Color correcting skin tones

gabrielflorit

gabrielflorit

Well-known member
I'm not quite sure how this happened, but in the shots of these two characters there's some sort of color correction mismatch. The thing is, I haven't done any grading yet - this is straight from camera. I lit the bar, and shot the scene. The actors were facing each other, as in any bar situation. But there clearly is a different look going on. What do I do here? Where to start? Do I white balance, do I play with exposure...? Any ideas?

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What tool are you using for CC? FCP - Color Corrector filter, or 3-Way Color Corrector filter? Or the Color application?

Either way, you'll want to boost the gamma in the second shot, and lower it in the first shot. I'm afraid that you have lost some detail in the second shot, so you'll probably want to try to bring the first shot down more than the second shot up.

There is a red cast in the second shot too. I would fix this by bringing up the green and blue levels, as it will increase overall luminance while fixing the red cast.
 
I haven't started using any tools yet. But I think the 3-way color corrector looks simple enough. Thanks for the advice. I'll see what I can do. I'm perplexed, because this is straight from camera. How could they look so different? Strange.
 
YES. While I was in the shower I realized the issue. I failed to light the female talent's left side - I lit the bartender's right side, but closed the barndoors to limit the spill. I should have used that same light to light the female. Oh well. Live and learn.
 
They still match well enough to pass.

And I have to say that the overall lighting/look is pretty kick-ass
 
dont try to match it, (if the script is in that direction)u stick with the guy camera, and make the girl camera do small stops in key moments, and make it as if she in the shadows of the conversation, just remove the overall redish color shift to something sobtle, if u have two wide angle shots for the girl that can work very nicely, other than that just shorten the girl time on screen, also if u have a good prespective that can work to shorten the girl time, so u would start with her, and i noticed that i forgot to finish and post reply this post.
 
Bring down the reds on the girl, or just desaturate her. She's really soft, maybe due to the low light. That's why they look different.

You can either:

a) Soften the man, to match the girl (But you'll have to do this to all the footage so I don't really recommend it.

or

b) Just do what I said earlier. Desaturate, or bring down the reds, and add some more Mid tone light.

Robbie
 
amrrahmy said:
dont try to match it, (if the script is in that direction)u stick with the guy camera, and make the girl camera do small stops in key moments, and make it as if she in the shadows of the conversation, just remove the overall redish color shift to something sobtle, if u have two wide angle shots for the girl that can work very nicely, other than that just shorten the girl time on screen, also if u have a good prespective that can work to shorten the girl time, so u would start with her, and i noticed that i forgot to finish and post reply this post.
Click to expand...

Not sure I am understanding this post correctly, but it sounds like you are suggesting editing choices (not cutting to the girl very often, or for brief periods only), without knowing how the scene is supposed to play out.

Cut first for the emotional content/rhythm of the scene. If the tech problems are too overwhelming or obvious after those choices, then you can re-evaluate.

But the differences in the shot look like two people in the same room (different parts) to me. If the scene is well-written and performed, and edited with the focus on the emotional thread, it will look fine.
 
For what it's worth...

(future searching)

You can crop the video to the skin tone of similar lighting and then use the 3-way with scopes to CC to the 'skin-tone' line.

Then grade accordingly. Not the BEST way... but whatever -- that's what it is there for.

CaptM
 
Good suggestions all around - I'll see what I can do.


CaptainMench said:
For what it's worth...

(future searching)

You can crop the video to the skin tone of similar lighting and then use the 3-way with scopes to CC to the 'skin-tone' line.

Then grade accordingly. Not the BEST way... but whatever -- that's what it is there for.

CaptM
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I follow you here - I'm afraid my knowledge of grading is nil.
 
The Vector Scope has a line pointing to about 10:30. That is the "skin-tone" line. I never use it... but again, that's what it is there for.

CaptM

SkinTone.png
 
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