Color management for editors (no jargon)

The order that never fails

1. Exposure & white balance — fix the shot first.
2. Technical conversion — Log → Rec.709 (the camera maker’s official LUT, or Premiere’s color management).
3. Balance shots against each other — match cameras, skin tones.
4. Creative look — your LUT / grade, usually at 60–90% intensity.
5. Final touches — vignette, grain, sharpening.

A creative LUT expects Rec.709 footage. Putting it directly on log footage gives washed-out or crunchy results.

Log footage

Log (V-Log, S-Log3, C-Log, D-Log, N-Log, F-Log…) looks flat on purpose: it stores more highlights and shadows. It must be converted. Use the LUT from your camera maker for your exact profile and gamut. Exposure tip for log: expose a little brighter (about +1 stop) and bring it down in the edit — less noise.

Rec.709, gamma 2.4 and the “my export looks washed out” problem

• Broadcast/grading standard is Rec.709 with gamma 2.4 (dark room). Web viewing on laptops behaves closer to 2.2.
• On a Mac, QuickTime and browsers can show the same file slightly lighter than Premiere. In Premiere turn on Preferences → General → “Display Color Management” (Apple Silicon/Mac) so the viewer matches what viewers see.
• Don’t “fix” by eye on one screen only: check on a phone too.

HDR vs SDR

Unless a client specifically asks for HDR (HLG/PQ) and you have an HDR monitor, deliver SDR Rec.709. HDR graded on an SDR screen is guesswork.

Skin tones

On the vectorscope, healthy skin of any ethnicity sits near the “skin tone line” (between red and yellow). If a look pushes skin to green or magenta, lower the LUT intensity or protect skin with an HSL qualifier.

Matching multiple cameras

Match white balance and exposure in-camera when you can. In post: pick the best-looking camera as reference, match the others to it (Lumetri → Color Wheels & Match → Comparison View → Apply Match), then grade them all together on an adjustment layer.