Correcting Underexposed Video

O

ogi_sugatan

New member
Hi to all. I'm a newbie here and I desperately need help. Been googling and using the search function but it didn't help much. :(

I'm in the process of editing and grading our independently produced digital full length in FCP 5.1 and I noticed the shots that my second cameraman did were underexposed a little too much by 2-4 stops (I usually underexpose my SD/HD shoots by a stop only). I tried grading it in the 3-point color corrector but all it gave me was noise.

Is this problem curable? What else is there in FCP to, at least, get an acceptable image? Thanks in advance and I'd appreciate your help, guys.

OGi
 
You could try Magic Bullet Colorista, a color correction plug-in for FCP that doesn't seem to create as much noise as the FCP 3-way corrector. I used Colorista before upgrading to FCS2 and Color, and was happy with how the software performed. One nice feature is that Colorista has power windows. It is priced at $!99 and there is a link to a trial version on the product page:

http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/categories/color-correction/magic-bullet-colorista/
 
@ Noel

Here are the grabbed pics:

The first two were shots of my 2nd Cam operator:

gradedpart101421229.jpg


gradedpart101420905.jpg


This one's my shot (A cam) with the right exposure:

gradedpart101421422.jpg




@ Thomas

If that's the case, I have to do what i fear most-- a re-shoot! :-(( aaaarrgggghhh for my pocket! I guess I know now who not to hire again. :-( It's a good thing it's just one sequence. What's goin' to kill me is that we shot that about 300 kms from my city. :-/
 
Actually... you'd rather be underexposed than OVER exposed. Digital media has more information in the blacks than in the whites. Once luma is clipped there's nothing to do. However, if you are talking about low light and not simply closed iris well lit then you might be out of luck. You can only push DV so far before it starts to degrade and get grainy.

Good luck,

CaptM

EDIT...

OH... wow... your post just came up after I posted mine. Um... er.... wow. YIKES. Good luck.
 
@ Capt

Yep. Major Yikes.

Yeah that's right. I told my B cameraman that same thing. One stop under is ok but I never thought that his one stop under is waaaaay under.

Thanks for the comments, guys.
 
@ Xtopher

The third pic is exposed right. The first two shots (POV) were done simultaneously with mine. to save time (and money!) the sequence was shot at the same time (around 4:30 PM). . We were riding a pickup truck with me in the truck bed and the other in the passenger seat up front. My camera operator might have been too excited in turning the iris way down.
 
Duplicate your video track ontop of itself. Then set the composite mode to screen on the top track. (right click over video track) make sure you don't duplicate your audio tracks.

But video that dark... you might be out of luck.
 
If it's still a bit too dark, you can keep adding "layers" of video ontop of each other and set them all to screen until you get something that looks acceptable. If the very next layer you add is too bright, simply lower that video layer's opacity.

Then maybe a little color correction treatment, and you might just save some ugly dark video where not many people will notice there ever was a problem.
 
Thanks for all the help guys. Jay is right ^. Those two frames are r.i.p. indeed. But the layers thing made a whole lot of difference in my grading. Will upload pics soon, guys. Again, thanks so much for the help.

OGi
 
RyanBellaCine said:
Duplicate your video track ontop of itself. Then set the composite mode to screen on the top track. (right click over video track) make sure you don't duplicate your audio tracks.

But video that dark... you might be out of luck.
Click to expand...

Can someone expand on the use of this approach to fixing underexposed shots? I use media composer.
Thanks
 
I'm sure this is beating a dead horse, but how did the Cam B op even see what he was shooting though the screen. Can I get a name as to avoid hiring him...kidding of course. Lesson learned though, better luck in the future.
 
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