How to color manage in 2026 (the key I've always missed)
Most people working in Resolve’s Color page have learned the importance of color management, whether that’s with RCM, CSTs, ACES, or even just a camera manufacturer LUT. But the only thing these standard solutions do is “tick the box”: none of them give us the strong starting image that great grades build on. In this video I’ll walk you through the most common forms of color management — plus the uncommon one no one is talking about that can supercharge your grades in less than 5 minutes. Grab Referent, my go-to viewing transform. It’s the heartbeat of the next-level color management I show in this video, and it’s completely free: https://cullenkellycolor.com/toolkit/... Notes: -I don't show my Project Settings in the video, because they're not affecting my color management since it's all node-based. But here's how you should set things up for best results with things like the HDR Palette and metadata tags in your exports: Project Settings ➡️ Color Management -Color science: Davinci YRGB -Timeline color space: Davinci Wide Gamut Intermediate -Output color space: Rec. 709 Gamma 2.4 -When I'm demonstrating two-stage color management using nodes, this could just as easily be ACES -- the framework, setup, and core problems are the same. ______________________________________________ 0:00 Introduction 0:43 Single-Stage Color Management 4:50 Two-Stage Color Management 9:16 Look + Output Transform 11:34 Terms for display transformations 11:52 Look + Output Transform 12:03 Robusts DRTs vs default solutions 18:02 improving beyond a robust display transformation 19:49 Conclusion
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