As usual, I tried not to repeat gift ideas – at least as much as I could.

1. The absolutely fabulous – TinyTV – the world’s smallest functioning color TV – complete with a cute little RC. This first one is “gift-perfection”. I came across it on a Kickstarter campaign and couldn’t resist not backing it up. It can store videos in it’s 9 channels – as well as stream from a connected computer. It now lives in my workstation – and I’m sure it will be a source of endless fun during long grading sessions in coming months.

https://tinycircuits.com/pages/tinytv2

2. I’d bet that most colorists and color lovers know the story of VantaBlack – the world’s blackest black paint, which absorbs 99.99% of light and makes everything look like a dimensionless void. First introduced in 2014 – it shocked the world with its capacity to make everything flat – and shocked the world again 2 years later when the manufacturer granted British artist Anish Kapur the exclusive right to use it in his work – fast forward a few years later – British artist Stuart Semple and a joint effort of artists all over the world develop BLACK 3.0 & 4.0 – as black as VantaBlack, much simpler and cheaper to use, and available for EVERYONE – except, Anish Kapoor (lol) – really, you have to acknowledge that you’re not him to order it, or even to accept the site’s cookies – funny.

From technical applications of light absorbance – to artistic touches to the studio – I can’t think of not wanting to play with this product.

This is from the BLACK 4.0 page “BLACK 4 DOES THIS…

• Absorbs all the light in the universe as well as other universes
• Works on all surfaces
• Thins with water
• Archival
• No cooking, Vacuum chambers or massive ego needed
• Brush or airbrush
• High-quality pigments means a little travels light-years
• The matte-est, flattest black you’ll ever see

The rest of the website is awesome too  and has a ton of other cool gift ideas – I’d consider WHITE 2.0, PINKIE – THE BARBIEST PINK or that beautiful TIFF blue… but there are many other ideas there.

https://culturehustle.com/products/black-3-0-the-worlds-blackest-black-acrylic-paint-150ml

https://culturehustle.com/products/black-4-0

3. Of the many bridges between childhood and adulthood – Lego bricks must be amongst the most loved everywhere – and in recent years, Lego has come up with wonderful sets for adults to make the bridge even stronger. This specific set probably wasn’t intended for video colorists – but it is spot on, and a very cool studio/grading suite decoration piece – that both reflects on your inner child – as well as your love of colors – all bound by the iconic eternal geek-brick  – (I can hardly describe the look and reaction of my 5 years old kid when he saw me pick this up in the Lego store as a gift for myself – but it was priceless). Also adding a link to Lego’s Walt Disney Tribute Camera – Which is another very cool gift idea – expanding from color correction to the love of cinema and film.

https://www.lego.com/en-il/product/everyone-is-awesome-40516

https://www.lego.com/en-il/product/walt-disney-tribute-camera-43230

4. Remember that 4-color ball point pen of the good ol’ days? What if it was re-envisioned to be the best coloring pen ever?  –  Meet The CMYK Pen – and prepare to fall in love. The very cool British Design company – SUCK.UK are a treasure of fun, inexpensive and well-thought-of gifts – and this must be one of their coolest – the tagline is “Sketch in full colour,” – and for less than 12$, this pen does just that – combining color theory with fun. Like every colorist should know – Any color can be created by combining the 4 colours; Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black. The CMYK process is used in printing to build up full-colour images, and now you can use that same process to create full-colour art with this ballpoint pen. And just that makes it a must-have for any color lover I can think of. The product page is very detailed and explanatory – this can also be ordered in bulk and branded as Studio Swag for your favorite customers… should I say more?

https://www.suck.uk.com/products/cmyk-pen/

5. This is an original enough gift to stand on its own – even if it is from the same store like the previous – and if you liked the CMYK pen, you’ll love the CMYK Sticky Notes. They are semi-transparent to allow all the color mixing fun your fridge or studio memo-board can have, and at 7.50$ – they are an unbeatable last-minute stocking-stuffer

https://www.suck.uk.com/products/transparent-sticky-notes-cmyk/#more\

6. From very affordable – to mildly expensive, but wow, what a product this is – it feels like a device straight out of a StarTrek episode and definitely promises a lot. – this is the Colorpik Digital Ink pen – in a nutshell, it’s a pen device, that has a built-in color sensor, and inkjet printer – allowing you to scan any color – then paint/draw it on different surfaces using an assortment of different tips – the manufacturer claims 16 million colors, bright, resistant and applicable to many materials and surfaces – I can’t think of seeing anything like it in the past – And I deeply want one. It’s fair to add that this is still in development and though it was reviewed by trusted sources – is scheduled to ship around April 2024 – and like every crowdfunding project, there are risks. However, the Indigogo price is still 47% discounted – making it expensive but affordable at 159$ – it will cost 299$ once the campaign ends.

