Are you sick of people telling you that RED Komodo 6K has to be color graded in Davinci
Resolve?
Today, I will show you the easiest workflow to color grade RED Komodo 6K footage from
this to this, in no time with ONLY Adobe Premiere, following the official RED IPP2 image pipeline.
If you got a RED Komodo and you want to work fast without XML everywhere, this is the must-watch
tutorial for you. Let's go!
Hey what's up, everyone?
It is your Boi Hugh here from CreatorUp - the YouTube channel where filmmaking nerds hangout
to learn next-level filmmaking in Virtual Reality and 360.
Before we start, let's talk gears.
If you are a content creator never use RED digital cinema cameras before, you probably
do not have the correct hardware to edit RED R3D.
I will suggest you invest in a computer, CPU, GPU, and a Thunderbolt 3 hard drive that has
a ton of space - like the G-speed Shuttle XL 144 TB right here.
I have the Razer Studio 15 right here.
This is the exact same laptop RED use on their Davinci Reslove tutorial.
Both RED and I are using the same laptop are because this is a monster when it comes to
editing R3D footage or just anything 6K and above.
For VR, we can go even 11K with the Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 - check my review here if
you have not already.
Lastly, I still recommand to invest in a desktop like the Thread Ripper X3990 from AMD right
here.
Not like Davinci Resolve, Premiere still mainly use CPU to decode R3D footage.
Having a powerful CPU will really help debaying the R3D footage and save you more time in
the creating process.
Okay, now all the gear talks are out of the way, and you probably went broke again and
moved back to your mom's basement.
Let's talk about correctly black shading!
So by now, you probably hear every YouTuber who got their new Komodo will tell you to
black shade before shooting.
But some of them actually teach you the WRONG way to black shade that will ruin all your
shots.
If you are going to pay attention to 1 thing in this video, this is it.
You don't black shade your camera all the time, especially for your Komodo, which uses
a newer RED sensor.
And if you are going to black shade, please do not attach your lens to black shade.
Your lens cap or your canon EOS-R to EF adapter does not block out the light completely.
Which will make your footage look like this!!
Okay, not the epic staker jump!
Move to the left.
Okay, right here!
Artifacts are created by incorrect black shading.
It burns into your footage.
So the correct way to black shade is to use the RED sensor cap to cover your sensor completely
WITHOUT any light leak.
Keep your camera temperament constant by not blocking the fan!
So do not cover your entire camera body with a black cloths!
Go to Menu, Mantainment, Calibration and do blackshading.
One more thing we need to talk about before the Premiere Workflow.
Even tho Premiere is super fast for storytellers like me and you, just cut and slap on LUTs
and throw it on YouTube.
If you are comfortable with Davinci Resolve, I still highly recommand you learn to use
Resolve to color grade.
Things you will not have compared to Resolve are:
Amazing Color Management Workflow: Resolve has built-in RED Color Management workflow,
which is industry standard.
Premiere does not have that.
If you don't know what I am talking about, you probably don't need it.
You will not have dead pixel removal in RAW.
You can still remove it using Neat Video, which I will explain later.
But dead pixel will not be your issue if you are shooting with Komodo and you are not in
a lazer party
RED creative LUTs - 99.9% of the people out there will not notice the difference.
But if you need that, use 3D Lut Creator for Premiere.
Okay, if you understand what you are missing out using Premiere, let's talk about Color
Grading R3D footage.
Create a 4K sequence.
I shot everything in 4K 60fps in Komodo to make it look cinematic.
So select all the clip to right-click, modify, interpret footage - assume this frame rate
to 23.976 fps.
Now all your footage is in slow motion.
Drop just 1 clip in will bring in all the clips in 1 single take, very convenient.
RED break down files into pieces but Premiere is smart enough to know these all belong to
1 single long take.
We have Keeley playing the RED KOMODO for the first time, and the first thing she did
is a dutch angel - sometimes I question myself why I hire her as my 1st AC.
Now cut what we want, and let's color grade this!
Go to Master under Effect Controls.
