Adobe SpeedGrade: Getting Started

by Alexis Van Hurkman

With Adobe’s recent acquisition of SpeedGrade, the high end color grading system, editors and colorists have been able to reach new heights in creating a finished image with the full intended range of color and contrast, without having to leave the Adobe ecosystem. In this thorough guide to Adobe SpeedGrade, expert colorist and trainer Alexis Van Hurkman takes you step-by-step through the program with lesson files and media so you can follow right along. Once you have the basics down on the interface, customizing the UI, and SpeedGrade workflows, you’ll then be guided on setting up projects, creating primary corrections, using masks, adding secondary layers, scene balancing and copying grads, keyframing, reframing clips, applying effects and transforms, and then finishing off the project with your final render and output. Not only will you learn how use the features but also why you make certain choices so your clips look great, are in balance with one another, have suitable levels for broadcast, and are stylistically in line with the needs of the film or video project. With Adobe Getting Started, you’ll be up and running with one of the best tools for color grading in no time! 1. An Overview of SpeedGrade CS6 2. SpeedGrade Workflows 3. Primary Corrections 4. Mask Corrections 5. Secondary Layers 6. Scene Balancing 7. Keyframing and Pan & Scan 8. Creative Techniques 9. Rendering and Export Alexis Van Hurkman has worked in video postproduction for 18 years (beginning as a video editor in 1994), and is currently a professional colorist based in Minneapolis (www.correctionforcolor.com). Alexis has written extensively about color correction, compositing, and editing. He has also written the user manuals for Apple Color and DaVinci Resolve.

393 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2013

About the author

Alexis Van Hurkman is a writer, director, and colorist. His award-winning movie "Carry My Heart to the Yellow River” has played over fifty festivals worldwide in 2020, his science-fiction short “The Place Where You Live” screened in 2015, and his gritty desert survival feature “Four Weeks, Four Hours” screened in 2006. Alexis is best known through his work as a colorist, having graded programs that have aired on The History Channel, The Learning Channel, A&E, and the BBC, features and shorts that have played at Telluride and Sundance, and video art installations exhibited at the NYC MOMA and Whitney Museum of American Art. As an author specializing in video postproduction, he’s written the industry-acclaimed “Color Correction Handbook” (now in its second edition) which has taught color grading to new generations of post professionals, and eight editions of the DaVinci Resolve User Manual. Alexis also consults for Blackmagic Design as part of the product design team for DaVinci Resolve.