Primary colour grading is applied to the entire image and is used to obtain an overall colour look. With primary colour grading, you modify the primary colour channels (red, green, and blue) independently. Although you can manipulate these colour channels simultaneously, the modifications you make to one colour channel will not depend on the pixel intensity of the other colour channels.

When you perform primary colour grading, you can develop a continuity grade to create a consistent colour look for shots at the beginning of the colour grading process, and then perform any final adjustments to readjust the colour look and complete the colour grade at the end of the process.

You perform primary colour grading in either Log mode or Linear mode. In Log mode, you can modify brightness, contrast, pivot point, and saturation. In Linear mode, you can modify lift, gain, gamma, saturation, and contrast values, as well as clamp minimum and maximum luminance values.