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I’ve been trying to get better at color grading my footage to give it that cinematic look, but I’m really struggling with how to use color grading LUTs correctly. I apply one and my shadows get crushed or the skin tones go weird, and I end up tweaking it for hours.

I dropped a LUT on a shot once and the shadows got crushed and skin tones looked off. It felt like a magic button, but it wrecked the baseline. I spent hours fiddling to try to recover it, ending up with a muddy midtone that no one could love.

Maybe the real problem isn't the LUT at all. Base exposure, white balance, or a monitor that lies to you can wreck what you think you're seeing.

I tried grading by eye first, kept a neutral baseline, then used a faint lift for a film vibe. If skin looks odd I pull back the contrast or mute the saturation a touch.

Do you think the problem is the footage itself or how you're grading it?

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