Website – https://colorpik.ai/

Indigogo – https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/colorpik-pen-copy-and-draw-with-16-million-colors#/

7. I had one of these on the 2018 list – but this one is an upgrade – not 1000 pieces, 5000!

A giant, challenging 5000-piece jigsaw color gradient puzzle – this is a quote from the designer: “This one is for all those who wrote and said that 1000 COLOURS wasn’t a challenge. Multiplying the number of pieces by a magnitude of five makes the difference in hue between neighbouring tiles barely perceptible.”– Clemens Habicht

It’s big, and manufactured in Germany, so a top-notch product.

https://www.playgroup.design/#5000-colours

8. Books make you smarter – and color-related books are always a fun, sensitive and fitting gift for color lovers; they also make a great addition to any studio, whether as a coffee table book or on your shelf of knowledge – as books don’t just make you smarter… they even make you look smarter

This one is wonderful (Hardcover Edition) and will definitely be appreciated – The Secret Lives of Colors by Kassia St. Clair.

I also recommend – A Biography of the Pixel by Alvy Ray Smith (Pixar CoFounder) – which isn’t just a great read – but a must-have for video professionals and especially colorists.

9. Not many things say “Color” like Pantone does – and even if not directly related to our video-based craft – one just can’t resist the cool, intellectual and stylish vibe of the Pantone look.

The guys at Pantone know it and make wonderful and very fairly priced swag – from umbrellas and flasks – to the all-time favorite “Pantone color of the year mug”  – this is the kind of gift that will attract the right kind of attention.

10. I think Sir Issac Neuton would definitely love this one – so simple and so pretty, these stickers interact with light from your windows to show beautiful spectral rainbows in your interiors.

You can get them at Etsy or here: https://www.organismt.com/products/adsorption-rainbow-glass-window-stickers

Bonus #1

11. Like a color picker in your pocket – I had one of these in the first list – back in 2018, mini Colorimeters were something rather new and exciting  – 5 years later, there are many of them, in varying price points and functionality, from relatively inexpensive RGB Scanners – to full-blown (and more expensive) Spectrometers. Why would a colorist want a physical color picker in their pocket connected to their phone? I can’t think of an answer to that – I chose 2 well-reviewed models at very attractive price points. The new Nix Mini 3 Color Sensor Colorimeter (evolved from the model on the original list) and the COLOR MUSE 2 Colorimeter – both under 100$ and packed with useful features.

https://a.co/d/98TPm96

https://a.co/d/fLQGLRE

Bonus #2

12. The Colorist Gemstone – Also part of the original list was opal stones and their beautiful quality to show millions of colors in their intricate interiors – on a ring, a pendant or even just as a display item – this still has to be one of the nicest and most personal ways to say “I love you” to a colorist friend or loved one – and since the Opal Auctions Website is having a Christmas sale – it’s a great opportunity to find something really special. This is a search for up to 100$ opal jewelry on the website, but of course – you can look for much much more.

https://www.opalauctions.com/

Being a colorist isn’t just a profession – it’s a passion.

A passion for perfection, for complexity and of course – for colors. Here are a list of 12, under 100$, last-minute holiday gift ideas for the color passionate colorist in your life. I intentionally made the list non-work-related (what fun is that?), but many items on it are perfect & sophisticated grading suite decorations.

The previous version of my last-minute Holiday Gifts and Stocking Stuffers for the COLORIST in your life still has plenty of great gift ideas. And is definitely worth checking out again.

So without further ado –

1. The CMY Cube

I can’t think of a cuter desk/shelf decoration than this – it’s a glass cube with colored CMY filters that mix & create RGB. Hypnotizing to play with and gaze at for hours.

Buy it here.

2. A mini bust of Sir Issac Newton

Again, this is a desk/shelf decoration, but one with quite a weight (pun intended) – as it was Newton who first investigated colors in a modern scientific way – culminating in his famous “Experientum Crusis” where he split a beam of sunlight into its hues using a prism. – Who else to adorn your workstation than this giant of science.

Buy it here.

3. Optiks

Staying with Sir Newton a bit. A hardcover copy of Optics – his famous epic work on light and its nature – would fit any color-lovers bookshelf “A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light” 1704 – yet timeless.

4. A glass prism

So simple and elegant it screams Grading Suite is this glass prism just like Newton’s that allows for the nicest light and colors games while waiting for a render to complete. It can be even used freely in front of a camera’s lens to create dreamy-looking optical effects in your selfies and videos no app can match.

5. The Theory Of Colors by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Another classic book about colors that will be happily accepted into any Colorist’s library is the monumental work Theory Of Colors by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from 1810.

6. Cornet light stand/stick

This light-stick is beautiful and very positively reviewed ( which is important with these things). It works with Alexa & controlled by app and will give your color lover friend endless possibilities to change the “grade” of the space they use it in. There is a more advanced and slightly more expensive model that didn’t make the cut because it was over 100$ – worth checking out.

7. RGB/CMY earrings

These ROCK. And there is nothing I need to add to this.

Buy them here.

8. 2000-Piece Gradient Puzzle (2000 pieces)

This isn’t recycling, because last year’s Jigsaw was only 1000 pcs – This one is 2000… (!)

The largest gradient puzzle in the world will blow the mind of any colorist who also likes jigsaws. You can also do a  google search for “color gradient jigsaw puzzles” as there is an ever-growing selection of them.

