Color Wheels divide the image into three tonal ranges, providing independent color tinting and brightness adjustments for shadows, midtones, and highlights. It is commonly used to establish cinematic contrast and color harmony—such as cool teal shadows balanced against warm golden highlights.
OriginalEffectGrading Mode
Mode selects how the tonal ranges are divided, each offering a distinct control scheme:
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Lift, Gamma, Gain | Three smoothly blended tonal curves with seamless transitions. The standard grading workflow |
| Shadows, Midtones, Highlights | Three distinct tonal zones bounded by adjustable brightness cutoffs for targeted control |
Lift, Gamma, Gain
| Control | Range | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lift | −1 – 1 | 0 | Adjusts shadow brightness |
| Gamma | −1 – 1 | 0 | Adjusts midtone brightness |
| Gain | −1 – 1 | 0 | Adjusts highlight brightness |
| Lift Color | Hex | #ffffff | Tints shadow areas, fading out smoothly as brightness increases |
| Gamma Color | Hex | #ffffff | Tints midtones while keeping pure black and white untouched |
| Gain Color | Hex | #ffffff | Tints highlights, fading out smoothly as brightness decreases |
The three ranges blend seamlessly: Lift primarily influences the darkest tones, Gain targets bright highlights, and Gamma adjusts the midtones while leaving pure black and white unchanged.
Shadows, Midtones, Highlights
| Control | Range | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shadows | −1 – 1 | 0 | Adjusts the brightness of shadow regions |
| Midtones | −1 – 1 | 0 | Adjusts the brightness of midtone regions |
| Highlights | −1 – 1 | 0 | Adjusts the brightness of highlight regions |
| Shadows Color | Hex | #ffffff | Tints pixels falling below the shadow cutoff |
| Midtones Color | Hex | #ffffff | Tints pixels between the shadow and highlight cutoffs |
| Highlights Color | Hex | #ffffff | Tints pixels above the highlight cutoff |
| Shadow Limit | 0 – 1 | 0.3 | Brightness boundary dividing shadows from midtones |
| Highlight Limit | 0 – 1 | 0.7 | Brightness boundary dividing midtones from highlights |
In this mode, Shadow Limit and Highlight Limit let you define the boundaries between tones. Moving them closer together isolates the shadows and highlights; moving them further apart expands midtone coverage across most of the frame.
Processing Order
Color Wheels execute after Levels and before Color Shift. Because the color grading pipeline runs after Bloom and Diffusion, specular glow and diffuse highlights receive color wheel tinting alongside the rest of the image.
Last updated on October 16, 2026