Web Video Tweaks

stickypod

stickypod

Active member
When it comes to web video, I watch a lot of it. I make plenty of it as well. I was wondering how some of you tweak your videos to make them look better on the web. Do you turn up contrast, saturation, brightness, luminance? What's the best formula for an outdoor sunny day when you're compressing down to 320X240? Our latest video Sticky Pod Drag Racing seems to have turned out well. We made plently of adjustments to get it looking so.

We use Sony Vegas and we did the following:

HSL Adjust:
Saturation - 1.65
Luminance - 1.25

Brightness and Contrast
Brightness - 0.07
Contrast - 0.20
Contrast Center - 0.50

What would you do? :beer:
 
Hi Sticky

It appears to me that the footage was shot overexposed from the get go. I checked it out using my Vegas Videoscope and the whites are blowing out well over 100 IRE. Are you using Zebras when shooting this footage?

I'd suggest using your zebras and exposuring properly from the getgo and then use your scopes in Vegas to make further adjustments.

You need to get someone with DVX100 to do your promotional work! I believe your product deserves that.


Here is a split screen for you. On the right is the Original Video and the LEft has Minor LEvels adjustments made (Just trying to bring the IRE down under a 100)

For me, a rule of thumb is to EXPOSE FOR HIGHLIGHTS. Here I would expose for those SUNBEAM STARS glaring off the Hood

forstickpod6kw.jpg
 
Exposure can sometimes be a luxury

Exposure can sometimes be a luxury

Not using Zebras. If I had enough camera equipment and enough time to make adjustments, I would. However, the cars are rolling fast and furious for a solid hour. Any suggestions on how I can tweak this to make it work when rendering? The overexposure is an issue, but so is compressing the video for the web. If I don't adjust with extra luminance or brightness, then the video is just too dark. What settings are you using for that clip?

BTW, I'm drinking a Miller Genuine Draft and it sucks. Fat Tires for everyone :beer:
 
NOt sure I understand your question?

Are you looking to salvage what you already have or are you asking for future reference?

Try using Zebras next time but more importantly take the time to get properly exposed footage; even if it means missing a few cars go by! For compressing for web I use Sorenson Squeeze myself. I recently turned a 128 MB file into 35 MB; it looks nice.

Pull out your videoscopes in Vegas and make adjustments using the LEVELS FX

I used the Input Start and the Output End specifically; your goal is to stay below 100 IRE

If you plan on doing it for this current video you are going to have to KEYFRAME it all the way through
 
Need reference for future

Need reference for future

I will probably just eyeball it thru this time. I would prefer to try to fix the problem during editing. Sometimes you only get one chance to take vids of the cars and at $250 bucks a pop to get unrestricted access, it's better to try and solve the problem with software. Working on that access price.
 
May i make a suggestion?

DV Rack

If you can get a laptop thats decent enough to edit on...get DV Rack for it..and check all your settings and exposures and stuff all live on there quiclky before a shoot so you dont have this hassle.
 
dv rack

dv rack

I have not worked with this product. is dv rack the name of the software? what does it show when setting up a camera? it could be the answer because the picture changes (a new car) on the line every 15 to 30 seconds.
 
It takes just a few seconds to get the right exposure. You'll save yourself much grief later by getting the right image to begin with.

Even during shooting you can adjust the iris a few notches to make slight corrections which will be barely noticable, but improve your image immensely.

Once an image is blown-out, that information is lost forever. Better to under-expose that over-expose.
 
Web videos you have made

Web videos you have made

Send me some web videos all of you have made. if they're no online, just upload them to our site:

Upload Page

I would like to see some examples, more like a standard, that I can work with. This is just my opinion, but I think web video will easily become as big as any national television program. The sooner I get it right the better.
 
John_Hudson said:
Hi Sticky

It appears to me that the footage was shot overexposed from the get go. I checked it out using my Vegas Videoscope and the whites are blowing out well over 100 IRE. Are you using Zebras when shooting this footage?

I'd suggest using your zebras and exposuring properly from the getgo and then use your scopes in Vegas to make further adjustments.

You need to get someone with DVX100 to do your promotional work! I believe your product deserves that.


Here is a split screen for you. On the right is the Original Video and the LEft has Minor LEvels adjustments made (Just trying to bring the IRE down under a 100)

For me, a rule of thumb is to EXPOSE FOR HIGHLIGHTS. Here I would expose for those SUNBEAM STARS glaring off the Hood

forstickpod6kw.jpg
Click to expand...
how did you get that screen shot in your post???
 
You have to post it to the web/server first, then link through there. Someone put a step by step instruction with video & everything on the subject a while back ... do some searches.

As far as the video itself, I really liked the opening shot & the use of color correction on the car's paint job ... looked great. But for me, it got old just seeing everyone waste the rubber off their tires for the sheer joy of smokin' 'em.
 
DV Rack is indeed the name of the software. It's from Serious Magic, which as luck would have it is where I work. You can learn more about it here: http://www.seriousmagic.com/dvrack.cfm. The main tools for checking exposure are the zebras and the waveform monitor.

It has two zebras, which are independently adjustable as to brightness and whether they highlight areas that are brighter or darker than the threshold. So you can either have them set to two different brightness levels (one for good highlights, the other for blown out) or one to catch areas that are too bright and the other for seeing if key parts of the image are too dark. You can toggle between the two zebras with a single click or by shortcut keys (F9 & F10).

DV Rack also records directly to your hard drive as namable clips, allows you to grab still images from the video stream, and much more. You can download a fully functional 30 day trial through the link above.
 
John_Hudson said:
Here is a split screen for you. On the right is the Original Video and the LEft has Minor LEvels adjustments made (Just trying to bring the IRE down under a 100)

For me, a rule of thumb is to EXPOSE FOR HIGHLIGHTS. Here I would expose for those SUNBEAM STARS glaring off the Hood
Click to expand...

Hey Hudson, What's the opposite of this? How do you use the scopes to judge blacks/darkness?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top