🎨 DaVinci Resolve Color Grading: SLOG, Nodes & Color Science

Color grading is where a flat, desaturated LOG clip becomes something that actually looks like a film. DaVinci Resolve is purpose-built for this — but the node-based workflow can feel confusing at first.

Here’s how I approach it, based on my own experience editing Sony and DJI footage.

📋 Working with SLOG-2 / Log Footage

When shooting in a LOG profile (S-Log2, S-Log3, D-Log), your footage will look washed out on purpose — it’s preserving dynamic range. The first step before touching anything else is to tell DaVinci what color space you’re working in.

Go to: Project Settings (bottom right gear icon) → Color Management → set Color science to DaVinci YRGB Color Managed and set the output to Rec.709.

This gives you a proper baseline before you start grading.

🔵 Two-Node Setup for LOG Footage

This is the clean way to handle LOG footage. Instead of one node doing everything, you split the job:

Node 1 - Input (Color Space Transform)

Converts the raw LOG signal into DaVinci’s internal wide gamut space:

Node 2 - Output (Color Space Transform)

Converts from DaVinci’s internal space to your delivery format:

All your creative grading goes between these two nodes. This way your corrections are always working in a linear, normalized space - not on the flat LOG signal or after the final output transform.

Quick tip: Duplicate any node with Alt + S to branch corrections non-destructively.

🔢 Recommended Node Order

Once the input/output nodes are set, build your grade in this order:

1. Node 1 — Fix exposure using Primary Log Wheels
2. Node 2 — Add contrast and pop with Curves
3. Last node — Apply the Rec.709 conversion using a Color Transform (or OFX Color Space Transform)

Keep each node focused on one job. It makes troubleshooting much easier.

🎛️ Color Wheels Reference

The four wheels in the Color page do different things:

Lift and Gain are your main tools for controlling contrast. Gamma is where skin tones usually live.

⌨️ Node Shortcuts

Labeling nodes is underrated — once you have 6+ nodes per clip it saves a lot of confusion.

🔍 Color Tab Tips

• Shift + H — In the Color tab, with the Qualifier (eyedropper) tool active, this isolates the selected color in the viewer so you can see your mask clearly. Essential for secondary corrections.

Wrapping Up

The core principle in DaVinci’s color workflow: never grade directly on your LOG signal. Set up your input/output transforms first, grade in the middle, and keep each node responsible for one thing. Once that clicks, the rest is creative.

Next up: DaVinci Resolve Workflow — Speed Ramps, Audio, Effects & Export →