User Manual

Using DaVinci Resolve

Using Scopes

Most colorists make creative color choices by focusing on the emotion and the look they want

their program to have and then simply work using the monitor to achieve that look. You can look

at everyday objects and how different types of light interact with them to generate ideas on

what you can do with your images and a little practice.

Another way to color grade is to use the built in scopes to help you balance shots. You can

open a single video scope by clicking the ‘scope’ button, which is the second from the right on

the palette toolbar. You can choose to display a waveform, parade, vectorscope and histogram.

Using these scopes you can monitor your tonal balance, check the levels of your video to avoid

crushing your blacks and clipping the highlights, plus monitor any color cast in your clips.

By default, the ‘color wheels’ palette, which contains the ‘lift’, ‘gamma’ and ‘gain’ controls which

will generally constitute your first adjustment, is set to display the ‘primaries bars’. You can

change this to display the ‘primaries wheels’ using the ‘mode’ pop-up menu at the upper-

right-hand corner of the palette. These should resemble controls you’ve seen in other

applications for doing color and contrast adjustments.

The parade scope helps you optimize highlights, mid tones and shadows.

1 Adjusting the ‘lift’

With your first clip selected on the color timeline, click on the ‘lift’ dial underneath the

first color wheel. Slide it back and forth and watch how it affects your image. You’ll

see the brightness of the dark regions of your picture increase and decrease. Set it to

where you want the dark areas to look their best. If you decrease the lift too much,

you’ll lose details in the blacks and you can use the parade scope to help avoid this.

The optimal position for blacks on the waveform is just above the bottom line of the

parade scope

2 Adjusting the ‘gain’

Click on the ‘gain’ dial and slide it back and forth. This adjusts the highlights which are

the brightest areas of your clip. The highlights are shown on the top section of the

waveform on the parade scope. For a brightly lit shot, these are best positioned just

below the top line of the waveform scope. If the highlights rise above the top line of the

waveform scope, they will clip and you will lose details in the brightest regions of

your image.

3 Adjusting the ‘gamma’

Click on the ‘gamma’ dial underneath the color wheel and slide it back and forth. As

you increase the gamma you’ll see the brightness of the image increase. Notice the

middle section of the waveform will also move as you adjust the gamma. This

represents the mid tones of your clip. The optimal position for mid tones generally falls

between 50 to 70% on the waveform scope. However, this can be subjective based on

the look you are creating and the lighting conditions in the clip.