VideoMontazher knowledge base
Colour science for video
A systematic route from light and human vision to RGB, colour spaces, camera encodings, colour management, ACES and HDR — with the signal state kept explicit at every step.
Signal state
One image · five technical states
Working space
The material is transformed into a space suited to balancing, matching and building a look.
Start here
Build the model before learning the standards
Four chapters establish the chain from physical light to a defined RGB colour space.
Foundation
What is colour
From light and spectra to cameras, displays and perception: what physically exists in a scene and why digital colour is a model rather than a copy of reality.
Vision
How humans see colour
From the retina and S/M/L cones to metamerism, adaptation and the standard observer: why human perception became the basis of RGB and modern colorimetry.
Digital representation
RGB and digital colour
What R, G and B actually mean: additive primaries, linear light, transfer functions, code values, matrices and why 255,0,0 without a colour space does not define one specific red.
Core concept
What is a colour space
A complete explanation of colour spaces: primaries, gamut, white point, transfer functions, encoding and transforms so Rec.709, sRGB, P3 and Rec.2020 stop looking like arbitrary names.
Knowledge map
From colourimetry to delivery
The remaining chapters are grouped by what part of the signal chain they explain. The four opening chapters are not repeated below.
Light, vision, RGB, CIE, white points and transfer functions.
Measuring colour
CIE XYZ and colorimetry
Why the standard observer and CIE XYZ were needed in 1931, what X/Y/Z and x/y mean, how to read a chromaticity diagram and why Rec.709, P3 and Rec.2020 gamuts are drawn on it.
Reference neutral
White point: D50, D60 and D65
What a white point and standard illuminant are, where D50/D65 come from, why the ACES white is only D60-like, and how neutrality connects to monitoring, adaptation and the colour pipeline.
Changing the reference white
Chromatic adaptation: Bradford, CAT02 and von Kries
Why vision preserves a sense of white under changing illumination, how von Kries, Bradford, CAT02 and other CATs model that behaviour, and where adaptation actually lives in a colour pipeline.
Light ↔ signal ↔ display
Gamma and transfer functions: OETF, EOTF and OOTF
Why video encodes light non-linearly, how strict gamma differs from a transfer function, how OETF/EOTF/OOTF relate, and where Gamma 2.2/2.4, BT.1886, sRGB, PQ, HLG and camera Log fit.
Rec.709, sRGB, P3, Rec.2020, ACES and DaVinci Wide Gamut.
The core SDR video standard
Rec.709 / BT.709
A complete Rec.709 guide: why BT.709 exists, what it actually defines, where gamut ends and transfer functions begin, how the OETF, BT.1886, Gamma 2.4, Y′CbCr, video levels and metadata fit together, and why Rec.709-A is not a separate ITU standard.
Web, desktop and default RGB
sRGB
A complete sRGB guide: why HP and Microsoft proposed a default RGB space for computers and the Internet, how IEC 61966-2-1 formalised it, why its primaries match Rec.709, how the exact piecewise transfer function works, and how ICC profiles, browser colour management and mixed-media Resolve workflows fit together.
Same primaries — different systems
DCI-P3, P3-D65 and Display P3
A complete guide to the P3 family: cinema DCI-P3, P3-D65 and consumer Display P3; exact primaries, different white points and transfer functions, the 48-nit cinema reference, 12-bit XYZ DCDM, the Apple/web ecosystem and P3 inside HDR Rec.2020 delivery.
UHD, wide colour and a large container
Rec.2020 / BT.2020
A complete BT.2020 guide: why UHD needed a new gamut, exact spectral-like primaries and D65, 10/12-bit coding, the OETF, Y′ coefficients, constant/non-constant-luminance YCbCr, how it differs from HDR/BT.2100, P3 mastering inside a Rec.2020 container and the role of gamut mapping.
Academy Color Encoding System
ACES: system, encodings and Output Transform
ACES2065-1/AP0, ACEScg and ACEScct/AP1, Input and Look Transforms, ACES 1.x and ACES 2 Output Transform, gamut compression, VFX interchange and DaVinci Resolve workflows.
Resolve working space
DaVinci Wide Gamut / Intermediate
The official DWG geometry, DaVinci Intermediate formula, 18% grey, scene-referred working model, RCM/CST workflows and the crucial distinction from Blackmagic Wide Gamut.
YCbCr, bit depth, subsampling, RAW, log and camera gamuts.