Buy it here.

9. Ideal-Lume Pro by MediaLight Desk Lamp

The guys at Medialight sure make nice and clean light sources – This desk lamp is an awesome gift to both decorate a grading suite & do it right – a 98 CRI 65K pure white light because – hey… its the only way colors look right

Buy it here.

10. A cool, elegant looking, color system poster like this one

You can buy this one here, but there are also some nice minimalistic ones here as well as on Etsy.

11. A Kaleidoscope

With their endless changing patterns of colors, mirrors & light, Kaleidoscopes are a beautiful and original gift to adorn a work area with – especially the well made type that looks like a prop from some Hollywood adventure blockbuster.

You can buy this one here but there are plenty others on Amazon.

12. VideoLUT

If you’re a Colorist – you must end up frustrated once in a while at the limited tools offered to correct pictures or worse, videos on your phone. If you miss your standard selection of curves, wheels, scopes, masks, LUT support & such. Check out VideoLUT – I checked many mobile grading apps over the years – and this is one of the few worth their name.

Great work by Katerina Alieksieienko, which you can buy here. Unfortunately this app (like many other color precision apps) – is currently still only available on ios and Apple devices.

And of course, everything from the 2018 list is still quite relevant and interesting. Personally, the Nix Pro (color picker in your pocket thingy) and Opal jewel are my favorites, but lots of other cool ideas there.

Whether flawed, highly sophisticated and adaptive to its environment or just still not fully understood, our visual system, is filled with mystery and wonders. Our strange ways to interact with light, turn it into data and experience it as colors give birth to countless situations where what we see isn’t what what we think we see – we call these broadly – Optical Illusions.

They should have an especially interesting meaning for Colorists  (as well as other video professionals).

 Why?

Because they point us right to the limitations and built-in biases of our visual system, and by that, teach us that Our eyes are not measuring devices or cameras and do not include color pickers. They shouldn’t be used as such, or replace proper measuring practices

As video colorists we create, manipulate and reproduce colors daily. We construct what others will later consume.  Understanding the system’s quirks & limitations should be a fundamental part of our craft. 

~ This article is part of my Color Correction & Digital Color Theory course 

And down the rabbit hole, we go…

1. Adelson’s 1995 Checker Shadow Illusion (also called Same Square Illusion)

*Lightness (Brightness) Constancy

Probably one of the most recognized Illusions in this list.

Edward H. Adelson’s simple illusion perplexes minds for the past 2+ decades.  It doesn’t matter how many times the illusion is “solved” (image 2). Every time you’ll look back at the illusion (Image 1) it will challenge your visual system the same way.

Yup. Squares A & B are equal in value. Measure it yourself if you want to be certain.

Regardless of what your eyes tell you, and regardless of your factual knowledge,  the illusion insists. It even does so in real life setups.

This is partly happening because of a perception concept known as Lightness Constancy. This brain-eye mechanism allows us (from illusionsindex.org) “to perceive the lightness (or reflectance) of a surface as invariant, even when the intensity of incident light (the illuminance) is changing at a point or is variable across the surface. Under normal circumstances, lightness constancy allows us to distinguish between brightly lit dark surfaces and dimly lit white surfaces, which helps us to detect edges and forms”

In other words, our Brains “know” that a Shadow doesn’t change a surface’s true value on one hand, and on the other that any checkerboard they encountered in the past followed the same logic of adjacent contrasting squares.

“Ha” Your brain snorts at you arrogantly, “Your petty tricks didn’t fool me!”

When in fact they do.

Or do they?

Once we accept that our visual system isn’t a light or color meter, we can start to think about how well it serves us in navigating through reality.

Another mechanism that affects this is that our retinal responses depend on the local average image intensity.

Hmm?  Check out the Dungeon Illusion (Bressan, 2001)

We evaluate brightness in relation to its surrounding more than in its actual values. This comes handy to us as a species in numerous conditions such as object recognition or navigating our surroundings. And probably more valuable to us than bionic-like light measuring capabilities.  

The world isn’t directly experienced as it is. It is processed. And this processing is at the core of what makes us human. The world would look awfully different seen through any other visual system than ours. Its colors as we know them are only so in our minds.

Or else… the two squares on the board would have looked identical.

Why is this Important to us as Colorists and Video/Film professionals?

Accepting this simple fact is also accepting that our visual system is ‘flawed’  compared to our expectations from it, it has limitations and “bugs”. And that if it fails on this example, it may very well fail on others, often much less apparent.

This may be an advantage when dealing with everyday reality, but not so much when dealing with precise color workflows and accuracy.  

Evaluating brightness is at the core of any color correction workflow. Don’t underestimate the effect Lightness Constancy can have on you. 

As a colleague told me recently – “These 2 pixels are of the same value but not the same color“

What can we do about it?

This is a deep and humbling realisation for anyone working with color & light,  maybe one of the prime reasons never to solely trust your eyes for measuring, and always use measuring tools like scopes, color-pickers etc, to evaluate true values.

