Shot Matching in DaVinci Resolve: How to Shot Match for Seamless Colour Grading
In the world of colour grading, shot matching in DaVinci Resolve is one of the most important skills a colourist can master.
It involves aligning the look, tone, and exposure of different clips so they feel like part of the same scene, no matter when or how they were filmed. Whether you’re working on a film, commercial, TV content, or YouTube content, viewers instantly notice when one shot feels out of place. This breaks immersion and undermines the quality of the project — and it’s exactly why knowing how to shot match is essential.
DaVinci Resolve, a powerful tool used by professionals worldwide, offers an exceptional set of colour grading tools to tackle shot matching. For filmmakers, editors, and colourists who want their projects to look polished and cohesive, learning shot matching in DaVinci Resolve is a must.
The shot matching video below takes you through how to get great results quickly and easily. It’s worth noting, however, that this is just one of many shot matching techniques in DaVinci Resolve.
What Is Shot Matching?
Shot matching is the process of adjusting elements of an image — such as exposure, colour, sharpness, and texture — so that individual shots blend seamlessly together. It’s more than just applying a single look or LUT. While colour grading adds style, emotion, and mood, shot matching ensures technical consistency first, aligning exposure, white balance, and colour tones between clips.
Lighting differences, multiple cameras, and changing weather can make this tricky. Productions shot across several days often deal with natural lighting changes — like the sun hiding behind clouds — which can create major differences in contrast and exposure. Without proper shot matching, these clips appear disjointed, even with the same creative look.
Think of shot matching as the foundation of continuity — making all footage feel like it was shot under the same conditions.
Why Is Shot Matching Important?
Inconsistent shots distract the audience from the story. Viewers might not consciously recognise mismatched colour temperatures or exposure shifts, but they will feel something is off. For example, if one shot in a conversation is overly warm and the reverse shot is cool and blue, the emotional tone feels fragmented.
Shot matching in DaVinci Resolve ensures:
Consistent colour and exposure across the sequence.
A solid technical base before applying creative looks.
A polished, professional final result.
If you want your grade to shine, how to shot match should be one of the first techniques you master.
Tools in DaVinci Resolve for Shot Matching
The Colour Page in DaVinci Resolve offers powerful tools for shot matching:
Scopes (Waveform and Vectorscope) – Objectively show you colour balance, luminance, exposure levels and saturation.
Gallery Stills – Save a reference still from your hero shot and compare side-by-side.
Split Screen Mode – View multiple clips at once to make accurate adjustments in real time.
By combining these tools, you can make precise adjustments based on both visual judgement and measurable data.
How to Shot Match: A Basic Workflow
A simple shot matching in DaVinci Resolve workflow for beginners:
Normalise Exposure – Adjust exposure, then Lift (shadows) and Gain (highlights). Use Gamma sparingly. In the video below, the shots are very well balanced, so this wasn’t necessary.
Establish a Hero Shot – Pick a key shot (often the wide) and grade it first. The best way to do this is with split screen and clip versions so you can play both clips through. You can also use stills, but split screen allows you to see any breakage play out.
Match the Colour from the Hero Shot – Using the Vectorscope and the Offset, “break” the colour. This will allow you to see clearly where the colours sit in the image.
Overlay the ‘Broken Colour’ Pixel Shot – Place it over the hero shot as closely as possible, using both the Vectorscope and your eye. You may need to adjust your hero shot to match the target shot for a better result. In the example in the video below, the colour separation needed some improvements.
Balance Skin Tones – In the demonstration, we balance the shots and match skin tones using an Alpha Output.
Different shots need different techniques, and this is just one of many. It’s also the reason shot matching can be so challenging — with practice, you’ll develop multiple techniques and know when to use them.
Other Common Shot Matching Challenges
Even with a good process, you may encounter:
Mixed Lighting Conditions – May require qualifiers or custom white balance adjustments.
Different Cameras or Lenses – Bring all footage into a common colour space (e.g., DaVinci Wide Gamut).
Skin Tone Consistency – This is usually the biggest issue in shot matching. Isolate and refine skin tones after balancing the overall shot. There are many different ways to do this, and we will explore more in upcoming blogs.
Pro Tips for Better Shot Matches
Use split-screen clip versions over stills for broad stroke shot matching. Split screen wipes are also great for dialling in smaller elements.
Match exposure, contrast, colour balance, and saturation — in that order.
Play back the full sequence to catch subtle differences.
Make small, incremental adjustments instead of big jumps.
Take breaks to refresh your eyes.
Conclusion
Shot matching in DaVinci Resolve is both an art and a science. By understanding the tools and following a structured workflow, you’ll produce results that flow seamlessly from shot to shot.
For beginners, the secret to how to shot match comes down to practice — using scopes, reference stills, split-screen views, and mastering the basics before moving on to complex looks. Once your shots are perfectly matched, any creative LUTs or grades you apply will look far more intentional and professional.
Shot matching in davinci resolve tutorial
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