not too many nodes as well. Would love to understand the colorspace transform and lut selection. As in why transform exactly to cineon and why exactly that lut. I've worked on a hard-to-handle footage, I'm not a colorist, so I had to read resolve manuals and many YT tutorials, and my workflow that time was logicaly similar to Denver. I now believe this workflow can handle most bad shots.
Oh my, I'm split between Denver and Will... Denver had a SUPER clean setup. Not only his organization but the end result had such a professional look to it. The image did not break at all. I felt like he did magic with the footage. But also, Will got a really nice end result. It was the one that most resembled Batman's look and feel. Ugghhhhh Alright... Denver it is! #2 got my vote.
#4 is easiest on the eyes to me and gives the sense to the viewer of not immediately thinking, "how was this graded?" while also making sure to stylize the footage. Good stuff!
Mane I thought I was the only one thinking this!! I would have loved to see him take this on - I don't have his course but I will be buying Denver's if he wins!!
#3 Hopkins got most realistic results imo. Skin tones are healthy looking, Blue shirts are the right blue, and most importantly, nothing's blown out! All the other artist had this issue with white and skin tone.
OMG 😱😱😱 I hope no real colorist will see that horrible work from these guys. I had some hopes with the #2 guy, and then he started using the Lum vs Sat to clean the highlights and shadows...
@@troywhite8980 To be clear, I like the content of these guys and I never said I was "superior". (Superiority is such a shitty concept to be honest, especially in art) And I'm pretty sure these guys got way more work than me in color grading. Sorry if my comment sounds bad. To be more precise, I think their workflows are pretty bad and not professional. I think the #2 guy is the more professional of all, except the part when he uses the Lum vs Sat to clean the shadows and highlights. It's an "easy trick" known by beginner colorists, but doing that you lose all the color data in these area. A LOG adjustement (with custom High Range and Low range) would have been a better way to do it as it keep way more information.
The best colour grading tutorial that they don't even teach you at film school Awesome content and also one of it's kind For me why it is best because it teaches you approach one problem from multiple perspective and from different viewing angles [ different colour artists are showing their skills ]
That was awesome. I learned so much from this video (though I'll need to watch it a few more times). They all looked amazing, but I think #2, Denver was the tip top. I loved how he added that texture effect (I didn't even know it's in Resolve). Also, it would be cool to see a BTS on how you shot this video and how the colors got so... creative in the first place
EVERY ONE OF THEM DESERVES IT. But for the sake of the give away I think that #1 fixed some of those really minute details that the others didn’t see such as the color banding in the lights and the floor.
They were all quite good, but #2 has my vote. After watching the side-by-side segment near the end several times, I felt his grading achieved the delicate balance between stylistic and realistic. Plus, he graded/matched the whole sequence.
Denver killed it! In a good way. #2 - The fact that he went ahead and did every single shot, with minimal nodes and ultra clean keys was the difference maker.
When I heard his voice, I was like, hey, this is the color grading centre guy, I learn how to color grade from him! Recommend everyone who’s into color grading to check out his course. I tried other color grading course as well but his course is the easiest one to understand and learn from.
Denver’s work was concise and clean. Such a pro.
@N W calm down
I bought Denver's course about 3 years ago. Well worth the price of entry.
-Jason
@N W Shutup u r a nobody
color graders are like the audio mixers of video production, wildly underrated/underrepresented, and most consumers don't even know they exist, but the incredible and specialized work they do is what gives the final thing the professional touch that we all see and go "that's some good shit right there"
It's incredible to see masters of their craft at work, I'll never get tired of humans
Are you an alien? 😳
AI will definitely replace them in a short time. #TechShit
It would have been really helpful to compare the final results side by side. This format made it very difficult to choose. That said, although I liked the contrast of on the denim shots of #2, I would definitely lean more towards #4 for the overall look and super clean/sharp skin tones.
4 did an incredible job correcting the initial flaws in the footage. And to me, that made a bigger difference in the final image than the more minute things the other artists were able to accomplish.
Dang, #4 looks so good. He's got a great eye.
And most importantly, he didn't ball out on qualifiers and windows - that are prone to easily break an image and cost time to ripple across shots - like the others did.
Well, the skin tone looked very orange though, and lots of unnatural oversaturated blues on the floor and in the ceiling.
