If you're just getting into video, one of the most important things you can tackle to improve both the look of your footage and the efficiency of your editing is LUTs. This helpful tutorial will get you off and running in very little time.
Coming to you from Mango Street, this video is a quick, practical overview of LUTs. LUTs (lookup tables) are mathematical maps that assign an output data value for some given input. In the case of color grading, a LUT takes an input RGB value and maps it to some other RGB value. They're useful both for technical applications, such as converting between different color spaces, and for for quickly adding stylistic pizzazz to your footage, as is the case here. They can also add a lot of consistency to your overall portfolio. Before you even import your footage into your computer, though, be sure you're shooting in a flat picture profile to allow yourself the latitude to make exposure adjustments and color grade easily when you move to post. Then, it's just a matter of opening the Lumetri Color Panel, selecting a creative LUT (you won't need the technical LUTs for these purposes), applying it, and adjusting to taste.
