🎨 Colorist Newsletter #567

Published: Sun, 10/01/23

Issue DLXVII: The Skin'y Edition
The Color Grading Newsletter
News, reviews, thoughts, career advice, and humor for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sundays. Curated by a professional color grader.
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Curated & Published
by
Patrick Inhofer
 
From The Publisher
For the first time in YEARS I'm taking a two-week vacation, starting on Monday. This means no Newsletter next week - and maybe the following (I'm not sure yet).

I couldn't do this if I hadn't made the decision 6 months ago to hire an Executive Assistant and a team of editors and writers to help grow Mixing Light. Not only can I take this time to completely disconnect - it's going to be a mini-sabbatical as I spend time... time thinking - and documenting those thoughts - about the next phase of Mixing Light and how I can help it impact our community.

Finally, I'm able to spend time, as they say, 'working ON the business rather than working IN the business'. I'm looking forward to this disconnected time.

Changes will be coming to this Newsletter in November.

It will still publish 43+ times per year. It will keep its focus. When the big reveal finally comes, it'll make sense. I promise. So stay tuned.

Wish me luck for the one BIG event I have planned on this vacation/sabbatical.

I'm taking my dad to see his (and my) first in-person rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center's (KSC) closest public viewing area! It's a father/son 2-day trip. Not only will it feature the massive Falcon Heavy, the boosters are scheduled to return to KSC. I can't express my antcipation - and doing it with my dad, no less.

My dad is a veteran of the Apollo Space Program, who did work on the moon lander while at Grumman. I suspect he's more excited than me.

Happy Grading! I'll see you later in this month.

Sincerely,

Pat Inhofer
Colorist & Publisher
The Craft
Featuring the work of creative craftsmen, the theory of color, and industry news. Learn practical workflows, useful theories, and actionable insights from existing (and emerging) leaders and teachers in our industry.

(podcast) I personally am not much of a fan-boy. Not in culture, politics, or even in our industry. That is, except, for the brilliantly talented colorist Jill Bogdanowicz. Cullen Kelly interviews her on his podcast.

(video) A reader, Robert Busschots, writes in to share this with you, "Greetings from a Belgian in the Netherlands, One of the most comprehensive mathematical descriptions of the phenomenon of color. Mind blowing."

"Topics include cone cell response functions, electromagnetic radiation, spectral colors, luminance, color spaces, parametric equations, normal curves, mono and polychromatic light, emission spectra, spectral power distributions, chromaticity diagrams, linear transformations ... the RGB cube, binary, hexadecimal codes, the HSV color space, cylinder and cone, and color schemes."

Put on a pot of coffee and enjoy. It's 42-minutes long.

An interesting look at Large Learning Libraries and how skin tones can bias image interpretation, "AI classifiers, the study says, also tend to predict people with lighter skin tones as more feminine, and people with redder skin hue as more smiley." (via Martyn Bull)

You can download these swatches, it might be interesting to experiment with, "MST Swatches are 10 single-colored rectangles, and each swatch provides the most representative color within its MST group. The swatches are created for researchers who need to use the exact color values of the MST scale for their studies and for reference when running evaluations." (via Martyn Bull)

Linked to in the article about the Sony research paper, reader Martyn Bull writes, "The Fitzpatrick scale link shows how limited the Monk Skin Tone scale is in skin tone evaluation."  (via Martyn Bull)
Of course, no roundup of skin tone references could be complete without mentioning this project by Angelica Dass.

"The company is mailing out its very last red envelopes on Friday, Sept. 29. As a parting gift to its loyal DVD-by-mail members, Netflix will let them keep any discs they still have out."

I was an early Netflix adopter, when Blockbuster reigned supreme, and still own a Netflix-branded DVD holder that they sent its customers for Christmas. Their transformation to streaming has been remarkable to watch.

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The Tools
Our craft keeps changing. And growing. Learn about updates to your favorite software. Discover new tools to help you work faster or more creatively. Build your toolchest with new techniques and approaches. 

