Qualifiers (Secondary Grading)

While Primary Grading affects the entire image, Secondary Grading isolates specific parts of the image so you can alter them independently.

A Qualifier is a tool that isolates an area based on its color and brightness. It is the mathematical equivalent of green screen keying, but used for color correction.

The HSL Qualifier

The most common qualifier is the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance (HSL) Qualifier.

Use Case: Changing the Color of a Dress

Imagine an actress is wearing a blue dress, but the director wants it to be purple.

1. Create a new Serial Node (Alt+S / Option+S). Never qualify in your primary balance node.
2. Open the Qualifier panel (the eyedropper icon).
3. In the Viewer, click and drag your mouse over the blue dress.
4. Press Shift+H (Highlight mode). The viewer will turn gray, except for the dress, which will remain in full color. This shows you exactly what your qualifier has isolated.

Refining the Key

You will likely notice that the key is noisy, and perhaps some blue sky in the background was accidentally selected.

1. Look at the Qualifier panel. You will see three color spectrums: Hue, Saturation, and Luminance.
2. Use the Width and Center sliders for Hue to narrow the selection exactly to the dress's shade of blue.
3. Use the Luminance sliders to exclude the bright sky, restricting the key only to the darker blue of the fabric.
4. At the bottom of the Qualifier panel, use the Matte Finesse tools:
   • Clean Black: Removes random specks of noise in the gray areas.
   • Clean White: Fills in holes within the dress.
   • Blur Radius: Softens the edges of the key so the color transition looks natural.

Making the Adjustment

1. Press Shift+H again to turn off Highlight mode and return to the normal image.
2. Go to the Color Wheels.
3. Rotate the Hue control, or drag the Offset wheel towards Magenta.

Because you pulled a Qualifier key on this specific node, the color adjustment only affects the dress. The rest of the scene remains perfectly untouched.