Adobe Premiere Pro has introduced an entirely new Colour Management system (currently in beta) that allows editors to mix and match footage from multiple camera sources – whether native, Log or RAW – and automatically achieve consistent colour and contrast image reproduction whether in SDR or HDR (both PQ and HLG). The editor can work with almost all professional video files without the need to install LUTs (or the editor can disable the feature for custom LUT workflows).
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Editors can create and finesse their own colour profiles and looks within a wide-gamut working colour space. Within the Adobe Colour Management toolset editors can choose to work within an ACEScct colour space at either an intermediary stage or to deliver high quality final outputs for projects that don’t require a final grade. Because ACEScct workflows are non-destructive, the integrity of the original native, Log or RAW footage is protected and can be either adjusted at a later stage or further worked up by a colourist, should the project demand.
By embracing ACEScct within the new Colour Management system, Adobe is enabling editors to align their colour work with an overall project’s most likely colour pipeline. Adobe ACEScct is widely agreed to be the default colour pipeline framework for professional SDR and HDR deliverables. ACEScct is commonly employed and recommended by film studios and streamers alike for feature film and HETV work and familiar to most professional colourists.
ACEScct has a log-like tonal curve that behaves similarly to camera log profiles which allows the editor or colourist to control shadows, midtones and highlights when grading and achieve consistent colour reproduction.
By working in ACEScct, the editor has the further option to instantly switch between SDR and HDR while making critical choices about how long to hold the shot and the timing and feel of a cut.
COLOUR CONTROL WITH LUMETRI
Lumetri is a panel built into Adobe Premiere Pro (and not an extension or additional software). Within Lumetri, the editor has six primary presets to choose from:
- Direct Rec. 709 (SDR)
- Direct HLG (HDR)
- Direct PQ (HDR)
- Wide Gamut (Tone Mapped)
- Wide Gamut (Minimal Tone Mapping)
- Wide Gamut (No Tone Mapping)
These presets deliver instant colour correction with the option for the editor to make increasingly detailed adjustments, depending on the project’s requirement.
At a relatively basic level, the editor can also adjust white balance (both temperature and tint), exposure, contrast, highlight handling, shadows, whites and blacks along with colour saturation, just as you might at a preliminary colour correction stage within a grade.
The editor might choose to fine tune or adjust the intensity of the look or even apply a more creative grade including adding a vintage, desaturated film-like look, apply saturation (vibrance) to more muted colours or add colour tones (tints) to shadows or highlights. The editor can apply curves to adjust contrast and brightness in the highlights, midtones or shadows, correct or adjust hues and colour temperatures, sharpen or feather edges and apply a range of vignette effects. The editor can then apply (match) a chosen look across a defined range of shots.
Lumetri comes with a range of built-in scopes that you would find within a professional grading environment to analyse the footage and ensure accurate colour grading including waveform (for brightness and exposure levels), vectorscope (for colour saturation and hues), histogram (how tones are distributed within the frame) and analyses the red, green and blue channels.
A core function that underpins Adobe’s approach to colour management is tone mapping, particularly when grading HDR and log footage. Through its controls for exposure, highlights, shadows, and curves, Lumetri provides editors with the tools to effectively ‘tone-map’ their content while retaining creative flexibility. Tone mapping is essential to display HDR content on SDR monitors or in mixed-delivery pipelines (such as for YouTube HDR and SDR versions). For example, if working with HDR footage for an SDR deliverable, Lumetri automatically uses tone mapping to compress the wide luminance and colour range into an SDR format for standard displays. Tone mapping also softens transitions and helps avoid harsh clipping that can present as artefacts within highlights or shadows.
What makes the Lumetri panel so powerful is that it works seamlessly within Premiere Pro – and within After Effects – for a continuity of colour and contrast reproduction. Editors now have intuitive and flexible controls for adjusting colour, exposure, and creative looks directly within their editing environment. For many projects, including television shows working to a limited budget, this would eliminate the need for external software and further finishing work and the project could be output from Premiere Pro using appropriate ACES transforms ahead of distribution.
By removing the requirement for external software for colour correction and grading, editors can stay within Adobe Premiere Pro and complete their picture work within the one application. This time and cost saving upside applies to a range of professional projects, including television shows working on a budget
For projects requiring a final grade, the editor can establish colour and contrast looks to serve the project and act as foundations for a professional colourist to later apply a more technical final grade working from the original assets. Additionally, this approach allows a project’s director or producers to review different creative colour options in the edit at comparatively low costs ahead of more expensive work within dedicated picture finishing suites.
Colour and contrast adjustments can be instantly reviewed by the editor making Lumetri an essential tool with advanced features to support the editor’s work on high-end projects or for professional colour correction work and to create visually stunning final looks.
This is a very powerful new tool and feature set within Adobe Premiere Pro that promises to change the way content is edited, graded and mastered – and all within a single application.
Jon Creamer
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