Cinematic Portrait Workflow in DaVinci Resolve 21 (PowerGrade + S-Log3 Footage)

Summary

The video demonstrates a flexible, 17-node workflow for turning flat Sony S-Log3 portrait footage into a warmer, more dimensional cinematic look while preserving natural skin texture. The creator emphasizes making gradual adjustments so the grade can adapt to different portraits and wedding scenes.

Workflow setup

• The example footage was shot in 4K, 10-bit S-Log3 on a Sony a7 IV.
• The creator sets up a vertical timeline for portrait content and sets the timeline color space to DaVinci Wide Gamut Intermediate.
• The node pipeline begins with an input Color Space Transform (CST) from Sony S-Gamut3/S-Log3 to DaVinci Wide Gamut Intermediate, with tone mapping disabled.
• A final CST converts the image to Rec. 709 Gamma 2.4 for delivery.

Grading and finishing steps

1. Exposure: Use HDR wheels to lift darks and shadows slightly, opening shadow detail. Lower highlights and adjust the highlight range to recover jacket texture without unnecessarily affecting skin.
2. Contrast: Build a gentle S-curve for depth. Then lower Lift, raise Gamma slightly to protect the midtones, raise Gain a little, and reduce highlights to keep skin detail natural.
3. White balance: Temporarily raise saturation to make skin undertones easier to judge. Warm the image slightly and shift it toward magenta to counter a greenish or cold digital cast.
4. Saturation: Use an HSV-based method rather than the standard saturation control. Switch the node to HSV, disable channels 1 and 3, and use Gain to adjust the remaining saturation channel more gently.
5. Color Slice: Warm the yellow hues and increase their density while reducing saturation for richer, restrained environmental colors. For the skin-related selection, focus on hair tones, shift them slightly warmer and more orange, and lower density for a brighter, livelier result.
6. Skin refinement: Isolate the face with a Power Window and outside node, then use the vectorscope’s skin-tone indicator as a guide. Sample reddish forehead tones with Hue vs. Hue and adjust them toward a cleaner balance.
7. Optional retouching: Use Retouch4me Heal to clean small blemishes and imperfections, then Dodge & Burn to even out shadows and transitions while retaining skin texture.
8. Cinematic look: Use the primary bars to tune color channels—warm highlights by reducing blue, manage green and red to avoid unwanted tints, soften red in the midtones, and shift shadows toward a subtle brown tone. Make further small refinements with the Log wheels.
9. Sharpening: Use the Blur/Sharpen controls, reduce the radius, preview affected areas with the A/B mask, and limit sharpening mainly to eyes and other important facial details.
10. Halation: Apply Resolve’s halation effect around high-contrast edges. Reduce its strength with saturation, threshold, spread, and global blend so it remains subtle.
11. Glow: Use Resolve’s glow effect for a softer, dreamier feel. Adjust saturation, shine threshold, spread, and gain to control excess redness and avoid washing out the image.
12. Vignette: Create a large, heavily feathered Power Window, invert it, and darken the frame’s outer edges to draw attention to the subject.
13. Final adjustments: Lower Color Boost slightly to tame overly saturated colors without flattening the image, and reduce shadows with the Log wheels for richer blacks.
14. Film grain: Add Resolve’s built-in grain, using 35 mm 400 T as a starting preset. Adjust size, texture, and strength to taste.

The before-and-after comparison shows how the combined corrections and finishing effects give the original flat footage more depth, polish, and a cinematic portrait quality.

Speakers and sources featured

• Speaker: The video’s narrator and workflow demonstrator, identified by the channel as Mehran Hadad. No other speakers are featured in the subtitles.
• Footage and tools discussed: Sony a7 IV S-Log3 footage; DaVinci Resolve 21 and its color-grading effects; Retouch4me Heal and Dodge & Burn plugins.