Coloration grading is a necessary step in creating skilled and cinematic FPV drone movies. Whereas LUTs might be handy, they don’t at all times produce the specified outcomes. On this tutorial, we’ll cowl the fundamentals it’s essential know for creating spectacular cinematic FPV movies, together with GoPro digicam settings, colour correction and colour grading strategies.
To get probably the most out of colour grading, begin by investing in a high-quality motion digicam. GoPro, Insta360, and DJI are all glorious manufacturers to contemplate: https://oscarliang.com/action-camera/
Selecting a Video Editor
On this colour grading information, we’ll be utilizing DaVinci Resolve as our video editor of alternative. It’s free, highly effective, and has all of the options FPV pilots want for modifying their footage. I extremely advocate it in case you are new to video modifying.
For a tutorial on getting began with fundamental modifying in DaVinci Resolve, take a look at this text: https://oscarliang.com/how-to-use-davinci-resolve/
Optimizing GoPro Settings
To seize professional-quality footage, allow ProTune in your GoPro. This characteristic permits guide changes for settings like shutter velocity, white stability, flat colour profile, ISO, stabilization, and sharpness. Utilizing a flat colour profile helps retain particulars in shadows and highlights, providing extra flexibility for balancing colour and distinction throughout post-production.
For extra data on the most effective GoPro settings for cinematic FPV, learn this text: https://oscarliang.com/gopro-settings-fpv/
Optimizing DJI O3 Settings
When you use the DJI O3 digicam as a substitute of the GoPro for filming, listed here are my advisable settings for finest video high quality: https://oscarliang.com/dji-o3-air-unit-fpv-goggles-2/#O3-Air-Unit-Digicam-Settings
Making use of Stabilization
Earlier than colour grading, be certain your footage has been stabilized first, it is going to make it far more nice to take a look at. For GoPro, my alternative of stablization device is Reelsteady, however you too can use Gyroflow, the result’s comparable so don’t stress your self with the selection. For DJI O3, and lots of different motion cameras with built-in gyro, you may simply use Gyroflow.
Coloration Correction
Coloration correction goals to attain clear and pure colour illustration in your footage. It entails fixing publicity, white stability, and saturation. Video editors like DaVinci Resolve supply instruments corresponding to Waveform, RGB Scope, and Vectorscope that can assist you right these components.
Right here’s uncooked footage.
Alter Publicity
The Waveform device (backside proper of the display) measures gentle depth on a scale from 0 (pure black) to 1023 (pure white).
To regulate publicity, find a body in your video the place you’ll contemplate an important second (what we name the hero shot), use this as your reference.
Discover the Three Coloration Wheels in your video editor, which encompass Elevate (adjusts shadows), Gamma (adjusts mid-tones), and Achieve (adjusts highlights).
Rotate the scroll wheel underneath “Elevate” and “Achieve” (these are the darkish and brilliant components of your video), and align the black tones with 0 and the white tones with 1023 for optimum publicity. It’s okay to transcend the boundaries (or inside) so long as you’re pleased with the way it seems to be.
Hold monitoring the Waveform diagram as you play the video to keep away from overexposing or underexposing components of the footage.
Distinction
After setting the highlights and shadows, you may fine-tune the distinction by growing the Distinction worth (Cont).
Optionally you too can barely decreasing the midtones utilizing the Gamma scroll wheel – the quantity of adjustment is determined by your expertise and private style.
White Steadiness
To regulate white stability, there are 3 strategies (all positioned on the high left): Auto Steadiness, Coloration Picker and manually setting it.
You can provide Auto Steadiness a strive first as a result of it’s the simplest, but it surely’s additionally the least dependable and I usually don’t use it.
To make use of the colour picker device, it’s essential choose one thing white within the video as a reference. Once more, it’s a straightforward methodology but it surely’s not at all times doable to search out one thing white.
Alternatively, you may manually set the white stability by coming into “Temp” and “Tint” values. A trick I generally use is by trying on the RGB Scope (Parade) and align the purple, inexperienced, and blue depth ranges. When you cut back Temp, the entire scene will go blue, in the event you enhance Temp the entire scene will go purple. Tint will make the picture look both extra inexperienced or pink.
Nevertheless, in our instance, I used to be filming throughout golden hours, so I intentionally made the footage look extra orange and heat by bumping up the temperature and tint. Auto Steadiness on this case would simply make the picture look a bit extra impartial by decreasing temp, which wouldn’t work in opposition to what I wish to obtain right here.
