#dark scenes

To start, pls do not feel in any way compelled to color exactly as I do. If you have your own way of coloring that works for you and you just want to pick and choose what parts of this to add to your technique, that is 1000% fine. This tutorial is kind of personalized to me and the process I use to color and what makes sense to me. Ok, spiel over...

So here's the original gif, sharpened with no psd

STEP 1: Exposure 1

First, I added an Exposure layer to brighten things up. 

GIF:

STEP 2: Curves

With this Ccurves layer I like to do a bit of color correcting by adjusting the individual RGB curves. Because this scene is so blue/cyan, I made sure to bring out the reds in the highlights by pulling the small box in the top right corner of the red curves directly to the left, same with the green curves.

I moved the box on blue curves only a little since the scene is already so blue. I made sure to move the small box in the bottom left corner to the right to add some yellow in the shadows to counteract how blue the scene is.

(I dragged the curve down a little bit because the gif was a little too red for my taste. Dragging it down puts some cyan in the shadows.)

GIF:

STEP 3: Exposure 2

I added another Exposure layer to brighten things up more. This time, I moved the Gamma Correction slider to the right to add more contrast. With this layer, the difference is slight, but it is effective.

*** I don’t normally start with an Exposure layer or even use 2 Exposure layers for that matter (usually just one after my curves layer), I only started doing this while making gifs for these darks scenes in Stranger Things. Idk how well this specific process works for dark scenes in other shows/movies***

GIF:

STEP 4: Selective Color

I used this layer to add some more yellows to the gif and add some contrast. I like to make my gif almost too yellow and then fix it later with Color Balance.

GIF:

STEP 5: Color Balance 1

For the first Color Balance layer, I like to place it beneath all of my other layers. To me, it kinda makes the effect “richer” in a way, idk how exactly to explain it. But I’ve been doing it this way for years and it works for me.

GIF:

STEP 6: Levels

Now this Levels layer goes back to where we left off above the Selective Colors layer.

GIF:

STEP 7: Gradient Map

I used a black and white gradient map and set it to Soft Light with the opacity at 20%. 

A gradient map may seem counterproductive since it deepens the shadows and darkens the gif, but I like the contrast that it gives.

GIF:

STEP 8: Vibrance

Ok, so this one is more or less optional. It makes very little difference, but I like a lil vibrance, as a treat.

GIF:

STEP 9: Color Balance 2

This Color Balance layer is really just used for any additional color correcting that may be necessary.

GIF:

STEP 10: Adjust Curves layer

Now that we have the coloring/color correction mostly done, I can finally decide just how much more I want to brighten my gif. I go back to my Curves layer and add a curve somewhere in the upper right corner, just to where it looks bright enough to my liking. I’ll then pull down the curve in the lower left corner to deepen the darks and add some more contrast.

GIF:

STEP 11: Brightness/Contrast

For the final step, I add a Brightness/Contrast layer because I didn’t think adjusting the Curves layer brightened the gif enough. I added this layer directly above the Curves layer and below the 2nd Exposure layer.

GIF:

Here’s the finished product:

and here’s a quick before and after:

I know there are a lot of tiny adjustments, but as I was explaining to the anon who originally asked the question, I like to build upon the layers. I don’t try to solve every problem in one layer. I don’t try to make the gif bright enough with just one curves or brightness or levels layer. I make a lot of little adjustments that, in the end, make a large difference. 

Also don’t feel as though you have to get the adjustments exactly right when you first add the layer, especially with a dark scene like this where it’s hard to see how much of something you need. I had to go back and add more in the color balance layers or lessen the levels or adjust the RGB in the curves multiple times before I felt that the coloring was to my liking.

I hoped this helped. If you’d like the psd, pls message me bc tumblr won’t let me add links.