Colour · From Log C to the look

Notes

The frame

A dusk road built in scene-linear light. The streetlamps are tungsten (3200 K), the oncoming car is daylight (5600 K), and the motel sign is teal neon. The camera is balanced for 5600 K, so the lamps read amber. The figure is rim-lit by the lamp behind them, and the horizon lights their face.

The pipeline

Scene light is encoded to ARRI Log C3 at EI 800 (18 % grey sits at 0.391). Each look is built from there: a filmic Rec.709 display transform, teal and orange on the 123° skin axis, bleach bypass, black and white, and day for night that keeps the practicals. Exposure moves in thirds of a stop, in linear light, before the look.

Reading the scopes

The waveform plots luma for each column of the picture, so the divider shows up in it too. The vectorscope plots hue around the circle and saturation outward. The tungsten line is the skin line: a teal and orange grade pulls the trace onto it.

Using it

Drag the divider on the picture, or use the Wipe slider with the arrow keys. Choose a look for each side. A spoken summary of the scopes follows every change.