How To Upgrade Your Contrast, Pivot, Lift, and Gain Adjustments

Flexing Fundamentals Part 2 – Revisiting Contrast

In Part 1 of this series, we talked about the most important adjustment in any image we grade: exposure. Today we’re discussing a close second: contrast. No matter what I’m grading, the very next thing I start dialing in after exposure is tonal contrast, and my preferred tool for this is the contrast/pivot knob pair. I love these adjustments for their simplicity and intuitive operation, but I’ve learned over the years there’s far more to them than meets the eye.

Let’s explore!

Key Take-aways for this Insight

In this Insight we’re focusing on getting the most out of two of my favorite knobs in Resolve: contrast and pivot. Most of us take these knobs for granted, but as you’ll learn, they’re an incredibly versatile pair whose behavior can be tweaked and tuned with just a few simple setup adjustments.

Given how often we reach for contrast/pivot, getting the exact response you want out of them can make a huge difference in your grading results. In this Insight you should learn:

• Increased awareness of the kind of contrast you’re introducing or removing from the image — linear or curved?
• The difference between applying contrast to RGB channels vs Y/L channels, and how to set up your node graph to execute either with equal ease

– Cullen