Noir Shadows with Resolve

[Josh Petok]

Here's a tutorial I posted a while back, but it's still very useful today:

 

Creating areas of light and shadow are no problem with DaVinci Resolve. PowerWindows, polygons, or curves can be a colorist's best friend when controlling where you want areas of contrast. The only thing that limits you is the simplicity of the shapes.

When shooting on set, a pattern or "gobo" can be placed in front of a light source to create shapes. We can use the same technique in Resolve by using external mattes. In this tutorial I will show how to create more intricate shadows or highlights that can make your images more moody or suggest location. 

 

LINKS:

Directory of Gam Patterns: bit.ly/gampatterns
Images used in this tutorial: bit.ly/noirpatterns
image courtesy of Marta Colpani: flickr.com/photos/martacolpani/4934952722/

 

Noir Shadows and Highlights with DaVinci Resolve-HD.mp4

Edited August 29, 2016 by Josh Petok

[Virgil Edward]

This is pretty good! Thanks for this! Never thought about using mattes as stylizing tools in grading.

[Tom Evans]

Hi @Virgil Edward! It's pretty common to use techniques like this to shape the image in compositing, but it's nice to see that more of these tasks can be performed in the grading systems. 

[Paul Wolf]

thanks a lot  for the tutorial @Josh Petok

[Bruno Mansi]

Tiffen have a plugin called 'Light' which does exactly this. I think it was originally a Photoshop plugin, but now it's included in some of their plugin sets for OFX. The sets aren't particularly cheap, but if you're feeling lazy and you've got money burning a hole in your pocket, the plugin includes a library of over 1300 gobos for you.

This link describes the filter in more detail:

http://software.tiffen.com/products/dft-products/light

[Nicolas Hanson]

Nice, I will check that out! 

[Bruno Mansi]

In case anyone's interested, a number of years ago, I was working on an Avid system which had this plugin installed. I was grading a short scene where two people were talking to each other in a London street. One person was shot in sunlight, but by the time they'd shot the other person, the sun had gone behind some clouds. By using the Light plugin and a soft, leaf shaped gobo, I was able to improve continuity by making it seem as if the second person was under a tree, with sunlight casting shadows on his face and body.

[Marc Wielage]

New link for the Tiffen "Light" plug-in, which is now run separately from Tiffen by DFT directly:

http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/light/

[Bruno Mansi]

On 12/29/2018 at 5:12 AM, Marc Wielage said:

New link for the Tiffen "Light" plug-in, which is now run separately from Tiffen by DFT directly:

http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/light/

Isn't this version just for stills? In the 'requirements' tab, it only shows Photoshop, Lightroom etc. No mention of OFX

[Marc Wielage]

21 hours ago, Bruno Mansi said:

Isn't this version just for stills? In the 'requirements' tab, it only shows Photoshop, Lightroom etc. No mention of OFX

The Video/Film tab takes you to a different page, which says:

Gobo library for lighting effects includes 751 gobos categorized into Abstract, Doors, Elements, Foliage, Snowflakes, Textures and Windows groups

and:

The DFT video/film plug-in is licensed on a per host basis. You can choose from: Adobe After Effects/Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro X/Motion, Avid Editing Systems, OFX hosts or a Multi-Host license which will run all video/film and OFX hosts on the same machine.

[cameronrad]

16 hours ago, Marc Wielage said:

The Video/Film tab takes you to a different page, which says:

Gobo library for lighting effects includes 751 gobos categorized into Abstract, Doors, Elements, Foliage, Snowflakes, Textures and Windows groups

and:

The DFT video/film plug-in is licensed on a per host basis. You can choose from: Adobe After Effects/Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro X/Motion, Avid Editing Systems, OFX hosts or a Multi-Host license which will run all video/film and OFX hosts on the same machine.

That's for DFT. http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/dft/

On 12/28/2018 at 9:12 PM, Marc Wielage said:

New link for the Tiffen "Light" plug-in, which is now run separately from Tiffen by DFT directly:

http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/light/

You posted a link for Light. http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/light/ 

Light doesn't work for video/film applications.

These filters do however:

[Marc Wielage]

Tiffen abandoned their partnership with DFT and allowed DFT to take it over completely. They're the same filters, just without the Tiffen name on them. And the "Light" patterns are part of it.

[cameronrad]

55 minutes ago, Marc Wielage said:

Tiffen abandoned their partnership with DFT and allowed DFT to take it over completely. They're the same filters, just without the Tiffen name on them. And the "Light" patterns are part of it.

Yea, you still linked to the wrong product. For video you should be linking people to the DFT suite which includes a light plugin, but for video. Linking to the Light plugin product page takes them to a product that only works with still applications

Edited January 1, 2019 by cameronrad