Color Correction Tutorials

Having searched this forum for some advice on color correction, I've found some links to some very useful information.
I was wondering if anyone could also recommend some more detailed information on color correction. Books, or DVD tutorials.
One specific issue I'm trying to solve is the fact that I have some footage I shot which was manually white balanced along with some that was not. So I'm trying to bring the non-white balanced footage in line with the white balanced footage.
(new underwater housing and I bumped the white balance button, oops)
G5 Dual 2.5 GHZ, 4.5 MB (cause WinXP Can't), GeForce 6800 Ultra, Sonnet SATA 4+4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)
G5 Dual 2.5 GHZ, 4.5 MB (cause WinXP Can't), GeForce 6800 Ultra, Sonnet SATA 4+4 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

steve hullfish wrote a text several years ago about digital video color correction. it's pretty good if you know nothing about this subject.
there's also the apple pro text by alexis van hurkman that is okay if you know nothing about this subject.
One specific issue I'm trying to solve is the fact
that I have some footage I shot which was manually
white balanced along with some that was not. So I'm
trying to bring the non-white balanced footage in
line with the white balanced footage.
for this issue, i would apply the three way color corrector to your non-white balanced clips. use the match hue function to have fcp match to your white-balanced clips. that'll give you a base to start tweaking from. magnifying your vectorscope will help with the tweaking.
search the manual for the match hue function and how to use it.
zeb

Similar Messages

Best Color Correction Tutorials?

I have finally realized to get video that absolutely pops and stands out is to spend hours Color Correcting? - Would you agree or disagree with this statement?
What tutorials have you seen that really helped you learn the color correcting process? Any videos or online books I could go to or buy?
What is the easiest or best way to go about color correcting.
Jay

Yes.
Steve Hullfish's Class on Demand Basic Traing for Color
http://www.classondemand.net/media/apple-training/basiccolor.aspx
Easiest and best are almost always mutually exclusive. Best is to use Color.

FCPX Color Correction affecting transparencies

I have a problem where color corrections applied to a video clip are effecting a transparent graphic above the video, where 100% white is somehow being given a luminosity above 100%.
I created a screencapture video showing the problem to clearify: http://youtu.be/cX37HmPASok
This is what the transparent shadow should look like when it is on a 100% white background: http://imgur.com/a/ksiYY#0
But this is what it looks like when the exposure of the object below it is increased to clip the white highlight: http://imgur.com/a/ksiYY#1
I don't understand why increasing the exposure doesn't max the brightness out at 100% white. How do I keep the luminosity from effecting my transparency?
THANKS!

TOOOO perfect! Thanks Tom. I was able to find two videos that elaborated on your comment to solidify a solution.
The Broadcast Safe Filter is definitely the solution, but for some reason it gets applied BEFORE the Color Correction gets applied (which I see is why your compound clip work-around is necessary).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Edju6ktL8
I also came across this video today though that offers a simpler solution. By creating an empty Title template in Motion, I can apply the Broadcast Safe Filter to it and span it across the entire video above the color corrected footage but under my transparent slides.
http://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/tutorials/945-how-to-build-and-use-adjustment-la yers-in-final-cut-pro-x
I'll have to reconstruct my color management process in the future, but this is a quick solution for me right now.
Thanks!

Color correction, muzzle flares and smoke questions

A couple of days ago I directed an action sequence called 'Silent takedown' using Premiere CS5 and After Effects. The goal was to do a very fast paced editing style but still within the realm of 'classic' action films from '90 like Face/Off and Mission Impossible 2. I've got some question regarding visual effects done in After effects. Tell me if you thought they were good or bad. Also the color correction was done in AE and PP. Does the overall movie look good?
Here's a full link again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O62_hYOmlaY
Thanks for watchin'

