How to Colour Grade a Video: A Step by Step Guide
To colour grade a video, first correct it: set exposure and contrast, then fix white balance so whites look white. Then grade it: push shadows, midtones and highlights with colour wheels, shape contrast with curves, adjust single colours with HSL, and add a LUT or ready-made look. In the Infinall AI Editor every colour tool is free and uses no credits.
Checked October 2026. Sources are listed at the end of the page.
Colour grading is the step where you decide how a video feels: warm or cool, soft or punchy, natural or stylised. It works best in two passes. Colour correction makes the footage look true, with even exposure and neutral white balance. Colour grading then adds the mood on top. This guide gives the order most editors follow in any tool, then shows the exact buttons in the Infinall AI Editor, where white balance, colour wheels, curves, HSL, LUT files and one-click colour looks are free on both the Free and Pro plans.
| Tool | What it does | Range or limit |
|---|---|---|
| Brightness, Contrast, Saturation | Quick fixes in the Color section | -100 to 100 |
| White Balance | Temperature (cool to warm) and Tint (green to magenta), plus 5 presets | -100 to 100 |
| Color Wheels | Tint shadows, midtones and highlights; Lift, Gamma and Gain sliders | Lift -1 to 1, Gamma 0.1 to 4, Gain 0 to 4 |
| Curves | RGB curve plus separate R, G and B curves | Add, drag and remove points |
| HSL | Hue, Saturation and Luminance for one of eight colour ranges | Hue -180 to 180, others -100 to 100 |
| LUT | Load a colour recipe file and mix it with Intensity | .cube or .3dl, cube size 2 to 256 |
| Colour looks | One-click looks in AI Gen | Cinematic, Vintage, Mood, Color, Stylized |
| Auto-Color | A small lift to saturation, contrast and brightness in one click | In Effects, Quick Actions |
How to Colour Grade a Video: A Step by Step Guide
Pick a reference clip and check your screen
Choose one clip that represents the scene, usually a well lit shot with a face or a neutral white or grey object in it. Grade on a screen at normal brightness, not a dimmed laptop, so you judge colour fairly. You will grade this clip first and match the others to it.
Fix exposure and contrast first
Before adding any style, make the picture readable. Lift a dark clip or pull back a bright one, then set contrast so the darkest parts are dark and the brightest parts are bright without losing detail. In Infinall, click the clip, open Adjust, and use the Brightness, Contrast and Saturation sliders in Color, which run from -100 to 100.
Set white balance
White balance removes a colour cast from the light, such as orange indoor bulbs or blue shade. Move the temperature from cool to warm and the tint from green to magenta until white things look white and skin looks natural. In Infinall, open Color Grading, then White Balance, and try the Tungsten, Fluorescent, Daylight, Cloudy and Shade presets before fine tuning Temperature and Tint.
Balance shadows, midtones and highlights with colour wheels
Colour wheels let you tint each brightness range separately. A common look pushes shadows slightly towards blue or teal and highlights slightly warm, while midtones stay close to neutral for skin. In Infinall, open Color Wheels, drag the Shadows, Midtones and Highlights wheels, and fine tune with Lift (Shadows), Gamma (Midtones) and Gain (Highlights).
Shape contrast with curves
A gentle S curve, with the lower part pulled down and the upper part pushed up, adds contrast that looks more natural than a single slider. Use the separate red, green and blue curves only for small colour shifts. In Infinall, open Curves, click on the line to add a point, drag it, and double-click a point to remove it.
Adjust single colours with HSL
HSL changes one colour range without touching the rest, for example making a sky a deeper blue or calming a green that looks too bright. Keep skin tones in the oranges and reds natural. In Infinall, open HSL, pick a colour tab such as Blues, then move Hue, Saturation and Luminance.
Add a LUT or a ready-made look
A LUT is a colour recipe file, often supplied by a camera maker or made in another editor. Apply it after correction and lower its strength if it looks too heavy. In Infinall, open LUT and choose Load LUT (.cube, .3dl), then move Intensity, or pick a look from AI Gen, then Colour looks, in the Cinematic, Vintage, Mood, Color or Stylized categories.
Match the other clips and export
Copy your grade to the other clips in the scene and adjust each one so the colours match from shot to shot. Watch the whole video once from start to finish before you export. In Infinall, use Copy effect stack and Paste effect stack in Video Effects, or put effects on an adjustment layer over many clips, then export, which uses no credits.
Tips for a better grade
- Correct before you grade. A look added on top of a cast or a dark clip only makes the problem stronger.
- Change a little at a time. Small moves on wheels and curves usually look more natural than big ones.
- Protect skin tones. Viewers notice odd skin colour long before they notice a slightly off sky.
- Use a LUT as a starting point, then lower Intensity and adjust white balance under it.
- Keep one look for a whole brand or series, so your videos feel consistent in a feed.
Common mistakes
- Pushing saturation too high, which makes skin orange and bright colours lose detail.
- Crushing shadows so dark areas turn into flat black.
- Grading every clip on its own without a reference, so shots jump in colour when they cut.
- Stacking a colour look on top of effects you want to keep. In Infinall, a colour look replaces the effects on the clip, so copy the effect stack first with Copy effect stack.
- Trying to grade several clips at once in Infinall. You grade one clip at a time; with several clips selected the inspector shows a multi-clip view without the colour controls.
Phone apps versus a browser editor
Phone editors and photo apps are handy for a quick grade on the go, and they are the right choice if you only ever edit on your phone. The Infinall AI Editor works on a computer only: it opens on a laptop or desktop and the screen must be at least 1024 pixels wide. In return you get the full set of grading tools, white balance, colour wheels, curves, HSL and LUT files, in a browser, with no install. Colour tools run on your computer and do not change your original file, so you can choose Reset all at any time.
Free vs Pro for colour grading
Every colour tool in the AI Editor is free on both plans and uses no credits, and export uses no credits either. The Free plan gives 1,000 credits every month with no card, which you spend on paid AI work such as pictures, voiceovers and chat edits, not on grading. Pro costs $10 for the first month, then $30 a month or $299 a year (in India Rs 999 for the first month, then Rs 2,899 a month or Rs 33,999 a year) and gives 3,000 credits a month plus the Pro-only modes such as Video.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between colour correction and colour grading?
Colour correction makes footage look true: even exposure, sensible contrast and neutral white balance. Colour grading comes after and gives the video a mood or style, using colour wheels, curves, HSL, LUTs or ready-made looks.
Is colour grading free in Infinall AI?
Yes. All colour tools in the AI Editor are free on Free and Pro and use no credits, because they run on your computer.
Can I use my own LUT files?
Yes, if the file is .cube or .3dl and its cube size is between 2 and 256. Open Adjust, then Color Grading, then LUT, and choose Load LUT (.cube, .3dl).
Can I colour grade a video on my phone with Infinall?
No. The AI Editor works on a laptop or desktop with a screen at least 1024 pixels wide. Phones and tablets see a message to use a computer.
Does colour grading change my original video file?
No. In the Infinall AI Editor the grade is stored on the clip in your project. Choose Reset, Reset all or Remove all effects to go back.
Sources and checks
Every price, rating and number on this page comes from the source pages below, checked October 2026. Prices and plans change often, so confirm on the vendor's own page before you buy.
- Colour grading and colour looks, checked October 2026
- Infinall AI Editor tools, costs and limits, checked October 2026
- Effects and transitions, checked October 2026
- Export your video, checked October 2026
- Infinall AI Free and Pro plans, checked October 2026
- Infinall AI plan prices, checked October 2026