A box designed to apply a calibration to a display (or a built-in feature in a display which performs the same function) is using a LUT. Regardless of the circumstances, though, the purpose of a lookup table is to make colour and brightness adjustments to a picture, whether that's a picture in a file on a workstation or one flying down a cable. Lookup tables, or LUTs, are used everywhere, from cameras, conversion devices and monitors to post production software and even command line processing tools.

It's the object of this piece to avoid that problem, of course, and the best place to start is with a thorough understanding of lookup tables, what they're for, and how they're implemented, as well as how they relate to alternative approaches such as numerically-defined transforms. Sneaking up on over the last ten years or so has been the requirement to juggle grading and calibration on set, too, and as with anything that touches the picture, there's a mesmerising variety of ways to make horrible mistakes. Making pictures look subtly different – or even drastically different – is something that's been commonplace for years in post production. Replay: Phil Rhodes provides everything you always wanted to know about LUTs.

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