It is also why you shouldn’t work in a fully lit room, nor in a pitch black one

2. Negative Afterimage (also called color afterimage or just afterimage)

Straight from the realm of magic & hallucinations. Our brains make up colors that don’t exist…

You may have come across one of these fun Afterimage Youtube videos where you stare at a dot on a psychedelic looking image then when the image suddenly cuts to a B&W version you subtly notice “correct” colors, which quickly dissolve back to B&W

If you haven’t, here’s a nice one:

https://youtu.be/WKVSgkkNwA8

OK… what’s going on here?  If you stop and think about it for a moment. This is quite spooky.

The bee, the flower, the green around it, all seemed so real, and yet, they were only real in your brain. Hmmm…

We sort of “see” in RGB.

Why sort of?

Because its more LMS. Our eyes contain light sensitive cells in our retina, some of them are sort of sensitive to Long, Medium and Short wavelengths (within a narrow range – the visible spectrum) corresponding (broadly) to R G and B spectral hues (there is even an LMS color space), These light-sensitive cells, called Cones, are one of 2 types of light-sensitive cells in our eyes, responsible for color vision and mainly concentrated in the central part of our retina. The Fovea.

If we stare long enough at a certain hue, Cone cells keep sending the same information from the same location (a bit like a sensor array where cones are photosites in a tripod shot) to the rest of our visual system. After a moment, (about 30 seconds or so) Cones get a bit “tired”…

Then gaze here (or at any white surface)

So if we stare at an orange dot, we saturate the visual system with R & G (L & M) data from that part of our “sensor.” Slowly tiring these Cones.

Once the picture changes to grayscale (or white), it sends out even information to all three cone types (255,255,255 = white). But some of them are more tired than others…

The R & G cones in that area of the retina that were just saturated send out a weaker signal than the “fresh” B cones. This doesn’t last long, like short feedback.

Interestingly (and nicely explained in the video below) the effect is much stronger if gaze remains fixed, and shifting the gaze around can “recall” the afterimage.

https://youtu.be/GbHMLV4CZfI

Why is this Important to us as Colorists and Video/Film professionals?

Because staring-at-one-point is a large part of what our audiences are going to do with our work. A Greenish shot on the screen long enough, followed by a mainly neutral shot (but also a merely less saturated, of lower contrast or with a subtler color palette) will induce the Negative Afterimage effect in the viewer’s visual system, causing them to feel the shot as magenta while it actually isn’t.

This also happens when working with a DP/Director and white balancing a shot or turning grades on & off, at first glance it always feels a bit wrong to them. Shots that were too warm now feel a bit cold and shots that were greenish feel magenta. While actually, they are neutral.

What can we do about it?

Working in a calibrated environment is critical exactly because of this type of visual restrictions.

When your walls are neutral gray, your monitor bias-light 6500K and of good quality, and no light pollution enters your suite, you always have a reference to neutral right above the edge of your monitor. This helps to un-bias your visual system quickly and anchor it to truer values.

I often tell clients to gaze at the wall for a few seconds then back at the grade, to better appreciate it.

Of course, awareness of this phenomenon also helps. As one would take more care in what comes after what. Either to eliminate the Negative Afterimage effect or (interestingly) to intensify it.

Lastly, do not correct or grade shots out of context. Always watch back a few seconds/minutes, after every few cuts you make. Using tools like Split Screen in Resolve to see up to 16 cuts playing together is also a good practice.

Addendum.

There is an alternative theory that relates the Negative Afterimage effect to our brain rather than the retina, and to our Opponent Process color system. Data from our Cones is interpreted by a set of 3 cells that can send out data in an either/or way. Red-Cyan Blue-Yellow and Black-White (sound familiar?) are these pairs of data. Our brain response to one (in any pair) is agnostic to the opponent. By this explanation, these on/off cells send out a faint, feedback-like response after being saturated with one type of info.

R-G-B-Y are also called the “Pure” or “Unique” Hues since they do not contain each other in our perception. Which means that information that is processed by the brain from a single reading can be either Red or Green. This system is so rigid that colors that are opponent mixtures are considered “Impossible” They may exist all around us. But there is no way for us to experience a Yellowblue or a Greenred. (a concept my students often find difficult to accept)

Pure Hues palettes are often used in company logos (See Google, Microsoft, and eBay to name a few)

Here is a short one to relax from the previous

3. The Helmholtz–Kohlrausch effect

This visual phenomenon (Or Hipster-Bar somewhere…) causes us to perceive an object’s brightness based on its saturation. Especially in spectral hues.

Brightness increase by saturation can be truly evaluated when turning an image to grayscale

In this example, all colored squares are of the same brightness levels (and same brightness as background), which can be seen by the lower part (under the line) which is the upper part turned grayscale.

Why is this Important to us as Colorists and Video/Film professionals?

Because evaluating and manipulating brightness/saturation values is a major part of our work.

What can we do about it?

Trust your scopes and eye-picker as well as working in a calibrated environment are a good start.

But furthermore, switching to B&W in order to manipulate brightnesses and contrasts isn’t a bad practice it shots or projects where you want to use extra care. It allows for a better evaluation of what you’re seeing and overcomes this perception phenomenon.

