From Import to Output: An In-Depth Guide to the Adobe Speedgrade CC Workflow
Color grading is one of those practices where an in-depth knowledge of your software is absolutely essential to get the job done right. While DaVinci Resolve is quickly becoming the gold standard for grading applications, Adobe users have an extremely powerful alternative in Speedgrade CC, which now has the ability to roundtrip with Premiere much in the same way that other Adobe programs do. One of our readers, Dave Andrade, sent me an excellent tutorial that walks us through the entire process of grading inside of Speedgrade, from small exposure adjustments to output and everything in between.
Here's the tutorial, which walks you through the entire process of using Speedgrade CC. It's a little lengthy, so if you're interested in a certain topic, check out the list below the video and navigate to the proper spot. Oh, and if you're fan of zombies, you'll definitely love this.
1:00 - Setting up the scene
3:31 - Scene detection
7:30- Setting exposure
12:10 - Creating masks
15:15 - Secondary layers
22:33 - Object Tracking
26:26 - Isolating luma ranges (shadows/mids/highlights)
29:55 - Creating "looks"
33:23 - Rendering out
One of the things that stuck me most while watching this video is just how powerful and versatile Speedgrade can be, especially with its ability to ability to detect, manipulate, and track a multitude of fine luma and chroma values all independently of one another. The tracking features are what surprised me the most, as I was under the impression, for whatever misguided reason, that Speedgrade's tracking algorithms were inferior to the other programs. That certainly doesn't seem to be the case, although the tracking from Dave's video is nothing too crazy.
While I'm still madly in love with DaVinci Resolve, the interface, tools, and workflow for Adobe Speedgrade are quickly growing on me as I learn more about the program and its legitimately deep feature set. Additionally, as somebody who has been cutting with Premiere for the past few years, the time savings from the "direct link" between Premiere and Speedgrade might just provide enough incentive for me to make the jump to Speedgrade CC.
What do you guys think of Dave's Speedgrade workflow? Have you used this software, and if so, what have your workflows been? Let's here your thoughts down in the comments!
Link: Dave Andrade -- YouTube
