LUTs are great for color grading your videos.
They not only make color grading easy but also give your videos professional and cinematic look.
But what exactly are these LUTs and how do they work?
In most simple words, LUTs or Look Up Tables are table of numbers that can change the color of your footage.
Think of them as Lightroom Presets but for videos. Therefore, LUTs are color grading presets that can be applied on videos during post processing.
With cinematic LUTs, you can very easily emulate the looks and colors of major Hollywood movies.
Our 100+ cinematic LUTs pack offers LUT files in 3DL and CUBE formats for both STANDARD as well as LOG footage.
Table of Contents
3DL & CUBE – What’s The Difference?
Technically speaking, both 3DL and CUBE formats do the same job. They are exactly the same thing but in two different formats.
Most video editing and color grading applications supports the CUBE format but few ones supports only the 3DL format.
STANDARD & LOG Footage
Now there lies a great difference in STANDARD and LOG videos.
STANDARD as the term says, is what most of us record our videos at.
The videos you get are more-or-less OK straight out of the camera.
LOG on the other hand is a format widely used by film and tv professionals.
When shooting under this particular profile, the resulting image looks flat, low on contrast and somewhat washed out.
This enables the editor to enhance the colors in post.
By achieving that low contrast image, you now have the opportunity to bring out more dynamic range.
And with more dynamic range, you get better quality videos and colors.
There are hundreds of articles online if you wish to learn about the two in detail.
I recommend you go through the article by RedSharkNews.com for in-depth view and differences in STANDARD and LOG.
How To Use LUTs For Color Grading
With that being said, let’s take a look at how to use Look Up Tables to color grade videos in two of the widely used editing software – Adobe After Effects & Premiere Pro.
Applying LUTs in Adobe After Effects
Importing and using LUTs in After Effects is extremely easy.
Once in After Effects, import your video and go into Effect > Utility > Apply Color LUT.
A pop-up browse window will appear. Navigate where you’ve downloaded the pack and select open one of the LUTs to apply on your footage.
Select LUTs from the STANDARD folder for Standard videos and LOG for log.
Applying LUTs in Premiere Pro
Using LUTs in Premiere Pro is a straightforward process.
Just like in After Effects, you can make use of the browse function to select and apply any LUT file.
After importing your footage in Premiere Pro, click on the color tab at the top center of Premiere Pro UI to open the color workspace.
Click on the clip you want to apply LUT on.
In the Lumetri Color panel on the right, open the Basic Correction tab.
Then simply click on BROWSE.
A pop-up browse window will appear. Navigate where you’ve downloaded the pack and select open one of the LUTs to apply on your footage.
Compatible Video Editing Applications
Our 100+ Cinematic LUTs pack is compatible with almost any non-linear video editing program (MAC & Windows).
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Final Cut Pro X
- Davinci Resolve
- Sony Vegas
- The Foundry Nuke
- Hitfilm
- Cyberlink ColorDirector
- Wondershare Filmora
- 3DLUT Mobile (iOS/Android)
- and more
Alex –
This is probably one of the best LUTs pack I’ve ever purchased. Amazing product.
Akash –
Outstanding product. Works like a charm!
Dion Morgan –
It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.
Adnan –
Really amazing product, has made my life alot simpler and work a lot easier.