Color
Grade the picture in Compose with exposure, white balance, levels, curves, color wheels and LUTs, add effects such as blur and green-screen keying, and match shots to each other.
Color in Compose is set per clip, in two places that hold the same settings:
- The clip's 'Color' tab in the inspector, at the top right of the 'Edit' workspace
- The 'Color' workspace, which gives grading a larger preview, color wheels under the timeline and a 'Color grading' panel on the right
This is a colorist's panel rather than a row of filters, so you set what you want rather than picking a look off a shelf.
Grading does two jobs: fixing shots that came out wrong, and making shots that belong together look like they were shot together. Do them in that order.
Color workspace
Click 'Color' in the bar under the top bar, then select a clip on the timeline to grade it.
- 'Color wheels', under the timeline, has a wheel each for 'Shadows', 'Midtones' and 'Highlights'
- 'Color grading', on the right, starts with the clip's grade ('Grade 1'), then the same sections as the 'Color' tab: 'Basic correction', 'Levels', 'Curves', 'Hue curves' and 'LUTs'
- 'Comments' sits beside 'Color grading'
'Scopes', 'Qualifier' and the 'Mask' section show 'Coming soon'.
Basic correction
'Basic correction' is open by default and handles most work:
- 'Tone': exposure makes the whole picture brighter or darker, contrast widens the gap between light and dark, and highlights and shadows change the bright and dark parts on their own
- 'White balance': temperature makes it warmer or cooler, tint corrects a green or pink cast
- 'Presence': saturation changes how strong the colors are, vibrance does the same but leaves skin tones alone
Work down that list, because each setting changes what the next one is reacting to:
- Select the clip and open its 'Color' tab, or switch to the 'Color' workspace
- Set 'Exposure' until the picture is the right brightness
- Correct the cast with 'Temperature', then 'Tint'
- Add 'Contrast' if the picture looks flat
- Pull 'Highlights' down if the bright parts are blown out
- Set 'Saturation' or 'Vibrance' last
Hold the backslash key at any point to compare against the original.
Common fixes
| The problem | What to reach for |
|---|---|
| Too dark or too bright overall | Exposure |
| Flat and lifeless | Contrast, then a little vibrance |
| Blue or orange cast | Temperature |
| Green cast from indoor lighting | Tint |
| Bright parts blown out | Highlights down |
| Colors too strong | Saturation down, not vibrance |
| Skin looks wrong after a grade | Hue curves, leaving the rest alone |
Advanced grading
More sections sit below 'Basic correction', closed until you need them:
- 'Levels': set how dark the darkest part of the picture is ('In black', 'Out black'), how bright the brightest is ('In white', 'Out white'), and the midtones ('Gamma')
- 'Curves': bend the relationship between input and output brightness, for fine control over where contrast lands. 'Master' works on all colors; 'R', 'G' and 'B' work on one channel.
- 'Color wheels': push 'Shadows', 'Midtones' and 'Highlights' toward a color independently, which is how you get warm highlights over cool shadows
- 'Hue curves': change one color without touching the others, like cooling a sky and leaving the skin alone
- 'LUTs': load a saved look with 'Choose LUT' and set its strength with 'LUT intensity', so it can sit under your own grade rather than replacing it
A LUT is a look someone already built. Use one as a starting point and correct the shot underneath it first, or it will land differently on every clip.
Effects
Effects have their own 'Effects' tab in the inspector, beside 'Color'. Every setting has a diamond, so an effect can build across a shot instead of sitting at one strength. See Motion and framing for how keyframes work.
| Effect | What you can set |
|---|---|
| 'Detail' | Sharpen |
| 'Blur' | Radius, intensity |
| 'Vignette' | Amount, midpoint, feather, roundness |
| 'Film grain' | Amount, size |
| 'Glow' | Intensity, radius, threshold, warmth |
| 'Chroma key' | Color, tolerance, softness, spill |
'Chroma key' is green-screen keying: set 'Color' to the backdrop, raise 'Tolerance' until it disappears, then use 'Softness' for the edge and 'Spill' to remove the green reflected onto your subject. Put the keyed clip on a lane above whatever should show through. Footage with no backdrop? Track subject cuts the subject out instead.
The 'Effects' tab in the media browser, at the bottom left, lists every effect and color tool by kind: 'Layers', 'Color', 'Blur & sharpen', 'Stylize' and 'Keying'. Click one to apply it to the selected clips, or drag it onto a clip.
Adjustment layers
An adjustment layer is a clip of its own that carries effects and color settings, and changes the picture on the lanes below it for as long as it runs. Use one to grade or blur a whole run of clips at once.
- Right-click a clip and choose 'Add adjustment layer'
- Or, in the media browser's 'Effects' tab, click 'Adjustment layer'
- With no clip selected, any effect you click in that tab goes on a new adjustment layer at the playhead
Select the adjustment layer and set its 'Color' and 'Effects' tabs like any clip. 'Chroma key' does not work on an adjustment layer.
Matching shots
Grade one clip until you like it, then bring the others to it. Working shot by shot from scratch is slower and ends up inconsistent.
Hold the backslash key to see the clip without your changes. Let go and they come back. It is the fastest way to tell a grade from a habit, and worth doing before you decide a shot is finished.
Using Copilot
Grading a run of clips the same way is repetitive, which is what Copilot is quicker at. Try 'make all the outdoor shots warmer and lift the shadows a little', or 'match the color on these three clips to the first one'.
It can also apply a named look across a run of clips, such as film, noir, vintage or teal and orange, then leave each setting open for you to adjust. See Edit with Copilot.
Tips
- Frame and crop before you grade. Cropping changes what the color settings are reacting to.
- Judge color on a calm frame, not the brightest one in the clip.
- Small moves add up. If a setting is at an extreme, something earlier in the order is usually wrong.
That's how you grade in Compose on Morphic. Reach for it when shots that belong together do not look like they were shot together.
If you have any trouble or have any questions, feel free to reach out. We're happy to help. Write to us at support@morphic.com.