02 / 04 COLOR · A CLEAR START
Primaries.Balance first. Character next.
Lift, Gamma, Gain and Offset: four different influences on one signal. Explore their ranges, neighboring controls and a practical primary grading sequence.
4 controls · 11 parameters · palette comparison
AFTER / 320 × 180Loading the frame…
Normalized browser RGB 0–1; not IRE, nits or a legal-range test.
Educational RGB model, not Resolve’s processing math. Control values are specific to this demo. No HDR, Log, color-management or output certification is simulated.
UNDERSTAND THE MECHANISM
What actually changes when you move a wheel.
Lift, Gamma and Gain are useful labels, not three sealed compartments in the image. Connect each control movement to an observable change in the signal.
Two different gestures: level and colour
The marker inside a wheel controls colour balance; the master control below it changes the level of that influence. Begin with separate tests: change only the master, restore it, then move only the colour marker. Moving several controls together makes the result harder to interpret.
A colour adjustment can also change perceived brightness, so do not judge a colour move solely by saturation. Look at a neutral object, detail and the channels. The aim is not a particular control value, but an identifiable change with understood side effects.
RememberTest one control at a time; combine them once each behaviour is understood.
A tonal range is not an object mask
Lift, Gamma and Gain have overlapping influences. Raising a face with Gamma can also affect a similarly bright wall; adjusting shadows can alter some midtones. That is not a node malfunction: a tonal correction does not identify faces or backgrounds.
Check the area you intended to change and at least one area you intended to preserve. After a Gamma adjustment, for instance, inspect both the face and a dark jacket. If one control helps one object while repeatedly harming another, consider isolation rather than endlessly compensating with the other wheels.
RememberAn “only this face” task generally needs isolation, not a stronger global adjustment.
Interpret the source before balancing it
A flat or excessively contrasty source may be interpreted incorrectly. Before primary grading, identify how the source reaches the working and output colour spaces. Do not compensate for a missing or repeated colour-space conversion with extreme Lift and Gain: those are different problems.
RAW decoding controls and Primaries Temperature/Tint should not be treated as the same processing stage. Keep decoding and colour management fixed while comparing wheels so that the experiment remains meaningful. Separate site guides cover RAW and colour management.
RememberChanging the technical baseline between comparisons prevents isolating one wheel’s contribution.
Judge contrast and saturation together; adjust them separately
Increasing contrast can make a picture appear more colourful before a separate colour adjustment. Do not automatically add Saturation just because the starting frame looked grey. Check the tonal shape first, then decide which colours really need more strength.
Treat Contrast and Pivot as related controls, but compare them one at a time. After adjusting Contrast, observe which areas became too dark or bright, then carefully explore Pivot. It is not an independent exposure replacement. If texture disappears, identify the stage that removed it before adding sharpness.
RememberCheck highlights, faces and shadows separately: attractive overall contrast does not guarantee each area is intact.
UNDERSTAND THE TOOL
Four influences. One frame.
The ranges overlap. Gamma is not the Log format; the HDR palette can also be used for SDR.
Lift
Lift is most visible in the shadows. Use it to make blacks denser or raise dark areas, and use the color puck to remove an unwanted cast from the shadows. The tonal range is not a hard boundary — its influence overlaps into neighboring tones.
Gamma
Gamma mainly works through the midtones — where faces and much of the useful image information often live. It is frequently the control that makes a shot feel brighter or darker without pushing the endpoints as aggressively as Lift or Gain.
Gain
Gain has the strongest influence on the brighter part of the image. It is useful for placing highlights and changing their color balance. If a channel is already clipped, simply lowering Gain cannot restore detail that is no longer there.
Offset
Offset shifts the whole image, which is useful when the entire shot is globally too bright, too dark or has the same color bias. It is fast, but it moves shadows, midtones and highlights together, so the result should be checked against the scopes.
UNDERSTAND THE TOOL
The controls around the wheels.
