color correction resources sought

Here's a tutorial on Ken Stone's page.

[www.kenstone.net]



www.strypesinpost.com

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Shadow-Highlight filter

We've used this a few times and it is quite good. Amazing, really. Find it at lyric.com.

Michael Horton
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Ken Stone's thing is basically the same thing that Marcus' Face Light filter does...and it's fast and free!

another can of worms opening............

Casey, the answer here is not all the time.

Off the hip, there are cases where backlighting makes the face look so dark you're left choosing betweenst blown whites or dim face.

Or as on some of my on the spot interviews, you may be in a parking lot at mid-day interviewing a lady. the glare off of the cars can be tweenst +5 - +15 luma excess. The face is illuminated at this point and within luma tolerance but low.

As the lady talks she is moving so from time to time off the right edge of her face you get some car glare from a car 8 feet behind her. She wears glasses also.

then feather matte = background that is too dark in the shadows and u still have to deal with her glasses.

3way = overall shot becomes less contrasty and half hues and tints take place that look unnatural.

Day4Night or shadow4highlight filter = always ruins the contrast on these shots and to get it back something is gonna look off.

as the camera receives the images there are an ass of temp shift and white corrections that happen in the cameras logic. This will be an issue that often have you key-framing the 3-way like it was 18f animation.

your choosing between crushed blk or +1-2 luma excess. In a broadcast world the footage may be deemed unusable. In the ENG world you have to use it cause there is no second take or reshoot date.

It wont be perfect and in some cases your corrections will make the shot look odd. The vector scopes may tell you that u are in tolerance but the shot will not look like anything that you would use.

what do ya think about that advice Joe. (as a caution)

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

Yeah, that's about what I thought

even with the filter ( and i would say the ken stone example is mild ) i bet that the highlight in her hair and on her cloths had some excess luma.

It was bookoo better but i wouldn't consider the example extreme.

And no i am not disagreeing with Ken Stone or anyone else for that matter. I am simply pointing out instances where you may have to accept some out of tolerance rgb/luma/blacks have to be there to use the shot.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

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as the camera receives the images there are an ass of temp shift and white corrections that happen in the cameras logic. what do ya think about that advice Joe.

You want to know what I think? I think nobody knows what in the hell are you talking about

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Scopes are an invaluable tool. The ability to use them is the along the path to becoming a better editor.

Well said, debe. Well said

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

> the answer here is not all the time.

Err... You're seeing it wrong. ALWAYS watch the scopes, but watch the video too. When you're hot on the scopes, you're hot. When the skin tones are falling off, chances are the skin's looking kinda funky. The scopes can also be a rough gauge to exposure. You may need to clamp, if you have hot spots.

When the footage is whacked, that's where you draw a line between how far you want to push it before it starts looking unnatural.. Point is that you don't ignore your driving tools (rear view mirror/ speedometer/ gas meter/ gps), but you use your eyes too. Same goes for the scopes- helps you keep on the road.



www.strypesinpost.com

Scopes are an invaluable tool. The ability to use them is the along the path to becoming a better editor.

I agree.

However, i am thinking that you guys are saying that there are NEVER circumstances where you need to be slightly out of tolerance to use the shot.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

>>I guess what I'm asking is if you can correct this blowout and still keep it broadcast safe.<<

Yes, but you have to limit the area that you correct. You can do this by using the secondaries - the 'limit effect' section at the bottom of the FCP three way CC window. Click on the small black triangle to reveal the extra menus.

What often works is what someone else here said - make a copy, put it on V2, mask around the problem area and just correct that, so that the footage on V1 is still visible, and not being effected by the filter.

Or use Color, which is a lot more powerful.

I've got a tutorial which shows how to CC problem exposures using The Grading Sweet here : Colour My World

>>there are NEVER circumstances where you need to be slightly out of tolerance to use the shot.<<

It depends on the broadcaster. Even for ENG most are going to be broadcasting it within legal, because the camera operators know to move so that they are not getting glare in an interview, and the station has a machine that forces things to be legalized as it goes to air.

If you've ever been in a presentation or broadcast control area, you'd know how big a deal looking right on the scopes is.

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If you've ever been in a presentation or broadcast control area, you'd know how big a deal looking right on the scopes is.

Right you are, Jude. There's nothing scarier then being minutes from an air deadline and a smirking engineer handing you your tape back saying "ARE YOU KIDDING?" I only let that happen to me ONCE (I was very young - 1988). Scopes for all from then on in. After years of using scopes and staring at monitors, I developed a "feel" for color & luminance. Looking at a monitor, I can just tell when something is pushing it or out of range. I still use the scopes and the ones in FCP are very good for software scopes.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Joe Rocks...I like his attitude. I use vectorscopes prior to going through a legalizer. I like using vectorscopes...they give me a feeling of control which is tough in a digital world.

i went back and checked some of my old project thru the vector scopes. I checked 4 and all was within tolerance.

Joe, i first started getting into V-scopes in 5.0.3. so not that long ago. However, i have always kept the excess luma on. The excess luma has always been a part of my workflow.

Because i have only had 15 projects go to broadcast in 3years while 10x thats has gone to dvd and web, my concern with color v-scopes is not at the top of the list. I only care about luma when going to dvd because my color is normally fine.

Hear lately, i have started to use looks and now i worry about color v-scopes. But Joe isn't the only one that can see tolerances. I would guess any editor who cares about what they do would be able to see tolerance after 70 or so projects. If not maybe they should worry about career direction.

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Jude
If you've ever been in a presentation or broadcast control area, you'd know how big a deal looking right on the scopes is.

This is something i have been wanting to do. Most of the majors here (atl,ga) wont let you sit and watch 3 hrs of broadcast room action. Nor can i find a major crew shooting a big production that will let you see the process.

For a person who never had a chance to work with a Jude or a Johan or a ken stone. I think i do pretty good.

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Jude
because the camera operators know to move so that they are not getting glare in an interview

I am the camera crew and i am having to learn that skill as i go. I am not in a situation where i ahve pro-cam operators, a colorist, or a full crew. Maybe i will next year.

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Though it turns my stomach to say this, Joe once has shown me a hidden transition and that made me think of transitions in a new way. I have seen graphic that he has done that i wanna get to.

I love Judes looks and composites and i had no idea of the power of the FCS Suite untill i saw Johan Pullem's demo real.

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My school of thought is, "It's not about what you don't have or don't know. Its more about using what you have to do all that you know."

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"