Color Correcting - Hiring Contractors

learn to do it yourself. it's not hard, and paying someone else is not worth the price being how easy it is.
 
Tetewsky said:
learn to do it yourself. it's not hard, and paying someone else is not worth the price being how easy it is.
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......

If you've ever actually done color correction, and I mean REAL color correction, not slapping a bunch of filters on the footage, you'll realize how hard it is and how much time actually goes into it. It takes a real understanding of how color interact with each other, how certain colors can enhance (or distract) from the mood of a scene, and how to make adjustment accordingly. I've been dabbling with it for years and I'm just barely scratching the surface. To get an idea, I highly recommend you watch this video from the Prolost blog in which a professional colorist explains the process of color correction as he goes through it. This is what CC is really about.

If you can afford to hire a professional to color correct your video, it's always good to do so.
 
Huy Vu, I couldn't agree with you more. It's a skill set that few people really have and appreciate.
If your video project's budget allows for it, do it. If it doesn't, work it into your future project's budget, when done correctly it is truly the difference between night and day.
Your clients will notice a difference if they value precision and quality.:thumbup:
 
If money is no object and you are creating a high budget video which will be distributed to major networks then getting a pro may be worth it..

Otherwise, I'd invest the money in MB Looks to start and learn to do the rest myself.
 
based on the link posted all those shots look like they could be corrected with brightness/contast, color balance, and saturation tools.
 
Tetewsky said:
based on the link posted all those shots look like they could be corrected with brightness/contast, color balance, and saturation tools.
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Then you're not looking closely enough. He didn't just do a single blanket filter that will affect the entire image, which is what all of the filters you mentioned will do. He was actually color correcting the individual shade, saturation and brightness of each color so that the effect is localized to only the part of the image that needed to be fixed, occasionally even keying out certain colors. That is the magic of color correction and why it takes so long. Most people approach CC with a cleaver; they would just apply a bunch of filters to the image and mess around with the settings until it approximates what they want. They have no idea how the settings are actually affecting the image and often the result is unsatisfactory. The pros does it with a scalpel; they're very selective, identify only the part of the image that needed to be emphasize or de-emphasize, and work from there, an approach that will always yields better result. A clear example is when the yellow bread in the scene was actually reflecting on to the cook's apron, making it appear orange. This would be impossible to fix using the standard tool in an NLE because you would be affecting the entire image if you try to compensate for just that apron, but the guy immediately identified the problem and he was able to zero in on just that one area and fixed it. That is what separated the pros from people who just mess around with presets.
 
Phil1076 said:
If money is no object and you are creating a high budget video which will be distributed to major networks then getting a pro may be worth it..

Otherwise, I'd invest the money in MB Looks to start and learn to do the rest myself.
Click to expand...

Magic Bullet is not Color Correction software.
 
Colorista is excellent and if you're just starting in CC then Looks is a foot in the door...you can then customize the looks.
 
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