Temp
Moves the shot warmer or cooler. A good first check when white balance is obviously off.
Tint
Moves balance along the green–magenta axis. Useful when temperature alone cannot neutralize the cast.
Contrast
Separates or compresses dark and bright tones. It is faster than trying to build all contrast only with the three primary wheels.
Pivot
Changes the point around which Contrast works. If contrast feels too harsh in shadows or highlights, Pivot helps redistribute it.
Mid/Detail
Enhances or softens local detail. It is not a simple sharpening control, and it is especially easy to overdo on faces.
Color Boost
Adds color more gently than global Saturation, especially in less saturated areas. Useful when the shot needs life without pushing already strong colors too far.
Shadows
An extra adjustment for the darker part of the image without rebuilding the entire Lift/Gamma/Gain balance.
Highlights
Lets you refine the bright part of the image when a global Gain change affects too much.
Saturation
Global saturation. For a primary grade, it usually makes more sense after exposure and white balance are already under control.
Hue
Globally rotates hues. It is rarely needed for a normal primary grade and is more often a special or creative adjustment.
Lum Mix
Controls how luminance participates in the primary YRGB adjustments. For routine grading, leaving the default value is usually the sensible starting point.
REASON THROUGH A CASE
Choose a first move instead of adjusting everything.
These are reasoning exercises, not presets. Adjustment amounts depend on source material, working space and creative intent.
The whole shot feels dark, but its tonal relationship works
Should you immediately push Lift and Gain in opposite directions?
Check your reasoning
First investigate a more global level move and compare against the starting state. Opposing Lift and Gain movements also reshape tonal relationships and may solve the wrong problem. After any move, inspect both ends of the range.
A neutral wall looks green, but the scene contains green light
Should you align the entire RGB Parade?
Check your reasoning
No: first identify an area that should genuinely look neutral under this lighting. Scene colour may be intentional. A global correction is appropriate for a global unwanted cast; mixed lighting often needs a local solution.
Lowering Gain turned a white patch grey, but did not reveal detail
Does that mean the highlights have been recovered?
Check your reasoning
No. A lower value does not prove texture exists. Compare the source and individual stages: detail may be absent from the recording, lost in a conversion or compressed later. Bring the area into range and inspect whether information reappears within it, not merely whether the patch changes colour.
UNDERSTAND THE TOOL
From source to a balanced base.
- 01
Check the source and scopes first
Do not turn wheels blindly. First identify the problem: is the whole shot too dark, are only the shadows low, are highlights too bright, or is there a global color cast?
- 02
Fix the obvious white-balance error
If the whole shot is too cool, warm, green or magenta, try Temp and Tint first. It is cleaner than compensating a global cast with every wheel separately.
- 03
Place brightness with Offset and the three wheels
If the whole image needs the same shift, Offset is efficient. If the problem lives mainly in one tonal area, move to Lift, Gamma or Gain.
- 04
Shape Contrast and Pivot
Once brightness is placed, shape the image density with Contrast. Pivot helps decide where in the tonal range that contrast should feel strongest.
- 05
Refine saturation only after that
Saturation and Color Boost are easier to judge on a balanced image. If you add color too early, you can simply make a wrong balance more colourful.
- 06
Compare before/after and re-check scopes
Temporarily bypass the node, compare the result, then enable it again. Reset removes settings; it is not a substitute for non-destructive bypass. Recheck scopes and adjacent shots.
GUIDED PRACTICE
Exercise: learn the influence before building a grade.
Separate tool exploration from creative grading. First compare isolated moves on one frame, then build a small balanced correction.
Choose a test clip with dark, midtone and bright areas and use a separate empty node. Save a starting Still. Keep the frame, colour management and scope scales fixed. The educational lab at the top of the page is also suitable for initial exploration.
- 01
Explore Lift
DO THISMove only the Lift master slightly. Inspect the dark area and adjacent midtones; note where the change is strongest. Restore only this parameter.
WHAT TO CHECKCheck more than the black point: nearby tones can change as well.
