Why Flatten Stock Footage Before Applying a LUT?

Stock footage often comes in pre-graded Rec.709 format — baked-in contrast, heavy saturation, and strong tonal shifts. That’s a nightmare for color consistency if you’re applying the same LUT across multiple clips with different “looks.”

By simulating a LOG (Logarithmic) color profile in Premiere Pro, you create a flatter, more neutral baseline. That gives your custom LUTs the room they need to breathe — enabling balanced highlights, mids, and shadows without clipping or oversaturation.

🎥 Want to give your footage a cinematic look after this step? Check out our guide on how to make anything look cinematic in Premiere Pro in just 4 steps.

So while Premiere Pro doesn’t natively “convert” footage to LOG (like DaVinci Resolve does with Color Space Transforms), we can fake it — and it works beautifully when done right.

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🎬 Step 1: Set Up Your Color Workspace

Start by preparing your workspace so you can see what you’re doing:

1. Open Premiere Pro
2. Switch to the Color workspace (Window > Workspaces > Color)
3. Load your footage into a sequence
4. Open the Lumetri Color panel
5. Open Scopes (Window > Lumetri Scopes) and enable:
   • Waveform (Luma)
   • Vectorscope (YUV)

These will help you precisely monitor brightness and color as you flatten and grade.

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🎨 Step 2: Create an Adjustment Layer (Optional but Smart)

To apply effects non-destructively:

1. In the Project panel, click the New Item icon
2. Choose Adjustment Layer
3. Drag it onto a track above your footage
4. Extend it to cover all the clips you want to affect
5. Select the Adjustment Layer, then apply Lumetri Color

You can also apply Lumetri directly to each clip, but using an adjustment layer allows you to standardize multiple clips at once.

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🧰 Step 3: Flattening the Footage — Simulating LOG in Lumetri

In the Lumetri Color panel, start with the Basic Correction tab.

Here’s how to mimic a flat LOG-like profile from standard Rec.709 footage:

Control	Suggested Setting	Purpose
Contrast	-40 to -70	Flattens dynamic range
Highlights	-30 to -50	Protects blown-out areas
Shadows	+20 to +40	Lifts crushed shadows
Whites	-20 to -40	Prevents white clipping
Blacks	+20 to +40	Reduces harsh blacks
Saturation	60–70	Neutralizes overbaked color
Exposure	Adjust slightly to balance	Brings footage into a usable range

✅ Pro Tip: Watch your waveform — ideally, you want your image sitting between 20 IRE (shadows) and 80 IRE (highlights) after flattening. This gives your LUT space to stretch contrast later.

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🎚️ Step 4: Use the Tone Curve to Fine-Tune the Flattening

Switch to the Curves tab in Lumetri and flatten the contrast curve a bit more:

1. In the RGB Curve, add 3 control points:
   • One near the bottom (shadows)
   • One in the middle (mids)
   • One at the top (highlights)
2. Pull the top point down just slightly (reduces blown highlights)
3. Pull the bottom point up a little (lifts blacks)
4. Keep the midpoint fairly level, unless you need to open up midtones

This manual S-curve reversal helps achieve the low-contrast, log-like response you need.

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🌈 Step 5: Color Balance (Optional but Important)

If your stock footage has a color cast (e.g., too warm or too cool), fix it before applying any creative LUTs. Still in Basic Correction, use:

• White Balance (Temp/Tint sliders) — Neutralize the whites/skin tones
• Eyedropper Tool — Try clicking on a neutral gray/white in the shot

Also monitor the Vectorscope — you want the skin tone line to align correctly before moving on.

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🧪 Step 6: Save the Flattened Look as a Preset

You can now save this flattening grade to reuse later:

1. In the Effect Controls panel
2. Right-click on Lumetri Color
3. Choose Save Preset
4. Name it something like: LOG Simulator - Rec.709 to Flat

Now you can reuse it across future projects to standardize mismatched stock.

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🎯 Step 7: Apply Your Custom LUT (.CUBE)

Here’s where the magic happens:

1. Add a second Lumetri Color effect
   • If you’re using an Adjustment Layer, apply it on top
   • Or stack another Lumetri effect below the flattening preset
2. Go to the Creative tab
3. Click Browse next to “Look / LUT”
4. Select your custom .CUBE LUT

Now that your footage is flat and neutral, your LUT will behave more like it would on LOG footage. You’ll notice:

• Less blown highlights
• More consistent skin tones
• Cleaner shadows
• Smoother transitions

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💡 Bonus Tips: Elevate the Workflow

🧱 Stack Order Matters

In Premiere, effects apply top to bottom in the Effect Controls panel.

Recommended Order:

1. Lumetri Color #1: LOG Simulation (flattening)
2. Lumetri Color #2: Creative LUT
3. (Optional) Lumetri Color #3: Final tweaks (WB, contrast trim)

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📁 Use Presets for Different Footage Types

Stock footage varies wildly. You can create multiple flattening presets:

• Stock_Soft_Warm_Prep
• Stock_Hard_Contrast_Prep
• Stock_Oversaturated_Prep

Then batch apply depending on the source look.

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🎞️ Match Shots with Lumetri Comparison View

If your clips still vary, use Comparison View (Lumetri panel > Comparison View):

1. Choose a reference frame
2. Select your target clip
3. Manually match brightness, contrast, and hue

This is great for smoothing transitions between shots.

🎬 Also learn how to build buttery-smooth scene transitions in our Premiere Pro transitions guide.

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🔄 Can You Convert to True LOG in Premiere Pro?

Technically, no. Premiere Pro doesn’t allow for true color space transforms like DaVinci Resolve’s Color Space Transform node (which can map Rec.709 → LogC → Rec.709, etc.).

However, the manual flattening process above effectively simulates LOG, especially for Rec.709 sources. It won’t match real camera log profiles 1:1, but for stock footage, social content, and marketing reels, it’s more than enough.

If you do want true LOG workflows, consider a hybrid setup:

• Prep and flatten in Premiere
• Export to ProRes 422 HQ
• Grade in DaVinci Resolve with CST nodes + LUTs

🎨 Curious how Premiere stacks up to Resolve for serious color grading? Don’t miss our DaVinci Resolve vs. Premiere Pro deep dive.

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🧰 Optional: Use a Flattening LUT Instead

If you prefer speed over manual work, you can use or create a flattening LUT to simulate LOG look.

Here’s how:

1. In Premiere or Resolve, flatten a stock clip as shown
2. Export that grade as a LUT (e.g. via LUTCalc or Resolve)
3. Apply that LUT to future stock clips before your creative LUT

👉 I can create a downloadable .cube LOG-simulation LUT for you if you’d like. Just let me know!

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🧠 Conclusion: Why This Matters

Stock footage is everywhere — but it’s also wildly inconsistent. Some clips are oversharpened, oversaturated, or contrast-heavy. Others are muted and dull. When you try to apply a unified look using your custom LUT, the result often looks… broken.

That’s where flattening and LOG simulation comes in. By neutralizing your footage before applying creative looks, you build consistency across the board. Whether you’re making reels, ads, social posts, or cinematic edits, your visuals will look cohesive, professional, and intentional.

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🧩 TL;DR Cheat Sheet

Task	Where/How
Flatten Contrast	Lumetri > Basic Correction > Contrast (-50+)
Reduce Saturation	Lumetri > Basic Correction > Saturation (60–70)
Simulate LOG Curve	Lumetri > RGB Curve – flatten midtones
Color Balance	Temp/Tint sliders + Vectorscope
Apply Custom LUT	Lumetri > Creative > LUT (.cube)
Save as Preset	Right-click Lumetri > Save Preset