Colour correction suggestions

[mystico]

I recently shot a retirement party in a conference hall overlooking a baseball field. During much of the footage, the screens were up behind the speakers, letting in lots of light and blowing the footage. As I was a bit nervous, I didn't realise until later (read "too late") that I might have helped the situation by using the BackLight compensation. But anyway, I did eventually ask one of the staff to keep the screens lowered, as they kept raising and lowering it. Either way, the lighting in the place, coupled with the white walls/screens made for a difficult shoot (for me).

Anyway, I am now trying to correct in post and having some difficulty. Below are before CC and after CC shots. Any suggestions on further settings would be most appreciated. This was shot with DVC60 (in Normal Scene File mode, which was another mistake--without changing any of the settings). I was spooked because I rented a DVX back in Feb to shoot a wedding and shot it all in 24p. Beautiful images but difficult to do slo-mo because of the 24p. I stupidly assumed the DVC60's Movie-Like setting would give similar results--although (1) I knew it wasn't 24p AND (2) there's not going to be much slo-mo in this retirement video. Anyway ...

BEFORE CC

http://www.cloud9videoproductions.com/picts/ColorCorrBF.jpg

AFTER CC
http://www.cloud9videoproductions.com/picts/ColorCorrAF.jpg

Basically, I just pointed the Black to the guy's jacket, then messed around the the Curves as below.

http://www.cloud9videoproductions.com/picts/ColorCorrCurves.jpg

As you can see, I changed all but the Green, and only slightly changed the Blue. Somehow I still think it could use some changes though. Suggestions???

Here's one more with Brightness increased to 13
http://www.cloud9videoproductions.com/picts/ColorCorrAF2.jpg

[Shooter]

First thing is to work with Levels and sort them out as well as you can before playing with anything to do with Color eg curves.

Use the histogram. Work with the Shadow, Mids(gamma) and Highlights. The gamma control will be your friend.

[bpotter]

Definatley a tough situation. First thing you might want to do is to remove the blue color cast.

[Shooter]

Wrong !

The first thing he needs to do is sort the levels. Primarily he has a levels issue then a colour cast issue (although he may like the blue cast). He needs to find out what he has got in the gamma (mids) range.

If you mess with the colour 1st it will change when you correct the levels and you end up chasing your tail.

Sort the levels (preferably with a B/W monitor).

Take a look at the image you got already on the scope and its FLAT. Bring the blacks and whites into play with Levels then move the gamma around until you get some detail and contrast happening.


Beware you are going to get some "grain" but the little play I had with your original looked much better than any of your attempts shown .

[mystico]

I removed all the CC and messed with the Levels as you suggested Shooter. Seems like about the same difference but without the blue haze. I'm thinking this is about as good as it gets. I will post a frame grab tonight once I get home. If I remember correctly, if I changed the Shadows at all, it just got darker. Changed the Highlights slightly then did most of the movement on the midtones. No change to the output levels except in one clip where it was already a bit lighter than the BEFORE pic above.

Hey, I don't want to start a war here, but as bpotter said, I DID have to remove the blue before messing with the Levels. I guess it would be more accurate to say you both were right, because removing the blue simply meant undoing any CC I'd already done and then starting with the Levels.

Anyway, thanks all.

[Baluardo]

the color cast is not big deal. you had the wrong white balance.
i am posting a quick correction i did following this steps:

the exposure is very wrong. fix it with the levels first. when you apply the effect, go to the graphic settings (the little square icon on the right of the effect name). you have 3 sliders: black, gray, and white.
try fiddling with those. I brought towards left the gray one, until the face gets exposed decently, and i brouhgt right the black one (to get some contrast). expect noise to show up. but also you'll get more details. also make sure you monitor real time on a tv screen (if tv will be the final destination of this clip) since in these situations there are huge differences between PC monitor and Tv.

after that you will fix the color cast. what PP is missing is some color cast presets. i wouldnt work with curves as you want to remove the cast all over the dynamic range and not just in some areas. what i used here is, under the color correction group, the black/white picker. it allows you to pick which is white, gray, and black. this tool is very sensitive. you better zoom the monitor window so it doesnt go too crazy. and it takes a while to pick the right spots. i used the brightest spots on the banner in the field for white, the black vertical line on the left for black, and some spot on his shirt (supposefdly white) for gray.

obviously you can tune this much better (esp. using a tv output)

Andrea


http://www.baluardoproductions.com/CCtest.jpg

[Shooter]

Baluardo - well done and you confirm what I suggested. In fact I got the exact same result when I did it. It aint perfect but it might save his shot.

Levels first - ask any pro telecine grader or reference any books on the subject.

Next possibility : In After Effects it would be possible to pull a hicon matte of the image and just work with the FG or BG as separate components (layers)

[johari]

*bookmarks thread*

[mystico]

I wish I had a tv monitor. Any suggestions on how to get one cheaply?

[Green Hornet]

Your image is under exposed on his face, you can adjust all you want, but you won't get the color right without adding lots of grain.

Your choices are:

1) neutral color on the man with lots of grain, and a blown out background.
2) less grain with a cyan/blue skin tone on the man.

You can play with it for a long time, untill you get so use to seeing the image, that
your mind stops seeing the grain. You find a best case for color and go with that, but when you walk away for 15 minutes and return, the grain is just unbearable.

You can do a whole lot with CC, but you can't do much with underexposure.

[Shaw]

Here's a quick shot at it using AE. FWIW =) Considering the source material, I think it came out rather decently!

http://www.weet.us/color1.jpg

[mystico]

Working with this footage is quite frustrating. I'm sure you all have experienced this, but I am taking LOTS of breaks. I have to do a different Levels and CC for EACH SPEAKER because by the time one person finishes speaking and the other stands up, the lighting in the room has changed, the next person has slightly different skin tones and of course different colour clothing. Despite their finally agreeing to keep that white screen lowered behind the speaker, there were windows all over the place and this thing took place from 6p - 9p ... yes that's right ... during the sundown phases. This is one of those things I will learn to consider BEFORE each shoot. Not only the lighting considerations inside a venue but which phase of the sun, and possibly the moon, are we in??? I'm starting to see why when people shoot film, they cover all windows and get rid of all natural light when possible and create a totally artificial but controllable lighting scheme.

[mystico]

Shaw, look at the thread opener and compare my very last shot at your AE CC. Mine is less grainy and "good 'nuff" as far as brightness goes wouldn't you say? Hey thanks for all you guys' help.

[novelt]

here's mine...

http://theater.suntropolis.com/cc00.jpg