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

Similar Messages

I need help with color correction (im not sure if what i want its called color correction but i bring examples)

ok thanks for reading me, im an amateur guy who wants to edit his videos in order to have that look like tv show or cinematic, i dont want just the 2 seconds curves tutorial to improve videos, y want something more like these videos
https://vimeo.com/48655453
Buildings & Vampires on Vimeo (second 30)
A-Trak & Tommy Trash’s Tuna Melt | The Kid Should See This (1:32) (and also all the video but more like what i want in 1:32)
i dont know how to say it but theres a way to make blur and lights way better and i see it in a lot of videos, i can just think of this examples for now but maybe you get it, sorry for my english, hope you can help me

I would like to direct you to THIS video:
Behind the Scenes: A-Trak & Tommy Trash - Tuna Melt on Vimeo
Look at how many people are involved in the shoot. Look at all the professionals from various disciplines. Look at all the rehearsal. Look at all the painstaking attention to detail. Look at all the professional equipment they used.
Yes, I looked at the shot at 1:32 in the video they made. They used a Steadicam to stabilize the camera going up the stairs. They used gels on the window to reduce the light intensity and help correct the color temperature. The interior spaces of the upstairs and downstairs have also been lit to avoid irising problems. They didn't rely on mere chance.
Did you also notice the subtle cuts at 00:38 and 1:54? That video was not shot in one take, and that's a fact. And before they even got to the step of color grading, they KNEW they had good video to work with because they had the professional experience to attain it.

Color correction

there was a thread on cs5 about this that interested me, so I started new thing here cause Im using cs3..
Shooternz, your help in the cs5 thread was great...and this is what I did....in my particular circumstances...
( I have to say that this is really the first time I'm sorta getting serious about CC and using the scopes etc...to try to learn this better )
I know the basics and the monitor stuff and the way people shoot properly exposed grayscale, color etc on set for calibration ( using film mostly in my experience, but done with digital too as I've seen )...
Sooo, here's the thing... I shot this clip as a test to see how long the music had to be to get a mssg across later on ( an insert shot that I will shoot on the day in the right location etc )... so this was a timing test sorta....didnt care about the lighting.
However, since I shot it I've tried to make it as good as I can ( why not ? )
I had a flourescent unit ( drop down ceiling 32K flourescents ) above...but it read about 36k on color meter and needed color correction at that ( LB and CC correction ..know what I mean ? )...so OK...who cares, its a test and timing only sooooo I dont put gels on the light and just shoot.
Soooo, I DID IN FACT put a grayscale down to fix it later if possible....even though it wasn't lit right....
This is what it looks like basically...
pretty terrible...very yellow and compressed tones etc...not good...
Soo, following your suggestions in thread in cs5, using waveform and vectorgraph, I come up with this instead..
WAYY BETTER ! ( thank you ! )....but...not perfect...thats OK, I didnt light it right...but better ....
Now, though, when I paste attributes of this to the clip in question I end up with this pixelation or "splotchy " stuff..as shown here
Now, my experience using psd tells me that if you try to correct too much, there's a sorta " limit" to what you can do, and things start just plain getting screwed up..."splotchy" like this... but if I had some way to just pick on the "yellow" gamma or something maybe I could get rid of it ....OR do a color replacement ( change ??? )... like pick out that particular color and change it to something closer to the white??? Have you ever dealt with this type thing ??? I know I started out all wrong to begin with but am wondering what you think ??
Thanks !
Rod
ps...this was a dumb test so please dont , you know, put much into this...I know I shot it all screwed up to begin with..