- 02
Compare Gamma and Gain
DO THISRepeat the isolated test with Gamma, restore it, then try Gain. Compare the same three areas each time; do not judge the second control on top of a strong first adjustment.
WHAT TO CHECKIdentify where the move helps and where it creates an unwanted side effect.
- 03
Separate Offset from contrast changes
DO THISMake a small global Offset move and compare it with the earlier tests. Restore the baseline, then adjust Contrast separately.
WHAT TO CHECKCompare a shift in overall signal position with changes in the relationship between dark and bright areas.
- 04
Explore a colour move
DO THISFrom the baseline, move one wheel’s colour marker slightly. Watch a neutral area and the RGB channels, then restore the marker.
WHAT TO CHECKCan you explain the change separately from adding Saturation? Were any unintended areas affected?
- 05
Build a small base correction
DO THISNow combine only the moves you need. Compare with the starting Still, toggle the correction node and play the shot.
WHAT TO CHECKDo not judge shadows, skin and highlights from a single overall impression. Each changed area should have an understandable reason.
Completion criterion
You have completed the exercise when you can distinguish overall level, tonal shape and colour shifts, name a side effect of one move and restore the starting point without erasing unrelated settings.
UNDERSTAND THE TOOL
Different ways to control the grade.
Primaries · Color Wheels
The most visual Primaries layout. Color Wheels work well when you want to adjust luminance and color balance quickly across shadows, midtones, highlights and the whole image.
Primaries · Color Bars
This is another way to control the same primary tonal regions: instead of a color wheel you see separate vertical channels. Bars are useful when precise numerical or per-channel movement matters more than dragging a color puck.
Primaries · Log Wheels
Log Wheels split the image into narrower Shadow, Midtone and Highlights regions and provide separate Range controls. They are useful when Lift/Gamma/Gain affect too broad an area and you need more selective tonal work.
UNDERSTAND THE TOOL
When you need configurable zones.
HDR Color Wheels: Dark, Shadow, Light and Global
Each zone has its own exposure and saturation controls, with additional tonal zones available across the palette. This provides finer tonal control without building a mask for every adjustment.
HDR Zones: where one tonal zone transitions into another
The Zones view shows Black, Dark, Shadow, Light, Highlight and Specular, with editable range boundaries. That is the core of the HDR approach: tonal zones are explicit and configurable rather than treated as fixed abstractions.
UNDERSTAND THE TOOL
Primaries do not solve every task.
Camera Raw
With RAW media, part of the primary preparation can happen at the decode stage: temperature, tint, exposure and other controls depend on the RAW format. This logically sits before the normal Primaries grade.
Explore the topicColor Match
Color Match uses a color chart for automatic matching. It can provide a starting point, but it does not replace a deliberate primary grade and a proper check of the result.
Explore the topicRGB Mixer
RGB Mixer changes how red, green and blue channels contribute to the output. It is a more specialized technical or creative tool, not a replacement for Lift/Gamma/Gain.
Explore the topicMotion Effects
Temporal NR, Spatial NR and Motion Blur deal with noise and motion. Noise reduction requires Studio. Their graph placement depends on the source and task; judge texture and artifacts during playback.
Explore the topicTechnical logic of Primaries
What Lift, Gamma, Gain, Offset and the neighbouring Primaries actually change
Color Wheels look simple, but problems begin when they are treated as four hard-separated tonal zones. Lift, Gamma and Gain have overlapping tonal influence, Offset acts more globally, and Contrast/Pivot reshape the tonal distribution. A strong workflow therefore starts with the signal property that needs changing rather than with a favourite wheel.