Well, aside from it being quite disturbing to have a team of 14 year olds turning everyone to blood soup it's got some great camera work.
Your first mistake might have been thinking there's anything worth copying in mission impossible 2. Sorry, had to be said.
Todd's right. The clouds of blood is comical. Maybe tone that down? Right now it just looks like a string of video copilot tutorials one after another. You need to hide effects, and make them feel seamless.
Ask yourselves what are you trying to showcase. If it's post production, you have to tweak those effects and make them look classy. There are shots where bullet holes are appearing in glass and there's little breakage, and no reaction from the actors. You can't just glue in effects. If the actors don't react, you can't use the shot, or it should be changed so you don't notice. Add a shake etc.
If it's editing, then that has to be solid too.
You've got time shifting all over the place without it being stylistic. For example, the guys who walk up off the top are shown in a wide shot that you re-use for the security cam. They enter, put their masks on, walks softly up to the guards and take them out, but then we are inside and the scarface guy is watching action that happened minutes ago on the monitor. If you're going to jump around in time, you need to find a stylistic way to do that. Why not bring the scarface guy's scenes into the lead up, show the monitor, (drop that long shot at the top) to introduce the guys sneaking up. This introduced tension (will scarface notice???) gives you an idea of who the guards are watching out for and drops that opening super wide of the two kids going up against the wall. That shot doesn't work because when you show them super-wide, you get a feeling for how exposed they are and what a terrible job they're doing of "sneaking" up. But it works as security cam footage...
Another example is when you have one of your agents say "good morning gentlemen. He says something strange to men who are in masks and they give him enough time to put a gun to his head and pull the trigger in spite of the face that they're holding their own guns. Then you have the camera exposure flash cuts to the other agent sneaking up...
If you want to make this effect work, you need to use editing to explain why the second guard didn't reflexively shoot the first agent. have the agent say, "good morning gentleman" and start the action of raising the gun. Then flash cut to the other agent sneaking up, then back the the first agent shooting, then back to the second guard being shot. Then all of a sudden you have a frenetic action scene. Right now the pacing feels slow and unrealistic.
The effects go off the rails a bit at the end. The muzzle flashes don't aim in the right direction, and the particle smoke becomes very obviously added in post. One shot in particular is a dude walking through a black smoke cloud from behind a van. Loose that smoke in the second to jump cuts. And if oyu're going to have a smoky enclosed space. you have to add atmosphere in other shots.
If you're not going to use practical effects for the gunshots, you need to cut away. Having a guy explode with particles and stock footage will always be "funny" without having some squibs on set. I know it makes it harder and more complicated, but you have to have the whole package, or it'll always just look like kids messing around and...
... oop, my render is done.

Key frames effect controls and Fast color correction

I just learned about keyframes and gradual transistion of effects and i like that a lot.
Putting it in practice using the Fast color correction feature ; I seemed to miss the key navigation bar (I hoped to find it on the right side of the Fast Color corrector title line or ??? in the effects control panel)
I guess I'm looking at the wrong end of the world, or do keyframes not exist for fast color correction, I seem to notice the keyframe navigation for time Remapping and opacity..... where did I lose the keyframe navigation bar for fast color correction ???
Pro CSS3 on windows XP fully patched
hoping very hard I'm just looking at the wrong side of the world
please give me a hint.

You will find links to many
free tutorials in the PremiereProPedia that will quickly show you how things are done in Premiere Pro, including how keyframes work.
Cheers
Eddie
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Color Correction help...

Hello,
In still working on these issues, when I turn on the Range Checker, and scroll thru the clip, I notice an “X” on the upper-right-hand side of the clip in the Viewer - what does this mean?
Then, when I start color correcting w/the color correction 3-way wheel, a different wheel opens up each time for each clip. By the time I get to the end of my project, I had opened and closed several color correction tabs, How do I know which color correction tab corresponded to which clip, if I want to go back and do more color correction? Do I have to count clips to correspond w/wheels? There must be a better way - thanks so much.

kristina,
what robbosaur is too diplomatic to say is you need to crack open your manuals and figure this out. if you would have looked around for the range check filter in the manual, it would have told you what the x or the check mark signifies.
also, you should probably get real cozy with the manual when it comes to applying filters and then altering them, this is real basic but confusing stuff. i highly recommend the tutorials and there are excellent 3rd party texts out there, especially from peachpit press.
it will help you to gang the canvas to open your sequence clip in the viewer, that way your sequence clip will already be open in your viewer when you stop the playhead and then when you open the "filters" tab, you'll see what you've applied to that clip.
i hope you're viewing your corrections on a monitor that best represents your delivery format.
zeb

Color Correcting Help!

I shot a bunch of timelapse clips (12 and 15fps) with two GoPro3's and transcoded them in the GoPro software, Cineform Studio, because PP5.5 apparently does not natively handle MP4's. I made them universally 1080 and 29.97fps AVI's for import into Premiere 5.5 (on my mac).
While doing so, I also did minor color corrections. However, as I start to lay them side by side in Premiere I see that I did a poor job and that they look very different.
As a result, I have two problems:
1) I have no idea how to use Premiere's color many correcting tools.
2) Assuming I can figure a tool out, if I must correct each clip in the sequence individually, then there is no reason why I will not again make them all look different from each other.
Is there a way to make all the clips conform to a target value, with each changing the appropriate amount from it's own, current values to match it? For example, can I take one clip, adjust it's values (basically just white balance, brightness and contrast), and ask the rest to match it regardless of how close or far they currently are from it? I hope I've asked this question correctly.

