Tweaking or color grading a video is an important aspect of the video editing process. This process can completely transform the film’s mood and tone, and it even enables the editor to subtly convey key messages to the audience. Keeping with this view in mind, we have come with a list of select video software that can enhance the viewing experience’s quality.
What is the Color Grading Process?
This refers to the creative choices that a ‘colorist’ will make and includes shot matching, removing any distractions that prevent shot matching, using shape masks to draw the viewer’s attention to a focal point in the film. Overall, it determines the ‘look’ of the film.
Color grading is a process that is immediately followed after color correction, which involves the adjustment of white balance, contrast, and exposure values to gain a neutral or balanced image. Now, let’s look at the most promising software that enables the color grading process for video editors in 2020.
Top Video Tweaking Software in 2020
- Da Vinci Resolve 16: This software was originally made for high-end color grading purposes only and created by Blackmagic Design. Some of the features include:
-
- Face Tracking: It enables locking on to people’s faces, allowing adjustment to eyes, smoothening of complexion by lightening or darkening.
-
- Power Windows: This allows for adjustment to specific regions of the frame.
-
- Nodes: This enables layering together different clips with effects and making mass changes to them if they happen to share the same nodes.
-
- Other Benefits: The latest version of the software allows the user to auto-balance color and noise reduction providing incredibly accurate results. Plus, the software comes with video-editing capabilities.
-
- Price: The software is available at a one-off payment of $300.
- Red Giant Magic Bullet Colorista IV: Unlike the previous software, this one is a plug-in that enables us to directly color grade footage with any video editing software. It has been known to work seamlessly with Adobe suite.
-
- Instant Changes: The plug-in draws power from the graphic card’s GPU enabling changes to be seen instantly as they are made.
- Other Benefits: There is a host of LUT presets and the option to add your own. It has support for LOG footage and built-in Look-up tables.
-
- Price: This will make you poorer by $199.
- Adobe Premiere Pro (Lumetri): If you are already used to working in an Adobe ecosystem, then you may not mind forking some more money for a color grading software from the same company. Features include:
-
- More Tools: There are more traditional color wheels, curves, and sliders, giving you more control over every aspect of the color grade.
-
- Familiarity: Users who are acclimatized to Adobe platforms would feel right home with this software.
-
- Price: It is inexpensive compared to the choices mentioned above and less powerful than them.
- Final Cut Pro X (Color Board): This comes free with familiar color grading tools – curves, wheels, and sliders. Features include:
-
- Quick Color Balance: There are dynamic wheels that can adjust color balance and exposure concerns with the raw footage.
-
- More Benefits: The curves help you with shadows and highlights, helping with removing casts from shadows and tints from highlights.
-
- Price: As previously mentioned, this one comes free.
- Color Finale: This is a plug-in that is specific for FCPX, especially meant for Final Cut Pro X users. Features include:
-
- Free Floating Window: This adds a free-floating window to FCPX with the window containing color wheels, color sliders, auto white balance controls, and secondaries vector tool.
-
- Work Management: The Pro-version comes with certain work management tools for those working with ACES (Academy Color Encoding System) – the film industry standard for color grading.
-
- Price: They do provide a 7-day free trial version. The Standard version is priced at $99, and the Pro-version goes for $149.
- Film Convert: This mimics software that gives digital footage to look like a motion picture with color effects (like pastel colors) and grain. Features include:
-
- Compatibility: o It works on a multitude of NLEs and platforms including, FCPX, Sony Vegas Pro, Da Vinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer, and Premiere Pro. It also works fine as a standalone application.
-
- Camera Profiles: It comes with camera profiles for different cameras such as DJI, GoPro, Blackmagic, Sony, Canon, and ARRI.
-
- Price: The plug-in starts at $149, and all versions can be bought for $219 as a bundle.
- Wondershare Filmora Pro: This editing software permits the creation of professional-looking videos. In terms of color grading, it can precisely adjust color values via scopes such as Waveform, Histogram, Vectorscope, and Parade. Features include: Features include:
-
- Color Correction: The software allows you to adjust YUV color correction and gives the choice of changing lightness values, saturation, and hue.
-
- Variety of Choices: It has several aspects in the color grading, including Invert, Hue Colorize, Hue Shift, Color cycle, Day for Night, and much more. It is quite a versatile tool.
-
- Price: It comes at a lifetime license of $149 or a yearly license of $90
- Color Fixer Pro: This is a plug-in that is compatible with Sony Vegas Pro, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer, and Da Vinci Resolve. Features include:
-
- Numerous Benefits: This comes with ten customizable presets, film lighting curves, and white balance tools.
-
- Possibility of Upgrade: If you love the plug-in, you can upgrade to Colorfast – color correction and color grading advanced plug-in with 65 presets and tools to create your own ‘look.’
-
- Price: Color Fixer is available free, but the advanced plug-in comes with a free trial and will cost you $99.
Conclusion
If you are looking forward to giving a shot at color grading, there are plenty of options available, starting from free color grading tools, apps, and plug-ins. There is even free video editing software that allows you to do color grading with free plug-ins. All you are required to do is a certain amount of online research to make the selection. Moreover, there are multitudes of online tutorials that help you to better understand color grading and how it fits into the video editing workflow.
