How to Color Grade in DaVinci Resolve — A Beginner's Guide

Color grading sounds intimidating, but DaVinci Resolve's Color page breaks it down into a workflow anyone can follow. Here's a simple, repeatable process to get a clean, cinematic look.

Step 1: Start With Primary Correction

Open the Color page and select your clip. In the Primary Wheels panel, start with Lift (shadows), Gamma (midtones), and Gain (highlights) — nudge these before touching saturation or anything creative. The goal here is just to get exposure and white balance looking natural.

Step 2: Fix Contrast

1. Use the Contrast slider to add punch — small moves go a long way.
2. Check your Waveform scope (Window > Waveform) to make sure you’re not clipping your highlights or crushing your shadows.
3. Adjust Pivot if your contrast adjustment is shifting the overall brightness too much.

Step 3: Build a Simple Look

Once exposure and contrast are solid, add a node (click the "+" in the node graph) for your creative look — slightly lift shadows toward teal/blue and push highlights toward orange for a classic, pleasing contrast that works on most footage.

• Use the Color Warper or Hue vs Hue curve for targeted adjustments without affecting the whole image.
• Save your look as a "PowerGrade" or still so you can apply it consistently across a project.

Step 4: Match Shots

If you’re cutting between multiple cameras or clips, use the Color Match tool (right-click a reference still > Shot Match) to keep your grade consistent across the whole timeline — this is what makes an edit look professionally graded rather than haphazard.