Zones
Dark → Shadow → Light → Highlight → Specular
Color encyclopedia · HDR Wheels
HDR Wheels in DaVinci Resolve
How to work with Dark, Shadow, Light, Highlight and Specular without turning every local tonal adjustment into a mask. We will use the real HDR palette and the Zones graph to see exactly where each correction works.
6
tonal zones
2
live panels
1
editable range map
0
mandatory masks
What the zones actually mean
HDR Wheels let you grade by luminance range instead of fighting the whole frame
The names Black, Dark, Shadow, Light, Highlight and Specular are not decorative labels. They describe editable luminance ranges that overlap softly through falloff.
Black
The lowest part of the tonal range. Useful when you want to shape deep shadows and the black floor without moving the entire lower half of the image.
Dark
Dark areas above absolute black: fabric, hair, deep backgrounds and shadow detail. This is a useful place to restore or suppress separation.
Shadow
A broader shadow zone. It lets you shape the lower part of the image more gently than a mask and more selectively than standard Lift.
Light
The brighter midrange — faces, walls, clothing and lit objects. Useful for changing brightness without aggressively pushing the white point.
Highlight
Bright detail below the extreme peaks. This zone helps preserve texture in lights, windows and reflections without treating the whole image equally.
Specular
The brightest specular peaks. Useful when you need to control intense highlights separately without flattening the rest of the bright range.
Live Resolve panels
The wheels show the correction; Zones show where it acts
These two views should be read together. The wheels are the controls, while the graph explains the tonal ranges behind them.
How to use HDR Wheels
A practical way to start without overcomplicating the grade
HDR Wheels become useful when you have a concrete luminance problem to solve. Do not touch every zone simply because the controls are there.
01
Identify the actual problem
Check the Viewer and scopes. Decide what really needs correction: deep shadows, a face, a bright source or a specular highlight.
02
Choose the right tonal zone
Do not start with Global when the problem is local in luminance. Dark, Shadow, Light or Highlight often produce a cleaner result.
03
Adjust the range
If the zone covers too much or too little, open Zones and tune the boundaries and falloff for the actual shot.
04
Verify the result
After the adjustment, return to the Viewer and scopes. Make sure you solved the problem rather than moving it into a neighboring range.
HDR vs Log
Use the simpler tool until you need the extra zones
Log Wheels already provide narrower Shadow, Midtone and Highlights ranges. HDR Wheels become valuable when you want to go further and separate Dark, Light, Highlight, Specular and custom range boundaries.
Compare with normal Color WheelsUseful rule
Do not turn HDR Wheels into six global corrections
The strength of the palette is selectivity. If you move every zone in the same direction, you are often recreating a broad correction with more complexity. Use the zone that matches the problem and leave the others alone.
FAQ
HDR Wheels in DaVinci Resolve: common questions
Short answers about tonal zones, Log Wheels, falloff and whether HDR Wheels are only for HDR projects.
How are HDR Wheels different from normal Color Wheels?
Standard Lift, Gamma and Gain work across broad overlapping ranges. HDR Wheels provide more tonal zones and let you edit their boundaries. That makes them useful when you need more selective luminance control without a Power Window or Qualifier.
Are HDR Wheels only for HDR video?
No. The palette fits HDR and scene-referred workflows especially well, but its tonal zones can also be useful in SDR. What matters is the part of the signal you need to adjust, not the name of the palette.
When should you use HDR Wheels instead of Log Wheels?
Log Wheels are convenient when Shadows, Midtones and Highlights are enough. HDR Wheels become more useful when three ranges are too broad and you want separate control over Dark, Light, Highlight, Specular and other zones.
What does Falloff do in HDR Zones?
Falloff controls how softly one tonal zone transitions into the next. A harder boundary makes the correction more selective but can create visible breaks. Softer falloff usually produces a more natural result.
Should a beginner start with HDR Wheels?
Not necessarily. It is usually better to understand Lift, Gamma, Gain and Offset first. After that, HDR Wheels feel like a more precise extension of the same idea instead of another complicated palette.
Keep learning Color
HDR Wheels make more sense once the primary grade is already under control
If Lift, Gamma, Gain and Offset still feel unpredictable, return to the Primaries page. Once their broad tonal logic is clear, HDR zones become a precise extension rather than a replacement.
Zone-based scene-referred control
HDR Wheels are not 'wheels for HDR files' but a system of configurable tonal zones
The strength of the HDR Palette is that Dark, Shadow, Light, Highlight and Specular are not rigid chunks of the waveform. Zones have Range and Falloff, can be adapted to the tonal distribution of a shot, and additional zones can be created. That makes HDR Wheels useful even in SDR projects when broad Lift/Gamma/Gain controls are too coarse.
Range
centre/extent of the selected zone
Falloff
softness of interaction with neighbouring zones
Custom Zones
can be created for a specific shot
Technical reference
How to think about HDR Palette zones
| Zone / control | Typical region | Good use | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark | deep shadows above absolute black | reveal interior/night detail without a global lift | lifting the noise floor and making black grey |
| Shadow | lower working tonal range | shape lower tonal modelling on faces/subjects | too much overlap with Dark/midtone regions |
| Light | upper midtones and bright surfaces | control windows, sky and bright surfaces before specular | compressing midtone contrast together with highlights |
| Highlight | bright detail and upper range | shape roll-off and restore highlight separation | trying to restore physically clipped signal |
| Specular | the brightest reflections/sources | separate sparkle from ordinary white | flattening natural peaks just to make the waveform neat |
| Global | the full range | overall exposure/chromatic move in the HDR processing model | using it as a substitute for deliberate zonal work |
Working sequence
1. Establish the working space first
HDR Wheels depend on how the signal is interpreted. Make sure the node operates in the expected colour space/gamma and colour management is established before judging the zones.
2. Inspect histogram/zones before adjusting
Do not move Dark or Specular just because of the label. First inspect where the subject actually falls in the Zones graph and adjust Range/Falloff if needed.
3. Exp shapes tone, the colour puck shapes chroma
Separate luminance and chromatic goals. Strong colour moves in a narrow HDR zone can quickly create unnatural boundaries between ranges.
4. Check neighbouring zones and scopes
After each significant adjustment, inspect for shelves/kinks on the waveform and loss of natural gradation. Falloff should support transitions rather than hide an overdone correction.
Diagnostics
Light affects too much of the image
Likely cause
the zone range is too wide or the signal state differs from what you assume
What to check
Zones graph, Range/Falloff and node colour space
A shelf or halo appears between tonal regions
Likely cause
an excessive adjustment combined with abrupt neighbouring-zone falloff
What to check
reduce the Exp/chroma move and soften zone boundaries
Specular does not restore detail in a clipped window
Likely cause
the data is already clipped before this node or the output transform compresses it differently
What to check
Camera Raw/highlight data, upstream transforms and waveform before/after the node