You see RED Source Settings.
Make sure your image pipeline is IPP2.
Don't ask me why IPP2 is better than Legancy, as I don't want to bore you to dead.
Then make sure your check D.E.B. - it is very confusing.
But basically, this setting removes all the Chroma Noise for you in RAW level, so you
don't need to denoise in Neat Video.
Let's punch in 400% and pay attention.
Off, nasty chroma noise in low light.
On, remove all the green and purple dots.
It is night and day different.
This is one of the biggest complaints from Blackmagic and Z Cam users - well, basically,
they did not turn this on, or they judge the RAW camera sensor data.
If your sence is well-lit, then you can leave this off to have a more film look.
This is totally up to you - the beauty of using a RED.
Denoise slider is not going to work as this is a legacy feature.
You don't need it for Komodo as it is not as noisy if you expose correctly when filming.
Debayer Detail always set to High unless you have a really slow computer.
Please refer to the first part of this video to upgrade your computer first.
You can change your ISO and color temperature in POST because this is RAW.
But please do not rely on your post magic.
Always expose your shot correctly and use your camera settings.
If you don't have it, hire a better DP instead of this one - dutch angel...
Now the most important part is to stay in IPP2 as long as you can in your coloring pipeline.
What is that mean?
In Output Transform Settings, set your Color Space to REDWideGamutRGB and Gamma Curve to
Log 3G10.
Yes, your footage looks like S**T but it is okay.
Because we are going to learn how to grade it correctly!
I am trying to save you time by skipping the reason.
So please follow along step by step.
Comment below if you want to learn why I have these settings, or just read the official
guide from RED!
Now drop in some addjustment layers by clicking the new layer icon and select the adjustment
layer.
There are TWO ways to grade your footage.
You can stack Lumetri color effects or you can stack adjustment layers.
I am old school and do not trust Premiere, so I am going to stack adjustment layers.
This is the exact same concept of node base color grading from Davinci Resolve.
We just use Layers so it is easier to understand.
Just like in Resolve with 4 nodes color grading, I drop in 4 adjustment layers.
You can just Alt Drag on a PC to duplicate the adjustment layers four times.
Open Lumetri color on the TOP layer of the adjustment layer.
Just to emphasize, the top layer, not the bottom layer.
You want to load in our final conversion LUT to see REC 709 or REC 2020 on your basic.
This has to be the last pass of the coloring pipeline, and all creative color grading has
to be done before it.
You can download these conversion LUTs FREE on RED official website.
I will provide the link down below.
I shot on medium contract, and soft highlight roll-off in the camera, so I select this one.
It looks good already.
Great job!
Okay, let's explain why I have 4 adjustment layers as not everyone comes from a Resolve
Color grading background.
So basic color grading, we have our adjustment layer 1 for Primary Color Correction.
Yes, Color Correction, not color grading.
You need to correct your color if you have an AC like Dutch Angel
Adjustment layer reserve for Creative LUTs.
RED provides 28 amazing professional Creative LUTs designed by colorist Eric Weidt from
Mindhunter and Gone Girl.
Thank you, RED.
One thing I love about the RED ecosystem is the professional resource.
So please use it to your advantage.
All these LUTs are in IPP2, so you can use them safely.
It will retain all the information capture by the Komodo without clipping anything.
The Third Layer is for secondary color grading, and the last layer, as explain earlier, for
conversion to RED 709.
So after applying the conversion LUT from RED.
The second step for me is usually applying the Creative LUTs from RED.
Go to Lumetri, under Creative Tap, select the LUTs you want.
I will provide the RED Creative LUTs download link below in this video description.
I personally really like the SUPER COLOR as it makes everything pop on YouTube.
It is like a great LUT for YouTubers or content creators that complete viewers' attention
on the Internet.
Human naturally attracts to colorful things - so making the color pop is great for online
content.
Please feel free to play around to find your look.
Now let's do our primary color correction.
This shot is too dark during sunset.
Instead of bumping up the exposure in Lumetri, we are going to go back to the source footage,
master, and then increase the exposure non-destroic.