"If you happen to log into Blackmagic Resolve 18.6 and all your databases and projects are gone, don’t panic. You might then log into the Blackmagic Cloud server and get a Project library is currently disabled message. Still, don’t panic like I did." I panicked as well. Scott Simmons' diagnosis is on-point.

(video) Learn how to automate network postgresql davinci resolve databases so you never worry about forgetting to run those backups manually,

"We are already evaluating adding many Neural Engine features to our DaVinci Resolve benchmark and are far enough along that we can use our internal alpha build to benchmark a good number of these Neural Engine features.

These tests are likely to change a bit before they make their way to our public DaVinci Resolve benchmark, so you can also consider this a sneak peak of what we are looking to add!"

"To master Livegrade Pro/Studio integrations and ensure adaptability, we’ve come up with some solutions to common scenarios we derived from the most frequently asked questions of Livegrade Pro/Studio users. At the end, we’ll give you a few best practices for contacting our support, so we can ensure that you get help as quickly as possible."

(video) "[This video] is designed to show you how easy it can be to use to track text to a drone shot with just a few nodes."

(video) "Build a quality depth map in Fusion. Create depth-based light effects, depth of field, fog, and more. Free Macro included."

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Pushing Photons
These stories are from MixingLight.com's membership Library of color grading articles, tutorials, and podcasts (Tao Of Color is co-Owner). Do you want to read a story listed here but not a member? Sign up for a 7-Day Test Drive.​​​ There's also color correction Practice Projects for purchase. 
(video) "Mixing Light Contributor and Clinical Psychologist Scott Stacy, CSI shares tactics for dealing with intense emotions and difficult clients."
(video) "Avoid the Mac Gamma Shift problem on your exports with this step-by-step guide to consistent color management in DaVinci Resolve on a Mac."
(video) "Do you need free, accurate, and quick audio transcription for captions, paper edits, or documentary scripting? Learn to use MacWhisper!"
(video) "Igor Riđanović teaches how to quickly & easily generate unique animated backgrounds using DaVinci Resolve Fusion's 3D toolset."
Gear Heads
Stay updated on the latest hardware that's shipping - because the craft of color grading isn't just about software. Plus, keep an eye on future equipment trends and hardware odds-and-ends.

"Creating Mini-ITX systems demands attention to detail and extensive testing, particularly to ensure efficient thermal management, especially when pushing the GPU to the limit, with configurations going up to the RTX 4090."

Nice.

"Samsung Display argues that 'perceived brightness' should be used rather than 'luminance' due to how our eyes and brain work. Its XCR method has been adopted as a standard."

"Storage solution provider Facilis has enhanced its Shared File System software, hardware and asset management solutions with new high-performance server models, new asset management features and Smart Access Rules innovations."

"On examining the device under 1000 lux, the colors remain consistent and true for both sRGB and Display-P3 formats. However, it is noteworthy that the Display-P3 content tends to desaturate under powerful ambient lighting. Conversely, in low-light conditions, sRGB colors come across more saturated than usual." At the click there are many more observations under a variety of lighting conditions.

Sunday Fun(nies)
Random thoughts, tidbits, and fun stuff catching my attention this week. Maybe it's color grading related. Maybe not. Ya gotta read to the end of the Newsletter to find out.

This is the launch I expect to enjoy with my father. It's the first time for both of us! It was originally supposed to launch on Oct. 5 but got pushed to Oct. 12. Keep your fingers crossed that it goes off as planned!

(video) "Steve travels to Catalina to shoot some underwater footage with iPhone 15 Pro and the Divevolk housing."

Fun, if you have the disposable income, "The Bang & Olufsen (B&O) showroom in Costa Mesa, California is going to be ready to offer a the LG Magnit 136-inch MicroLED TV with a pair of B&O floor-standing Beolab 90 speakers for the bargain basement price of $381,392."

 
Th- th- th- that's all folks! I'll see you later this month.
 


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