Bloom In HDR Grades Often Not A Stylistic Choice

There is one warning: any windows or highlights that are clipped in exposure at shooting stage will likely require softening in the grade and a blur (halation) applied. Clipped exposure in HDR can be quite visually undesirable, so where possible be mindful of it during shooting. It’s probably the only downside of HDR grading/mastering. Thomas Urbye, CEO & colorist, The Look

We only watched I Came By on Netflix because DIT Alix Milan and Kit Fraser (DoP) were two of the expert panelists at an HDR demo sponsored by Dolby at the BSC Expo earlier last year. As it happens, the entire picture came off like an advert for Scatter, an app highly recommended over at the colorist forum liftgammagain which is supposed to add authentic film-like bloom to highlights – something that we have a strong physical aversion to – and around 40 minutes into the bland thriller, we were unable to endure any more. For sure it’s not always the case, but one reason colorists are often finding it necessary to resort to using diffusion or halation in HDR grades is not for any particular aesthetic purpose, but to mitigate the unrecoverable clipped highlights of overexposed windows and practicals. And indeed, it appears as though the fluorescent tubes in this picture have all been overexposed. In other words, not so much a stylistic choice as a corrective measure.