I noticed that he clipped the specular highlights quite a bit. The luminance on the white jacket is much higher than anything else in the scene, almost matching the actual light source. Maybe if he graded the whole scene, I would be able to see and appreciate how the look ties it all together.
I tried my hand at this. As someone fairly new to the color correction side of editing, I think this was a great exercise and lesson, Thanks for making the test available to the public, and thanks for this amazing video!
I also tried your hand at this. Now I'm thinking you could try easing off on the caffeine a little!
all of those guys are incredibly skilled 💪 my pers fav was #2
@N W calm down lol
@X D From these comments, yours is actually on point. To add to this and I think you would agree; need log-like footage or raw footage. Need to get the specs from DP from what camera it was shot for proper color management pipeline with gamma and gamut transform to working color space.
I tried this and made it corrected with 3 parallel nodes with custom curves. Not a hard task if you just try to counter what camera did. Curves curves.
@X D Also, they are youtubers in the end. They need to make them selves "a spectalcle" for ppl to be amazed at. Adding extra to a correction will make them stand out more. But it was not the assingment, just like you pointed out. :)
#2 -- for a couple of reasons. First, the final tone matches the mood of the shoot location's attributes: dramatic, dark, a little "secretive." Secondly, he actually graded the other clips accordingly. The other contestants also did a bang on job, too, but the standout is #2.
Got to give it to #2, the fact he treated individually both color profiles and the overall cleanness of his final image... he's got my vote
Dang those are all really good! I liked the one by Hopkins best because it looks neutral (to me). Everyone else made it look "cinematic" shifting into blue-yellow contrasts. If Hopkins wanted to he could easily set up a filter on top of his footage that achieves the same look as the other guys, but it wouldn't work the other way around for them. He really cleaned up the footage and made it ready for styling it. And as I understood it the challenge was to "save the footage"
Agreed - I felt Hopkins' grade had the most "natural"/neutral look, and could easily then have been tuned further into the "Dark Knight"-style or any other desired look. I'm sure the other guys could do the same, but I felt like he nailed the spirit of the challenge. Also, beyond the main challenge, I really appreciated how understandable and accessible his breakdown felt.
4, because he gets the spirit of the scene, not just grading this like any other scene. He’s done his homework before diving in and that’s what efficiency and accuracy is about.
Both #2 & #4 used the Kodak 2383 lut as the grade look. #2 may have done the same research but just didn't draw emphasis on to it.
Like, what color grade tutorial can be more helpful than this: show how 4 talented colorists attack a crazy problem in their own way. THANK YOU for this!!
4 for me. I love how details feel soft and balanced. Others were too punchy for me. I also like 3rd artists aproach to color. I just prefer cyan over blue.
An opinion from someone who knows nothing about coloring, I prefered #2's more detailed version that the softer version because it represents the texture of the denim jacket as it is
#3 gets my vote. Love the final look as well as how organized his workflow is.
Colorist #2, Denver was the best. It shows that he's one of those people who can handle anything. Also, his style of explaining is very watchable.
#3. Really liked Denvers contrasty approach, but Hopkins made the colorgrade that works on every smartphone well and that‘s key for an advertisement many people on different devices should enjoy.
For me also the best one, although it is leaning a little on the blue side. Still the overall look very nice!
Will aced it 🎯 I have to give it to #4
You're too humble. It's okay you can bite for yourself buddy. Bahahah. You both smashed it.
this guy is awesome, whatched loads of his videos - useful and recommended"
Color Grading Central- that seems to ring a few bells.
You did a great job Denver, but I agree #4 had a smidge more character.
In terms of technical accuracy, and not over complicating it, you take the cake brother.
I vote for #2 - The systematic approach to fixing the footage by using the least amount of nodes. Node organization is top-notch.
Color grading is also expression - the others did great but #2 added a look that works for the shot. Denim is woven and so the textures needed to pop out. The grungy look made for a great contrast to the "clinical" studio setting. It made the most statement out of the rest IMO. As someone studying color grading this video is great!
I think #4. Don't think I can do a better job yet, but these kind of videos really help with understanding that most things can be done in so many different ways when it comes to color grading. It gave me a feeling of freedom. One of my favourite videos from you Josh!
#2. He graded in broad strokes and set himself up to make the job more efficient when grading the other clips in the scene.
#1 looks super professional super well balanced! He brought the sealing down and has the smoothest highlight rolloff which I like. But the others are awesome too. Great video!
