Scene-Referred Workflows: LUTs vs. Manual Grading Post-Shoot?

Posted by Antoine Marsh in Cinematography 0 views · 0 replies

Hey everyone,

I'm finding myself at a bit of a crossroads regarding post-production and scene-referred thinking, and I'd love to hear how you all approach it. Typically, on set, I'm working with cameras like an ALEXA 35 or sometimes a VENICE 2, ensuring proper exposure with good monitoring. But once that footage hits the edit suite, my personal workflow feels a little less consistent than I'd like.

Currently, for some projects, I'll bake in a standard REC.709 LUT or a specific display LUT for quick turnarounds, especially for things that need to go out fast. Other times, for more critical projects, I'm trying to push towards a more 'pure' scene-referred grade, really getting into the raw data. I'm curious how everyone else integrates scene-referred thinking into their individual post-production pipeline. Do you primarily rely on specific LUTs, or are you pushing more towards manual grading from the raw data? What's your personal balance between practical speed and theoretical purity in your workflow?

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