# How to color grade log footage in Voyager Grade log footage with a matched camera transform before creating a look. Includes an ARRI LogC3 example, same-frame comparisons and an editable grading recipe. Author: John Holliman Canonical: https://voyager.so/blog/color-grade-log-footage Published: 2026-10-07T19:14:28-07:00 Updated: 2026-10-07 Flat-looking camera footage invites the wrong first move: drag contrast until it looks finished. You can get a punchier image that way and still have the wrong color underneath it. Start by identifying the recording, applying the matching display transform, then making a creative choice. This tutorial takes one ARRI AMIRA shot through those three stages, with a recipe you can revise in Voyager: the log source, a normal Rec.709 view and a restrained warmer grade. ![The same aviation-museum shot shown first in LogC3, then with an ARRI display transform, then with a warm creative grade.](https://cdn.moda.app/voyager/blog/color-grade-log-footage/creative-frame-ebf813966f72a21f.webp) [Video: The same aviation-museum shot shown first in LogC3, then with an ARRI display transform, then with a warm creative grade.](https://cdn.moda.app/voyager/blog/color-grade-log-footage/grade-demo-d9b2db10050027e3.mp4) The same four seconds play three times. Watch the plane's fabric, dark engine and bright windows as the treatment changes. Sample footage: ARRI. An aviation museum shot plays with the label Log source. The same excerpt repeats with the ARRI display transform, then repeats with warmer midtones and cooler shadows. ## Find out what “raw footage” actually means Here, the camera original is **ProRes 4444 recorded in LogC3 / ARRI Wide Gamut 3**, at EI800. It is not sensor RAW. Log describes how the image is encoded; RAW describes a different stage of camera data. That distinction determines the controls and conversion you need. ARRI's sample set includes both LogC and clips with a Rec.709 look already applied. The accompanying ALE metadata identifies our clip, `B001C003_140702_R3VJ`, as `LOG-C` with no burned-in look. [ARRI's sample-footage page](https://www.arri.com/en/learn/camera-systems/camera-sample-footage-reference-image) explains the recording variants and provides the original downloads. Do this check before asking for a look: ```text Inspect this camera original and its sidecar metadata before grading. Identify the camera, codec, gamma, gamut, data range and whether a viewing look is already baked in. State anything you cannot verify. Preserve the original. Do not infer the input color space just because the picture looks flat, and do not apply a log conversion twice. ``` A file's generic video tags are not always enough to identify its camera color encoding. Use the camera settings and recording metadata together. For your own footage, replace this tutorial's ARRI settings with the ones the camera actually recorded. ## Make a correct viewing image first For this clip we used ARRI's `ARRI_LogC3-to-Gamma24_Rec709_D65-v1_33.cube`, from the official [LogC3 LUT package](https://www.arri.com/en/learn/camera-systems/tools/lut-generator). It converts the LogC3/AWG3 input into ARRI's Rec.709 display rendering. A LogC4 LUT would be the wrong input match. This is a viewing baseline, not a claim that the LUT produces the only correct artistic result. Keep it separate from the look so you can change the creative treatment without accidentally stacking another technical conversion. ```text Create a Rec.709 viewing version using the official ARRI LogC3-to- Gamma24 Rec709 D65 v1 LUT. Keep the technical transform separate from creative adjustments. Export a short comparison from exactly the same source frames, with clear labels for log and transformed output. Do not add a second automatic display transform on export. ``` Our downloadable recipe uses FFmpeg's 3D-LUT filter with tetrahedral interpolation. It explicitly handles the video's YUV-to-RGB range conversion before the LUT. Setting a color-space tag alone does not transform the image; the LUT is what performs the camera-to-display conversion here. ![The exact same moving frames shown above with the ARRI display transform and below with the creative warm grade.](https://cdn.moda.app/voyager/blog/color-grade-log-footage/synced-poster-34da3dfc38566850.webp) [Video: The exact same moving frames shown above with the ARRI display transform and below with the creative warm grade.](https://cdn.moda.app/voyager/blog/color-grade-log-footage/synced-comparison-d32c04e39236154d.mp4) Press play to compare both treatments at the same instant. Top: display transform. Bottom: creative look. Both use the same source frames, with no crop or timing offset. Sample footage: ARRI. The same four-second museum shot plays in two synchronized rows. The top is the ARRI display transform; the bottom adds warm midtones, cooler shadows and a small contrast adjustment. ## Choose a look that belongs to the shot The wooden propeller and patterned fabric suggest warmth. The metal structure and shaded engine benefit from a little cooler separation. We warmed the midtones and highlights, cooled the shadows slightly and added a small amount of contrast. These are gentle adjustments after the display LUT, saved in `grade.json`. They are not RAW white-balance controls or exposure recovery. For demanding work, use a color-managed grading pipeline with the adjustments in the working space your project requires. ```text Make a restrained warm version of the transformed shot. Favor the wood and fabric without turning the white walls orange. Add a little cooler separation in the shadows. Preserve texture in the wing, readable engine detail and the existing highlight shape. Keep an unchanged neutral version beside it for comparison. ``` Judge the whole moving shot. A visitor crossing the frame gives you a useful skin-tone reference, and the windows make it easy to notice when contrast has gone too far. Check a waveform for clipping as well as looking at the image; a beautiful middle frame can hide a bad moment later in the clip. ## Make the next revision precise in Voyager The warmer version is a preference, not a finish line. Our second version reduces the added red in the midtones and highlights while leaving the technical transform alone. The download keeps both configurations and renders them into separate folders. To continue in Voyager, open the recipe folder, add the camera original and official LUT, and give the agent a change it can apply precisely. Comparing the same source frame makes the decision much clearer than comparing two different moments. ```text Keep the source and technical LUT unchanged. Duplicate grade.json as grade-cooler.json. Reduce the added red in highlights from 0.045 to 0.015 and in midtones from 0.045 to 0.020; preserve the other settings. Render into a separate output folder. Show matching frames of the neutral, warm and revised looks so I can choose without guessing. ``` ![The same frame with the initial warmer look and a revised look with less added red in midtones and highlights.](https://cdn.moda.app/voyager/blog/color-grade-log-footage/revision-96cdc5c744fc0749.webp) Warm version on the left; less added red on the right. The camera input and display transform are unchanged. [Download the editable grading recipe](https://cdn.moda.app/voyager/blog/color-grade-log-footage/grading-recipe-cd19a194aaa406af.zip). It includes the settings and render script; obtain the footage and ARRI LUT from the linked official downloads. The camera originals are not bundled. ARRI provides these samples for workflow evaluation. ## Keep the transformation; question the taste A useful grade makes the shot feel intentional while keeping the details that make it believable. First establish what the camera recorded. Then build a trustworthy display view. Only after that decide how warm, cool, dense or restrained the image should feel. If you dislike the warm version, that is a reason to revise the look. It is not a reason to guess a different input color space. ## Make your next project in Voyager Create an account, download Voyager, and start making. [Sign up](/sign-up)