Hey Rod
Your CC looks fine and if the intention was to correct the col temp and exposure issue..you did fine. I see you have a full scale of tones in the greys.
Obviously you should start off with a correct exposure and that doesn ot necessarily mean a "technically correct" exposure.
You do not have to shoot and CC / grade to display the full range from Balck to white.
Its important to rember that the CC and grade (and the composition) are part of "the story" At times you will want crushed blacks and other times you may want a high key look or compressed tones in the mid. Then afetr the "tones" you think about what color tells the story.
Always..... Levels before Color correction!
BTW - the eye rules but ensure technically that the scopes confirm what you think you see.
Heres someof my images reflecting different CC for a "fit with the story"
Flat , clean,compressed mid tones, clinical ( a green screen BTW)
Dark , compressed toward blacks with detail in mids, juicy highlightsdramatic ( slo mo)
Full tonal range,hi color, "summer on xmas day"
full range color and tone, texture "yummy"
Clean and clinical mid ranges with slight color de-saturation of BG
FG grade to match bg (key) and fit time of day look.
Keep in mind...the above shots started in the photography and the cc / grade is enhancement.
Good luck mate.

Color correction in CS3

Sorry for my newbness on this but I'm trying to make sure I'm not duplicating or undoing my work from one tool in another. I recently finished going through Scott Kelby's CS3 for Digital Photographers book and I'm a bit confused on some aspects of color correction. He starts out having you set WB, exposure, contrast settings, etc. in ACR. Then when you move it to PS he has you use the curves panel to color correct. Of course that entails using the black eye dropper and clicking on the blackest/darkest area of the photo, similar for the white dropper, and after a nice little trick to find the right spot......... an area for the midtone dropper.
The thing is I've noticed that once I make that first click with the black dropper, that nice contrast I had from ACR adjustments goes out the window and the photo brightens up a lot. The final steps of putting 3 points on the curve and dropping the blacks end and raising the whites end brings it back a bit but I was thinking isn't setting the WB with the dropper in ACR already color correcting? Even at the end of the book when he goes through his actual workflow using a provided .dng example he does all the ACR stuff and then moves to PS and uses the curves panel.

Noel,
I understand and respect your opinion about how you edit your images. To each his own.
But the original poster said: Sorry for my newbness. . .
So he's rather unfamiliar with Photoshop. Isn't it better to let new users learn a safer way to edit with the ability to return to their original image when they inadvertently make a hash of things? For the original poster and all the other inexperienced users that come to these forums, I like to let them know that there's the equivalent of a seat belt and an air bag that can save them a lot of grief.
I deal with files from graphic artists that have used Photoshop for years and have never even hear of an adjustment layer, a layer comp or a Smart Object.
They have files with 40 layers. 30 of which they have turned off since they have to make so many permanent uneditable filter adjustments with every slight variation of filter setting, just in case they might need a certain layer from 3 months ago when they tweaked one object in the file. So many of their issues could have been solved with simple adjustment layers.
I want people to understand the versatility of Photoshop and not just learn the same half dozen procedures and stop at that.
You are absolutely correct that for some uses an adjustment layer isn't necessary, But the OP said that he had forgotten the part he had read about adjustment layers and how he definitely wants to start using them. After my post he remembered that there was another new thing about Photoshop that he wanted to learn. Hurrah!
Perhaps in the future the OP will return to the forums to help out newbies like he once was himself.

Color Correcting In CC - Making Whites Actually White

Okay so my main question is,
Are there any functions or plugins where I can look at the clip, and then click on a spot that I know should be white (But its not because the camera wasn't white balanced 100%), and have After effects automatically adjust so it is white.
Kind of like how you set white balance on a camera, where you hold up a white card or other completely white object, click the white balance, and the camera automatically adjust to make it white.
Except I want to be able to just click on a point in the footage and have it adjust everything.
If this is not an option, then are there any good tips for white balancing the footage?
IE: I film a subject against a white wall, the camera wasn't white balanced so the background appears to be light beige. I want to click the background in AE and have it color correct and make it white.
Thanks

Finding perfect white is always a challenge and it may foul up other things in your shot because white walls are reflective and if someone is wearing a blue shirt against a white wall, white may not be white. Setting white may get you in the ball park, but it is usually only the first step in color grading. You usually want to push highlights to one hue and shadows to another.
The procedure and the tools used to color grade a shot depend entirely on the shot. For most of my work Colorists II is my preferred tool. Some shots require more than one instance of colorist to get to where I want to go. Color finesse is also good, but for some work, and this depends entirely on the shot, Auto Color is all that I need. No matter what technique you use to grade your shots you need some kind of scope or histogram that you understand so you can know where you are pushing the levels in the shot. I'm always checking areas of a shot with the Info Panel to make sure I know what I've done to the color values. Most of all, good color grading takes time to learn and a very thorough knowledge of color.

