FAST, EASY & FREE! Cinematic Color Grading in CapCut | Video Editing Tutorial
TLDRThis video tutorial teaches CapCut users how to achieve cinematic color grading quickly and easily using the free version of the app. It covers essential techniques like adjusting contrast with curves, enhancing saturation, and tweaking white balance. The video explains how to correct log footage and customize filters with tools like HSL and RGB curves. The emphasis is on experimenting and practicing to achieve the desired look, with tips for avoiding common mistakes. Additionally, the creator recommends high-quality music from Audio for video projects and provides a special discount offer.
Takeaways
- 🎥 CapCut offers a fast and free way to do cinematic color grading.
- ⏱️ Color grading in CapCut can be done in just a few minutes, even in the free version.
- 📷 For users shooting in a log profile, the first step is adding contrast and saturation to the footage.
- 📊 The color oscilloscope and waveforms help make better adjustments when color grading.
- 🎨 Start color grading by adjusting curves, particularly the Luma curve, to control contrast and brightness.
- 🔧 Adjust saturation and color correction to fine-tune the final look of the footage.
- 🎚️ Filters can be applied for a quick color grading base, and further adjustments can be made afterward.
- 🌈 HSL adjustments allow users to change the tint, saturation, and brightness of specific colors in the footage.
- 💡 The RGB curves tool gives full control over color adjustments in shadows, midtones, and highlights.
- 📈 Practice is essential for mastering color grading techniques, as every footage requires unique adjustments.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic of the video is how to perform cinematic color grading using the free version of CapCut.
Why is shooting in log format beneficial?
-Shooting in log format allows your camera to capture more dynamic range and information, providing greater flexibility in post-production, particularly for color grading.
What is the first step when working with log footage in CapCut?
-The first step is to add contrast and saturation to the flat log footage. You can either use a LUT designed for your camera or manually adjust the contrast and saturation.
How do you adjust the contrast in CapCut?
-To adjust contrast, you create an S-shaped curve using the Luma curve in the 'Curves' section. Pull the shadows down, raise the highlights, and adjust the midtones based on the image's appearance.
What tools are recommended to ensure you don’t lose details in highlights or shadows?
-Using the color oscilloscope, waveforms, and vector scope in CapCut helps to ensure you’re making accurate adjustments without losing details in highlights or shadows.
What should you do after adjusting the curves?
-After adjusting the curves, you can crank up the saturation in the 'Basic' section and make any necessary color corrections, like adjusting the white balance or tint.
What is the easiest way to start color grading in CapCut?
-The easiest way to start color grading is by applying a filter from CapCut's library. You can then adjust the filter using additional tools like basic adjustments, curves, or HSL settings.
What is the purpose of HSL adjustments in color grading?
-HSL adjustments allow you to target specific colors and modify their tint, saturation, and brightness. This helps to fine-tune colors after applying a filter, making your image look exactly how you want.
How can you adjust individual color channels using curves in CapCut?
-Using the RGB curves, you can adjust individual color channels like red, green, or blue. You can control the colors in shadows, midtones, and highlights by adjusting specific parts of the curve.
What is the most important advice given for improving your color grading skills?
-The most important advice is to practice regularly with different types of footage. Experiment with the tools, sliders, and curves to understand how they affect your image, and avoid overdoing adjustments.
Outlines
🎬 Introduction to Cinematic Color Grading in CapCut
The speaker apologizes for neglecting CapCut users and promises to make up for it by demonstrating cinematic color grading techniques in CapCut. The focus is on achieving professional results quickly, even in the free version of CapCut. The tutorial aims to provide full control over the color grading process, starting with how to work with log footage and manual adjustments. If the footage already has normal saturation and contrast, the viewer can skip ahead to the next step.
🎨 Adjusting Log Footage to Look Normal
The speaker explains the importance of transforming log footage (which lacks saturation and contrast) into a normal-looking image. Users can either apply a camera-specific LUT or adjust the footage manually. The tutorial guides users to open the color oscilloscope to track waveforms and use the Luma curve to create an S-curve for contrast adjustment. The speaker emphasizes making subtle adjustments to avoid overexposure or clipping while adding contrast and saturation.
