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Color Balance

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Color

Shifts colors independently in shadows, midtones, and highlights, similar to film color grading.

Color Balance adjusts the color cast in three tonal zones: Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights. Each zone has three sliders: Cyan–Red, Magenta–Green, and Yellow–Blue. This lets you warm up highlights while cooling shadows, or add a green tint to midtones without affecting the rest.

Preserve Luminosity keeps the overall brightness stable as colors shift, which is usually what you want.

Parameters

Section titled “Parameters”

Color

ZoneChoice
Default: Midtones

Tonal range

  • ShadowsAdjust colors in the darkest areas of the image.
  • MidtonesAdjust colors in the middle brightness range — affects most of the image.
  • HighlightsAdjust colors in the brightest areas of the image.
Cyan–Red ShadowsNumber
Default: 0.0 Range: -100–100

Shadow cyan-red shift

Magenta–Green ShadowsNumber
Default: 0.0 Range: -100–100

Shadow magenta-green shift

Yellow–Blue ShadowsNumber
Default: 0.0 Range: -100–100

Shadow yellow-blue shift

Cyan–Red MidtonesNumber
Default: 0.0 Range: -100–100

Midtone cyan-red shift

Magenta–Green MidtonesNumber
Default: 0.0 Range: -100–100

Midtone magenta-green shift

Yellow–Blue MidtonesNumber
Default: 0.0 Range: -100–100

Midtone yellow-blue shift

Cyan–Red HighlightsNumber
Default: 0.0 Range: -100–100

Highlight cyan-red shift

Magenta–Green HighlightsNumber
Default: 0.0 Range: -100–100

Highlight magenta-green shift

Yellow–Blue HighlightsNumber
Default: 0.0 Range: -100–100

Highlight yellow-blue shift

Preserve LuminosityToggle
Default: true

Restore original luminance after color shifts

Mask

Mask FitChoice
Default: None

Mask sizing

  • NoneCenter the mask at its native size — no resizing. Unmasked regions are unaffected.
  • StretchStretch the mask to exactly match the image dimensions. May distort the mask shape.
  • FitScale the mask to fit inside the image, preserving aspect ratio. Letterboxes where needed.
  • FillScale the mask to fill the image, preserving aspect ratio. Crops edges if aspect ratios differ.
Notes

Only 3 sliders visible at a time based on Zone selection. Mask Fit only visible when mask is connected.

Pins: image (required), mask (optional). When mask is connected, the effect is blended with the original using the mask (white = full effect, black = original).

Usage Tips

Section titled “Usage Tips”
  • Warm highlights + cool shadows is a classic cinematic color grade.
  • Shift midtones toward teal and highlights toward orange for the “teal & orange” Hollywood look.
  • Keep Preserve Luminosity on to avoid unwanted brightness changes from color shifts.
  • Connect a mask input to apply the color grade to only part of the image for selective grading.
Section titled “Related Nodes”