Color grading in the context of Contrast (vision)

Blackmagic Design Pty Ltd is an Australian company that develops digital cinema technology and manufactures professional video production hardware and software. Headquartered in South Melbourne, it is known for producing high-end digital movie cameras and a range of broadcast and post-production equipment. The company also develops software applications, including the DaVinci Resolve application for non-linear video editing, color correction, color grading, visual effects, and audio post-production.

DaVinci Resolve is a proprietary application for non-linear video editing, color correction, color grading, visual effects, and audio post-production. It is developed by the Australian company Blackmagic Design for macOS, Windows, iPadOS and Linux. The software was originally created by the American company da Vinci Systems and released as da Vinci Resolve. In 2009, da Vinci Systems was acquired by Blackmagic Design, which has since continued the software's development.

DaVinci Resolve is available in two editions: a free version, and a paid version known as DaVinci Resolve Studio. The Studio edition includes support for resolutions beyond 4K (up to 32K) and frame rates up to 120 frames per second, as well as 10-bit video processing, multiple GPU acceleration, stereoscopic 3D, HDR grading, collaborative workflows, additional plug-ins and AI-driven features.

The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera and light crews working on such projects. They would normally be responsible for making artistic and technical decisions related to the image and for selecting the camera, film stock, lenses, filters, etc. Furthermore the cinematographer is commonly involved with the color grading to shape the final look of a film. The study and practice of this field are referred to as cinematography.

The cinematographer is a subordinate of the director, tasked with capturing a scene in accordance with the director's vision. Relations between the cinematographer and director vary. In some instances, the director will allow the cinematographer complete independence, while in others, the director allows little to none, even going so far as to specify exact camera placement and lens selection. Such a level of involvement is less common when the director and cinematographer have become comfortable with each other. The director will typically convey to the cinematographer what is wanted from a scene visually and allow the cinematographer latitude in achieving that effect.

Offline editing is the creative storytelling stage of filmmaking and television production where the structure, mood, pacing and story of the final show are defined. Many versions and revisions are presented and considered at this stage until the edit gets to a stage known as picture lock. This is when the process moves on to the next stages of post-production known as online editing, color grading and audio mixing.

Typically, during offline editing, all the original camera footage (often tens or hundreds of hours) is digitized into a non-linear editing system as a low resolution duplicate. The editor and director are then free to work with all the footage on assembly, creating a rough cut, and a final cut. Editing the copy allows multiple story and creative possibilities to be explored without affecting the camera original film stock or video tape. Once the project has been completely offline edited, the low resolution footage is replaced with the original high resolution media, or brought online.

da Vinci Systems was an American digital cinema technology company based in Coral Springs, Florida. It was founded in 1984 as a spinoff of Video Tape Associates (VTA), a production and post-production facility that had begun developing in-house post-production systems in 1982. The company became known for its color correction and color grading systems, as well as digital mastering and film restoration technologies. Its products were used widely in television and film post-production.

In 1986, the company was acquired by Dynatech, following a corporate merger, Dynatech was renamed Acterna, which continued to hold da Vinci Systems. In 2005, Acterna was acquired by JDS Uniphase, which inherited da Vinci Systems as part of the transaction. In 2009, the financially troubled JDSU sold the company to Blackmagic Design, which merged it into its operations. Blackmagic Design has continued development of da Vinci's flagship software under the name DaVinci Resolve.

A color suite (also called a color bay, telecine suite, or color correction bay) is the control room for color grading video in a post-production environment.