As a product photographer or packshot studio, you may be experienced in the process of colour grading your product photographs. With the growing importance of videos in terms of marketing and selling products, it is important to get to grips with video colour grading. The aim of this introductory article is to dispel the myth that it is some mystical, complicated process and help you start to explore more detailed articles and editing software.

Colour grading – what is it?

Let’s kick off with a definition of colour grading. Put simply, is it the process whereby you manipulate colours in your image or video to change the style of the end product. A helpful way to think about this is by connecting the mood of a product image to the emotional connection made by the viewer.

In general, warmer hues will help viewers to feel happiness, whereas cooler colours can be linked to evoking sadness.

What is the key difference between video and photo colour grading?

You’re a product photographer or packshot studio who needs to adjust the colours in a particular product image. In cases like this, you only need to worry about that specific image as a standalone scenario because the customer will be viewing it as an image and not a video.

When working with videos, a product photographer needs to consider the fact that videos are often a series of images in a sequence. If you want to change the colours then you need to ensure the entire sequence is changed so that there is consistency. If you fail to do this then your audience will very quickly notice and it will reduce the ability of your product videos to generate interest and drive sales.

What software can I use for colour grading my videos?

If you are reading this and you are a product photographer, then you will most likely have access to software like Adobe Photoshop. As a result, you are already involved in colour editing and this will stand you in good stead for turning to video editing. Some of the best products on the market right now for video colour grading are detailed below.

Adobe Premiere Pro

One of the most frequently used tools on the market right now and if you have access to the Adobe Creative package then you can jump straight into using it. Premiere Pro has a comprehensive set of controls to help you with colour grading in videos.

Apple Final Cut Pro

Apple software includes everything you need to make precise changes to the colour of your videos. For example, it will be able to automatically balance colours and match colours across clips in only a few steps.

VEGAS Pro

We recommend the latest version of VEGAS Pro as it has a unified colour grading panel built-in. This makes it a much more efficient process for choosing colour grading tools and making the desired edits.

Summary

The best piece of advice we can give for any product photographer or packshot studio is to explore your editing software and practice. No matter whether you’re an experienced photographer or relatively new, there is fantastic support out there and it won’t take long to understand the basics of video colour grading.