📈 Working with Curves and Saturation
The speaker provides a detailed explanation of adjusting curves, particularly how the top part of the curve affects highlights, the bottom affects shadows, and the middle manages midtones. It’s emphasized that there is no one-size-fits-all curve, and users should experiment based on their footage. After adjusting the curve, users are advised to increase saturation and make minor color corrections (e.g., white balance and tint) as needed. The key takeaway is that practice and experimentation are essential to mastering color grading.
🎵 Choosing the Right Music for Your Video
Before diving deeper into color grading, the speaker briefly discusses music selection. While users may rely on CapCut's library or free music websites, the speaker endorses Audio, a sponsor of the video. They highlight the benefits of Audio’s music catalog, which offers high-quality tracks and ensures no copyright issues for both personal and client work. A special subscription discount is also mentioned.
🎛️ Applying Filters and Refining Color Adjustments
The speaker shows how to apply filters in CapCut, suggesting that filters can be a starting point, but users should customize their look further using basic adjustments like white balance and contrast. They also emphasize the flexibility offered by the curves tool for more refined control over shadows, midtones, and highlights. Depending on the user’s preference, both the slider-based basic adjustments and the more precise curves can yield excellent results.
🌈 Customizing Colors with HSL Adjustments
The speaker introduces the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) adjustment tool, which allows users to target specific colors in their footage. For example, they demonstrate how to change the sky from blue to teal by adjusting the blue hue. Other colors, like greens, can also be tweaked for brightness, saturation, or hue. The speaker advises subtle changes to maintain a natural look, even when creating artistic color grades.
🔵 Mastering RGB Curves for Advanced Color Control
The RGB curves tool is introduced as a powerful but complex tool for adjusting specific color channels (red, green, blue) in shadows, midtones, and highlights. The speaker explains how to manipulate the curve to add or subtract specific colors, giving an example of how to add teal to shadows or yellow to highlights. Caution is urged, as over-adjusting can ruin the footage. The speaker recommends practicing with different lighting conditions to fully grasp how these adjustments impact the image.
🏞️ Final Thoughts and Encouragement to Practice
The video concludes with encouragement to viewers to practice using the tools shown throughout the tutorial. The speaker highlights the importance of experimentation with different types of footage, from sunny to cloudy environments, to truly understand how color grading tools work. The goal is for users to master these tools and apply their unique vision to their videos through consistent practice.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Cinematic Color Grading
💡Log Profile
💡Luma Curve
💡Saturation
💡Color Oscilloscope
💡Filters
💡Basic Adjustments
💡White Balance
💡HSL Adjustments
💡RGB Curves
Highlights
Cinematic color grading in CapCut can be done in just 5 minutes, even using the free version.
If you shoot in a log profile, the first step is to add contrast and saturation to your flat footage.
Using the Luma curve to create an S-shaped curve is the easiest way to add contrast to your footage.
Adjusting the highlights, shadows, and midtones in the curve ensures you don’t clip any part of your footage.
Saturation adjustment is simple: just crank up the saturation after setting the curve.
For basic color correction, adjust the tint or white balance to correct overly warm, cool, green, or magenta tones.
The tutorial emphasizes the importance of practice in mastering color grading techniques.
Applying a filter in CapCut is the easiest part of the color grading process.
Even after applying a filter, you can still make adjustments to achieve the desired look.
Basic adjustments like contrast, shadows, and highlights can be tweaked using easy-to-use sliders.
The HSL tool allows you to pick a color and adjust its tint, saturation, or lightness for more precise color grading.
RGB curves let you adjust individual color channels (red, green, blue) to fine-tune shadows, midtones, and highlights.
Creating anchor points in the RGB curves provides full control over specific parts of the image.
It’s important to avoid overdoing adjustments, especially with RGB curves, as subtle changes yield better results.
The tutorial encourages experimenting with different footage types (e.g., sunny, cloudy) to better understand how the tools behave.
