színgrading

Színgrading, or color grading, is the process in post-production of adjusting the color and luminance of motion picture footage to achieve a specific look or mood. It encompasses both technical and artistic decisions and is typically performed after color correction to normalize footage from different cameras and lighting conditions. In Hungarian film and video communities, the term színgrading is commonly used to refer to this practice.

Color correction and color grading are distinct stages. Color correction aligns white balance, exposure, contrast, and color balance across shots to render images accurately and consistently. Color grading then applies creative adjustments—altering hue, saturation, and brightness—to establish a desired style, mood, or narrative cue. Grading can be global (affecting the whole image) or selective (targeting skin tones, skies, or objects via masks).

The process involves technical and aesthetic decisions. A colorist uses scopes (waveform, vectorscope, histogram) and calibrated monitors to judge accuracy. They work in a chosen color space (for example ACES or Rec. 709) and may employ LUTs or node-based adjustments. The workflow typically includes primary grading (overall shifts in lift, gamma, gain), secondary grading (masks and color ranges), shot matching, and look development.

Collaboration is common in grading. The director and cinematographer provide reference looks, while the colorist implements the grade and ensures consistency across scenes for storytelling and continuity.

Deliverables depend on distribution format and color management requirements. Grading affects final output quality and is often accompanied by metadata and documentation of the chosen color pipeline.