Color Correction Monitor

I know this question has come up before, but after reading some posts I thought I'd see if anyone had any feedback on this monitor.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/469728-REG/JVCDT_V24L1DU_DTV24L1DU_24_MultiFormat.html
It's the JVC DT-V24L1DU 24" Multi-Format LCD Monitor with 1080p Native Resolution and HD-SDI.
I've got a Kona LHe card with HD-SDI I/O.
Could I do critical color correction with that setup? I'm not at the stage where my color correction is critical yet, but I don't want to be re-buying anything if I don't have to.
Any suggestions?
Lawrence

This isn't an area of color correction per-say but involves general engineering of all the different video signals and how to mix them up and travel back and forth and what not.
Generally speaking, HD video is in a completely different color space than Analog/Digital video. itu-709 vs. itu-601. How are those conversions handled? Is the device you're using accurate? It's just one of the many bains of video engineers that care.
I've heard but not been able to confirm that some JVC hdv cams are in the itu-601 spec which if true would totally throw off how FCP handles color space conversion and the nearest I can tell that it does this is simply through frame size.
How are you monitoring currently? Aside from this monitor, what interface is spitting that video out of your computer? Currently at my house, I use an Aja Kona LHe that spits out component analog to my PVM-14M4U. When I am working with itu-709 video, is that on-the-fly video downconversion completely accurate? Without external scopes I couldn't tell you but I'm relying on the the trustworthiness and reputation of Aja products. I've installed and use many of their products in various facilities and I know them to be of excellent reputation.
As far as your colors being far off, you tell me? Who's your viewing audience, what sort of display are they watching, how's that signal getting there?
I'm hoping some of the more learned folks here can correct or corroborate any of the info I've related this morning.
Good luck, the water gets deeper and much colder very quickly the more you know.

Color correction filter

I've been trying to learn the color correction filter. I used the manual, and read how to apply filters and the chapter on color correction. So I select my clip in the sequence, park the playhead where I want to monitor, open the scopes, drag the filter from the browser. When I use the sliders or controls, nothing happens! I can't figure out what I am doing wrong.

First of all Catrina did you drag the color correction 3 Way filter from the browser window onto the clip (sitting on the timeline) that you want to be affected?
If so you should be able to control your changes in the viewer window and see the results of your colour grading on tha canvas in real time.
Click on visual button

Selective Color Correction - Adding to multiple channels

Hi - I am using CS3 on a Mac OSX 10.5.6
I am experiencing an oddity when making color adjustments with Selective Color Correction. I am working with RGB images trying to adjust to get colors in gamut and to maintain detail before converting to CMYK. As an example, I have an image comprised of various red items. I want to add cyan to get some detail for the highly saturated areas. Regardless of the Relative or Absolute setting, when I add cyan I am also getting a lot of black added. By the time I get a 3% dot in cyan I may have 10-12% K. When I reduce the black it also reduces the cyan.
Is this because I am in RGB mode? I want to make these adjustments before separating to CMYK so I can keep detail that is getting blown away in the conversion. I would have hoped that because it is controlled with sliders for CMYK it would isolate it's effects to the specific channel but that is not what is happening.
Any ideas?

