{"id":53245,"date":"2015-04-28T10:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T15:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=53245"},"modified":"2016-09-13T15:09:52","modified_gmt":"2016-09-13T20:09:52","slug":"better-black-and-white-in-davinci-resolve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/better-black-and-white-in-davinci-resolve\/","title":{"rendered":"Better Black and White in DaVinci Resolve"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s more to monochrome than dragging the saturation down to zero. Learn the nuances of rendering black and white in DaVinci Resolve. <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Traditional Way<\/b><\/h3>\n

While losing all the saturation in a color image is the intended effect, setting saturation to zero at the beginning of the workflow ties our hands<\/strong>\u00a0since we’re unable to use the color information for later processing. We want to remove the color in a way that still gives us full control of the image.<\/p>\n

Better Ways to Work<\/b><\/h3>\n

Using DaVinci Resolve, there are two better ways to\u00a0work<\/strong>. The first is to create a node at the end of our tree with the saturation set to zero, and then create additional corrections that occur before this node. In this way, we can still pull keys on parts of the image (like the skin) that we would be paying attention to during a session using color images.<\/p>\n

In the node tree below, the process\u00a0containing the move to desaturate is last, allowing me to pull keys on the girl’s skin and dress with ease.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Black\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The second way to work is to use Resolve’s Monochrome mode, which emulates the Black and White adjustment layer used in Photoshop<\/strong>. This preserves the color information underneath and allows us to perform fast moves that give us interesting creative effects.<\/p>\n

Monochrome mode can be accessed by clicking in the RGB Mixer tab while in the Color Page<\/strong>. There’s a little drop-down menu where Monochrome can be selected. This gives us single sliders for the red, green and blue channels.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Make sure Preserve Luminance is selected<\/strong>, as you won’t get as favorable results otherwise. Without this checked, you’ll have to make sure the three sliders add up to a value of 1.00<\/strong> to keep the image at the same luminance before you processed it in monochrome.<\/p>\n

Note that the remixing of the color channels doesn’t work in this mode, and any corrections you’ve made to the color image before using Monochrome mode won\u2019t be applied.<\/strong> If you\u2019re using a control panel, any color adjustments will still be applied to the saturated image. Deselecting Monochrome will show you these results.<\/p>\n

Play around with processing the separate color channels.<\/strong> You\u2019ll see that increasing the value in the red slider, or decreasing blue, tends to enhance a subject’s skin tones. Let’s take a look at an originally color image, courtesy of Shutterstock<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

I always perform a base correction to get the image balanced<\/strong>, adjusting for color casts and, in this case, paying particular attention to the luminance of the image overall. It’s just a primary correction, so I won’t delve into secondaries until later.<\/p>\n

Here’s my quick balance of the image. I added some contrast from the original and lifted the mids.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve got an initial balance, create a new node and select Monochrome from the RGB mixer.<\/strong> Dial in some interesting looks by playing with the sliders and get it as close as you can to the final look you want.<\/p>\n

If you’ve taken the time to balance the image in the first node, you may not have to go back to the color wheels to adjust your luminance values, although it’s always a good idea to double-check<\/strong> since your eyes may have been swayed by the color information in the image.<\/p>\n

You can create additional nodes before the monochromatic node that separate specific details you want to affect, but remember that if you pull certain objects too far, you\u2019ll get artifacts resembling a swarm of ants.<\/strong> You may opt to create power windows for the elements you want to feature or deemphasize.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Here’s a look achieved by increasing the blues. In our image, incorporating the green slider produces the most subtle effect<\/strong> since most of the image is her red skin values and her blue dress, but some of the background vegetation is affected.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Sometimes the effect using Monochrome can be quite striking. I’ll illustrate this with an image that uses vibrant saturation in all three primary colors. Check out some of the grades to see how much variety coloring in monochrome can provide just by playing with the primary sliders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

I hope you’ll see that coloring a black and white job is much more complicated than just setting the saturation to zero.<\/strong>\u00a0 And don\u2019t forget to check out some of our other color grading articles.<\/p>\n