Quick Color Correction Example

M

MichaelP

Avid Moderator
http://www.24p.com/colorcorrection.htm

I out together a quick color correction example (with film look) on my website. It is very basic, but shows the steps in taking in original footage (even when it looks good) and putting it through a color correction and ehancement process.

The example shown was done on a MC Adrenaline from DV50 material shot on a SDX900 camera. But the same principals can apply to the DVX100 and any editing system color correction.

Michael
 
Re: Quick Color Correction Example

Hey, thanks for doing this, it is very useful to see the evolution...
 
Re: Quick Color Correction Example

This post has been posted like 3 times now? Why are you posting it so many times?
 
Re: Quick Color Correction Example

Well, I had originally posted it twice - once in the Articles section as a general posting on color correction and was not Avid specific since it is a topic that tends to be discussed a lot. I also posted it here in the Avid section since I did do it on an Avid and the example uses Avid terms.

But Jared deemed it was an Avid only topic and moved the one posted in the Articles section which left a mention of it there and doubled it here resulting in three versions (2 the same, one worded slightly differently).

There you go. Or perhaps it's becuase things always go in 3's??? Like my being baptized three times when I was a baby.... ;) True story.

Michael
 
Re: Quick Color Correction Example

Is there a difference between recording bright highlights or making it bright in post? For keeping the film look I mean.

They say to under expose rather then overexpose when going for a film look, but does the auto color not making it too bright?
 
Re: Quick Color Correction Example

For both black and white levels, there is only a finite range that can be recorded onto any medium. The DVX has about 7 stops worth of useable range whereas film has ~12 stops. When delaing with any format, it is up to the DP to make sure that the object of iterest is exposed as intended - this gets us into the zone system used by Ansel Adams. Usally the key light is set for a zone 5 for overall proper exposure, but it can be set to be a zone 3 or 4 depending on look and feel of the scene - darker or lighter. This can also be achieved by color correction - taking the area of interest up or down in the black to white range.

The AutoColor as I describe ony looks at all the pixels in the image and makes the whitest pixel(s) 235 RGB for digital television, and takes the darkest pixel(s) and makes it 16 RGB. It does not know look and feel or intention of the scene, but does make it legal for broadcast. In step 3, I keep the black point and white point, but play with all the points in between to give it a look that I intend to give it, yet still legal for broadcast. AutoColor is not meant to be the final color correction step, just a very quick way to get there.

Michael
 
Re: Quick Color Correction Example

Sometimes it can work good, but when a shot is a little too dark, grain becomes visible in the picture when doing a auto correct.
 
Re: Quick Color Correction Example

True - AutoCorrect doesn't incriminate based on content. That's why the example I showed showed the need for a manuyal creative pass based on the picture itself (on a well calbirated monitor). And in the case of video, it is the noise level that becomes more obvious when underexposed.
 
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