Every week, Frame.io Insider asks one of our expert contributors to share a tip, tool, or technique that they use all the time and couldn’t live without. Rafael Bernabeu Parreño shows us how to handle color artefacts that can occur in non-RGB color spaces.
Fixing color space artifacts with one (or two) nodes
The longer you use DaVinci Resolve, the more likely you are to explore advanced color correction features. Like playing with Gain in Linear Gamma or experimenting with non-RGB color spaces like HSV for subtractive saturation.
However, these color spaces can sometimes introduce pixel artifacts—like the one shown above—that require a specific approach or tool to fix. Adjusting intensity or abandoning it altogether might be temporary solutions, so let’s find a better approach.
Luckily, DaVinci Resolve offers a default FX solution called Gamut Mapping. This is my go-to for addressing such issues.
How to quickly fix color artefacts in Resolve
- Add a new serial node after the node with the operation that’s causing problems.
- Click on the FX icon at the top of the screen to open the Effects library. (Search for “Gamut” to quickly find the Gamut Mapping effect.)
- Drag this effect onto your new serial node.
- Set the Max. Input Luminance and the Max. Output Luminance to similar values (100 and 10.000 does effectively the same) and that will correct most of the concerns.
- If you still find some harsh color transitions, choosing Saturation Compression as the Gamut Mapping Method in the effect settings will solve the remaining problems.
More complex node structures
In more complex node structures, troubleshooting becomes a bit tedious. So time spent identifying the issue’s source and experimenting with the placement of the effect might be necessary to eliminate these issues entirely. For example, you may sometimes need to add Gamut Mapping to nodes before and after the adjustment.
Color space artifacts solved.
