Math & Colour Science for Colourists (MCSC)
Many practising colourists are accomplished in using their colour grading systems; however, there are no textbooks that cover cover the math and science of grading, and available training courses have incomplete – or worse, misguided! – coverage of these topics. Grading of commercials can be done completely visually; but in my opinion, efficient, successful long-form grading requires a solid colour pipeline from DoP to distribution, therefore requires knowledge of colour science and math. In this course, I will fill-in the deep fundamentals.
I’ll present Math and Colour Science for Colourists, in twelve, 90-minute online sessions: one session weekly, across three months – so, 18 hours of course time in total, equivalent to about 2.5 work days. Register with a one-time payment, or three (monthly) installments; details below.
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Sessions are expected to include questions and vibrant discussion (with video recording available afterward).
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A PDF course handout each month, 30 pages for each of 3 months, ~100 pages in total
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An online forum is available for discussions among participants & instructor
I expect that many people interested have already had training in a colour grading system (most probably, DaVinci Resolve). What I am offering goes beyond training into education in the principles of colour science as applied to image systems in general – and specifically cameras, displays, and colour grading systems. You’ll gain a deep understanding of the building blocks and the pipelines. The course material is directly applicable to Resolve, Baselight, and other grading and on-set systems. I’ll teach the fundamentals of techniques that are often used without a complete understanding of the big picture. (I will not teach hints, tips, tricks, or user interfaces.)
Graphs and equations will be shown and explained. If you have first-year university math: great! You’ll gain a deeper understanding of log coding, the CIE chromaticity diagram, and other things. If you have high-school math, you’ll still follow, and you’ll increase your understanding of how math informs image and color science.
To enable lively interaction, I plan to limit the course to about 20 participants, and generally expect “cameras on.” If the course is oversubscribed, You’ll be expected to attend the majority of classes. Video recording will be made available after each session for those who are unable to attend, and for those who wish to retain a recording for their own personal use.
Outline is available.
Two previous cohorts sold out, and are running now. Cohort 1 started Tue Mar 10, 12:00 EDT (Toronto) time. Cohort 2 started Mon Mar 17, 20:00 EDT (Toronto) time.
Cohort 3 is currently open for registration, and will start Wed Apr 8, 18:00 Europe, 17:00 UK, 12:00 EDT (Toronto), 09:00 Calif.
I am considering adding Cohort 4, possibly starting Wed Apr 15, 17:00 Calif., 20:00 EDT (Toronto); Thu 06:30 Mumbai, 10:00 Seoul, 12:00 Sydney, 14:00 Wellington. If you are interested in the potential Cohort 4, please send email.
All cohorts cover the same material.
Registration is at two pricing levels:
- CAD 1080.00 (equivalent to 90.00/session) for corporations and/or professional full-time colourists;
- CAD 720.00 for free lancers and independent colourists
If you have any trouble registering, please send email.
Registrants successfully completing the course (after passing the final exam) will receive a certificate and, upon request, be listed on Poynton.ca.
WARNING: The presenter is Canadian; colour will be spelled with a “u.”
Charles Poynton is an independent researcher and image/colour scientist based in Toronto. He wrote the book Digital Video and HD Algorithms and Interfaces, now in its second edition. Thirty five years ago, he chose 1080 image rows for HD standards, by which “square pixels” were established for HD and digital cinema. He earned his PhD in 2018 from Simon Fraser University with a dissertation entitled Colour Appearance Issues in Digital Video, HD/UHD, and D‑cinema. He is a Fellow of SMPTE, Colorist Society (CSI), and IMIS (formerly BKSTS). ∎