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colour correction

Anyone on the boards here know anything about colour correction? I really know little about it and want to know more. What kind of programs and techniques are involved?
 
I can't recall the actual series off the top of my head...help me out people...what is the name of the series of video tutorials that are being put out for beginners...I remember seeing a color correction one.

They are well done and easy to follow...

Is it this? http://www.videomaker.com/video/


* also try a Google search with this string: "color correction video tutorial"
 
youtube searches for color correction give a huge range of tutorials as well.

General Practice:
1) Primary Correction - color balance and make all the shots match
2) Secondary Correction - give the sequence a "Feel" or "Look"
3) Tertiary Correction - Pick out individual features of the frame and change them differentially (making blue eyes pop, etc)... this step involves motion tracking and all kinds of fancy stuff and can usually be the touch that makes your shots look really expensive.
 
I do it all within the Avid. Seldom do I even need the secondary color corrector. A simple color effect, along with Genarts Sapphire film effects get me where I need to be.
 
After installing magic bullet looks.. for my NLE, I spend less time in AE, which is a good thing as AE seems to suck up my very soul (I love every minute of it, but man its a time sink!, I mean 'cmon, do I really NEED to add ANOTHER lens flare? (The answer is "why yes, of course I do)
 
I've seen lots of work done with magic bullet, and it reminds me of the first thing I ever edited in the digital realm... OOOOH, transition heaven! Looked like a bad family vacation slide show. The presets tend to be a bit heavy handed for me and scream "Magic Bullet." Taking the time to customize magic bullet looks could all be done right within your NLE in about the same amount of time, without the added expense.

So if you want to slap predefined looks on, magic bullet is perfect for you, but all of the things it does can be done with the tools already in your tool box, you just won't have them all neatly packaged for your convenience.

But as a tool, it's fabulous if you take the time to learn how to use all of the features and only use the "Looks" as a starting point.
 
no doubt Im in that "ooo transitions phase" :)
The looks builder is nice and customizable. Mostly just use the lift, gamma, gain control, could be had for less $$$ by just buying colorista. Or just using the three way color corrector (PP).. . I do feel, and it is just feeling, that using the looks builder UI is "faster" and more enjoyable than using the tree way color widget..
 
Apple color is by far the closest thing you can get to what the pro's use. I shot my movie White Wall on HD (Panasonic HVX 200), and 35mm film (scanned 2k, scanned it myself) and color timed it using Color. I had a colorist, but his style was conflicting mine, so I had to do it. It was a lot of trial and error, and I realized that when it comes to coloring your movie, there is no specific way to do it. You have to color it, walk away for as long as you can, come back with a fresh set of eyes and do it again until it's perfect.
The more time you have with it, the better it will look. Good Luck!
 
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Well, there are numerous programs or plugins you can use (sometimes it depends on the platform you work on and sometimes on the NLE you use).

For starters (about contrast): make sure you understand how levels work and what a histogram tells you. I know this is more like a photoshop tool, but it will help you understand your image. (Eventhough for example the histogram in Premiere Pro is a bit useless: little amplitude is shown. But in After Effects you can see a lot more info. Btw, a histogram tells you how much dark, light and mid tones are present in the image.)
This is the simple way.

Experiment with curves:
it's effect is (a bit) similair to levels, but the graphs look different.

A more technical approach involves waveforms on the scopes and setting black, white and mid levels. This may sound difficult, but when you understand the histogram and levels, it all makes sense within a few minutes.

I have Color Correction for Video (S. Hullfish & J. Fowler) on my bookshelf and it's a great resource on the subject. It won't tell you what to do, but it tells you how things work.
Videotutorials are a great resource, but I find 260 pages on the subject (really the subject, not tutorials on how software works) really usefull.

For quick simple things I often use levels or curves.
It also depends on where I'm working: on my own computer I like to use Colorista (also for quick gradients) and Magic Bullets Looks (for certain looks). On location at a client these tools are not always available.

About color:
There are a lot of tools to change the color/feel of an image.
Sometimes you just want to make it warmer or cooler.
Try using color balance (RGB) and see what is does.
Try using HLS (hue, lightness, saturation) and see what it does.

Watch the recommended tutorials, but I advice you to experiment a little bit before watching them. This way you will also understand what you may have done 'wrong' and what you can do next time. Otherwise there is a chance you watch a lot of stuff and you get puzzled by all the functions they show. If you have seen them before, it will make it easier to understand.

Good luck!
 
I've seen lots of work done with magic bullet, and it reminds me of the first thing I ever edited in the digital realm... OOOOH, transition heaven! Looked like a bad family vacation slide show.......

:lol:
This remembers me of the first software class at artschool:
"In this folders you'll find all kind of transitions: try them, test them, watch them and never you use them again after this day."

Maybe only Star Wars can get away with the (clock)wipe... :lol:
 
Apple color is by far the closest thing you can get to what the pro's use.

Color is what the pro's use and was one of the first grading packages to do 4k work for film grading.

From 2003 (before Apple bought the package):
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2003_Sept_12/ai_107672843/
2006:
http://www.geekymac.com/?p=164

http://www.studiodaily.com/main/minisites/applemotion/f/mwhatsnew/7235.html
Silicon Color makes three different products for working at three different resolutions: FinalTouch 2K ($24,995), FinalTouch HD ($4995), and FinalTouch SD. There's no word on how many members of Silicon Color's staff and management may be included in the move to Apple.

Both the $25,000/seat and the $5,000/seat products are now included in Studio as part of the package - and since the price didn't increase from before the rolled color in, ostensibly, they're giving it away for free :) .

The only piece missing form the professional toolkit is the hardware grading console that gives a tactile interface to the grading suite.
 
I understand the concept of color correction but have never been too wonderful with it. I've been editing a concert I filmed and while I've put the color correction off for last -- I've experimented with it along the way. I just cannot get these two clips to match.

I'm at the end of the edit now and have sunk hours into trying to color correct these shots. I posted on another forum some weeks ago about it and while I was told that I "want to pull the highlights a blue, the mids red and raise the saturation", it hasn't helped. I can get the clips to where they almost match, but just can't pull it together perfectly I guess. I'm using Premiere Pro 2 by the way.

Does anyone have any advice for these two shots? I'm at my wit's end.

20iawee.jpg


2rway4z.jpg
 
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