Color encyclopedia · primary grading
Color Wheels are where most primary grading starts. When a shot is too dark, too warm, flat or simply unbalanced, this panel lets you build a clean base before skin work, masks and a creative look.
Below we will break down what each wheel does, what Temp, Tint, Contrast and Pivot are for, and when Color Bars, Log Wheels or HDR Wheels make more sense.
The four primary controls
Think of them as broad, overlapping tonal influences rather than four isolated bands. That simple idea explains why one move can affect more of the image than the wheel name suggests.
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 neighbouring tones.
Schematic influence — the tonal ranges overlap.
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.
Schematic influence — the tonal ranges overlap.
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.
Schematic influence — the tonal ranges overlap.
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.
Schematic influence — the tonal ranges overlap.
More than four wheels
A clean primary grade is usually faster when you use the dedicated controls for the job instead of forcing every correction through Lift, Gamma and Gain.
Temp · Tint · Contrast · Pivot · Mid/Detail
Moves the shot warmer or cooler. A good first check when white balance is obviously off.
Moves balance along the green–magenta axis. Useful when temperature alone cannot neutralise the cast.
Separates or compresses dark and bright tones. It is faster than trying to build all contrast only with the three primary wheels.
Changes the point around which Contrast works. If contrast feels too harsh in shadows or highlights, Pivot helps redistribute it.
Enhances or softens local detail. It is not a simple sharpening control, and it is especially easy to overdo on faces.
Color Boost · Shadows · Highlights · Saturation · Hue · Lum Mix
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.
An extra adjustment for the darker part of the image without rebuilding the entire Lift/Gamma/Gain balance.
Lets you refine the bright part of the image when a global Gain change affects too much.
Global saturation. For a primary grade, it usually makes more sense after exposure and white balance are already under control.
Globally rotates hues. It is rarely needed for a normal primary grade and is more often a special or creative adjustment.
Controls how luminance participates in the primary YRGB adjustments. For normal grading, leaving the default value is usually the sensible starting point.
A practical first pass
There is no single mandatory sequence for every shot, but this order keeps beginners from chasing the same problem with five different controls.
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?
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.
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.
Once brightness is placed, shape the image density with Contrast. Pivot helps decide where in the tonal range that contrast should feel strongest.
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.
A good primary correction should not scream for attention. Compare against bypass or reset and make sure the shot became cleaner, not merely more dramatic.
Three Primaries layouts
All three can live in the same primary-grading stage, but they present and isolate the controls differently. Choose the interface that matches the correction you actually need.
HDR Wheels
The HDR palette lets you work with narrower and configurable tonal zones. It becomes especially useful when broad Primaries or Log ranges are not selective enough.
For a normal first grade, you do not need to jump straight into HDR Wheels. Learn the broad logic of Lift, Gamma, Gain and Offset first; then HDR zones become much easier to understand instead of looking like another panel full of circles.
Open HDR Wheels guideNeighbouring Color tools
Camera Raw, Color Match, RGB Mixer and Motion Effects sit nearby for a reason: they solve different problems. Knowing where Primaries end is as important as knowing how to use them.
Camera Raw now has a dedicated guide too: Decode Using, white balance, source exposure, greyed-out controls and the boundary between RAW decoding and the normal primary grade.
Camera RawColor Match now has a dedicated guide too: learn how to choose the correct chart, set Source/Target Gamma and Color Space, align the ColorChecker and verify the result instead of treating Match as a magic button.
Color MatchRGB Mixer has its own deep guide: learn the 3×3 channel matrix, Red/Green/Blue Output, Preserve Luminance and Monochrome without confusing it with normal primary grading.
Open RGB MixerMotion Effects now has a dedicated guide too: Temporal NR, Spatial NR, Frames, motion estimation, thresholds and Motion Blur without destroying texture.
Open Motion EffectsFAQ
Short answers to the questions that usually appear when Lift, Gamma, Gain, Log Wheels and HDR Wheels are first opened.
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.
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.
They are different interfaces for primary correction. Wheels are more intuitive for color-puck work, while Bars are convenient for per-channel and numerical adjustments. Use whichever representation makes the current task faster.
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.
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.
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.
Keep learning Color
The next logical topics are nodes and scopes: one keeps the grade organised, the other tells you whether the signal is actually where you think it is.
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.
| 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 |
First make sure the footage is interpreted correctly: RAW, log, input transform and output transform should be understood before creative primary grading.
Use Offset or Lift/Gamma/Gain for overall level and colour cast. Do not try to fix isolated skin or neon at this stage.
Use Contrast/Pivot and gentle tonal moves to build readable separation without premature clipping. Check the Waveform, not only the Viewer.
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.
an overly strong chromatic Lift move or the whole balance is being forced through the wheels
check RGB Parade and move part of the correction to Offset/Temp-Tint or a local tool
Gain is being used as exposure without monitoring the top end
check Waveform and highlight detail; with RAW, inspect Camera Raw/Highlight Recovery first
global saturation has pushed already-saturated areas
fix balance first, then use ColorSlice/Curves/Qualifier for selective work
