Color Management 101 ... something we all have to learn now. It's not difficult but it can be picky.
You may be dealing with HLG/HDR clips there, but down below I'll explain how to get out what you want. Simple settings options.
But you're on a Mac, and that's problematic to begin with. Especially if you're trying to do Rec.709/SDR video exports. Apple chose to use the camera transform function of 1.96, as the display transform function.
The standards specify that gamma 2.4 is to be used for Rec.709 video, and that's used by all professional broadcast and streaming services. So QuickTime player will show the image lighter than it was graded as under a proper pro colorist's setup.
Further, under rather rigorous testing of gamut by a colorist I've seen recently, Apple's color management doesn't even correctly remap the hues of the sRGB/Rec.709 color space to the native P3 of their Retina monitors. So ... there's a two-fer issue that underlies Rec.709/SDR images on a Mac system.
And note, Apple now has some newer Macs with "reference modes" in their viewing CM setup. Those Macs can use the HDTV setting, and get full-on pro Rec.709, gamma 2.4, remapped pretty good.
So being as you can get two different images on a Mac with reference modes depending on how you set the monitor, one of the the usual Mac lighter view, the other the pro standards view ... yea, that part is within Apple's purview. And is the cause of the pick-your-poison option we all have to deal with now, whether on a Mac or not.
Color Management Settings
For all work, either SDR or HDR ...
- Display color management and Extended dynamic range (this latter Mac only) to on.
- auto detect log and auto tonemapping are interactive! ... both should be on.
- Sequence CM set to the color space you want to export to: Rec.709, HLG, or PQ.
- use only the export presets built for your sequence CM. Rec.709/SDR sequences, do not use any export preset with HLG or PQ in the preset name. For HLG or PQ sequences, use only those presets with the right HDR format in the preset name.
That's easy enough, and should get you to what you want ... except for the last, pick-your-poison choice, that affects SDR/Rec.709 workflows more than HDR.
Viewer Gamma Settings
What ... do you want? You can't have everything right ...
Gamma 1.96/QuickTime ... this option sets the internal Premiere Program monitor similar to the ColorSync gamma 1.96 view of the QuickTime Player, Chrome, and Safari browsers.
The good! ... what you see outside Premiere in QuickTime Player, Chrome and Safari browsers .... on Macs without reference modes! ... is what you see inside.
The bad! ... what anyone with a Mac with Reference modes, all broadcast setup systems, most TVs, PCs and Anddroid devices, will be a lot darker, some crushed blacks, and color over saturated.
Gamma 2.4/broadcast ... this is the standard use for all professionally produced Rec.709/SDR media. Period. Even though most colorists are based on Macs, but almost no one grades professionally on a computer monitor.
The good! ... what you produce, on any screen out there, will look relatively like other professionally produced media on that screen. Also, on broadcast spec systems, and most TVs, Android devices and PCs, it will look roughly similar to what it was inside Premiere on your machine.
The bad ... outside of Premiere on non-reference mode Macs, it's gonna be somewhat light and unsaturated in appearance.
Gamma 2.2/Web ... this is used by some as a kind of sort of in-between option. Do NOT use for any professional work, but outside of that, it's your call.
The good! ... it's not going to be quite as light on Macs nor quite as dark on everything else.
The bad .... it isn't going to fit "the standard" anywhere, but then, no screen will so maybe ... ?
Note: I work for/with teach pro colorists, mostly based on Macs, total Apple geeks, who are all furious with Apple over this mess. Resolve, Baselight, whatever you're grading in, you get complaints about this. There isn't "a fix" that anyone can make as you can't display an image with two different base gammas and get the same visual result.
The other thing that colorists are trained is to grade it and forget it. Grade to the standard, tightly ... then let it go "out into the wild". Because no one will ever see exactly what the colorist saw, no matter how it's delivered and viewed. Broadcast/streaming/theatrical, every screen is different.
But if you grade tight to the standard, then ... in relative terms! ... your media will look similar to all other professionally produced media on any screen out there.
Because you can't fix gramma's green TV.
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