Hi Andy, I usually use the Kinefinity LUT as a starting point, or the ARRI one, which is a little less contrasty. From there I start stacking on corrections: usually Color Wheels and Curves if I’m in FCP or Lumetri if I’m in Premiere. For most shots I will add some sort of masking/window to focus the eye on a certain part of the frame. By the time I’m done most shots will have three or more corrections added beyond the LUT.
I’m still learning how to work with color contrast but often if an image is super orange, for instance, I’ll add blue to the shadows. I’ve watched a lot of color tutorials on YouTube. And even though I don’t generally use Resolve most of the ideas about how pro colorists work can apply to other software.
My goal is to work with less layers, though, and to get more done in-camera so the color process is more about enhancing than building a whole look from scratch. What is like, actually, is an Instagram-like interface with a bunch of looks and LUTs loaded so that I can flip through a bunch of looks quickly and tweak from there.