Color Correction

bleutuna

bleutuna

Member
Does anyone know of any good color correction tutuorials for Premiere? I'm in this stage of production now, and frankly, am a little lost. My issues don"t come up with what I'm looking at on my computer monitor - there, i can always get exactly what I'm going for.

For me, the problem is when i display the results on an NTSC monitor OR projector OR standard NTSC tv. All the correction I've done is just wrong, looks like ass, and I don't know what to do :(
 
Here's the issues I've ran into:

1) Color-bar balance an NTSC TV, and get things looking great. Take it to NON-COLOR BAR balanced NTSC tvs, and it looks like crap.

2) Color correct to an NTSC tv on standard on factory settings, and get things looking great. Take it to other tvs, looks like crap.

3) Color correct to a Sony Trinitron NTSC studio monitor (as General Manager of the student TV station, I have access to a number of these), and still end up with the results looking like crap.

Maybe this is just how it goes? I've read over and over that you color correct to a source that's balanced to color bars, and you've done the right thing, and are in the 'right.' But if it still looks like ass, then all the holier-than-thou/i've corrected to color bars so I'm right doesn't do a lick of good :p

I buy a DVD from the store. I pop it in my DVD player and watch it on my 56" Toshiba RPTV, and it looks great. I burn a DVD that I've color corrected, watch it on my 56" TV, and it's ugly as hell.

::sigh::
 
bleutuna said:
Here's the issues I've ran into:

1) Color-bar balance an NTSC TV, and get things looking great. Take it to NON-COLOR BAR balanced NTSC tvs, and it looks like crap.

2) Color correct to an NTSC tv on standard on factory settings, and get things looking great. Take it to other tvs, looks like crap.


I buy a DVD from the store. I pop it in my DVD player and watch it on my 56" Toshiba RPTV, and it looks great. I burn a DVD that I've color corrected, watch it on my 56" TV, and it's ugly as hell.[/QUOTE

Hello! Do you know what "NTSC" stands for - Never The Same Color twice...:furious3:

If the DVD's that you burn look like crap when you play them on your Toshiba and others look fine then you need to calibrate your computer monitor to your Toshiba.

Do you use a broadcast monitor for color correcting or your computer screen?
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I am not exactly sure what you mean "color bar balanced tvs" ? As far as I know not many TVs can be tweaked to reference the bars.

anyway...

A reference monitor set up by a technician with the correct tools (software/hardware) is used in a pro suite to establish the base for all CC. There is no consideration for the home TV or end user with a badly adjusted TV (or monitor). The high end reference monitor is the standard and lesser monitors will display variously.

All you can do is use the very best Monitor available to you and learn the basics of CC and the videoscopes. (There is a very good simple book available often mentioned on this site but I forget the name of it - sorry)

One tip you will get from the book or a pro grader is Set up your levels/ grayscale tones in black and white first - BEFORE messing with any colour controls.

One of the dilemmas facing CC is the difference between CRT monitors and LCD/Plasma screens. They are different looks. I have a happy balance between my LCDs and my own reference monitor and get exactly what I expect when I output to broadcast TV (or even a DVD)
 
I've got a standard Toshiba television, that has presets - one I've done myself for color bars, utilizing the NTSC color bar signal and a blue gel, the other preset is what the set came with.

In addition, during color correction I've been using our studios NTSC Sony Trinitron Studio Monitor. This is what everyone knows as a "true" NTSC monitor, what are typically connected to Avid Stations and what not.

I am not exactly sure what you mean "color bar balanced tvs" ? As far as I know not many TVs can be tweaked to reference the bars.
Click to expand...

The reason most Televisions can't be tweaked to reference bars is because most TVs don't have the ability to only show BLUE when adjusting your tint/color. To remedy this, you can view the screen through a tinted blue gel (red, green and blue ones come with the Avia disks or can be purchased on the web), and you manipulate the tint until the intensity of the colors match up.

As for your suggestion in regards to setting up the grays before messing with the color - yes, that's what you do when using NTSC color bars. Get the Pluge in order, then worry about color through a blue gel.

Shooter, your last paragraph is the most helpful, in that you've found a happy medium. I guess, in essence, that's what I'm trying to figure out - does one simply adjust to a color bar balanced set/monitor, and not factor in poorly set televisions, or does one try and find a middle ground and correct to that?
 
One tip you will get from the book or a pro grader is Set up your levels/ grayscale tones in black and white first - BEFORE messing with any colour controls.
Click to expand...

Most definitely. Working in RGB though, will alter the luminance a bit when you alter the color. Nature of the beast.
 
>>>>" does one simply adjust to a color bar balanced set/monitor, and not factor in poorly set televisions, or does one try and find a middle ground and correct to that?"<<<<<<

The media producer/color corrector must adjust to the best monitor available and not allow anything for the "lowest common denominator". I wouldnt call it the middle ground if you are trying to achieve the best from the tools you have.

The levels are established for White and Black (also therefore everything else in between - gray tones) and easily read on a waveformscope. Color is subjective and needs some caution but also readable from a scope to check the "brodcast legality".

Grading Room ambience can be a trap when setting up and using monitors.
 
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