The Three Way Color Corrector is probably the
most intuitive CC effect for a beginner in a hurry.
Here are a couple of short tutorials:
Three-way Color Corrector effect (CS6)
http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/three-way-color-corrector-cs6.html
Using the Three Way Color Corrector
http://www.video2brain.com/en/lessons/using-the-three-way-color-corrector
You can copy > paste the Three Way Color Corrector effect
from one clip to another as a starting point for additional clips.
Also, you can use an Adjustment Layer to apply a single
color correction effect across multiple clips.
Here's a short tutorial + documentation:
Using the New Adjustment Layers in Premiere Pro CS6
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/cs6-creative-cloud-feature-tour-for-video/using-the-new-adjustme nt-layers-in-premiere-pro-cs6/
Adobe Premiere Pro Help / Adjustment Layers (CS6)
http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/help-tutorials-adjustment-layers.html

Color Correcting but advanced!

Hey guys, here I am with yet another question. I know how to color correct pretty well but not as well as I want to. I bought some apple books to teach me but I still can't figure it out. Here's my problem, just say it's two people and any background that has many different colors, how do I leave the 2 people in full color but everything else in black and white? Sorry if this is a dumb question but I was taught that any question is not dumb, whats dumb is not to ask any questions at all.
Thanks.

In FCP, put your shot on V1 and a copy of it on V2. Select both and ctrl/right click on them and choose Send To Motion.
In Motion put a desaturate filter on the lower layer. Motion has a freehand mask tool that makes a bezier shape. Select your upper layer and then select the the freehand mask tool and draw around the "color" area of your upper layer. Feather as needed. Turn on record (red button next to Play), step forward on your timeline and adjust the control points of your mask shape. When you're done, save it, quit. Fall back into FCP and render.
Couple of points: Motion loads everything into memory - no streaming from disk - so you're gonna want to limit your shots to a minute or so... And, this isn't for the faint of heart or the uninformed, you really should do your Motion tutorials and understand it before doing this.
Good luck,
Patrick

Advice for logical workflow for color correcting and color grading

I am an experienced user of PPRO CS5. I am a novice with color correcting and color grading. I am also just barely competant in AE CS5. It has been suggested that I use AE for color correcting my footage. Can you advise me as to the most logical workflow for doing this in coordination with PPRO CS5? Are there some tutorials that you recommend? I subscribe to Lynda.com and I think that they have some great tutorials, I am unsure as to where to begin looking and what to search for.
Thanks so much,
Lisa

lisaellensegal wrote:
I am an experienced user of PPRO CS5. I am a novice with color correcting and color grading. I am also just barely competant in AE CS5. It has been suggested that I use AE for color correcting my footage.
You can do it that way, sure. But you don't have to. You can accomplish quite a lot without leaving PPro. This has two major advantages. First, if you aren't using AE for anything else, it gets you out of using AE at all, so gets you out of climbing another set of learning curves.
Second, even if you are using AE for other things (I use AE to make motion lower thirds, for example), doing the work in PPro can improve exporting speeds. This is because AE gets restricted to a single processor core in some workflows as discussed in this thread and others (search around if you're interested). This can make exporting take 3x as long or longer, depending on how much footage has to be processed by AE.
So, how to do color correction without leaving PPro? Use either a luma corrector or luma curve effect to set black and white points, and contrast (use a waveform monitor to help). Then use a three way color corrector effect to get rid of any residual color casts (use the vectorscope to help, and the RGB parade, etc.).
If you find you have specific colors that need to be fixed, you can apply another three way color correction effect and use it to make that secondary color correction (for example I find the blue dyes used in many labels tend to fluoresce under fluorescent lighting, and has to be desaturated with a secondary color correction or it "blooms" on an HDTV -- IOW, it has to be made "broadcast safe").
If you want tutorials for using these tools, the ones on Creative Cow by Andrew Devis are quite good, and free. The ones on color correction with PPro cs6 start at tutorial number 47. There's a bunch of them. All good.
Finally, get a copy of Van Hurkman's Color Correction Handbook. May be the best technical book I've ever read, and it'll certainly point you in the right direction for doing color correction work regardless of which tools you use to do it.

