What is colour grading? Here's all you need to know

colour grading
(Image credit: Mike Griggs)

You may be doing colour grading every day without realising you're doing it. Colour grading is a central part of content creation. For example, changing levels or curves in Photoshop, taking a photograph in black and white, adjusting a person's face colour in After Effects – this is all colour grading.

While there are software packages that excel at helping artists change and adjust colour, colour grading really applies to the creative thought process in why colour needs to be adjusted, rather than colour correction, which is making images' work' (see our best photo editing apps for more on this).

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Mike Griggs

Mike Griggs is a veteran digital content creator and technical writer. For nearly 30 years, Mike has been creating digital artwork, animations and VR elements for multi-national companies and world-class museums. Mike has been a writer for 3D World Magazine and Creative Bloq for over 10 years, where he has shared his passion for demystifying the process of digital content creation.