lower tonal range
midtones with soft overlap
upper tonal range
global signal offset
Primaries: purpose and limits
| Control | What it changes | Good use | Do not expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lift | black level and darker range with overlap into midtones | set shadows and remove a low-end colour cast | perfect isolation of only the darkest pixels |
| Gamma | the main midtone readability | faces, interiors, overall midtone balance | a substitute for RAW exposure or precise local masking |
| Gain | upper range and white point | highlights, bright detail, high-end balance | safe recovery of already-clipped highlights |
| Offset | the signal more globally | quickly raise/lower overall level or make a global chromatic move | selective correction of separate tonal zones |
| Contrast + Pivot | distance between shadows and highlights around the pivot point | shape overall tonal separation after base balance | local contrast or texture recovery |
| Temp / Tint | global primary colour balance | correct an overall warm/cool or green/magenta cast | an exact substitute for RAW white balance after debayer |
A deliberate working method
- 01
1. Establish the technical base
First make sure the footage is interpreted correctly: RAW, log, input transform and output transform should be understood before creative primary grading.
- 02
2. Balance the shot globally
Use Offset or Lift/Gamma/Gain for overall level and colour cast. Do not try to fix isolated skin or neon at this stage.
- 03
3. Shape contrast
Use Contrast/Pivot and gentle tonal moves to build readable separation without premature clipping. Check the Waveform, not only the Viewer.
- 04
4. Saturation comes later
After neutral balance it is easier to tell whether the shot really lacks saturation or whether the issue was white balance/contrast. This reduces muddy colour.
WHEN SOMETHING LOOKS WRONG
Trace the cause.
01Shadows became coloured and muddy+
Possible cause. an overly strong chromatic Lift move or the whole balance is being forced through the wheels
What to check. check RGB Parade and move part of the correction to Offset/Temp-Tint or a local tool
02Highlights clip after Gain+
Possible cause. Gain is being used as exposure without monitoring the top end
What to check. check Waveform and highlight detail; with RAW, inspect Camera Raw/Highlight Recovery first
03Skin looks artificial after saturation+
Possible cause. global saturation has pushed already-saturated areas
What to check. fix balance first, then use ColorSlice/Curves/Qualifier for selective work
FROM READING TO DOING
One clip.
Three checks.
Use a copy of your project or a test clip. These small checks turn the article into a repeatable workflow.
Back to the Color index ↗Self-check in Resolve; the site does not evaluate your work. Progress is not saved after reloading.
COMMON QUESTIONS
The details that matter.
What is the difference between Lift, Gamma, Gain and Offset in DaVinci Resolve?
Lift is strongest in the shadows and around the black point, Gamma works mainly through the midtones, Gain is strongest in highlights and around the white point, while Offset shifts the whole image. Lift, Gamma and Gain overlap rather than forming hard-separated zones.
Where should you start a primary grade with Color Wheels?
Check the source and scopes first, then remove an obvious color cast with Temp/Tint or the wheels, place brightness with Offset and Lift/Gamma/Gain, shape Contrast/Pivot, and only then refine Saturation or Color Boost.
Are Color Wheels and Color Bars different tools?
They are different interfaces for primary correction. Wheels are more intuitive for color-puck work, while Bars are better suited to per-channel and numerical adjustments. Use whichever representation makes the current task faster.
How are Log Wheels different from normal Color Wheels?
Log Wheels use narrower Shadow, Midtone and Highlights regions and provide Range controls. That gives you more selective tonal control when normal Lift/Gamma/Gain affect too much of the image.
When do HDR Wheels make sense?
HDR Wheels are useful when you need finer control over tonal zones such as Dark, Shadow, Light, Highlight and Specular. They fit especially well in HDR and scene-referred workflows, but a normal primary grade does not have to start there.
How is Color Boost different from Saturation?
Saturation changes the overall saturation of the frame. Color Boost is gentler and is useful when you want to lift muted colors without pushing already strong colors as aggressively.
Sources & version notes
Diagrams and interactives are teaching models, not replicas of Resolve’s interface or processing engine. Original screenshots are retained; layout depends on the version and workspace.
Illustrations in the interactive labs are teaching models. Resolve screenshots retain their original site URLs. Studio availability and control layouts should be checked against your installed version.