Additionally, understanding how saturation affects apparent brightness, and how this effect varies between hues, helps to solve or enhance issues in numerous situations and explore interesting possibilities in others.

4. Akiyoshi Kitaoka’s Strawberry Tart

Color Constancy – Chromatic Adaptation

Akiyoshi Kitaoka is a grand master of visual illusions of all types.  His website is a real treasure for anyone interested in this field.  In 2015 he published this illusion.

Nice red strawberries, right?

Wrong!

If you use an eyedropper tool to sample it you’ll find that no red pixel value (only cyan or gray) exists in any of the strawberries.

What’s going on here?

Several things. But mainly another constancy mechanism of our visual system. Color Constancy. By it, we are able to recognize objects by color regardless of lighting conditions.

This mechanism is in part responsible for us being able to recognize an orange (the fruit)  as being Orange (the color) whether in bluish high-kelvin dawn, white midday sunlight or reddish fire camp light. We deduct an object’s color partly by comparing it to the colors of objects around it.  

Another Specialist of visual illusions, Michael Bach, cleverly shows in his website how even when we don’t see strawberries, the effect (though slightly weaker), persists. Showing that its indeed Color Constancy trickery, not our brain’s expectations about strawberries (which also have a proven effect on our visual system)

Again. Our eye isn’t a colorimeter, light meter or even mere Vectorscope

We “see” with our brains and the brain subtracts the color of light in order to keep colors constant.  Just like White Balancing in camera or post.

*Next time you walk outside during magic hours… look up to windows of houses and flats. This effect causes them to seem more orange/yellow than what they would if you were inside

Since our perception of individual colors seem to be affected by the overall color of a scene as well as by surrounding colors, Color Constancy causes us to “wrongly” perceive colors in many different setups. A seemingly never-ending source of color illusions….

Here are some.

The Land effect – Our brain completes colors in gray areas of images with a strong red tint. Interestingly… it was discovered while trying to recreate Maxwell’s first color photography.

Color Constancy, as well as Color Adaptation (the mechanism by which the Negative Afterimage occurs), is responsible for these (Akiyoshi Kitaoka) illusions, in which the flower isn’t yellow, and eyes aren’t colored.

Why is this important to us as Colorists and video professionals?

Because at the end of our work there are humans seeing it. How we will construct colors, mix them and place them by each other will influence how they are perceived eventually more than the how each individual color is perceived by itself. And this is true from set design and wardrobe through lighting and all the way to color grading.   

What can we do about it?

Like in previous cases. Don’t (only) trust your eyes to evaluate colors.

Also, get a deeper understanding of how colored light (or the illusion of) and grays interact in our brains – a better understanding of how we process colors, will help us create better colors to process.

A blue shirt or a red truck will look different in every different environment we place them And to properly manipulate them we should be conscious to how they will interact with that environment and its colors.

Working in a calibrated environment with proper bias light & no outside light pollution reduces the effect color constancy may have on your work.  

“Looking” at colors through measuring tools, or by separating them from their surrounding helps us better understand what we deal with and how to improve it when we grade. Looking at it again, plainly through our eyes, (but armed with this knowledge), helps us better understand how our audiences will experience our work and how to enhance their experience.  

I think modern video colorists can relate to this quote by Impressionist painter (and color obsessed) Claude Monet

“When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field or whatever… merely think here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape, until it gives you your own naive impression of the scene before you”

5. Bonus… the Dress conundrum

It’s hard to believe anyone with an internet connection in the past years missed this one. Probably the most prominent color viral phenomenon ever documented (in the short history of viral phenomena) – The Dress split the internet in two. And by doing that, maybe, revealed a whole new visual system mechanism.  Many saw it as being blue & black (as it actually is ) But many others saw it as white & gold…

The story in a nutshell – on Feb 2015 a mother and her daughter disagreed on perceived colors in a picture of a dress the mother planned on wearing to her daughter’s wedding. They posted the picture on Facebook for some additional opinions and the internet broke. From Buzzfeed to serious scientific publications everyone seemed occupied with how they perceived the dress.

So… What’s going on here?

Obviously, there is some Color Constancy at hand. The picture was taken in problematic lighting and exposure conditions that may trigger the brain to subtract the light’s color…

Images like this one by Kasuga~jawiki show how the dress can be either a blue/black one in very yellow light or a white/gold one in very blue light.

What it doesn’t explain. And still isn’t fully understood, is why results vary between people (with many reporting being able to see both or see the dress shift)

You can check out the Wiki page to get updated on developing research about it.  

If you consider that a phenomenon as serious and meaningful (colorwise) as color blindness was only discovered late in the 18th century (though many millions of people were probably color blind throughout human existence), then would it be crazy to think new exciting things can still be discovered about how we see? Maybe The Dress is related to one of them

Why is this important to us as Colorists and video professionals?

Because it reminds us how subjective and personal the experience of color can be. Next time your client tells you they don’t like a certain look, grade or palette, one that you happen to absolutely LOVE. Remember the Dress, and tell them they are right, and that you’ll change it rather than try to convince them to see it as you do.  