The benefit of shooting in R3D instead of ProRes.
ISO can be changed in POST - amazing!
Up the ISO from 640 to 1000, go back to your sequence!
Wow!
Amazing!
Pay attention to this soft highlight roll-off right here - the beauty of RED.
You are going to love it if you are obsessive with a cinematic look.
On the Primary - adjustment layer 1 - I am going to increase the shadow a bit and lower
the highlight just a little - to bring back Keeley's confusing face.
I know.
the RED Komodo Menu is confusing for an ARRI shooter.
She probably hates it and sabotages the footage with her dutch angel!
Okay, now move on to Secondary color correction where you want to use masks to mask out stuff
to have selective color grading to do any detail adjustment after the Creative LUT.
Like we can mask out Keeley face using the Mask tool under Lumetri Color.
Give it a big feather roll off.
Then you can pull down the color wheel from RED to Green to make Keeley look like a scary
zombie like zombieland.
Okay, I am just joking.
Don't do that.
Go to your Curves, under Hue Saturation Curves, use the color picker tool to select her jacket.
Go ahead and pull the saturation as her jacket is actually white not blue-ish teal.
Next, we want to bring out the golden hour sunset color.
So we select the sky orange and increase the saturation like that.
But we choose her face to take out some RED so her skin tone look natural.
This is how you do a basic color grading with RED Komodo inside Adobe Premiere.
If you have your signature LUT that give you that unique look.
You add one more adjustment layer on top of everything and add that signature LUT.
The reason why is your common LUT bought from the Internet
LUT tutorial - they are sRGB or Rec 709 LUTs.
So if you apply it before the conversion LUT, everything will go crazy.
As those LUT does not understand RED IPP2.
So you apply after the REC 709 conversion.
So go ahead if you have not already to download my signature LUTs pack free from this video.
Get the Teal and Orange REC 709 LUT and apply it on a new adjustment layer on top of everything.
Just to show you a different workflow, we use Colorista from RED GIANT.
Load in a LUT here and reduce the strength to 50%.
It looks amazing!
If you don't like the film grain look from the RED in lowlight, you can denoise it using
NEAT VIDEO.
I have a tutorial right here, so go check that out.
Lastly is export.
I don't use the Premiere default export option as they are strange for RED or Blackmagic
RAW footage.
I use a third-party plugin called AfterCodec - which in term uses FFMPEG.
It allows me to use Full range instead of TV range of my final render.
So I get true black and true white instead of gray-ish black.
Also I can control the render quality to keep my footage look cinematic.
You did so much work, and it will be a shame if you don't care about the final rendering
pipeline to get the best looking footage onto the Internet.
Other quick tips to end this video.
If you don't have a powerful computer cpu gpu like I mention before the X3990 or the
Razer Studio 15 you should create proxy in Premiere.
RED already show you how to do it in REDCineX Pro but I gonna show you the easiest way to
do it inside Premiere Pro.
Right click and go ahead and review clip in project.
So this is the file it is lots of them but you only need to create for one of them Proxy
right here and right here I usually just use the ProRes low resolution proxy.
It is good enough juse hit okay.
Look at that now we have a proxy creating inside media encoder and you can queue everything
up and do it really fast.
And now turn on the toggle proxy button and now you get yourself proxy it is that easy.
Okay, that's all I am going to show you.
Sample principles apply if you are shooting for VR180 video using RED Komodo.
In fact, that is my next tutorial - shooting VR180 using 2 RED KOMODO.
I will compare RED Komodo with Blackmagic 6K and Z Cam E2.
This will help you to decide if you want to go with Komodo or stay with Blackmagic or
Z Cam.
And we will discuss the IPD argument and why 3D cool or suck, depending on your perspective.
If you want to level up your game with immersive storytelling, making great-looking content
for Oculus Quest VR headset or just some more RED Komodo tips & tricks, don't forget to
subscribe to this awesome channel, hit the notification bell and I will see you all next
time.
Ciao!