Using VSCO Film in Final Cut Pro

[ult_buttons btn_title="Color Grading in Photoshop With LUTs" btn_link="url:http%3A%2F%2Fzainalsc.juliet.cloudns.io%2Fcolor-grading-photoshop-luts%2F||target:%20_blank|" btn_align="ubtn-center" btn_size="ubtn-large" btn_title_color="#f7f7f7" btn_bg_color="#a15fe2" icon_size="32" btn_icon_pos="ubtn-sep-icon-at-left"]

If you are a lightroom user or if you use VSCO cam app on your phone then you already know how awesome VSCO film is.

Unfortunately VSCO doesn’t yet offer a plugin for FCPX, you can grade your videos in lightroom with VSCO film presets but you will be limited with the available controls for video inside adobe lightroom.

So I have tried to find a way to use their presets/filters directly in final cut pro & I think I have found a way of doing so via LUTs.

Okay, straight to the point, requirements:

The look converter is a handy tool that allow you to convert a certain look/effect/preset from an app or software (Instagram, lightroom, VSCO, etc) to a LUT that you can load from your preferred editing software or NLE & apply it directly to your footage.

If you use the new versions of Adobe Premier, After Effects or Davinci resolve then I believe they have their built-in LUT utility/loader

Steps & Workflow:

  1. Import the Neutral Filter that came with look converter in adobe lightroom
  2. Apply the VSCO Film effect (or any other effect) that you would like to load as a LUT in FCPX
  3. Make sure you remove any grain & sharpening from the effect
  4. Export/Save the Neutral filter image (Name it on the filter you’ve applied)
  5. Load the image/Neutral filter into look converter by clicking on 3D LUT
  6. Make sure that the destination folder where the LUT will be converted to is correct
  7. Open Final Cut Pro, from the effects browser drag the LUT Utility on to your footage
  8. in the inspector window, under Apply LUT click on the No LUT to select your freshly baked LUT from the drop down list.
  9. That’s it

Now you could tweak the workflow above by thinking out of the box

For example. take a snapshot of the video you are working on, import the image into lightroom and apply your adjustments first (shadows, highlights, temp) then apply your preferred filter & save it as a preset Then continue from step one from the list above onwards.

Tips:

  1. Dont add sharpening to the Neutral Filter, you can add it later in FCPX
  2. Don’t apply grain to the Neutral filter, the grain will be static and it will look fake, apply the grain in FCPX.
  3. For best results, adjust the white balance (color correct) before adding the desired VSCO Preset to your footage
  4. in many cases, its recommended to denoise your footage before applying LUTs

Please share your results with me, I would love to see your work!

Happy LUTing 🙂

by Mohammed Zainal