Davinci Resolve Color Grade Webcam

# DaVinci Resolve — color grade webcam and talking-head footage

## Overview

Three primary corrections + one secondary on a skin-tone qualifier = footage that looks like it cost money. The core principle: **read the waveform scope, do not trust your laptop screen.** Laptop displays are uncalibrated; the scope tells you objectively whether the shadows are crushed or the highlights are clipped.

## When to use

Symptoms:
- Webcam footage looks dull, flat, or washed out
- Skin looks orange / green / too red
- Two cameras (e.g. your face cam and a co-host's) do not match
- Want a consistent "look" across episodes
- The phrase "make it look more professional"

When NOT to use:
- You are shooting RAW (.braw, .ari, .r3d) — that needs the **HDR Wheels** workflow (Colorist Guide pp. 393-406).
- You need to fix a green-screen shot — that is Fusion territory (Fusion VFX Guide ch. 5).
- The footage is already graded and you want to *match* it to a reference — that is a shot-matching workflow (Colorist Guide pp. 46-71).

## Quick reference

The grade is a 4-node tree on the Color page:

| Node | Job | Primary tool |
|---|---|---|
| **Node 1: Normalize** | Set black and white points using the waveform | Lift + Gain master wheels |
| **Node 2: Balance** | Neutralize color cast | Lift + Gain *color* wheels |
| **Node 3: Contrast** | Add midtone punch | Contrast + Pivot at the top of the Primaries palette |
| **Node 4: Skin tones** | Refine just the face | HSL Qualifier + a power window |

## Steps

### Prep — switch to the Color page and bring up the scopes

1. Press **Shift-6** to go to the Color page.
2. Click the **Scopes** palette button (right side of the page).
3. Set the scope dropdown to **Waveform** (this shows luminance and color channels stacked).
4. Select your first webcam clip in the thumbnail strip at the top.

The waveform is your truth source. Everything you do below should be visually verified on it.

### Node 1 — Normalize (set black and white points)

1. Confirm the **Primaries — Color Wheels** palette is active in the left panel.
2. Find the **Lift** wheel (leftmost). The horizontal slider below it is the **Lift master wheel**.
3. Drag the Lift master wheel left until the darkest area of the waveform sits just above the 0 line (around 5-10 % luminance, which is approximately the 64 line on a 1023-line scope).
   - For webcam footage shot in a normal room, this typically means dragging Lift down to around `-0.02 to -0.05`.
4. Find the **Gain** wheel (rightmost). Drag its master wheel until skin-tone highlights sit between 50-75% of the scope height.
   - Watch the highest peaks — you want them at roughly the 768 line on the 1023 scale.