We Overlooked A Crucial Component Of Grading HLG HDR!

While goofing around with specular highlights in HLG, we thought we’d see just how well Phil Holland’s philmColor LUTs held up, and as it happens, they’re pretty terrific! But it dawned on us that HLG has a boatload less saturation than PQ; so for sure, you’ll want to add some in post. But you don’t want to just crank the saturation knob in Resolve – that’ll result in video-ish, camcorder looking footage. Here’s what you’ll want to do instead:

1. Add a serial node, right click > Color Space > HSV.
2. Right click again, > Channels > Channel 1 (uncheck). Right click again > Channels > Channel 3 (uncheck). 

By removing H (hue) and V (value, or brightness) out of the equation, now you’re just adjusting saturation.

3. Use the Gain wheel in Primaries: Color Bars to adjust overall saturation. For lack of a better term, this method will result in a more filmic look than just using the saturation knob.