Scene-referred camera encoding
Camera log curves: LogC, S-Log and Blackmagic Film
Why cameras record Log, why the flat image preserves dynamic range, how Log differs from RAW and gamma, why every log curve needs the correct camera gamut, and how to normalise footage without LUT magic.
Digital signal
Video signal: YCbCr, levels, bit depth and chroma
A decomposition of digital video into independent layers: primaries, transfer, RGB↔YCbCr matrix, full/narrow range, bit depth, chroma sampling, codec and metadata, with diagnosis of common Resolve errors.
Signal source
Cameras, RAW, log and camera gamuts
The complete chain from photons and a CFA sensor to camera-native RGB, RAW decode, a log/gamut pair and technical normalisation in DaVinci Resolve.
Component video
YCbCr and Y′CbCr
From nonlinear R′G′B′ to Y′CbCr: luma versus luminance, BT.601/709/2020 matrices, Cb/Cr normalisation, narrow/full range, subsampling, chroma siting and common matrix errors.
Precision and detail
Bit depth and chroma subsampling
What 8/10/12-bit and 4:4:4/4:2:2/4:2:0 actually provide: quantisation, banding, grading headroom, spatial chroma grids, siting, keying and generation loss.
PQ, HLG, nits, tone mapping and gamut mapping.
Dynamic range
SDR and HDR
Not merely a brighter picture but a complete system: BT.2100, reference white, PQ/HLG, wide colour, mastering displays, tone/gamut mapping, metadata and delivery control.
HDR transfer function
PQ / SMPTE ST 2084
The absolute HDR EOTF without myths: ST 2084 formula, the 10,000 cd/m² design range, 203-nit reference white, perceptual quantisation, mastering/display mapping and Resolve workflow.
Broadcast HDR
HLG / ARIB STD-B67
Hybrid Log-Gamma in depth: the piecewise OETF, STD-B67 coefficients, 75% reference white, system gamma, relative display behaviour, broadcast compatibility and Resolve workflow.
Luminance range
Tone mapping
How to translate luminance technically between source and target: clipping, shoulders, global/local mapping, PQ EETF, HDR-to-SDR, display mapping and ordering in Resolve.
Colour range
Gamut mapping
What to do with colours outside a target gamut: clipping, compression, hue preservation, luminance interaction, Rec.2020-to-P3/Rec.709, ACES RGC and Resolve workflow.
Scene-referred, display-referred, RCM, ACES and CST.
Managed system
Colour management
Input, working and output states as one system: Resolve Colour Management, CST and ACES without double transforms, random LUTs or confusion between camera and display.
Complete chain
Colour pipeline: from camera to display
Not a collection of LUTs and nodes, but a sequence of known image states: capture/decode → input transform → scene-referred working space → grade → rendering/output transform → monitoring and delivery.
Representation
Scene-referred and display-referred
Where scene-light relationships end and the rendered image begins: scene-linear vs scene-referred, output/display-referred state, the rendering transform and practical operation ordering in Resolve.
Glossary, FAQ and quick-reference tables.
Terms
Colour-science glossary
A working glossary of 86 terms spanning light, CIE and perception through RGB, log, Y′CbCr, HDR, ACES, RCM and signal metadata — with search, categories and links to full chapters.
FAQ
Colour-science FAQ
26 practical questions covering Rec.709, sRGB, log, RAW, CST/RCM/ACES, full/video levels, Y′CbCr, HDR, PQ/HLG, monitoring and common reasons colour goes wrong.
Quick reference
Cheat sheets and tables
8 working tables covering RGB spaces, transfer functions, HDR reference points, Y′CbCr matrices, video levels, bit depth/chroma sampling, pipeline checks and CST/RCM/ACES choices.
Learning routes
Choose the entry point that matches the task
Foundation
Light → vision → RGB → colour spaces → Rec.709
For readers who want the terminology to make sense before opening Resolve settings.
Production
Camera Log → Color Management → CST → delivery
For editors and colourists assembling a technically controlled workflow from camera to master.
HDR / ACES
ACES → scene/display → PQ / HLG → tone mapping
For advanced workflows where the output display and colour volume become part of the grading model.
DaVinci Resolve
Color Management
Move from theory to RCM, CST, ACES and concrete project settings inside the Color page.
Practice
DaVinci Resolve Color
Tools, nodes, scopes, masks and grading workflows where the concepts from this section become real operations.