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How to Change the Color of One Element of the Clip 

• 3 mins read

Sometimes, when you’re editing a video, you just want the bananas to be blue, people red, and oranges a different shade of orange. In short, you’re wondering how to adjust color in DaVinci Resolve — and it’s a valid question to ask. Wherever are your reasons, DaVinci Resolve provides the tools you need to change the color of one element of the clip, even if you want to make that silver bling appear golden.

The Process — How to Adjust Color in DaVinci Resolve

Let’s say that on a shooting day, you wore a T-shirt whose color doesn’t bring out your eyes. There is more than one way to make yourself look more fancy in the final footage but we will show you the fastest one

  1. Select Your Clip: Start by selecting the clip on your timeline where the t-shirt (or any item you want to change) appears.
Selecting your clip in DaVinic Resolve
  1. Go to the Color Page: DaVinci Resolve’s Color Page is where you’ll find all the tools necessary for detailed color correction.
A selected clip on a Color Page, DaVinci Resolve
  1. Isolate the Color with Qualifier: In the color tools panel, locate the Qualifier. Use this tool to click on the color of the t-shirt in your footage. This step allows you to isolate the color for manipulation.
Qualifier tool in DaVinci Resolve
  1. Fine-Tune the Selection: Once you’ve selected the color, turn on the ‘Highlight’ option to see exactly which parts of the image are affected by your selection. Adjust the selection using the ‘Picker Add’ to include any missed areas or ‘Picker Subtract’ to remove unwanted selections.
  1. Mask the Area: If the obeject moves or if there are similar colors in the scene you want to avoid altering, create a mask around it. Use the ‘Window’ tool to draw your mask and then track it if the t-shirt moves with the subject. If you want to change background color in DaVinci Resolve, just use an inverted mask. 
Masking an object in DaVinci Resolve
  1. Adjust the Color: With the area isolated, go to the ‘Curves’ panel. You can either play with custom curves or select ‘Hue vs. Hue’ curve. Click on the line within the hue range of your t-shirt’s current color and drag it to shift the hue to the desired new color.
  1. Enhance the Saturation: If the new color needs more vibrancy, use the ‘Hue vs. Sat’ curve to increase the saturation. Select the new hue and raise its saturation to enhance the color intensity.
Changing the saturation of an object in Final Cut Pro

Check Your Work

With the ‘Highlight’ view turned on, look around to see the color changes in the context of your full video. Make any necessary final adjustments and make sure that the t-shirt color blends naturally with the rest of the scene.

If you’re looking for more tips and tricks for coloring, you can always visit our Color Grading Academy. There, one and only Matt McCool guides us through the basics of color grading in DaVinci Resolve.