Mystery Log Part 3: Back To Basics (with a dash of modern)

Manual Labor: A time-tested approach for color balancing shots

In part 3 of the Mystery Log series, I walk through using lift, gamma, and gain controls to approach log footage as if it were coming off a traditional telecine setup. This method is one of the earliest ways people began normalizing log images, and it still has value for learning and troubleshooting today.

Getting back to the roots of color grading

This episode is a throwback. Before LUTs were everywhere, before the industry invented color-managed workflows, lift/gamma/gain was how many of us learned to deal with log footage. This Insight will feel familiar if you’ve ever sat in on a telecine session or watched someone balance film scans manually. We’re revisiting that older approach to show that it is still relevant and a great way to understand better what your footage is doing ‘under-the-hood’.

When dealing with mismatched sources (or archival material), you don’t always have time, resources, or information for a fully color-managed pipeline. Knowing how to get decent results with just the basics—lift, gamma, and gain—is a valuable skill. This episode builds on concepts from earlier in the series, like contrast pivot and Cineon conversions, and starts bridging toward a more practical, hands-on way of working.