Adjusting the 'gain':
the highlights which are the brightest areas of your clip. The highlights are shown on
the top section of the waveform on the parade scope. For a brightly lit shot, these are
best positioned just below the top line of the waveform scope. If the highlights rise
above the top line of the waveform scope, they will clip and you will lose details in the
brightest regions of your image.
Adjusting the 'gamma':
it back and forth. As you increase the gamma you'll see the brightness of the image
increase. Notice the middle section of the waveform will also move as you adjust the
gamma. This represents the mid tones of your clip. The optimal position for mid tones
generally falls between 50 to 70% on the waveform scope. However, this can be
subjective based on the look you are creating and the lighting conditions in the clip.
You can also use the curves palette to make primary color corrections. Simply click to create
control points on the diagonal line inside the curve graph, and drag them up or down to adjust
the master RGB contrast at different areas of image tonality. The optimum points to adjust are
the bottom third, mid, and top third of the curve line.
There are many more ways of doing primary color correction in DaVinci Resolve.
The curves palette is another tool you can use to make primary color corrections,
or enhance specific areas of your clip when using a power window
Secondary Color Correction
If you want to adjust a specific part of your image then you need to use secondary corrections.
The adjustments you have been doing up until now using the lift, gamma and gain adjustments
affect the whole image at the same time and so they are called primary color corrections.
However, if you need to adjust specific parts of your image, say for example you wanted to
improve the color in the grass in a scene, or you wanted to deepen the blue in a sky, then you
can use secondary corrections. Secondary color corrections are where you select a part of the
image and then adjust only that part. With nodes, you can stack multiple secondary corrections
so you can keep working parts of your image until everything is just right! You can even use
windows and tracking to allow the selections to follow movement in your images.
Qualifying a Color
Often you'll find a specific color in your clip can be enhanced, for example grass by the side
of a road, or the blue in a sky, or you may need to adjust color on a specific object to focus the
audience's attention on it. You can easily do this by using the HSL qualifier tool.
Click on the 'gain' dial and slide it back and forth. This adjusts
Click on the 'gamma' dial underneath the color wheel and slide
Using DaVinci Resolve
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