I am working with RGB images trying to adjust to get colors in gamut and to maintain detail before converting to CMYK.
If you are trying to bring totally oversaturated RGB colors into the CMYK gammut, then ideally you will have to learn about channel mixing. It may be necessary to reproduce the Cyan channel (Red) by finding detail from other channels. Selective color, as you've discovered can only take you so far.
Luminosity blended Hue/saturation adjustments taken to low opacity is another high end tip, and work around. If you cant deal with the complexity of masking and channel mixing

Color-correcting a stage production

I have a video of a stage production that I am going to start editing soon. It was shot on a run-of-the-mill camcorder about 10 years ago, and it was in auto mode, so the contrast and color are not great. Because it is a stage production, it was taped in a dark theater with stage lighting, so there is a lot of black around the main action.
I don't know a lot about color correction but want to learn. Any suggestions on where to start? Mostly what should be blacks look pretty gray, and I know I can't work miracles on it, but I'd like to improve it as much as possible as it is an archive of a performance from my youth.

FCEs colour corrector is in Browser>Effects>Video Filters>Color Corection>Color Corrector.
Run the filter over the Sequence after all editing is done.
You will have to fiddle with the parameters yourself.
Or, there is a Magic Wand in there that you can use on a known white object and it corrects automatically.
Al

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.

How to best color correct image

Hi,
I earlier asked a question whereas I was having problems with color consistency from PS to ID. After resolving that I've run into another issue:
In trying to figure out a way to put an image in ID in a specific set of red cmyk numbers. I've come up with two solutions, but each has a set of problems. Both are CMYK.
The image on the left is a flattened black and red image (halftone) tif from Photoshop (the filter used flattens it). IT looks pretty god but If I try to adjust it with the correct red numbers, the black isn't neutral and gets a color cast, or I'm afraid it will in the printing process.
The one on the right is a black and transparent tif from Photoshop that has been place over a red background (already in ID). Why does this 2nd one appear to be greyed?
(I think I need to learn to fine-tune the color correction on the left one, but not sure which controls to use).
Thoughts?
No sooner did I post this, I read about someone else talking earlier about using the Multiply effect ( I didn't realize you could do this in ID), I tried it and got a more integrated image which is what I wanted. Neat. Now, are there any printing repercussions during the printing process with this effect that I need to worry about, or WYSIWYG? ( I still need to tweak the contrast I know, but at least the red is right.)

I just wrote a huge, even more convoluted post trying to answer your questions, which I'll save for later because it may be moot. I'm thinking aloud here to try to clarify:
We'er talking about 2 issues here, the greyness of the blacks and how they look on the surface and the color cast that may occur, is that right?
Let me say that I initially used a 3rd party filter called "Ghost" (can only be used on RGB images). I use it on B&W images as well as color. That takes out all white information and leaves all transparency in various densities. Only a solid black has no transparency. Then I converted to Robin's SWOP Heavy. She is using black & white photos, not transparent images.
Then came along your process.
I took those images that were over cream (in Robin's workflow...I didn't see anything wrong with these images intially), then put them over red and sure enough got that greyed-out look, which is only noticable over red, but if I use them may show up in print that way, which leads me to believe I need to use your process, as the quality of the blacks needs to be consistant.
Left is Robin's profile, right side is with "Multiply" applied. Which leads me to believe that I need to re-do all my images as per your ideas. I thought black would be black. Guess not. I'm not sure if the end result of using your process is the same as using multiply or not but it looks the same and is consistant.
All that being said, what again should be my images profiles and ID file be?
this is what they are, ..and I thought they were Blurb's but I screwed something up there too...
Images..don't remember If I need to convert!!? I think so then what's the point? UGH:
ID file:

