| name | color-grading |
| description | Color grading for video with FFmpeg: filter chains, profile selection by content type, LUT workflow, skin tone protection, mood-specific recipes, colorblind-safe palette, WCAG contrast requirements. Use when applying color grades, creating visual looks, or correcting color in video. Keywords: color grading, color correction, LUT, FFmpeg, filter, cinematic, warm, cool, skin tone, colorbalance, curves, eq, color temperature, film look
|
Color Grading for Video Production
Quick Reference
PROFILES: cinematic_warm | cinematic_cool | moody_dark | bright_clean | vintage_film | high_contrast | neutral
LUT FORMAT: .cube (3D LUT) — industry standard
INTENSITY: 0.6-0.85 for subtle grades, 1.0 for full effect
SKIN TONE: Vectorscope should fall on "skin tone line" (~123 degrees)
BIT DEPTH: Grade in 10-bit when possible, deliver in 8-bit for web
FFmpeg Filter Chain Order
Apply filters in this order for predictable results:
1. normalize (auto-levels if source is flat/log)
2. colortemperature (white balance correction)
3. colorbalance (shadow/mid/highlight color shifts)
4. curves (contrast and tone shaping)
5. eq (final contrast/saturation/brightness tweak)
6. lut3d (creative LUT — applied LAST, on corrected footage)
FFmpeg Filter Reference
| Filter | Purpose | Key Parameters |
|---|
eq | Brightness, contrast, saturation, gamma | contrast=1.0:saturation=1.0:brightness=0.0:gamma=1.0 |
colorbalance | RGB in shadows/mids/highlights | rs/gs/bs (shadows), rm/gm/bm (mids), rh/gh/bh (highlights) — range -1.0 to 1.0 |
curves | Tone curves per channel | all='0/0 0.5/0.5 1/1' or per-channel red=, green=, blue= |
colortemperature | White balance shift | temperature=6500 (neutral) — lower=cooler, higher=warmer |
lut3d | Apply .cube LUT | lut3d='path/to/file.cube' |
hue | Hue rotation and saturation | h=0:s=1 |
Profile Selection by Content Type
| Content Type | Profile | Intensity | Why |
|---|
| Corporate / SaaS explainer | bright_clean | 0.8 | Clean, professional |
| Science / educational | neutral | 1.0 | Accurate color matters |
| Storytelling / narrative | cinematic_warm | 0.85 | Warmth builds connection |
| Tech / dark theme | cinematic_cool | 0.7 | Complements dark UI |
| Drama / serious | moody_dark | 0.6-0.7 | Atmosphere without crushing detail |
| Lifestyle / social | high_contrast | 0.8 | Punchy, attention-grabbing |
| Retro / nostalgic | vintage_film | 0.7 | Subtle faded look |
Mood-Specific FFmpeg Recipes
Warm / Inviting
colorbalance=rs=0.06:gs=0.02:bs=-0.04:rh=0.05:gh=0.01:bh=-0.03,
eq=contrast=1.05:saturation=1.08:brightness=0.01
Cool / Technical
colorbalance=rs=-0.03:gs=-0.01:bs=0.06:rh=-0.02:gh=0.01:bh=0.04,
eq=contrast=1.06:saturation=0.95
High Energy
curves=all='0/0 0.15/0.08 0.5/0.52 0.85/0.92 1/1',
eq=contrast=1.15:saturation=1.2
Subdued / Serious
curves=all='0/0.04 0.25/0.22 0.5/0.47 0.75/0.73 1/0.94',
eq=contrast=1.03:saturation=0.75:brightness=-0.02
LUT Workflow
- Always correct before grading — normalize/white-balance first, then creative LUT
- Use intensity < 1.0 — full strength usually looks overdone; 0.6-0.8 is typical
- Test on skin tones first — if people appear, skin must look natural
- One LUT per project — switching LUTs creates visual inconsistency
FFmpeg LUT at partial intensity
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf \
"split[a][b];[b]lut3d='my_lut.cube'[graded];[a][graded]blend=all_mode=normal:all_opacity=0.7" \
output.mp4
Skin Tone Protection
- On a vectorscope, healthy skin (all ethnicities) falls on a narrow line at ~123 degrees
- Never push saturation above 1.2 on footage with people
- If skin looks orange, green, or magenta after grading — pull back
cinematic_warm at intensity 0.85 is pre-tuned for natural skin- For
moody_dark, keep intensity at 0.6-0.7 to avoid grey skin
Enhancement Chain Order
Apply in this sequence to avoid filter interactions:
- Subtitles first — burn into base video
- Face enhance — smoothing/sharpening on ungraded footage
- Color grade — applies look after face is enhanced
- Audio enhance — independent of video, apply last
Colorblind-Safe Palette (Wong)
For overlays, graphics, and diagrams:
| Color | Hex | Use For |
|---|
| Orange | #E69F00 | Primary accent |
| Sky Blue | #56B4E9 | Secondary accent |
| Bluish Green | #009E73 | Positive/success |
| Yellow | #F0E442 | Highlight/warning |
| Blue | #0072B2 | Links, info |
| Vermillion | #D55E00 | Error/danger |
| Reddish Purple | #CC79A7 | Tertiary accent |
Kolbo MCP Integration
Color grading is a post-production step applied after Kolbo generates the raw video/images:
generate_video or generate_video_from_image → raw footage- Download the result
- Apply color grade with FFmpeg using recipes above
- Optionally:
upload_media the graded result back to Kolbo CDN
For Remotion compositions: Apply color grade as the last visual filter, or set the theme/palette in the composition props.
For AI-generated images: Use lighter grades (intensity 0.5-0.6) since AI images are already stylized. Use generate_image_edit for major color changes instead of FFmpeg.
Local / Free Options
IMPORTANT: Always use Kolbo MCP + FFmpeg by default. FFmpeg is safe to use directly — it's standard software. Do not install additional tools without confirming with the user first.
FFmpeg (safe, standard): All color grading recipes in this skill use FFmpeg — no additional installs needed. This is the only local tool needed for color grading.