Maaaan, this is a masterclass in one video!
I haven't really looked, but without research, I can already imagine this as someone's niche on RUclips: taking bad footage and fixing it. We learn a lot from bad situations than anything, so this is the most ideal type of tutorial.
My philosophy is, if you can make shitty footage/images look good (or when it comes to music, if you can make a song sound good on crappy earphones), then when you have higher quality options, you're UNSTOPPABLE! It's like training with weights!
Well said!👏
#1 for sure. Focused on not only balancing the shot, but giving it character as well. He was also able to keep things much more simple than the other colorists, which shows he is a true professional.
Exactly. It's not about a million nodes
I liked his approach. It was a bit less technical and more intuitive.
I actually disagree because he used for the most part masks which are not the best for color grading especially when you have to edit multiple clips
#4 by far what the hell. No power windows, super clean look and he can apply it over the whole length of the clips. Skin tones on that grade look way healthier than the others.
# 2 - Even though I consider Denver a friend of mine. I thought that he pulled it together the best. Although the others were pretty good.
The amount of nodes shouldn't be a good thing or bad, the finished grade is the most important. I am surprised that none of them talked about viewer eye trace and how they were guiding the viewer's eyes. I think on the wide shots I would have pumped some parallel nodes with some directional light. Especially in a batcave, the light needs to come from somewhere. Obviously you can't just draw lighting in, but done just right, you wouldn't notice, but it would look more natural.
watching this makes me realize how similar color grading is to my job as an audio mixing engineer. From the terminology used, to the techniques used, even to the interface design and the way the info is displayed. loved the vid very eye opening.
It's interesting how the color adjustment curves remind me of an EQ interface. There are so many parallels between visual art, music and even flavor balance/contrast in cooking, etc.
@@ryo-kai8587 fr i thought damn this look just like a digital eq
I do both and yeah it was incredibly easy to start with photoshop doing photo manips, move to a DAW and do mixing etc, and now to video editing doing transitions and color correction, it all flows together! Happy mixing my engineer brutha!
@@DruNature u too! have a great creative 2022!
The cleanliness and textures from Hopkins (#3) give a nice edge/bite without going overboard on the contrast. He's my pick!
They're all amazing though, and the approaches being so different is encouraging for beginners who may have different approaches to the same subject.
This is what "influencers" should be doing. Such creative approaches to the project. Well done!
#2. I love his procedure. He seems to be very focused on the core issues, and attacks them straight on. He also finds those core issues not from what he sees, but what data shows him. Which may give him a more precise solution, over if he had looked at the color in the clip with his own eyes
Exactly like a real pro colorist would do. In just two nodes corrected the color shift properly without making two dozen secondary corrections with hue curves and qualifiers.
Denver's version is the best as for me. I would like to watch more colorists battles! Thank you PS: #4 Node structure is absolute mess. It's good for stills, but if you'll try grade feature film with such a node structure ... you'll die after it:)
All four are undeniably masters at coloring. My vote is for 1, 2, 3, and 4 because if I had to choose one I'd be scrubbing back and forth for a while
#2 this guy works at scale, so clean and well done.
Yo, seriously give these guys some love! And if you want to follow along you can download the assets here, and give it a shot! Don't forget to comment who you like the best!
makeartnow.sellfy.store/p/save-the-skin-tones-challenge/
Colorist #1 instagram.com/amartincolor/
Colorist #2 instagram.com/colorgrading/
Colorist #3 instagram.com/jadonfilms.color/
Colorist #4 instagram.com/willmannering/
One last thing, I really have been using Canva for designing advertisements stuff for Orbit, its extremely helpful, been blown away at how fast and easy it is making products stuff---- Canva wants me to tell you about the video editing portion of the site, but honestly building well designed poster boards and advertisments squares is where its at, 100% Here's the MAKE ART NOW 45 a day free trial -- Worth checking out Canva.Me/makeartnow
Please make a poll, like straw poll or something? My pick is #2. He's a pro and it shows. Also does it as he explains it and it's very watchable.
I'm literally going to count comments. ;)
Should have linked to their You Tubes so anyone could follow. I know Denver has a great channel as I've been a subscriber for years but would be good to see if the others have. Great stuff by all of them!
@@AllTorque ruclips.net/user/colorgradingcentral
I think the right tool for the job is the new Color Wraper. Using the Color Wraper it takes about 5 minutes to fix these. One node per shot.