What to do about bright spots before color correcting

I have a video of the Lion King show from the Animal Kingdom at Disney World. I shot it on HDV using a tripod, although I occasionally zoomed or panned the camera. This is not an important project, just one I would like to finally get done seeing as how I have had the footage since 2006. Procrastination is a bit of a problem for me as you might infer from that. The export might be my first Blu-Ray export, but more likely it will just end up on Vimeo.
The problem with spotlights is probably familiar to many of you so I thought I would ask for some advice before I even begin. My initial thought was to use a gradient matte over the top 1/3 or 1/2 of the frame at times to dim the spotlights before using an adustment layer to color correct each section. A vignette so to speak that would help focus attention on stage. Or, perhaps a large collection of little circular gradient mattes over each of the brighter spotlights (using AE)
I am not planning on zooming in to the video in Premiere Pro. The shots are the shots and they are staying that way as far as I can tell, unless something really screams for that and I can get away with it. There are quite a few changes in lighting. I attached three examples of what I will be dealing with.
What I would really like to know is how other people would go about this. I haven't researched Speedgrade yet, mainly because I think I might be able to handle this in Premiere Pro and After Effects. Although it may be the perfect opportunity to learn Speedgrade. I have a subscription to the Creative Cloud, so any Adobe product is fair game. I am not planning on buying any third party tools. This is just a hobby project, and I can not justify any additional expense for it.
I don't want to over do the correction. The yellow and blue tints are really there, but I would like to reduce the tint so that just the hint of yellow or blue is visible. I have a feeling that I am going to have to spend some time adjusting curves to deal with some of the dimmer lighting like the last image. Or, is there a set of magic parameters I can change to keep this simple and get close to my goal without a huge effort.
There will be no cutting other than what might be needed at points where colors change dramatically. I would really like to see everything keyframed so all changes are smooth if that makes sense technically. The video is 00;31;31;02 in duration. This is going to be a pretty big project for having zero cuts. The longest I have ever done without a cut as far as I can remember.
Here are three sample frames. Any and all suggestions are welcome. How would you start?

Oh, I know about the Disney issues. I just like to use my Roku to watch HD videos from Vimeo on my HDTV. It depends on the footage. If it has to be pristine, then Vimeo might not be the best choice, but for most of my footage, it is good enough. Most of the people I show my vacation videos to are friends and family so I just keep the video private and nobody bothers me about it. So far at least

FCP export to Vegas for color correction

I work in FCP, I don't have the best eye for color, so I'm having a friend do the color correction with a PC, using Magic Bullet and some other software. Rather than exporting the entire film, or entire scenes, which he'd have to go back and cut into individual shots in order to edit them all individually with their own color treatment, he has me exporting every shot from the film and exporting them to his harddrive or DVDs for him to work on. I've been doing it a scene at a time. It's incredibly tedious, very easy to screw up (if a shot goes a few frames long and under another shot, for example, it's out of sync, and if I forget a shot, mislabel a shot, get out of order when labeling them, etc, it's out of sync, etc), and I'm sure, at some point, I'm going to screw it up and it's going to be very annoying. Is there any more practical way to do this so that he has the markers, the shots are cut already, etc, but he doesn't have to reconstruct it from a thousand shots I've exported one at a time? I don't want to make him go back and make all the cuts himself, either, though that actually seems slightly easier to me.

"I don't have the best eye for color" means I'm color blind. I don't appreciate the "learn the 3 way" comments. You can learn to drive a manual all you want, but if something in your brain tells you train tracks are highways, you're bound to run into trouble. And a train.
The other editor lives an hour away, and he hates working on a Mac. He came here once and tried to edit using my system, but he couldn't get the hang of it. Add to that he came an hour each way to do that, and I had to pay for his gas, that made it very expensive, timely venture. It also means he'd have to have, say, at least 4 hours set aside each time he wanted to edit, to travel here and make it worth his time to do so. At home, he can do it anytime.

Color Correction - FCE has me feeling blue

I have a clip a few seconds long, shot indoors and lit by a halogen lamp. I know, I know, but's that what I did. It has a strong overall blueish cast which looks very cold.
Is there a simple way using Color Correction to warm and correct the colors? The Color Correction literature is copious and daunting and I don't really want to spend the time to learn all about Color Correction at this time. I need a quick fix so that I can finish my movie. ( A vast and impatient public is holding its breath.) A suggestion really would be appreciated.
If I make it yellower, won't that give me an overall green tint? Red, a purple haze?

If you're interested, Izzy has a free tutorial that as I recall covers the subject of making video feel colder (or in your case) warmer by using the Color Corrector filter. The tutorial video is under chapter 3 on this page:
http://www.izzyvideo.com/learn-final-cut-express/
If you don't want to watch a slightly longer tutorial though, Tom's tip should do the trick.

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

I want to Learn Color Correction

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