@gjephotography: I’m fairly new to color grading and using Log footage myself, so these are just some basic tips to get you started. The benefit of shooting in Log is similar to the benefit of shooting still photos in raw mode - you get a flatter image from the camera which gives you better control over both the dynamic range and color. I shoot Sony, so I will be talking about S-Log3 footage, but the same concept applies to all of the major brands. First, you should set your camera to shoot in S-Gamut3.Cinema/S-Log3, which is Sony’s color space that is much flatter and wider than Rec. 709. Rec. 709 is the standard color space for HD TV and video. Rec. 2020, which is even wider, is the standard color space for 4K UHD/HDR, and DCI-P3, which isn’t quite as wide, is the standard for 4K cinema, but many social media sites don’t support them, so most stick to Rec 709, which doesn’t require as much computing power and leaves the control to the editor. Once you’ve shot you footage in S-Gamut3.Cine/S-Log3, which will require you to use an ISO no lower than your camera’s base ISO (which is 800 for the a7RV and A1ii that I shoot), you will need to download the input LUTs from Sony. You can think of a LUT as a set of instructions for your computer on how each pixel in your footage should be displayed. Sony has LUTs designed for on-set monitoring to allow filmmakers to review footage on set. They tend to be a bit softer and more muted than final, edited video, but are a major improvement towards viewability from viewing the Log footage directly. In Premiere Pro, you will need to open the Lumetri Color Panel. In the Basics section, after downloading the LUTs from Sony (you’ll want the 2 SLog3 ones, one basic and the other for lower contrast (LC) scenes, which will add more contrast to the converted footage than the basic. Look up where you need to save them to, depending on your computer, for PP to find them and show them), select the drop down menu and choose which of the input LUTs you’d like to use. This is all that was done in the video from step 0 to 1. This converts the footage from S-Gamut3.Cine/S-Log3 to Rec 709. Already the footage looks better and no longer looks washed out. Next, also in the Basics panel of Lumetri Panel, I adjusted the white balance/tint/saturation as well as exposure values to my liking. The impact of these changes is seen between steps 1 and 2 in the video. Next, in the Creative panel of Lumetri, I applied a creative LUT to further convert the footage. Premiere Pro has a number of LUTs included, or you can purchase/download LUTs you find on the internet. I would normally stop after step 2 since I mainly shoot wildlife video and tend to be looking for more realistic looking footage, but I used a creative LUT and further tweaked that for the purposes of this video, to illustrate. I believe I chose SL Clean for this video, which is pretty realistic. Think of movies you know with definite color casts. Using a creative LUT (though I would imagine they created their own rather than downloaded a free one on the internet) is how that color cast gets applied throughout the film. The final step, after applying the SL Clean creative LUT, was to tweak those results using the Intensity slider (which can either ease off on the applied LUT, or increase its effects) along with sharpness/vibrance/saturation and then by using curves and other creative tools. For this video, I adjusted the intensity of the creative LUT down to around 80%, bumped sharpness/vibrance/saturation each a little bit, and then selectively increased the saturation of the pink from the beaks and the orange from the neck pouches using a Hue vs. Saturation curve, by selecting the colors with the eyedropper and increasing the curve (saturation) at the spots along the line (Hue) that I had selected with the dropper. I hope these tips help. You’re not required to shoot in log, but if you shoot high dynamic range scenes, it can help. #colorgrading #beginner #wildlifevideos

gjephotography

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Thursday 19 March 2026 13:55:36 GMT