LOOKS, PICTURE PROFILES , LUTS AND LOG – WHY, WHEN AND HOW YOU SHOULD USE THEM. August 17 2015, 0 Comments

We don't normally just re-blog other folks' articles on this blog, but we've found a really great write-up that gets into the nitty-gritty tech side of what LUTs and Looks and Picture Profiles and Log mean - and why, when & how they should be used. Did we mention it's very detailed? It is.

Lots of our footage is offered in Log or Raw options and so this article is a great resource for those needing to know more info on why we do this and why it's a Good Thing to do this.

A few key excerpts:

- LUT stands for Look Up Table, but what is a lookup table? A lookup table should be viewed as a sort of electronic business card and your computer, camera or monitor is the rolodex that stores all those business cards. Just like business cards, LUTs contain information that can be organised or filed in whatever way you like. In the video world when a LUT is applied to an image, the information from that LUT is read and the camera, computer or monitor changes the look of the image based on the information it reads.

- Log recording is very different than RAW but they can be used in a similar way. Log isn’t RAW; it’s video, and is just a clever way of capturing an image that maximizes the tonal range of a sensor. Cameras from Canon, Sony, Panasonic and ARRI cameras offer a Log recording mode. While they are all named differently, V-log, S-Log, C-Log etc, they all have the same purpose. When using one of these forms of Log the image looks very flat and very desaturated.

We have also done a few posts on working with Log (or Flat) footage ourselves, but nothing as detailed as this, so again we thought it very appropriate to share it with our readers and hopefully it will help clarify and demystify these important film tech topics.

Oh, and don't miss the good video resources at the bottom of their article including tutorials from Captain Hook LUTs (for Blackmagic Cameras), FilmConvert and Koji Color, etc.

Read the full article from News Shooter here.

And check out our post on the topic here. 

Do you shoot Log or Flat (or Raw) in your work? If so, what camera(s) and why? Let us know in the comments below.