Really cool and informative to give a look into different workflows like this.
I do have one remark concerning Denver's advice on desaturating the high's and low's using the luma vs saturation curve.
As the head of colors cience at Arri in germany once told me: A high dynamic range image always has some color in both the high and low ranges.
It's bad practise in many cases to desaturate these completely as it creates unrealistic looking images (unless this is what you want).
You are more likely to get more pleasing results if you balance your high and low ranges using primary or log wheels while looking at your scopes.
This is however a more tedious job.
Kind regards from a pro colorist in the Netherlands.
#2 Denver Riddle is my choice. #1 is the runner up. What I would do is dial back the contrast a bit on Denver's look, just a smidge. And here's an idea. Do part 2 and invite: Waqas Qazi / Dado Valentic (colour training) / Cullen Kelly / Darren Mostyn. That would be amazing. 💯
I totally agree...Invite Qaz...just to see what he can do for fun, as his take is not only HDR-ready and nondestructive, but it can be adjusted to any style later, etc.
At first I thought there was a bit too much contrast in Will's rendition, but the end result compared to the other 3 looks so clean, crisp and simple. Great stuff!
Split the drone to 4. They all are great and each has his uniqueness. All of 4 are major pros!
I don't know what 90% of these terms are and this video was just recommended to me, but I always appreciate people taking time to explain their workflows.
Maaan it's a hard decision between 2 & 4 for me, but I think Will's final grade in that scene is my favorite. Huge kudos to Denver for editing all the shots, though!
Don’t do it
Honestly was pretty surprised you didn’t know about Denver prior!
But i know about rekoill
Honestly was pretty surprised to even see you here.
I've seen a lot of #2's videos online and he is a great color grader, but #4 takes the cake for me.
#4 Will has such a great approach to grading. Nice touch with the film specs and it's a very clean look.
I love #2 Denver's process, very clean and clearly explained step by step process, He is simply the master in colorgrading
#2 is best. You can always dial back the contrast. But his method is the most efficient and straight to the point.
Wow, they are all so good but yet so different! I didn't expect that. I flipped between them and it ended up between Denver and Will, with my final tip to Will, #4, came down to the depth, consistency and clarity of the ceiling across the scenes. All were great in their own way! Nice, guys!
Don't know if it's already been decided or not, but I've gotta cast my vote for #4. So clean, went the extra mile going for the Dark Knight look, used soften and glow nodes which make things look polished to me, and the skin tones look amazing.
Gotta give it to #4!
All these colorists came out with some solid grading processes but I think Will really nailed it the most.
This is on e of those difficult decisions where no matter who you choose their is an argument for one or more of the others to win... That being said, for me its between Denver Riddle and Will Mannering... I have to go with Denver for the win here. PS; love the simplicity and organization that hopkins brought to the table and Alex Martin bringing that old school effeciancyand quality! Like I said, this was a tough one.
My vote is for #1 because I just liked the workflow and the end result, but I’ve got the deuteron color blindness so I’m not seeing everything ya’ll are seeing. It’s as fascinating as it is frustrating. Thanks for the great content!
You just have to get into audio engineering and everyone will be like "How are you hearing that?" haha
@@RhodokTribesman I just received some glasses to help with the color blindness and it’s a game changer.
#4 - each were fantastic in their own right, but the vibe Will's color's brought simply felt right
Dude!!! Such a fun and insightful vid. Nice Josh
#2 as the final edit looks awesome and all shots match, Plus the workflow video was the most engaging to watch. #4 looked the most natural and clean.
this stuff is crazy, i edit in Davinci Resolve and the only reason i go into the color tab is to bump up the highlights when it's too dark. it hurts my brain watching this tuff, good stuff, I vote 1234
1 and 3 end up looking the best, but #2 went the extra mile and did every scene. 2 and 4 are too heavy on the contrast IMO. Still, I think its a toss up between the final product actually looking the best and making the jacket look good while also staying realistic. So #1 gets my vote, with #3 close behind.
Completely agree 👍 #1’s process and workflow was the best IMO, and #2’s workflow drove me crazy for some reason but still have a decent result.
#4 - Will Mannering!! Everyone did such a great job but Will was my favourite. He gave a quick run through on what he did but that finish in my opinion is so sick!
man its tough. seeing the results back to back at the end im torn.
