Free Color Grade – Shades of Grace

 

Backstory:
I recently had the opportunity to collaborate with ballet artist Mackenzie Richter on a passion project. I wanted to incorporate floral elements into the shoot to complement her movement, so I asked my wife Bella Kotak to help style the shoot. I had a very precise vision for the colors, and I wanted them to match the sophisticated feeling of the shoot.

Color can be difficult for me to work with. I have a strong emotional attachment to color, but I often get bored of the manual experimentation required to get there. I would rather have a solid base that I can tweak. That’s why I rely on Infinite Color Panel to help me explore different color possibilities. With Infinite Color Panel, I can quickly see what’s possible with every image, and I can stop at the one that hits my vision. From there, each layer can be adjusted.

The shoot with Mackenzie Richter was a great success. The colors were exactly what I had envisioned, and the flowers complemented her movement beautifully. I’m so grateful to Mackenzie and Bella for their help in bringing this project to life. Now I want to share a little bit of that magic with you!

Download these color layers for Photoshop here: 
https://spaces.hightail.com/space/KbKQ1C9Qxy
1. Click on the link and download the Tiff file within.
2. Open the Tiff file in Photoshop, and there you’ll see the layers!
3. Feel free to drag it over to your work.

My Workflow:
As I mentioned, I use Infinite Color for my color grading process. If you haven’t seen it before, check out this video to see how it works.

As you can see from the screenshot, there are two Infinite Color groups created. The first group is set to 35% opacity, and the second is at 25% opacity. So the first group has more pull to the image than the second.

I like to set a foundation of the direction I want to go in in the first group. Then, the second group gives me variations of that as it builds on the foundation and also adds a little bit of complexity with the way all the layers interact.

This method I use is called Color Stacking and I have a video here that showcases the technique! It lets me create this intricate color grade easily.

Team Credits:
Photo by Pratik Naik (me)
Styling by Bella Kotak
Modeled by Mackenzie Richter

 

4th of July Sale!
If you’re interested in picking it up, we have a 30% off sale going on till the end of the 4th (Tuesday). Go to www.infinitecolorpanel.com and enter “30OFF” on checkout!

This applies to ALL of our tools in our store. To see our full collection check out www.infinite-tools.com.