Is it just me or does my footage look a bit muddy?

R

randomname

Well-known member
I shot a wedding recently and I've been really unhappy with how the footage turned out. I can't quite figure out how exactly to describe it, but it just doesnt look very clean to me compared to the rest of the things I've shot. You can check it out here:

http://vimeo.com/23618181

I know that this is a really vague question, but could someone give me a general idea of what the problem could be? My workflow hasn't changed at all, so could it be a hardware issue? (I know, I shouldnt be blaming my equipment, but I'm not sure what else it could be) Or am I just doing something horribly wrong while exporting that I'm not even realizing. I use a T2i and I've been shooting quite a bit on it for the last year and a half, if that makes a difference. My workflow is:

shooting>converting to prores>Editing>Color>exporting in Final Cut

Any suggestions?
 
That looks pretty typical for Canon DSLR footage. I don't think it looks muddy - you could have applied a touch of sharpening in post, but I think the bigger problem is that a lot of the shots are really lacking in contrast because you were shooting using available lighting (which is no slight on you, it's a wedding and you have no time or space to do any kind of lighting setups). A lot of it seems too overexposed for my tastes though, and it looks like you used some kind of pro-mist filter either on your lens or in post. Or maybe it's just a result of the blown highlights, but either way I don't like it.

If you have Magic Lantern installed, I would recommend keeping the histogram on at all times and underexposing the image by a stop or so.
 
Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. I've just started using magic lantern; I'm normally alot better about keeping the exposure correct but this shoot was a massive failure on my end in that regard and it was before I started learning good CC principals. What's the best way to add sharpening in post?
 
You can either do it in the FCP timeline using the sharpen filter, or add it in the Color FX room in Color.
 
it's a nice video, and I don't think it's looking awful, but in any case:
* yes, adding sharpness in post will help a lot, specially if you shot with the sharpness setting at its minimum
* at 720p and, specially, 2.5 Mbps, you can't expect it to look super crisp anyway
 
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