My 1st thought was Denver had it but i see too much color shift in the lights. If he would've corrected them he would be my pick.
Will Mannering did a great job with the Batman look but i see 2 pretty visibles rectangle blobs moving in the darkness unfortunately. I think they're power windows.
My pick goes to #3. Mr Hopkins. Really clean and precise correction and grade. He got this imo.
Good job to everyone! This is an incredible source of info being able to see a real life problem and how each of them approched it differently. Seeing their different techniques. I took something from everyone of them! Thanks a bunch.
Guy #2 smashed it! I like that one the most.
Amazing to see 4 pros tackle the same problem in different ways. Great way to learn. Thanks for the video
Really great to see this challenge and get more insight how guys are doing it, my vote goes to #2 Denver although #4 is also great work for my taste.
Wow this is so tough to choose between all of them. #2 and #4 definitely stood out to me but so little separates them. I liked what Will did with the look so #4 it is.
I’ve watched the final clip of all their finished products 12x now. Three is the one more me. Thank you for the crash course. Learned so much so quickly.
I took a shot at the footage and honestly, the global offset wheel in the HDR panel and a minor hue rotation was enough to get to 90% of the balance for every shot. All of the skintone hue variance was retained and I barely had to touch secondaries for the whole set of clips. Five nodes max. As long as you respect the color space you're in, the global balancing tools can do a vast amount of your balancing work with little effort.
Seeing the difference and similarities in the workflow of all the color graders is really interesting to me. It’s cool to see people do something so similar in such a different way.
I think #1 was the nicest to look at. All the other color grades felt fatiguing in a way with too much contrast, but #1’s color grade just felt so much more pleasing to look at.
I'm not even close to understanding about color grading, but the result #2 got feels more realistic to me, rather than looking "cinematic" or pleasant. The skin tones are incredibly defined and distinguishable, which is really important when you remember about how blood subtly affects the skin and about subsurface scattering :)
This video is very helpful to get into the various approaches one can use as a colorist. It was really hard to choose from all of the grades, because each one of them have their pros and cons.
I'll vote for #1 as it looks the cleanest in the light rolloffs.
#2 Denver Riddle killed it - I think enjoying high-contrast work is a preference, but what really got me was the simplicity and cohesiveness of his work. He clearly knows what he's doing and doesn't waste time trying to flex when it yields diminishing returns.
Why did I missed that competion :D I vote for #2
I vote #3, Hopkins. As somebody who knows nothing about color, Hopkins' work was the only one that didn't give me, and I hope I don't sound dumb/ignorant for saying this, "horror hospital" vibes. The teal and the dark walls lowkey make me scared because they remind me again of dark hospitals in horror films; Hopkins was the only one that made it blue-ish instead of teal, and it looked the most natural.
#1 gets my vote.
#1’s process and workflow was the best IMO with #3’s being a close second, and #2’s workflow drove me crazy for some reason. #2 and #4 were a bit too heavy on the contrast.
I totally agree, that contrast was nuts! I thought the assignment was to white balance, not apply a theme.
#2 was definitely going for that Dark Knight, super deep, contrasty look
I am not even a designer, never used Resolve, but still enjoyed this. I'd go with the "staightforwardness" of #2 for getting the job done, but with a special award going to #4 who clearly hustled his way through extensive research and "creative throughness".
I gotta throw my vote in with #4. Dude nailed the look of the scene from the film in addition to fixing something that I would have wagered was beyond salvageable.
I think #2 should win. I loved everyone's unique approach to color grading. Great video!
#4 was my favorite. Love the final look. But you can tell some of the other colorists kept their node trees a bit cleaner haha. #2 had a bit too much contrast for my personal taste.
agree
It's great to see professionals at work. Please more of these contests, it's so much fun to watch and at the same time so inspiring!
This is crazy to me. The only thing I have ever been able to learn so far is basic color correction in Premiere. I would love to get into more intense stuff like this!
WOW. Tough choice between #2 and #4. Will had the most movie-looking outcome.
He needs to teach us how to BALANCE so perfectly! That single node itself was Spot On! and the idea of stealing the lut info from IMDB! EPIC!
But Denver Riddle! What a workflow there. That was IMO the perfect way to tackle this shot, and not too many nodes as well.
Would love to understand the colorspace transform and lut selection. As in why transform exactly to cineon and why exactly that lut.