Saturation
For saturation adjustment, you need to use the Vectorscope, which measures colour data. As you enhance saturation (Sat), the Vectorscope traces will develop. Keep away from exceeding the restrict, and intention for a pure look. In my expertise, a saturation stage of round 60 to 65 usually works effectively for many of my GoPro and O3 footage recorded with a flat colour profile.
I usually have “Coloration Increase” set to 10 to make the colours pop a bit extra.
Sharpness
When you recorded your GoPro movies with low sharpness, you may want to extend it throughout post-production. Values round 0.47 or 0.48 normally yield passable outcomes, with decrease values leading to sharper footage.
After Coloration correction, the footage seems to be like this now.
Coloration Grading
Coloration grading is a artistic course of that enhances the ambiance and emotion of your video. By utilizing the Three Coloration Wheels and Curves, you may create distinctive tones for shadows, mid-tones, and highlights and alter saturation, depth, and colour in particular areas.
To start colour grading, add one other node by right-clicking on the prevailing node, choosing Add Node, and selecting Add Serial.
Three Coloration Wheels
One straightforward methodology for colour grading is utilizing the Three Coloration Wheels. As talked about earlier, every wheel corresponds to a selected tone: shadows, mid-tones, and highlights. For every tone, you may modify the depth and colour. Combining reverse colours in shadows and mid-tones can create a extra attention-grabbing look.
Curves
My favorite technique to colour grade is through the use of the curves. Curves supply a robust technique to create distinctive seems to be by concentrating on single colour ranges and adjusting saturation, depth, and colour.
These are the three major Curves I usually use:
- Hue vs Sat: Change the saturation of particular colour areas (e.g., enhance the sky’s saturation by choosing cyan/blue, or alter the saturation of bushes by choosing yellow/inexperienced). To change saturation, drag the curve up or down.
- Hue vs Hue: Alter particular colours, to make that colour look extra inexperienced or purple.
- Hue vs Lum: Alter the brightness of particular colour areas to additional improve your footage.
For example, you need to use Curves to make inexperienced leaves look extra vivid, or to take away colour tones that you simply don’t like such because the purple in brick partitions. Be artistic and experiment with totally different settings – there’s no proper or improper strategy, because it finally comes down to private style. Benefit from the means of discovering what works finest in your FPV drone movies, and create your personal distinctive type!
After colour grading, the footage seems to be like this:
LUTs
LUTs, or Look-Up Tables, can be utilized along with colour grading. Your footage might already look nice after colour grading, however utilizing extra LUTs may help spice issues up much more. It’s as much as you whether or not you wish to additional improve your footage with LUTs to create a particular look.
First, guarantee correct colour correction earlier than making use of LUTs as an overlay layer (or extra serial node in Davinci Resolve), and alter the opacity to mix with the footage by going to to “Key” part, and decreasing the “Achieve” worth. It’s merely a matter of selecting your favourite LUT and clicking to use, so we received’t go into element right here.
For DJI O3 digicam, I discover the built-in LUT in Davinci Resolve referred to as “DJI Phantom4 DLOG2Rec709” a reasonably sensible choice. In truth I feel most individuals could be comfortable to only apply this LUT with out extra colour grading.
Including Grain
We wish to keep away from digital noisy grain by decreasing ISO, however some grain is definitely pleasing to take a look at. We will add such grain in our video by going to “Settings”, “Movie Grain”, “35mm 400T”, and alter grain measurement to your liking. The distinction is perhaps refined however it might make your video look extra like an expert movie.
Upscaling For Youtube
Lastly, in case your precedence is picture high quality, you need to undoubtedly render your video in 4K, even when it was recorded in a decrease decision. That’s as a result of Youtube retains increased bitrate with increased decision/body charge movies. Typically I render my footage in 4K (3840×2160), 65Mbps bitrate.
See this text for extra details about upscaling: https://oscarliang.com/upload-dji-fpv-footage-youtube/
Conclusion
Coloration grading is an important side of making beautiful {and professional} cinematic FPV movies. By correctly correcting colours and using colour grading strategies, you may considerably improve the visuals of your FPV footage. No matter your flying ability ranges, understanding and making use of these ideas will elevate the standard of your movies and make it easier to stand out on the earth of FPV filmmaking. So, go forward and experiment with numerous colour grading strategies and LUTs to find your distinctive type and create breathtaking FPV drone movies.
Edit Historical past
- Could 2023 – Tutorial created.
- Apr 2024 – Up to date.