Fixing Footage Shot with wrong filter on Sony F900, color correction, underexposed film

Hello everyone...
I am new to the forums but have been with Adobe since CS3. I love Premier Pro and have fully abandones FCP 2-3 years ago for the first CS5. I was out shooting a SONY F900, which i am not used to (as I work primarily with small format and dslr workflows) and I made the TOTAL ROOKIE MISTAKE of shooting on the 1A rollable filter setting... rather than the 1B which is for indoor tungsten. I didn't have a monitor with me or available, so through the BW view finder... i had no idea it was wrong. The result is that I lost a stop and a half in an already lowlight setting... and the minus blue filter of the 1A (or daylight / 56K) setting removed color depth and turned every thing kind of washed out orange.
I am confident that i can bring it back to acceptable through color correction and i have been training on Speed grade tutorials like crazy. I am proficient in Premier and After Effects workflows but have never dealt directly with this.
Any help of steps to take in general would be appreciated and I thank you in advance for your help.
Cheers!
Dustin

Yeah... I feel like a tool for it. I have been shooting for a decade and a started on full broadcast shoulder mounts. I just have drifted sooo farrr over the past five years that I forgot about it. No excuse on my end. I have "colorista" for after effects. Part of the red giant suite right? Or am i mistaken?... Would you share the best simple approach to the settings for that plugin. Thanks in advance,
D

I want to Learn Color Correction

Users,
I want to learn how to do Color Correction professionally. So am looking for books and tutorials that would take me from the beginner stages to the advanced stages.
What is the purpose for the different tools & terminologies and stuff like that.Any help give would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Jamaine

Im not sure.. but I think Jeff had some really good book he recommended...a while ago...
ahhh. found it.. was shooternz and jeff... ( i save this stuff ! )
color grading - from shooternz
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321713117
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0240810783
=========
color correction book
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Technique-Digital-Color-Correction/dp/0240809904
from ref jeff bellune

Color correcting in Premiere or Photoshop?

I'm new to Premiere and want to color correct some footage. I'm also new to color correcting. Am I better off learning to color correct my footage in Premiere or should I bring it into Photoshop to do it there?
Thanks.

A dedicated color correction app is on its way, maybe CS6. However, we find using the fast color corrector and the three way color corrector in PP quite effective for the basic primary/secondary color correction we do. Gotta watch your scopes though (waveform/vectorscope at the very least). Creative Cow has some tutorials on basic color correction. Here's one, but you'll have to dig around for the others by Andrew Devis. Again, don't do any color correction without checking your scopes.
http://library.creativecow.net/devis_andrew/Color-Correction-2_Premiere-Pro/1
http://library.creativecow.net/devis_andrew/Color-Correction-4_Secondary-Colour-Correction /1

Color correcting in Color or Final Cut after cutting footage?

Hello all,
I'm about to begin cutting a multi-cam sequence in final cut pro with 2-3 camera angles. Is there a way to color correct in either Color or Final Cut Pro, all of the video used in a specific multi-cam angle?
In other words, if I'm cutting between Cam A and Cam B and finish my cutting, can I then go back and color correct all of the Cam A shots without having to manually click on every shot that used Cam A?
Thanks so much

A dedicated color correction app is on its way, maybe CS6. However, we find using the fast color corrector and the three way color corrector in PP quite effective for the basic primary/secondary color correction we do. Gotta watch your scopes though (waveform/vectorscope at the very least). Creative Cow has some tutorials on basic color correction. Here's one, but you'll have to dig around for the others by Andrew Devis. Again, don't do any color correction without checking your scopes.
http://library.creativecow.net/devis_andrew/Color-Correction-2_Premiere-Pro/1
http://library.creativecow.net/devis_andrew/Color-Correction-4_Secondary-Colour-Correction /1

Does any1 know how to color correct for white balance/color grade?

hey wasup guys just finished my 1st music video now i need 2 color correct & color grade. i willl be making the video black & white so i was told i need 2 get rid of any color cast in my footage. i 4got 2 set the white balance on my 7d when i was shooting sum sceens so i could use any help possible like what is the best color corrector to use or how to white balance my footage any help is greatly appreciated thanks.

Check the basics and do a Google search. The first three listed will be videos, the next link points to the Adobe Help files.
The basic tools are the same as in Photoshop but there are a bunch of 3rd party plug-ins out there that make the job easier. If you run one of the tutorials found in your Google Search and are stuck get back to us.

GoPro WB RAW color correction techniques

Below of photos from video shot with GoPro WB RAW Protune on in summer sun. I have studied various tutorials on color correcting. Still unsure of best workflow. CIneform helpdesk says just uncompress with protune on - no export using Cineform studio. I don't like the results.
WB RAW Protune on:
My corrections:

While I was not there so I can't tell what the colors should look like, your corrections look pretty good to me.
However, based on the white t-shirt on the guy in the blue shirt on the left, it looks lto me like you may not have the white balance quite right just yet.
When shooting raw, you will always need to adjust things. I don't know what tools you are using, but with a minor tweak, I think you are darn close.

Color Correction Tutorials

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