DaVinci Resolve Club
Home   DaVinci Resolve Color Grading: Where to Start

DaVinci Resolve guide hub

DaVinci Resolve Color Grading: Where to Start

Nodes, scopes, LUTs and color management in DaVinci Resolve: the order to learn them and the guides for each step.

DaVinci Resolve color grading workflow with nodes, scopes and color management

What this hub covers

Correct the image before building a look

Start with exposure, white balance and scopes. Add color management when the footage requires it, then use nodes, LUTs and selective tools with a clear place in the signal path.

Learning the Color pageBegin with correction, scopes and a small, readable node tree.
Managing log and mixed camerasChoose RCM or CST deliberately and place LUTs by input and output.
Fixing one part of the imageUse masks, tracking or targeted corrections only where needed.

Choose the task

Guides in this hub

Each card opens one focused guide. The same article isn't repeated in a table or a second link list.

How to Color Grade in DaVinci Resolve: Beginner Tutorial 12 min read

How to Color Grade in DaVinci Resolve: Beginner Tutorial

Normalize log or RAW footage first, correct exposure and white balance, then build the look in labeled serial nodes while reading the waveform and vectorscope. Free Resolve covers the…

DaVinci Resolve RCM and CST color pipelines mapping camera log through a wide-gamut grade to Rec.709 9 min read

DaVinci Resolve Color Management: RCM vs CST & LUT Order

Stop memorizing color-management presets and follow the signal instead. This guide compares RCM and CST workflows, explains DaVinci Wide Gamut/Intermediate, places LUTs by their real…

DaVinci Resolve Scopes Explained: How to Read Every Scope 16 min read

DaVinci Resolve Scopes Explained: How to Read Every Scope

Five scopes live on the Color page and you rarely need all five open: waveform for exposure and clipping, RGB parade for color casts, vectorscope for hue, saturation and skin tone,…

DaVinci Resolve Nodes Explained 11 min read

DaVinci Resolve Nodes Explained

A node in DaVinci Resolve is one step in the image pipeline: each holds its own correction, and the order they connect changes the result. Serial nodes cover most grades; parallel and…

How to Use LUTs in DaVinci Resolve 12 min read

How to Use LUTs in DaVinci Resolve

Copy .cube files into Resolve's LUT folder, click Update Lists, then apply the LUT to its own node on the Color page instead of to the clip directly. Node placement, DaVinci Wide Gamut…

DaVinci Resolve Auto Color: How It Works, When It Fails 10 min read

DaVinci Resolve Auto Color: How It Works, When It Fails

Auto Color analyzes the frame under the playhead and writes a balance correction into the selected node. It works on clean, evenly lit footage and fails on mixed light, heavy casts and…

How to Copy a Color Grade in DaVinci Resolve 12 min read

How to Copy a Color Grade in DaVinci Resolve

Copy the graded clip with Cmd or Ctrl+C, select the destinations, paste. Middle-click does it in one action; both replace the target grade. To add a saved look without wiping existing…

Magic Mask isolating a moving subject in DaVinci Resolve 10 min read

DaVinci Resolve Magic Mask: Resolve 21 Guide

Magic Mask isolates a person or object from a shot without hand-drawing a matte on every frame. In DaVinci Resolve 21 Studio, start on a clear frame, add a dedicated Color node, place…

DaVinci Resolve 21 Photo Page: Full Walkthrough 12 min read

DaVinci Resolve 21 Photo Page: Full Walkthrough

The Photo page in Resolve 21 brings albums, node-based still grading and tethered shooting into Resolve. It will not replace Lightroom for catalog work, but for grading stills with the…

Tracked face blur and background blur in DaVinci Resolve 9 min read

How to Blur a Face or Background in Resolve

To blur a moving face in DaVinci Resolve Free, open the Color page, add a serial node, draw a soft Power Window around the face, track it forward and backward, then increase Blur Radius…

DaVinci Resolve Object Removal workflow replacing a tracked unwanted object 7 min read

Remove Objects in DaVinci Resolve: Object Removal Guide

Object Removal works when the shot contains enough clean background to rebuild. Start by judging the plate, then track, analyze and inspect every frame.

Jason Miller
Jason MillerI run DaVinci Resolve Club as an independent publication: hands-on edits, color grading breakdowns, Fairlight sessions, Fusion tests, and honest notes on where Resolve gets in the way.