Sculpting Clipped Highlights – Roll-offs, Tints, Glows, and Streaks

Day 11: 24 Insights In 24 Days – 2020 New Year Marathon!

How to make clipped highlights look more natural or more intentional (in DaVinci Resolve)

It turns out, even in this world of raw & log footage formats, we still occasionally run into blown-out, unrecoverable highlights.  In my day-to-day, I handle a lot of reality & doc content, where blown-out highlights are very common due to poorly controlled lighting conditions. But these issues crop up in commercials and features as well.  Handling them gracefully is a big part of a colorist’s job.

In this Insight, I share a collection of basic go-to techniques I use in Resolve to smooth clipped highlights and integrate them into the scene plus a couple of fun methods to give bright sources, like light fixtures, a bit of character.

Techniques Covered

• Roll-offs (Y soft clip, Y curves)
• Tints (RGB soft clip, key + offset, RGB curves)
• Glows & Streaks (flexible manual method that avoids OFX )

Related Insights

Here’s a list of other great Insights related to highlights:

• Resolve 11 – Highlights & Shadows Controls
  A great look at the differences between the primary, log and highlights/shadows controls.
• Color Correcting With Blending Modes – Recovering Highlights With Multiply
  Creative technique for recovering highlight detail
• How to Make Blown-out Highlights Look Intentional
  Using lens flares to cover clipped highlights
• Blurred/Glowing Highlights – A Straightforward Approach
  Mist technique for creating dreamy looks
• Emulating Film Halation in DaVinci Resolve
  Two techniques for emulating film halation

Footage

“Loved Ones” TVC footage courtesy of The Film Bakery

Ursa Mini 4.6k Test Footage courtesy of Blackmagic Design
Download Links:  Balcony Shot  Car Park Shot

Comments and Questions?