Color grading is an art that relies heavily on precision and perception. Our environment, including the colors and brightness of surrounding areas, can significantly impact how we perceive the image on screen. Ideally, a neutral gray wall and a high-quality reference monitor provide the perfect grading environment, but that isn’t always an option.
To address this challenge, I created this DCTL, a simple yet effective tool designed to enhance your workflow. This DCTL shrinks your image, adds a customizable border, and allows you to place your footage against a neutral or colored background.
In this example, I’ve exaggerated the black levels to show the differences. The left image has lifted black levels, giving the darkest areas a softer, milky appearance. The middle image shows darker blacks, offering a balance between lifted and deep shadows, while the right image has the deepest blacks, providing a more contrast-heavy look. All three black levels can work, depending on the look you are going for. A frame border helps you quickly spot and evaluate these differences, especially in night scenes where shadow detail is critical.
For these two snow scenes, I chose a white border to help balance the white tones across the images. The white border serves as a reference, allowing you to set the exact brightness level you want the snow to appear in the scene. This makes it easier to ensure consistency in the highlights and white balance from one shot to the next, especially in bright, high-key environments like this. In the right image, the snow appears darker, which is intentionally done for demonstration purposes.
BORDER
DCTL
Image Scale: Shrinks the image to create space for the border. Lower values make the image smaller, while higher values keep it closer to its original size.
Border: Adds an even border around the entire image. Increasing this slider makes the border larger.
Fill (Left/Right): Adjusts the border size on the left or right side, allowing the border color to extend into the middle of the frame from one side.
Brightness: Changes the brightness of the border, ranging from pure black to pure white.
Red, Green, Blue: Lets you mix RGB values to set a custom border color. For example, equal values create gray tones, while uneven values produce a specific color.
Use RGB: Activates the RGB sliders for custom border colors. When unchecked, the border color is controlled by the Brightness slider for a grayscale background..
This DCTL is highly versatile, operating seamlessly on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms. It has been rigorously tested with NVIDIA and AMD GPUs on PCs, as well as with the M1 and M2 chips on Macs, leveraging both CUDA and OpenCL infrastructures. Please note that DCTLs are supported exclusively in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