Unlike them, you have the privilege to not only see with your eyes and brain, but also through your Knowledge, craft and tools. Use both!

I’ll wrap up with a beautiful quote by (badass) color scientist R Beau Lotto.

He talks about his cube illusion (below) where the brown tile on top and the orange one on the side are the same (though we don’t see them as such)

“while looking at one of my color illusions you’re aware of one reality: that two tiles look very different, while simultaneously being aware of an opposite reality: that the two tiles are in fact physically the same. This capacity to be an observer of yourself is phenomenal — and possibly unique to humans. Indeed, to literally “see yourself see” is in my view the principle act of consciousness, which has the power to transform one’s view of the world and of. oneself.” 

I decided to do an (almost) non-equipment/software related list as:

1. They are too obvious
2. Colorists already own equipment or prefer picking it themselves.

But most importantly because color is one of life’s most beautiful, fundamental (and alluring) phenomenon, and since as colorists we constantly deal with color (and light), we end up very passionate about it.

So this list is about passion for color, from this colorist’s perspective.

Nix Pro Color Sensor

$349 (or a mini version for $99)

https://www.nixsensor.com/

Why? Because it is like having a color picker in your pocket.

Though not the first thing that comes to mind in our kind of color work, colorists love colors… and colors are everywhere, mostly outside of our screens.  Beautiful (physical) colors that you’ll probably never remember correctly later… Why not store them? (in RGB, LAB CMY or XYZ) . A true color lover would understand the gesture right away.

There are other tools of this sort on the market, mainly for interior designers to identify paint codes… I picked the Nix because it gives color values too and because it has a cheaper (more limited) option available. I haven’t tested it yet but it has been on my list for a while.

The Medialight Pro 6500K CRI 99 bias light

$99

https://www.biaslighting.com/products/the-medialight-pro

Why? Because it’s so over-the-top accurate.

A good bias light is critical for good color work. Usually, light quality of CRI 90+ (95 if you really want to be on the spot) is enough.

And it’s what many (most?) colorists use daily in their suites.  

However, there’s just something so delightfully absolute about CRI 99 that I’d switch my (perfectly suitable) bias light for this one without hesitation.

An Opal stone object/piece of jewelry

Varying prices (from lower than you expected, to more you can probably afford)

https://www.opalauctions.com/auctions/opal-jewelry/

Why? Because Opal is the colorist’s stone.

Opal stones (not all… the precious kind)  are unique in their colorful iridescence, capable to express nearly every color of the visible spectrum.    

What says “I love you” to a colorist more than an Opal ring or pendant?

A poster of Maxwell & Sutton’s Tartan Ribbon (1861)

(2 sizes $35 -$105)

20×30 size as well as a 42×63 size.

Why? Because it was the first color photograph.  In a way, the birth of RGB. Any coloring suite or color lover should be proud to hang it somewhere.

This one begs an explanation. Tried to keep it nice and short

James Clerk Maxwell’s genius made him discover how our eyes construct colors from 3 primaries mixed in different amounts, and that these primaries in equal amounts construct white light (RGB pixels anybody?). He experimented with spinning tops to map hues to their RGB values and proved (1855) that any monochromatic light stimulating three receptors (in the eye) should be able to be equally stimulated by a set of three different monochromatic lights. in other words – that an orange will look similar to us whether we see it physically in its spectral color (wavelength of 630 nm) or on a screen as More R & G and less B value in our pixels (there is no spectral orange in screens)
He then wanted to test out his discovery. He asked a photographer friend (Thomas Sutton) to photograph for him 3 B&W shots of a Scottish tartan ribbon. Each with a color filter in front of the lens (Red, Green & Blue). He later projected the 3 B&W images (color channels) through corresponding filters on top of each other. In 1861 at a Royal Institution lecture on color theory Maxwell presented this photograph. And the birth of our craft with it.

Sites like this one have various (bit generic) gifts celebrating Tartan Ribbon.

A professional, pocket size (video) color chart

$95-$150 depending on the model

Why? Because colorists like charts and owning a small one may come in handy.

X-RITE COLORCHECKER PASSPORT VIDEO

DSC Labs Pocket OneShot Plus

Both these models are compatible with grading software and very accurate. (The OneShot was inspired by PVC veteran Art Adams). As a colorist, I love owning a pro chart (OneShot). First, because I can use it on my personal projects, but more importantly, it helps me educate and improve clients who aren’t aware of the benefits charts can add to their work.

*Bonus – For the colorists who aren’t lucky enough to work in correctly painted suites. An 18% gray card is the best way to un-bias your eyes between shots/scenes & to relieve opponents fatigue that causes afterimage. 

Huge color jigsaw puzzles

From about $60 to $145 depending on the model.

Why? Because Colorists like color challenges (and because they are so cool).

A 1000 part color wheel where every piece is of a different color? Or maybe a 1000 part changing colors puzzle where every piece has 2 different colors depending on viewing angle?

These Jigsaws will blow the minds of any color lover.

A (good) Book about colors

(and not necessarily about color correction)

Why? Books make you (look) smart.

Click the cover for an Amazon link.

