Every Beginner Colorist's Biggest Mistake | DaVinci Resolve Tutorial

DaVinci Resolve Beginner's Mistake: Notes and Summary

**1. Summary:**

Waqas Qazi's video identifies the biggest mistake beginners make in DaVinci Resolve color grading: overusing qualifiers and power windows, leading to unnatural results, difficulty in replicating the look across shots, and inefficiencies. He demonstrates a more efficient, industry-standard approach using a structured node tree with primaries, HSL curves, and other targeted adjustments to achieve a natural and aesthetically pleasing color grade.

**2. Key Takeaways:**

* **Beginner's Mistake:** Over-reliance on qualifiers and power windows leading to posterization, unnatural skin tones, and difficulty in replicating looks.

* **Professional Approach:** Build a structured node tree:

* **Temp/Tint:** For overall color balance adjustments.

* **Contrast:** For exposure adjustments.

* **Primaries (Lift, Gamma, Gain):** For broad tonal adjustments.

* **HSL Curves:** For targeted color corrections (e.g., hue vs. saturation, hue vs. luminance)

* **Glow:** For local adjustments.

* **Grain:** for aesthetic purposes.

* **Efficiency:** The structured approach is faster and more scalable for grading projects.

* **Important:** Understand the source footage (camera and log format) to correctly convert to rec.709.

* **Further Learning:** Recommended a free 1-hour training session for learning more about color grading.

**3. Detailed Notes:**

* **Introduction (0:00-0:56):**

* The video discusses the most common mistake beginners make.

* Speaker is a professional colorist.

* Emphasis on the artistic aspect of color grading.

* Mentions AI taking over the technical aspects of the work.

* Calls to action: Links to courses and plugins.

* Promotes a free one-hour DaVinci Resolve training.

* **Talent Spotting and Shoutout (0:57-2:18):**

* Shout-out to Nick Watson: an advanced photo retoucher and colorist.

* Mention of his work with major brands.

* **Beginner's Look (2:19-9:30):**

* The biggest mistake is not knowing the camera footage type/source.

* Shows a beginner's approach to color grading.

* Minor primary change (lift, gain)

* Qualifiers (picking sky, skin, etc.)

* Saturation adjustments on individual selections.

* Problem: This method leads to posterization, unnatural skin tones, artifacts, and difficulty copying the look between shots.

* **Pro's Look (9:31-19:19):**

* The right workflow includes a structure:

* **Temp/Tint** node for color balance.

* **Contrast** node for exposure.

* **Primaries** node to adjust lift, gamma, gain.

* **HSL curves:** for color refinements.

* Using HSL curves for targeted color corrections.

* **Glow** node to create separation and add more filmic properties.

* Adding **grain** on the last node

* Emphasizes a measured approach for more natural results.

* Demonstrates the power of HSL curves for efficient and precise color adjustments.

* Highlights a "hero frame" as the starting point for the look and consistency.

* Highlights the importance of luminance adjustments in the sky

* **Look Recap (19:20-20:54):**

* Recap of the two approaches; compares the difference.

* Highlights that the beginner approach causes color problems.

* **Final Look (20:55-21:10):**

* Shows the final graded look.

* **Conclusion (21:11-22:22):**

* Recap of the main point: streamlining your process.

* Offers a free training.

* Calls to action: Like, subscribe, and check the training link.