TL;DR: Master DaVinci Resolve color grading by first calibrating your monitor and organizing your node tree, then using the three-step primary correction (balance, contrast, saturation) before moving to secondary and creative grades. This tutorial focuses on the exact workflow used for porcelain product videos and photos, where neutral whites and glossy highlights are critical.
Step 1: Calibrate for Porcelain Whites
Before touching any clip, set your scopes to “Waveform” and “Vectorscope.” Porcelain demands true neutral whites—any tint reads as a manufacturing flaw. Load your footage into the Color page, then on the first node, use the eyedropper on a known white area (like a plate rim). Click “Balance” to correct white balance. Then, use the Lift/Gamma/Gain wheels to set the waveform’s white point to 100 IRE, but never clip the specular highlights—porcelain’s shine should stay just under 100 IRE for realism.
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Step 2: Node Tree Structure
Use serial nodes in this order: Node 1 = white balance, Node 2 = contrast, Node 3 = saturation, Node 4 = secondary fix, Node 5 = creative look. For porcelain, avoid parallel nodes early on—they muddy the neutral base. Right-click the viewer and add “Serial Node.” Label each node (e.g., “WB,” “Contrast”) by double-clicking the top-left label. This keeps your grade surgical, so you can revisit a single step without redoing the grade.
Step 3: Contrast for Glossy Surfaces
On the contrast node, pull down the Gain slightly (to 90) and raise the Gamma by +0.05. This compresses the highlights to preserve the porcelain’s glossy reflection without blowing out. Then, add a slight S-curve using the Curves tool—drag the bottom-left point up 5% to lift shadows out of murky black, which mimics a softbox’s fill light. Never use a steep S-curve; porcelain looks plastic if contrast is too harsh.
Step 4: Secondary Saturation & Hue
Porcelain often has decorative cobalt blue or gold trim. On the saturation node, use the “HSL Qualifier” to select only the trim color. For blue, sample the hue and reduce saturation by 10% if it veers cyan. For gold, push the hue +5° toward yellow to look like real 24k gilding, not brass. Always tick “Highlight” in the qualifier to limit the effect to glossy areas—this prevents the matte body from taking on unwanted tint.
Step 5: Creative Look & Output
On the final node, add a very subtle “Film Negative” LUT at 0.2 opacity, or use “Color Space Transform” to Rec.709. For porcelain, a faint cool tint (lift +0.01 blue) makes the white look “hospital clean.” Finally, soften the grade by adding a slight “Gaussian Blur” via the OpenFX panel at 0.5 strength, then mix it 20%—this mimics the halation of studio lights on glazed surfaces. Export as ProRes 422 for e-commerce.
FAQ
Q: My porcelain white still looks beige after white balance. What did I miss?
A: Check your source monitor’s gamma. Resolve defaults to “Gamma 2.4,” but most product videos are shot in “Gamma 2.2.” Go to Project Settings > Color Management > Output Gamma, set to “Rec.709 Gamma 2.2,” then re-run your white balance. Beige often comes from a mismatched gamma curve, not your actual color temp.
Q: Can I use the same node tree for a dark porcelain teapot?
A: Yes, but on the contrast node, raise Gain to 100 and drop Gamma by -0.04. Dark glazes need more highlight separation to show
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