Posts: 4
Threads: 3
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 4
Threads: 3
Joined: May 2021
Was curious what others have been using for an HDR workflow using the wide gamut color output from LRTimelapse.
I came up with a reasonable workflow using premiere pro, however I have to say it has a long way to go to be perfected. Before I discuss that though I think there are some important ground rules that need to be followed in order to incorporate the necessary HDR 10 bit color:
1) you must create TIFF 16 bit intermediaries. Jpg won’t do it as it’s 8 bit and you’ll lose all the extra tones needed to achieve 10 bit color and avoid banding in the hdr output. Also, I don’t think TIFF 8 bit would suffice either, because again you’re not up to at least 10 bit which is 1billion colors.
This also makes me wonder then whether using the rec 2020 color space is even necessary if you’re not using at least 10 bit intermediaries (which for the LRT workflow means 16 bit TIFFs?) That color space is so large so I wonder does it give you any more colors than rec 709 if you’re only using 8 bit intermediaries?
2) make sure to render using a 10 bit codec, prores 422 minimum.
Next, in order to grade in premiere you need to set your working color space for your project to either hlg or rec 2100 pq. I personally have used pq and that’s the workflow I’m familiar with, but I think it’s similar for hlg which is more of a broadcasting standard used by bbc. From what I’ve learned in an ideal world rec 2100 pq gives best results and quality, but hlg is more backwards compatible with sdr screens:
1) set working space to rec 2100 pq
2) grade luma (brightness) using the lumetri scopes and increase maximum brightness for highlights up to the maximum range of your hdr monitir. This is where it gets tricky as premiere does not currently allow you to see hdr on your computer monitor. I had to buy a separate monitor (currently using the Apple Pro Display XDR) that attaches to your computer.
3) in order to correctly output the hdr image to your display you need to specify the output display by going to preferences/playback. I also tried connecting my tv which seemed to work fine but sometimes it looked different when I connected, not sure why.
4) when you export the project make sure to export to the rec 2100 color space with maximum bit depth on to retain the 10 bit color, and use a prores codec.
I have to say though premier doesn’t seem to provide good support for this process at the moment, and in particular the need to use a separate connected monitor for grading is inconvenient.
I came up with a reasonable workflow using premiere pro, however I have to say it has a long way to go to be perfected. Before I discuss that though I think there are some important ground rules that need to be followed in order to incorporate the necessary HDR 10 bit color:
1) you must create TIFF 16 bit intermediaries. Jpg won’t do it as it’s 8 bit and you’ll lose all the extra tones needed to achieve 10 bit color and avoid banding in the hdr output. Also, I don’t think TIFF 8 bit would suffice either, because again you’re not up to at least 10 bit which is 1billion colors.
This also makes me wonder then whether using the rec 2020 color space is even necessary if you’re not using at least 10 bit intermediaries (which for the LRT workflow means 16 bit TIFFs?) That color space is so large so I wonder does it give you any more colors than rec 709 if you’re only using 8 bit intermediaries?
2) make sure to render using a 10 bit codec, prores 422 minimum.
Next, in order to grade in premiere you need to set your working color space for your project to either hlg or rec 2100 pq. I personally have used pq and that’s the workflow I’m familiar with, but I think it’s similar for hlg which is more of a broadcasting standard used by bbc. From what I’ve learned in an ideal world rec 2100 pq gives best results and quality, but hlg is more backwards compatible with sdr screens:
1) set working space to rec 2100 pq
2) grade luma (brightness) using the lumetri scopes and increase maximum brightness for highlights up to the maximum range of your hdr monitir. This is where it gets tricky as premiere does not currently allow you to see hdr on your computer monitor. I had to buy a separate monitor (currently using the Apple Pro Display XDR) that attaches to your computer.
3) in order to correctly output the hdr image to your display you need to specify the output display by going to preferences/playback. I also tried connecting my tv which seemed to work fine but sometimes it looked different when I connected, not sure why.
4) when you export the project make sure to export to the rec 2100 color space with maximum bit depth on to retain the 10 bit color, and use a prores codec.
I have to say though premier doesn’t seem to provide good support for this process at the moment, and in particular the need to use a separate connected monitor for grading is inconvenient.