u/SHANKUMS11

Hey there!

New to color balancing/grading utilizing scopes. I'm putting together a home photo and video compilation of a family trip (mostly containing iPhone XS video/photo), and am working in Davinci Resolve. I've noticed that after turning on the waveform extents that 95% of the shots have over/underexposed information (screenshots show before and after adjustments for demonstration purposes). The adjustments I'm having to make to get the extents down has been pretty extreme, sometimes reducing highlights -100. This is noticeably reducing the 'pop' of the image, and I'm not happy with the results I'm seeing now that I'm reading the waveform scope for each image.

I have checked everywhere online that iPhone XS video footage is SDR (not HDR), 8 bit, Rec.709, and I have my Project Settings set to accommodate that. Color Space is Rec709 (scene). I currently have Davinci YRGB selected, but have also tried Color Managed -> SDR Rec.709. That did not change anything noticeable, although correct me if I'm mistaken. I have tried going to clip attributes and swapping between 'Data' and 'Video'. I feel like I've got the technical back-end of my project established correctly, and at this point I'm at a loss of what to do. In all honesty, I feel like this has to be a color space issue and I'm overlooking something simple, but I cannot find anything online to alleviate this. Or is iPhone XS video and photo really this egregious when it comes to exposure? Do I just need to do this for every image?

Any help would be greatly appreciated to help tone down my iPhone XS images. They seem to be correctly exposed when viewing the regular waveform scope, but as soon as extents are turned on, I'm able to see a ton of data being lost and have to make extreme adjustments to satisfy not going out of the boundaries. Would love any honest opinions too if I'm overthinking this or going about it incorrectly. Thanks for your time!

Note: the screenshots contain waveform scopes with 64-940 reference levels, not 0-1023, just in case there is any confusion. Also, please disregard any white balance issues. I'm only showing the original images, followed by adjusted images to 'highlights' and 'shadows' only on a singular node. No CSTs used either.

I have been immersed in Darren's educational videos and stumbled across an incredibly helpful function using the scopes (here's the part of Darren's video I'm referring to).

The function I am not getting out of this method is the scope's waveform displaying beyond the reference levels as Darren clearly demonstrates when he intentionally crushes the blacks or peaks the whites.

I really like this method Darren demonstrates because if a waveform is crushed/peaked, it's much more visibly apparent in the scope than just a flat line. Why am I not getting this same result? Is there a step I'm missing? Was there an update that took this function away in 'Video Level Scopes'?

To confirm, I have selected 'Waveform Scale Style' -> 'Video Level Scopes'. I've set my reference points to 64 and 940. 'Show Reference Levels' checked on. For details, this is SDR 8-bit rec709 footage if that's even relevant to my issue.

The first screen shot is from Darren's video where his waveform is still displaying beyond the reference levels, even at crushed values (below 64). Second screenshot is what I'm seeing in my DR (image intentionally peaked/crushed for example purposes, but the waveform does not display beyond the reference levels I manually set. It's as if the waveforms and extents just disappear).

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hey, thanks for dropping by! To preface, I'm not new to video editing, but relatively new to color balancing and grading (particularly in DR). My current project has provided the perfect opportunity to take my current skill set and move it to the next level. It's purely a passion project, but I want to make it as professional looking as possible. That said, I want to start from square one correctly, and figured here would be a good place to ask for best practices, advice, or things to be aware of before I commence this.

I have a 90-minute home video project I'm putting together for my family (8 day vacation). It contains a variety of photos and videos, many of which were shared from my family. That said, I will have to manually adjust (some more drastic than others) each of them to maintain uniformity throughout the video (the included pictures are examples of some of the shots I have to work with... some are a bit rough lol).

Currently, my node structure is as follows:
Exposure -> Contrast -> White Balance -> Saturation -> LUT (if I decide to use)

I have a few green questions to ask as well, purely for gaining greater insight:

- If I have pictures of the same scene, but all have drastically different white balances, what is the best method of practice to get them all uniform, or looking the same? Will that just naturally occur if I'm making all of these adjustments?

- Should I have a singular image or video clip that is the base reference, or is that not necessary since I'll be neutralizing the images by white balancing?

- Are there basic waveform, parade, vectorscope, etc. guidelines you suggest I look for to obtain optimal levels?

- How do you handle photos that have already been altered and processed by someone's basic phone options? (I don't have their original, unaltered photo, so the contrast and balance is severely off)

- Side question, simply to make sure I'm understanding this concept. I have iPhone XS video footage, which to my knowledge is SDR rec709, therefore I can keep my timeline color management profile as the default rec709 (scene) since I'm not working with HDR footage, and therefore also don't need a CST node? I'm learning about this as I go, so just wanted better clarity here. Color space is the area of understanding I'm struggling with most.

Thank you so much for your time and help getting a noob colorist off to a solid start!

Hey thanks for dropping by. I'm looking for suggestions on how to revamp and refine my [[Queen Marchesa]] deck. Also purchased the recent cat superdrop, so I'll be including some of those. Currently it's a mix of Aikido themes with goad. Figured I'd full send it Aikido style and stray away from goad... I want people to have the option to swing at me so I can respond accordingly, just like the true martial art. But maybe I'm approaching it wrong, or overthinking goad, and its the best way to compliment Aikido. I'd appreciate your opinion on general cuts to my current deck, additions that I'm considering, or any particular advice or experiences you may have with this theme. Is there something that could replace goad to dish out consistent damage and still follow the theme? What am I missing that would fully supplement a pure Aikido approach, and have a way to win? I'm looking to cut many of my pillowfort cards, and have even considered adding more politically group hug cards. Appreciate the help!

LINK TO MY DECK (its current state; no changes at the moment)

Here are the cards I'm looking to add:
[[Reverberate]]
[[Hellish Rebuke]] (particularly for 'go wide' decks)
[[Sunforger]] (mildly considering because I don't like to run tutors; but maybe I need to give in)
[[Selfless Squire]]
[[Dualcaster Mage]]
[[Untimely Malfunction]]
[[Reflect Damage]]
[[Gideon's Sacrifice]]

Cards I'm considering cutting:
[[Smothering Tithe]] (taking out game changers)
[[Jeska's Will]] (taking out game changers)
[[Orzhov Advocast]]
[[No Mercy]]
[[Windborne Muse]]
[[Ghostly Prison]]
[[Promise of Loyalty]] (why destroy that which I want swinging at me?)
[[Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs]]
Anything with strict goad: [[Taunt From the Rampart]] [[Kardur, Doomscourge]], [[Disrupt Decorum]]

Appreciate all your advice!