It happens that people ask me – “How does your node tree look”, suggesting that I am using a fixed node tree. When I say that I don’t use a fixed node tree they look surprised. Then I ask them, “Do you use a fixed node tree?” and most of the time they say “Yes I do”. My next question is then, “Do you only adjust what the node name is or do you use more than one tool?”. So far nobody has told me they only use the tool each node as intended.
As far as I see it each clip is unique and needs its own “massage” to get the right look. Sometimes I do a balance after contrast, sometimes I do it before. It all depends on the source image and what I feel works best. I find that a fixed node tree limits me in thinking freely on how I can get the best result for this particular image.
I many times use several tools in the same node, but I have done my homework and know what each tool does and in what order. So if I need to do something which can’t be done in the same node I add one either before or after, depending what I want to do.
Then there is the part of secondaries, which in many fixed node trees take up one node. Hmmm strange, how do I remove saturation and add some contrast to this secondary? Shouldn’t there be 2 nodes for that? This is where the whole fixed node structure and naming each node falls apart.
I understand that if you work with assistants, or send you project to someone else, you need to have a structure so everybody knows what to do where, but as long as it’s just me who is doing the grading I like to use as few nodes as possible, this also helps me remember what I did where.
When I look at youtube and many other places most tutorials use fixed node trees to do things which are so simple that they could have easily be done in just one node. You should of course use whatever works best for you, but don’t get stuck in a grid of nodes just because it works for someone else.
I have graded well over 100 features and TV-series and the non fixed node tree approach has worked fine for me.
But sometimes the node tree grows like for a one shot short film I did a few years back.
2025/07/10
