Grade Rescue – Saving A DSLR Moving Portrait

Time To Grade Some Difficult Shots!

I have to hold my hands up and say that I am a diva when it comes to the world of colour grading. I hardly ever have to perform a grade rescue.

I 95% of the time only grade Red, Arri or Film. Even when other formats like GoPro or As7 shows up it’s been shot with lots of light and great lenses.

I graded c300 for the first time in 3 years today and I struggled!

The compression made it hard to key, the log curve was far more “video” than the cameras I’m used to working with and the 8 bit made the skin tones look chunky and blocky.

With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to kick off a new series where I tackle badly shot material and try and make it look as good as possible.

I’d also love to try and “rescue” some of your footage.

If you have any clips that you can share with me I’ll tackle them in upcoming insights and offer my take on the footage.

This should hopefully help build your confidence as a colourist and help build a mental toolbox of fixes for common issues.