Isn't it so frustrating when
you spend a ton of time
editing a video, making sure
that every minute detail
is absolutely perfect, and
then when you go to export
and upload it, it looks
completely different?
If this sounds like you, then
you've probably fallen victim
to the dreaded
export damage shift issue,
and I'm gonna show you how
you can fix it,
like actually fix it in
DaVinci Resolve
without having to use LUTs or
plugins to compensate.
And while I'm at it, by
popular demand,
I'm going to give you my
export settings
for high
quality video uploads.
So, secure the cup,
and let's dive in.
There are three parts to
fixing this issue.
There are system settings,
color management settings,
and export settings that you
need to change.
So first, let's go into the
system settings.
The first thing that you
wanna do is go
to the DaVinci Resolve menu,
choose preferences,
and go to the general tab.
Inside the general tab, there
are two settings
that you wanna make
sure you have checked.
The first is the use Mac
display color
profiles for viewers.
This pretty much does what it
says on Apple computers.
You have a display profile,
which is kind of like a LUT
for your screen, and when you
calibrate your monitor,
it will automatically create
this profile and apply it.
Inside DaVinci Resolve, if we
don't have this selected,
the colors that it applies to
what we see are different.
So if we want the
colors to look the same
inside DaVinci Resolve as
they are outside,
like in a separate video
player or on YouTube,
then we wanna make sure this
option is clicked
so that it uses those
profiles while we're editing.
For those of you on PCs, my
understanding is
that Windows doesn't actually
have a system level profile
like macOS, but I also
haven't used a PC
in almost 20 years.
So leave a comment down below
if you wanna share some info
on what you see in
this settings box.
The next setting that we
wanna make sure is enabled
is automatically tag Rec.709
scene clips as Rec.709A.
This is more of a precaution
than anything,
but we're gonna talk more
about Rec.709A in a bit.
The next settings that you
need to configure
are your project or timeline
color management settings.
The reason that I
say project or timeline
is because being able to do
color management
at the timeline
level is a new feature
as of Resolve version 18, so
this might be new to you.
For the project level
settings, you can hit Shift-9
or click the cog
in the bottom right.
Then you wanna go to the
color management tab
where we'll find the settings
that we're looking for.
Now, for the sake of keeping
things simple,
I'm not gonna dive too deep
into color management
and color manage workflows
because it's a lot of info,
but if you wanna see a video
on that alone,
leave a comment down below.
The most important thing for
our purposes today
is the output color space,
which typically for social
media you may have heard
should be Rec.709 Gamma 2.4,
but we're actually gonna
change it to Rec.709A
and we'll talk about why that
keeps coming up soon,
I promise.
As for your
timeline color space,
I like to work in DaVinci
Wide Gamut color space
because it gives me a bit
more flexibility,
but if you have no
idea what that means
or why you might want it,
you can just choose Rec.709A
in that field too
and you should be fine.
And if you're already using a
color-managed workflow,
the same thing applies.
Choose whatever timeline
color space you'd like,
but choose Rec.709A as the
output color space.
To choose these settings on a
timeline basis,
right-click on your timeline
in your media bins
and then click
timeline settings.
Uncheck the use
project settings box
and then you'll be able to
set individual
color management settings for
that specific timeline
under the color tab.
So now that we're all set up,
we can color
grade our project,
confidently knowing that
we've got all our settings
in place, but the final step
that is super important
is our export settings.
Heading to the deliver page
and because I get asked this
a lot, like a lot,
I'm going to talk you through
my basic export settings.
If you wanna create a new
preset, click custom export
and then you can
copy these settings
once you've got
all the settings in,
you can click the three dots
and save as new preset
to save those settings.
For YouTube, I
choose MP4 under format
and H.264 under codec.
I know that YouTube
can now accept H.265,
but H.264 is still more
widely compatible
and because I might wanna do
other things with the videos,
I prefer to have
an H.264 still.
Then for resolution, I choose
3840 by 2160 Ultra HD
because that's what I film in
and that's what my
timeline is set to.
Under frame
rate, I choose 23.976
because again, that's the
frame rate I film in
and edit my timelines in.
Under quality, I
click restrict to
and I type in 80,000
kilobits per second,
which is more than the
recommended setting
for YouTube uploads,
but I find that the quality
still looks
great after upload
and it also gives me
a higher quality file
in case I want
to cut pieces out
or do other things
with it afterwards.
Everything else in this
section, I just
leave as default.
And the only thing that
changes for me
when I'm making vertical
videos for reels, shorts,
or TikTok is that my
resolution is 1920 by 1080
and then I select use
vertical resolution
and then I set my restriction
to 16,000
kilobits per second.
That seems to work
pretty well for me,
but the most important
setting to check
when talking about
that gamma shift is under the
advanced settings dropdown.
Under here, you'll see a spot
for color space tag
and gamma tag.
Technically, if you've set
everything else up right,
you can leave this
as same as project,
but I generally
change them just in case.
As I mentioned before,
you may have chosen Rec.709
and Gamma 2.4,
but we're going to choose
Rec.709 and Rec.709A,
and here's why.
There's one little tiny thing
inside the information
of the file that
changes the way
that a video player
will read these files.
If I export a file
as Rec.709 Gamma 2.4
and I choose to get
the info on that file
under color
profile, it says 121.
But what we want for video
players like QuickTime
and websites like
YouTube to read the file
and display it properly is
for that to say 111.
Now, if I export another
version as
Rec.709 and Rec.709A,
and I check the
info, guess what we see?
111.
And if we
switch back and forth
between what I'm seeing in
DaVinci Resolve
and then what I
see in QuickTime,
the Rec.709A
version is identical,
whereas there's a
minor shift in the blacks
of the Gamma 2.4 version.
That being said, it is a much
more minor change
than it would have been if we
didn't choose that
use Mac display color
profiles for
viewers setting earlier.
But more
importantly than QuickTime,
when we upload it to YouTube,
the Rec.709A version is again
basically identical
to what we're
seeing in Resolve
with the exception
of any minor changes
that you might get from
YouTube compression.
And there's nothing you can
do about that.
But we are definitely not
getting that massive shift
in color and our image
doesn't look washed out
after upload
like it did before.
As always, if you
have any questions
or things you want me to
cover in a future video,
leave a comment down below.
If you found this video
helpful, give it
a like, subscribe,
check out this other video
that I definitely think would
be perfect for you.
Thanks so much for watching,
and I'll see you next time.