Cinematic Poetry LUTs for Video Color Grading

Are you a filmmaker looking to create a subtle yet sophisticated cinematic look for all your films? Would you like to speed up your video color grading process? The Poetry LUTs represent my approach to color grading, specially developed for wedding films. It is a collection of 12 cinematic Color grading LUTs (color Look Up Tables) that I have spent a lot of time crafting in a way that they could replicate the color signature of my films for different cameras and shooting profiles. They were initially created for Sony rec.709 color profiles, but have been tested on a lot of different cameras and Picture Profiles.

Introducing the Poetry Collection LUTs for wedding video color grading. Check them out in action:

Color Palette

The color palettes of the Poetry LUTs can be considered to be variations on a theme. They are mainly characterized by pastel tones and earth moody colors.  The skin tones and shadows are warm, while boosting some cooler tones of aqua and greens in the highlights. Generally speaking, these LUTs exhibit warm and moody cinematic tones that complement well the look of wedding films.

Notwithstanding similarities, most of these 3d LUTs exhibit significant differences out of the box, hence offering a great flexibility to create your own signature style, depending on the situation and the mood that you want to convey to each scene of your wedding film. The final result will strongly depend on the intensity of the LUT that you will apply and on the primary color corrections that you will do to your original footage.

If you would like to have a consistent color palette both for your videos and your photography, you may also be interested in checking out the Lightroom Poetry Presets.

How to apply the Poetry LUTs

In this collection you can find 12 LUTs that can be used in any picture editing software that supports .cube files. These wedding film LUTs are intended to be used on Rec 709 color space footage from a variety of cameras. If your footage is shot with a log profile, you should first consider bringing it to Rec 709 color space.
I suggest that you apply the LUTs on a separate adjustment layer so that you can control the intensity of the applied effect globally.

Please note that a video color grading LUT provides a good starting point to color grading your films, but you should definitely spend some time applying corrections separately on each individual clip on your editing timeline. Having a good starting point is not a one-size-fit-all solution, but it can definitely save you a lot of time in the color grading process. Most of the time, you would then have to apply only “minor” corrections to your footage, such as modifying the intensity of the LUT and correcting exposure, contrast, white balance and saturation on your clips. I suggest that you experiment with such primary color corrections to your clips both before and after applying the cinematic LUTs, so that you can control better the effect and achieve the intended look on your footage or pictures.

Tutorial

Watch the following video to see how I color correct and grade my wedding films using the Poetry LUTs.

Are you struggling to provide a consistent look and cinematic character to your wedding films? The Poetry LUTs might be the solution you were looking for! Check out a few before and afters below to see how these color grading LUTs behave in different situations and decide for yourself.

Before and After applying the video color grading LUTs

Some examples of before and after applying the Poetry LUTs. The pictures below are video frame grabs in jpeg format. I have also applied primary color corrections (Exposure, contrast, Shadows, Highlights, Saturation) to the frames and fine tuned after the LUT in order to achieve the desired look. Different primary corrections lead to different results.

[twenty20 img1=”6315″ img2=”6316″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Poetica LUT” hover=”true”]

[twenty20 img1=”6320″ img2=”6319″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Nostalgia LUT” hover=”true”]

[twenty20 img1=”6427″ img2=”6428″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Nostalgia LUT” hover=”true”]

[twenty20 img1=”6321″ img2=”6322″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Marea LUT” hover=”true”]

[twenty20 img1=”6420″ img2=”6419″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Nenuphar LUT” hover=”true”]

[twenty20 img1=”6421″ img2=”6422″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Marea LUT” hover=”true”]

[twenty20 img1=”6323″ img2=”6324″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Psyche LUT” hover=”true”]

[twenty20 img1=”6327″ img2=”6326″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Monogram LUT” hover=”true”]

[twenty20 img1=”6334″ img2=”6335″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Volcan LUT” hover=”true”]

[twenty20 img1=”6424″ img2=”6423″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Monogram II LUT” hover=”true”]

[twenty20 img1=”6425″ img2=”6426″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Othello LUT” hover=”true”]

[twenty20 img1=”6332″ img2=”6333″ width=”80%” offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”Nenuphar LUT” hover=”true”]

Color grading Wedding Films with the Poetry cinematic LUTs

You can view some real-world examples of the Poetry LUTs in action by checking out some of my films:

• Elopement film in Iceland graded with Poetica LUT
• Inspiration Elopement film in Marrakech graded using the Nostalgia LUT (*)
• Santorini elopement film grading is based on the Psyche LUT (**)
• Wedding film in Venice graded with the Monogram LUT (***)
• Wedding film in France graded with the Eros I LUT

Few Notes:

(*) Nostalgia LUT  has moody warmer tones of brown and sepia with accents of greens in highlights. It is quite intense and can make footage look monochrome if you apply at full intensity. As with all cinematic LUTs, I suggest that you dial down the intensity to obtain the desired look.

(**) Psyche is also a particular and intense cinematic LUT boosting skintones with a bright warm orange hue, while building a nice contrast with the blue hues that are present in the frame. Here too, I suggest reducing the intensity of the LUT in order to get a more subtle look.

(***) The monogram LUT has nice pastel tones with warmer mids and shadows while the highlights are cooler with a subtle aqua/green hue. It lifts a bit the shadows too, you can add contrast and dial down the highlights where needed.

(****) The size of the .cube LUTs provided here are 32x32x32 points, which are considered to be production quality standard. In some particular situations, the application of some LUTs may introduce banding or artifacts, especially when grading settings are pushed. A higher size LUT cube might possibly contribute in reducing such banding or artifacts. However, increasing the available LUT cube points leads to a substantial increase of the file size. Which eventually would require more strength from your hardware to render the effect of the LUT in real time.

Image editing Software that can accept LUTs natively

You can load LUTs natively in the following image editing software and Non Linear Editors (NLEs):

• Adobe Premiere CC
• After Effects CS5/CS6/CC
• DaVinci Resolve by Black Magic
• Final Cut Pro X (10.4 or later)
• Edius by Grass Valley (8.3 0r later)
• Wondershare Filmora (7.8 or later)
• Sony Vegas (15 or later)
• Adobe Photoshop CS6 / CC
• Nuke

Earlier versions of above software (Final Cut Pro X version 10.3 or earlier, Adobe Premiere CS6 or earlier, Sony Vegas 13 or earlier etc) will require plugins to load LUTs or might not work. Please check if your editing software is compatible and can support LUTs before purchasing.

Disclaimer

Please note that due to the digital nature of the product, there can be no refunds after purchasing the Poetry LUTs package. Each purchase of the Poetry LUTs package is intended for a single user and cannot be transferred, re-sold or listed for download.
Poetry LUTs are Copyright of the Cinema of Poetry.
For any assistance you can reach out at hello@cinemaofpoetry.com