I've worked on a hard-to-handle footage, I'm not a colorist, so I had to read resolve manuals and many YT tutorials, and my workflow that time was logicaly similar to Denver.
I now believe this workflow can handle most bad shots.
Yo, I would give a propeller to each!😂😂 They all did a great job. But. In the end, I would go with #2. Denver rocks!!
Oh my, I'm split between Denver and Will... Denver had a SUPER clean setup. Not only his organization but the end result had such a professional look to it. The image did not break at all. I felt like he did magic with the footage. But also, Will got a really nice end result. It was the one that most resembled Batman's look and feel. Ugghhhhh
Alright... Denver it is! #2 got my vote.
#4 is easiest on the eyes to me and gives the sense to the viewer of not immediately thinking, "how was this graded?" while also making sure to stylize the footage. Good stuff!
No. 4 for sure. Not too punchy in your face, clean and colors are well-balanced. Very pleasing to the eye.
It would be cool to see Waqas Qazi take a crack at this. Also love that you focused on colorist because I feel like it’s always overlooked
Mane I thought I was the only one thinking this!! I would have loved to see him take this on - I don't have his course but I will be buying Denver's if he wins!!
#3 Hopkins got most realistic results imo. Skin tones are healthy looking, Blue shirts are the right blue, and most importantly, nothing's blown out! All the other artist had this issue with white and skin tone.
This is voodoo. SHEEESH
For real, simply magic to me 😂
The #4 for sure!!!! Killed it totally bro, Will create the best ambiance with the color correction
Grade #1: 1:47
Grade #2: 5:41
Grade #3: 14:32
Grade #4: 15:06
Edit: #4 is the best imo
They've all created spectacular results! But I've got to say 2 and 4 really (as they might say) popped! particularly Will Mannerings!
All of them did a great job, but #4 pops out. Super nice.
They were all great but the execution of Denver #2 was mind blowing. I learned a lot from this video!
OMG 😱😱😱 I hope no real colorist will see that horrible work from these guys.
I had some hopes with the #2 guy, and then he started using the Lum vs Sat to clean the highlights and shadows...
Put your work on the line and let us all judge you if you think you're so superior! What an absolute asshole thing to say!
Second.
Ahah pretty intense comment but I understand what you mean. These guys should watch Juan Melara and Avery Peck tutorials
@@troywhite8980 To be clear, I like the content of these guys and I never said I was "superior". (Superiority is such a shitty concept to be honest, especially in art) And I'm pretty sure these guys got way more work than me in color grading.
Sorry if my comment sounds bad. To be more precise, I think their workflows are pretty bad and not professional.
I think the #2 guy is the more professional of all, except the part when he uses the Lum vs Sat to clean the shadows and highlights. It's an "easy trick" known by beginner colorists, but doing that you lose all the color data in these area. A LOG adjustement (with custom High Range and Low range) would have been a better way to do it as it keep way more information.
@@truecooper7970 My comment sounds like shit, I'm sorry for that guys. And Yes, thank you ! Too many few people know these guys.
The best colour grading tutorial that they don't even teach you at film school
Awesome content and also one of it's kind
For me why it is best because it teaches you approach one problem from multiple perspective and from different viewing angles [ different colour artists are showing their skills ]
#2 was the cleanest
At least 2 or 3 of them are Qazi viewers for sure.
That was awesome. I learned so much from this video (though I'll need to watch it a few more times). They all looked amazing, but I think #2, Denver was the tip top. I loved how he added that texture effect (I didn't even know it's in Resolve).
Also, it would be cool to see a BTS on how you shot this video and how the colors got so... creative in the first place
#2
I loved Denver's
But what really amazed me was that each contestant provided different techniques to tackle fixing this footage.
Ive had this idea for a video for the longest time and I’m so glad someone finally made it
EVERY ONE OF THEM DESERVES IT. But for the sake of the give away I think that #1 fixed some of those really minute details that the others didn’t see such as the color banding in the lights and the floor.
2/4 for and my taste with what they did overall, but all of them did a really great job and prove why they're the best at what they do.
Man, so cool to see all these approaches. I liked #2 Denver Riddle's the best. The way he went about it just made more sense for the footage.
They were all quite good, but #2 has my vote. After watching the side-by-side segment near the end several times, I felt his grading achieved the delicate balance between stylistic and realistic. Plus, he graded/matched the whole sequence.