How Colour Grading Works
Introduction
Colour grading is the art of enhancing the look and feel of your footage. It’s more than just fixing a bad shot — it’s about shaping light, mood, and tone to serve the story. Whether you’re making a film, a music video, or a YouTube vlog, learning how colour grading works will instantly give your content a more professional edge.
If you're working in DaVinci Resolve, you’re already using the same tools trusted by Hollywood colourists. In this guide, we’ll walk through the full process of colour grading in Resolve — from basic corrections to creative grading. We’ll also explore the features of the Colour Page and explain how to get great-looking results, even if you're just starting out.
And if you're more of a visual learner, there's a YouTube video embedded below where I demonstrate everything in action.
What Is Colour Grading?
Let’s start with the basics.
Colour grading is so much more than just adjusting and enhancing the colour and contrast. It’s also about achieving a certain look or feel — one that resonates with your audience and helps draw out the intended emotions of the story you are telling.
This blog aims to look at how colour grading works from a technical aspect and will lay the groundwork for fluency in the Colour Page in DaVinci Resolve.
The Colour Page in DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve’s Colour Page is where all your grading magic happens. Here's a quick overview of what you’ll use the most:
The Viewer Window – top left
This is where you see your image — you can toggle between timeline clips and split views for shot matching.
The Node Graph – right of the viewer window
Resolve uses a node-based workflow for colour grading. Each node is like a layer, and you can chain them to build complex grades step by step. It’s flexible, powerful, and non-destructive.
You’ll often start with a CST node, followed by a correction node, and then a look node. Think of it as a logical flow: input > correction > style > output.
Lift, Gamma, Gain – underneath the viewer window
These are your primary colour wheels:
Lift adjusts the shadows
Gamma controls the mid tones
Gain affects the highlights
Offset affects the whole image
You’ll use these constantly to balance shots and add contrast where it matters.
The OFX Library – drop-down menu near the top right of the node graph
Here you’ll find Glow, Halation, Film Grain, and the Colour Space Transform. The drop-down gives you access to a library of effects you can drag and drop into your node graph.
Many creative grades use a touch of OFX to subtly elevate the final look.
How Colour Grading Works (Step-by-Step)
This guide is intended to give you the foundations of how colour grading works, so the following is focused on keeping workflows simple. As you gain fluency, you can explore more complex workflows and theories.
Step 1: Colour Space Conversion (CST)
Before you start giving your footage a creative look, you need to do something called normalising the image. This means you need to transform the colour space from the camera space to the display space. The easiest way to do this is with a Colour Space Transform in the OFX tab.
In the video below, we convert a piece of footage from a Blackmagic Pocket 6K camera to Rec.709 Gamma 2.4.
Step 2: Adjust the Contrast
Contrast is the difference between the brightest white point and the deepest black in the image. Here we are looking to open the image up and deepen the shadows — without any colour adjustments.
Step 3: Create a Look
Adjust the Lift, Gamma, and Gain to get a look that you want. An ideal place to start with how colour grading works is with small adjustments. In the video below, we take the Lift down toward green and then counter it with the Gain, moving it in the opposite direction.
While this doesn’t necessarily work for every occasion, adjusting the Lift and then countering with the Gain is a great place to start and will give you a good idea of how to get a strong look using just these two tools.
Step 4: Add Saturation
Adding saturation brings your image to life — but don’t go too far. Less can be more, so adjust in small increments.
Step 5: Small Tweaks
You may feel the need to adjust certain parts of the image, and the best way to learn how colour grading works is to make the right adjustments on the right node.
For example, if you want to move the shadows, make the adjustment on the contrast node. If you want to adjust temperature or tint, use the look node.
Step 6: Creative Adjustments and Shaping
Once you have a look that you’re happy with, the next best practice in how colour grading works is to move into secondary adjustments.
This includes power windows and controlling highlights. The video goes into more depth as to why, but as a general rule, you don’t want to compress the top part of the image into the Midtones and then try to open it back out — it can turn ‘mushy’!
Why Colour Grading Matters
This guide (and the video below) gives you a clear foundation in how colour grading works using DaVinci Resolve. Even with a simple workflow, you can create stunning results quickly and consistently.
Once you’ve mastered the basics — CST, shot matching, look development — you’ll be ready to move into advanced techniques and build cinematic, high-end visuals.
Want to Work Together?
If you’ve got a project and want it to look its best — or if you’re stuck and need a fresh perspective — I’d love to help.
I work with filmmakers, DPs and directors to bring their footage to life through professional colour grading. Whether you want a bespoke cinematic look or a high-end polish, I can help — so contact me now and book a free, no-obligation virtual meeting.