They are nice to have around the coloring suite, desk or coffee table, and of course… you might even learn a thing or two. I picked 4 classics in my opinion.

I think they don’t need an introduction, except maybe that Margulis’ LAB book has a newer edition that ran out, but the first one is still an amazing recommended read.  

This one too – The Interaction of Color by Josef Albers, in form of an excellent (partly interactive) iPad app, is considered a must-have for anyone working with colors.

Philips Hue 4 bulb starter kit

$169 (nice price)

Why? Because its the most (non-destructive) fun one can have at home with light & colors.

Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 60W Equivalent LED Smart Bulb Starter Kit

So much has been said about the Hue line of lighting products that it doesn’t really need my intro. I’ve been a user for many years (the oldest bulbs I bought still work BTW), and I absolutely love everything about it. Except white light (cool to warm), the bulbs can express a lot (the most I’ve tested) of colors and hues are fairly accurate. Overall light quality is pleasing too.  I’m a big fan of the HueGo model for people who already have the system.

Adam Wilt’s Cine Meter 2 app and Luxi addon

($25+$22) – IOS only

Why? Because it is like having scopes in your pocket.

Cine Meter II for iPhoneCine Meter II for iPhone (iTunes link)

LUXI LIGHT METER

I’ve been a fan of Adam’s (also a PVC veteran) original Cine Meter app for many years, its successor adds a whole lot of functionality and features, turning your iPhone into a powerful light/color measuring tool. 

FilmicPro camera app (IOS & Android) with unlocked cinematographer pack

($14.99 + $9.99)

Why? Because colorists like quality video (in Log).

FiLMiC Pro (iTunes link)

Of all the camera apps, Filmic Pro stands apart. First of all, it’s the only one I know of that a feature-length Sundance film was shot on. And second, I believe it’s the only one that has a Log recording option (along with corresponding luts). If you want to push your phone’s camera to the maximum its tech can handle… Filmic is the answer.  

A stylish, Color themed watch, wall or desk clock.

Various prices – low

Why? Because every shift must end at some point.

I was looking for a specific model, a ThinkGeek clock I wanted for myself, with a very cool RGB LED display. I was kind of bummed to find out it was discontinued and only offered now as a wristwatch.  But looking for it made me find these sites with a nice selection of generic, yet cool, RGB themed wall clocks (they’ll print anything on many things apparently). Enough to cater to any taste and last minute gift I think.

Psychedelic Bonus….  (for the pros)

Color changing tiles

https://www.movingcolor.net/

Why? Because no one has them.

If you’re accidentally planning to redesign your coloring suite anytime soon, why not consider the interesting and beautiful work of this company. They fabricate tiles that react to heat or contact by changing their colors in many different ways. I found it by mistake while looking for something else and been thinking about the possibilities ever since. Check out the gallery.

Color Correction is often seen as – that technical part of the work before the

I disagree with this point of view.

Apart from the fact that every project is different and requires different handling. Color Correction engulfs much more than basic luma+chroma adjustments.

A given Shot or Scene can be broken down to countless elements that require correction, and any of these elements can be corrected in different ways.

Sky, for example, can be corrected to look nice (or right), to match other shots, to fix banding, or altogether be replaced.

People too require corrections

People too require corrections, weather by separating to re-light them a bit, match skin tones, or to do some good old skin refinement and smoothening.

This short article, along with the added video tutorial, deals with this valuable, sometimes overlooked, aspect of our work.

In still photography, Skin refinement and smoothening is generally achieved through a technique called Frequency Separation. In short, frequency separation divides skin into 2 (sometimes more) main components and treats each of them separately before combining them back together The Low Freq part would be the surfaces of skin, and the High Freq, the facial features, and any other fine line or wrinkle that you’d want to keep in. The results can get quite impressive.

Google it if you’re unfamiliar to discover a whole world of beauty workflows for stills.

https://youtu.be/No3GXfy3nPA

This gets a lot trickier in video & film work. 

Why? 

Because talents and cameras move around, light on their faces change, the quality of the sources can vary drastically, etc. Furthermore, for a long time resolve didn’t include enough tools to support such workflows, and colorists had to do all sorts of node acrobatics to get proper Frequency Separation-like workflows in Resolve.

The short (recent) evolution of beauty tools in Resolve

Masking, tracking, qualifying then gently sharpening/blurring or selective noise reducing was a painful and time-consuming task.

In V.11 the MD (midtone detail) tool was introduced and added a gentler softening option that allowed better (though far than perfect) skin work.

Around that time (a bit later) I came across a grade in a Lift Gamma Gain discussion by a colorist (Benoit Cote) who managed to engineer a functioning Freq Separation node tree using Resolve’s limited tool (especially the lack of the Linear Light Blend mode).

Benoit’s Grade overcame that lack with smart node juggling and sparked a very interesting thread still (somewhat) active after all these years (a recommended read).

A bit later with Version 12, Resolve added Linear Light and Benoit’s tree was updated. Linear light Was a big deal in this specific workflow because it filters out gray, allowing to blend back the Hi-Freq layer

Benoit Cote’s Freq-Sep grade post V12.

