Pros and Cons of HDR Color Grading Revealed

HDR de-coded! If color grading is important to your production, you'll want to take a look this article. The pro explain why delivering projects in HDR is worth it. From IBC.org Most people in the media and entertainment industry by now know that HDR stands for high dynamic range, even if they all don’t know exactly what it does or what it’s for.

However, colourists, those exceptional artists who work their magic in the grading suite, are well aware of the power that this technology has opened up for TV production and filmmaking.

Even for these experts it’s a learning process, as they get to grips with how to exploit the cinematographers’ use of the wider exposure latitude and the associated wider colour gamut that the new cameras, HDR-capable monitors and software are giving them access to.

To help the rest of us understand, we’ve asked some leading colourists to share their knowledge and experience of HDR thus far.

Going wide Corinne Bogdanowicz, a Senior Colourist with Hollywood-based Light Iron since 2010, has recently worked on series such as Transparent, I Love Dick, and Baskets, as well as Netflix’s recent breakout hit The Kissing Booth. She stresses the creative benefits of wide-gamut HDR.

”HDR can absolutely enhance storytelling,” she says. “The expanded range allows for a lot more information in an image. Often my job as a colourist is to help guide the eye to where we want the audience to look, and the additional contrast and colour is a tool to reshape the balance of a frame.”....read more