The number one resource for information about HDR technology, workflows, tutorials, news and opinion.
Part I: Project settings, Project Render Settings, Generate MaxCLL and MaxFall HDR10 Metadata Part II: RAW Part III: The Grade Color separation achieved using Cullen Kelly's Kodak 2383 PFE LUT and the Color Warper Setting A Speed Limit “If you come to me tomorrow and you say ‘Hey, I’ve got an HDR project I’d love to... Continue Reading →
"Technical details aside, the most important thing to understand about HDR is that it doesn’t represent an enhancement as much as the removal of an artificial limitation. In the realm of human vision and physical light, high dynamic range is a default condition, not an added gimmick". - Cullen Kelly In his article entitled 'Three Predictions... Continue Reading →
In his video Color Grading vs. Color Correction, Cullen Kelly's articulation of the difference between Log and gamma sounds uncannily similar to our experience grading HDR footage in Final Cut Pro vs. DaVinci Resolve. "Images can be encoded in a Log or a gamma state. Gamma encoding was devised for preparing an image for viewing... Continue Reading →
For HDR projects, steer clear of recording XAVC S-I 4:2:2 internal if at all possible. Art Adams explains: "The Y’CbCr encoding model is popular because it conceals subsampling artifacts vastly better than does RGB encoding. Sadly, while Y’CbCr works well in Rec 709, it doesn’t work very well for HDR. Because the Y’CbCr values are created... Continue Reading →
Node tree Excessive saturation in the shadows can be unflattering to the talent and clothing and objects in the surroundings can be distracting if left untreated. Reducing saturation is often the preferred method for eliminating unwanted color artifacts in the shadows resulting from extreme color corrections. However, you don't want to desaturate colors all the way to... Continue Reading →
"To date, most HDR content has been an emulation of the existing SDR experience. This is a new aesthetic and I'm intrigued when filmmakers will embrace that aesthetic rather than try to just reproduce the existing low-con films onto the HDR format." - Peter Doyle, Supervising Colorist at Technicolor (2016) Little has changed in over... Continue Reading →
"One of the things I've noticed over the years with HDR is once the DP sees the look with the added range they think they may have wanted to adjust the framing. The added levels on highlights and added saturation to highlights pulls the eye around in different ways than when we have a small... Continue Reading →
Can industry professionals distinguish between the 'hand graded' SDR version of a Hollywood film and a Dolby Vision derived SDR version? That's the question Dolby Vision set about to answer when they went on a worldwide tour of nine cities to do an 'SDR Survey'. The cities they visited were Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, New... Continue Reading →
Lighting setup - window light, two reflectors https://youtu.be/sp_msCFEUmI
ASC associate member and American Cinematographer contributing editor Jay Holben discusses HDR from the set to post with Polly Morgan, Markus Förderer, Marshall Adams, Erik Messerschmidt, Jay Holben and Dave Cole, followed by a question and answer session in a new series of in-depth interviews entitled Insights: an incredible wealth of knowledge spread across three absorbing hours. In... Continue Reading →
As the number of online HDR tutorials grows, it becomes necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. The best way to go about that is pretty straightforward - just have a look at the content creators' own footage: is it noisy? blurry? are highlights clipped? how about tonal gradations, or lack thereof? compression artifacts?... Continue Reading →
1. On the HDR PQ curve, 100 nits is a. 10% of 10,000 nits peak level b. 25% of 10,000 nits peak level c. 50% of 10,000 nits peak level 2. The maximum pure blue in SDR is 10 nits. Maximum pure blue in HDR is a. 25 nits b. 50 nits c. 110 nits... Continue Reading →
Vincent Theo of HDTVTest fame recently compared LG's G1 OLED to Sony's A90J, which in an earlier review he announced produced the most impactful HDR he'd ever seen from an OLED TV. Which is best for content creators who can't afford a USD $30,000 reference monitor? Sony's WRGB quad sub-pixel boosting A common complaint of... Continue Reading →
In our long list of pet peeves related to HDR YouTube videos, obscenely bright specular highlights in the subject's teeth must rank among the most distracting. And as luck would have it, last night's shoot provides us with a perfect illustration. Peak highlights are brushing up against 400 nits, already several stops ETTR, but still... Continue Reading →
While there are exceptionally few examples of actual living, breathing human beings in HDR YouTube videos, of the negligible number that do exist, too many suffer from one or more of the following: bizarre colors, excessive noise, outrageously intense specular highlights in teeth, eyes or jewelry and an obnoxious lack of tonality, hues, texture and... Continue Reading →
We had to re-upload this video because the soundtrack is being released on a label and the owner revoked the creative commons license. Not sure how kosher that is. https://youtu.be/etGpDFxM9FA
Since we picked up a set of Nanlite Forza LED monolights and started grading ProRes 4444 in DaVinci Resolve Studio 17, it's like we're dealing with a completely new camera altogether! Skin tones are the most accurate we've seen from any mirrorless camera and the image quality rivals that of cinema cameras costing thousands more.... Continue Reading →
Our stab at doing a focus breathing test failed miserably, but gives us a pretext to share some screen grabs demonstrating how to expose ProRes RAW HQ. Avoid bright orange and red of the false color guide of the Ninja V. The touch of red at the top of the clothes rack will be a... Continue Reading →
The Daejeon Chronicles 