We can see no definitive gap between the lift and the gamma or the gamma and the gain. The regions overlap, and quite broadly too. Perhaps on a graph, it’d look something like this: Because lift corresponds with the shadows and so forth, you may think that these controls definitively define one specific region. So, what’s the difference? First, there’s something important to note regarding the regional differences between lift, gamma, and gain. However, adding a hue to a select region feels like it’s affecting the entire image. In this example, the blue hues are extended. Or, if I push towards blue in the gain wheel, we can see the blues extend high in both scopes. If I push towards a red cast in the gamma wheel, we can see that correlate in the scopes, as the red channel starts to have a heavier presence within the midtones region. At the edges, you’ll find the primary hues plus everything in between. At the center of these wheels is the white point. Let’s have a look at this in practice with color. In this image, I’ve dragged the lift master wheel to the right. So, you can make more precise, quick contrast adjustments than simply increasing the contrast setting. Dragging a master wheel to the left makes the corresponding tonal area of the image darker, and dragging it to the right makes that tonal region of the image lighter.

These allow you to adjust the YRGB channels together, which will adjust the luminance for tonal regions depending on what control you use. You’ll find the master wheel directly underneath the color wheels. Perhaps the best way to demonstrate how these regions operate is with the master wheel. We’ll go into more detail about that in a moment.

So what are the ranges? They are separated as lift, gamma, and gain, which primarily corresponds to the shadows, midtones, and highlights, but not precisely. Each wheel represents a different tonal range, and the hue adjustments will, for the most part, only affect the specified range that corresponds with the selected wheel. However, the adjustments will vary with each wheel. In Resolve, this is a typical representation of the color wheels.Īlthough we’ll be focusing on the three to the left, there are four identical-looking wheels that also operate identically. With that, let’s learn the basics of using the color wheels. And in fact, Adobe Lightroom has recently incorporated one, which is extremely cool. The color wheels are a universal tool used similarly across all software with a three-way color corrector. Like our previous episode on the curves, we’re using DaVinci Resolve.

Davinci resolve color correction