Apart from Resolve’s toolset, you could always try 3rd party plugins such as Digital Anarchy’s Beauty Box, Sapphire’s (Boris) S_Beauty or Red Giant’s Cosmo. I’ve used S_Beauty and Cosmo to varying degrees of satisfaction in the past. Also worth noting is Paul Dore’s OFX for frequency separation available on his Github page. His other tools are very well written too.

Version 14 (13 was skipped) added a few more Beauty tools, mainly the flashy looking Face Refinement OFX which I never really liked. I find it a bit clumsy (especially with numerous, moving or turning heads) and it tends to create clownish results much too fast.

I admit I might be biased against that specific OFX because of its bumpy launch. It has improved greatly since, but still feels too structured and a bit restraining.

I do like the way the “Eye Correction & Light” work. And maybe should have put it in the video.

Exaggerated eye work with Face refinement OFX

But more importantly, V14 introduced 2 other, maybe less flashy, but very welcomed additions for this kind of work, the Soften & Sharpen OFX and the Color Compressor OFX. (The Warper OFX, also from V14 is a whole different kind of “beauty” retouching tool, that steers a bit from color work to VFX.)

Soften & Sharpen (which I explain in the tutorial) was a big deal addition because it was the closest we got to a one-tool (3) Freq Separation in Resolve.  Somewhat like a refined midtone detail adjustment with far more control on the size of detail to be blurred, untouched or sharpened. And when combined with solid masking & tracking, and/or qualifying, it is one of Resolve’s most powerful detail management tools for a variety of tasks, beauty work, of course, included.

By carefully reducing Small and Medium & Large textures,  then adjusting the size of small texture with the added granularity slider, impressive results can be achieved.

Color Compressor OFX  (also explained in the video) is one of my favorite skin tone uniformity tools. it’s a great fix for unwanted casts on the skin, unbalanced light temperature (to some extent), blemishes and more. It allows compressing selected hues and saturation to a (user selected) target color. I also like using it for plants and vegetation.

Then, in V. 15 came the Patch Replacer OFX (Explained in Video) and it’s super, Adaptive Blend mode. It saves  a lot of time in pimple, spots, moles and other skin imperfections – removal, which used to be done in a (slightly more time consuming) layer mixer construct before

Adaptive Blend in Patch Replacer

I think Patch Replacer is awesome.

And now, with 15.2 we got the new Beauty OFX. which is the closest it gets to a Freq Separation tool (in one effect) inside Resolve.

Beauty, covered extensively in the video, has a small checkbox to present High Frequencies In their distinctive preview (fine lines on grey,).  In my opinion, from shortly testing it, Beauty performs better than the Face Refinement OFX. It’s also nicer, and much more elegant to operate.

Hi-Freq preview in the new Beauty OFX

Still requiring delicate work, Beauty will perform best when masked and separated from the rest of the shot. As shown in the video, adding more masks and Beauty OFXs helps gently deal with tougher areas (deep wrinkles and eyebags for example)

I hope you found this useful and interesting.

And if you plan on taking some video beauty projects soon you might find this helpful.

My 10 Commandments for Skin Retouching & Beauty work in color correction.

1. Practice before you charge. These types of projects can be tough and frustrating, involving large node trees with many different tools, problematic angles, foreground items obscuring faces, inferior video formats etc. Also, clients become somewhat testy when it has to do with their appearance – experience brings self-confidence, which in turn calms clients. Don’t open a beauty shop after seeing a few tutorials.
2. Work in 100% view on your app viewer. Then 200% then some 300+ in tougher areas because you don’t want to mush & blur these precious skin pores.
3. Work on a calibrated monitor and environment. This always seems to be a commandment in color work… but furthermore in beauty jobs. Being a bit off on skin tone can result in slightly magenta/yellow skin for example. Being a lot off can result in disasters.
4. Don’t try to get it done with one node/effect. Divide and Conquer… Masks and tracking are your best friends to get these tougher wrinkles smoothened naturally.
5. Don’t VFX it. We’re Colorists. Though it’s sometimes tempting to start composting, offer warping-diets, complexly layered makeup, or rotoscope till your eyes bleed… there’s a point where you should inform your client that they are out of bounds. Hire a VFX person.
6. At the end of your process, node or node tree – tone it down a bit. It’s easy to overdo in skin work and will certainly result in unflattering output. Bad digital skin work is just as ugly as bad makeup, or bad botox work…
7. Double check for halos. This kind of work involves numerous masks, and wherever there are masks there may be halos. Triple check because faces are involved.
8. Set expectations early. Pick a few hero shots and show your client what you can do, once they approve get to work, not before.
9. Set these expectations lower than you actually can. It’s easy to get lost when correcting a hero shot and overdo it. You won’t be pleased when you realize that your super-complex grade doesn’t behave on all your shots like it did on your heroes. And that adjusting it takes longer (and sometimes much longer) than you charged for.
10. Charge accordingly! These types of projects can get tedious and intensive. Not every colorist knows how to do it well, and If you know your results are worth it, make your client know it too. It’s the kind of skill where clients often feel more comfortable the more they pay.