Kodak 2393 LUT - Alex Montoya Real World Examples

Kodak 2393 LUT Alex Montoya Footage Breakdowns from Juan Melara on Vimeo.

So how do the LUTs from my previous post look when used with footage from a serious production? Below are some real world examples using R3Ds from Alex Montoya's great short film Maquillaje (Make Up). See the short film on Alex's Vimeo page here.

If you're interested in grading these R3Ds yourself, the original reduser.net thread with the R3Ds can be found here. These were all graded using the Kodak 2393 LUT.

As I always say, it's really easy to grade well shot material. The quality of the source footage is a real testament to Alex, his cinematographer and everyone involved in the production.

About the grade

With this grade I was trying to reduce the palette to earthy browns and light greens, and at the same time giving more emphasise to any yellow in the scene.

I find it's really difficult to judge how much saturation to add or keep in a grade. It's very easy to fall in love with bright saturated colours as you grade, causing you to add more and more saturation as you go, to the detriment of how well the grade fits the content of the scene. I liken this to the anecdote of placing a frog in a pot of water on a stove and boiling the water. The water boils so slowly the frog never feels much of a change and never jumps out! It's a good analogy and a good reminder to take breaks so you can review your work with fresh eyes.

I find its best to err on the side of less saturation. Looking at these grades now, I think it could probably be taken down another 5-10%.

You can see a breakdown of the grades in the video above. Click the images for full size grabs.