There is a lot of misunderstanding and confusion surrounding the use of color grading LUTs, particularly whether they can be used professionally and, if so, how. As a colorist I’ve used countless LUTs and created thousands of my own over the years and I thought I’d get involved.
Let’s start with the biggest and most unfounded criticism of LUTs: they are for amateurs only.
This couldn’t be more wrong. If anything, this argument shows a lack of understanding of what a LUT actually is.
Of course, a LUT is just a computer file that converts color values. It guides any software you use to mathematically change color, contrast, saturation, and other variables. If you have looked at the LUT file you will see the following:
There is nothing inherently professional or amateur about this process. This is just a color conversion. a tool. What matters is how it is used and what it is used for.
I think people who view LUTs as hobby tools have only recently learned about them. Maybe they downloaded a poorly written LUT pack from a website, threw it on some unbalanced footage, and (not surprisingly) didn’t get good results.
To be fair, most of the ready-made LUT packs sold online are pretty sub-par, at least in my opinion, so I understand why they might be closed.
But it’s important to remember that LUTs have been around for decades and come in countless different variations. They are used not only for creative color grading, but also for many other critical tasks: technical color conversion (e.g. Log – Rec. 709), on-set monitoring, visual effects, and more.
The first time I heard the word “LUT” was more than ten years ago, when I was mainly engaged in post-production. My new company was providing some services for a large documentary, and the producers asked me if I could help them apply “lookup tables” to the finished film. They need to prepare for theatrical release and must convert the film’s color space as part of the process.
At the time, I couldn’t help them because LUT was a very foreign thing to me. The only people I know who use them do post-production/finishing work of the highest caliber, so I recommended them to a large post-production company who would handle the output.
That’s my brief introduction to LUTs. They were a professional tool to me then, as they are now.
Over the years, as I learned more about LUTs, I started using them on my own projects, for clients, and as part of the overall post-production workflow.
While I still use them for a variety of applications, today I primarily use them for creative color work because they help me achieve two main benefits:
- They sped up my color grading process
- They help me achieve better visual effects
Color grading is an art, just like writing, editing, or performing music. For me, the best creative work always comes from spontaneity. If something takes too long or is too cumbersome to handle, it usually defeats my goal of working intuitively and instinctively.
Even when I color grade footage from scratch (without using LUTs), I tend to work very quickly. If I spend too long on one shot, I lose my perspective. I would get bogged down in small details and lose objectivity—taking 10 times longer to complete a task than it should.
So naturally I like to use LUTs to speed up my process.
As far as workflow goes, I always start by following the right approach Operation sequenceand balance/neutralize my shots before doing any other color work. Once that’s done, I’ll be auditioning a bunch of different creative looks using my own custom LUTs www.cinecolor.io
This allows me to immediately understand what might work best from a stylistic perspective. I might flip through a dozen LUTs, grabbing screenshots as I go so I can compare my favorites to each other.
At the very least, this helps identify rough strokes very quickly and easily – Are the photos taken better with warm colors or cool colors? Crushed black or faded? High saturation or desaturation?
From there, I either apply my favorite LUT to the image and continue, or delete the LUT and build a custom creative look from scratch using the LUT as inspiration. It just depends on the circumstances.
Sometimes it’s both. I’ll probably apply a creative LUT that will get me 95% done, and then make some small additional color adjustments to get to the finish line.
In all three cases, the end result is a faster, better end product. Faster because I’ve been able to try out many palettes without wasting time building them from scratch. Better because my ability to work quickly and instinctively enhances the final visual product.
Of course, this is just one way to use LUTs…each filmmaker will choose to integrate them into their workflow however they see fit.
Some filmmakers simply use technical LUTs to convert their footage from Log to Rec 709. Others use LUTs exclusively to score entire projects.
No application is good or bad, and every potential use of LUTs (technical or creative) can be professional.
However, filmmakers often get into trouble by not properly integrating creative LUTs into their workflow. They apply the LUT at the wrong stage of the pipeline before pre-balancing the image. This would make it impossible for them to match all the shots in the timeline together.
In other cases, filmmakers stack too many LUTs together, creating extreme color palettes that push color/contrast too far and result in unprofessional grades.
Of course, some people simply run into problems because they chose to use low-quality LUTs (often without realizing it). Most commonly, the LUTs they use are not universally compatible, making them useless for most applications.
Unfortunately, many of the creative LUTs on the market today are created by non-professionals. They were created using only test footage from a single camera source and were not extensively tested before release, making them highly unreliable for professional work.
You apply a LUT to shot A and it looks great, but on shot B the shadows are too broken. Or maybe the LUT you applied is so extreme that it won’t work unless you dial it back to 10% strength. These types of problems defeat the main benefit that LUTs are supposed to provide; instead of improving your results in less time, they take more time to achieve poorer visual results.
Whenever I create a LUT, whether strictly for myself/my clients or through CINECOLOR.IOI will spend days or even weeks testing for universal compatibility. Ultimately, I use these LUTs to improve my working life, and they mean nothing if they don’t deliver great results every time (no matter which camera I use).
Unfortunately, most creative LUTs available on the market are not made in the same way. The result is many frustrated filmmakers unable to achieve the results they want…
The good news is that achieving professional-grade results using LUTs is easy, as long as you: A) pre-balance your footage correctly, and B) use a universally compatible, high-quality LUT.
Do these two things and you’ll have stunning color palettes in your editing suite in less time.
LUTs may not be for everyone, and some people would rather not use them at all, or even use them to convert camera profiles. That’s totally fine!
As a filmmaker, there’s never just one way to achieve a strong visual effect. It’s all about using the tools that best suit the way you like to work and maximizing their benefits to you.
If you’re interested in using my creative LUTs in your projects, be sure to head over to www.cinecolor.io Get yours today.
Don’t forget to check out my Color Grading Masterclass – The first color course of its kind, strictly dedicated to creative grading.
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