| |
Digital Filmmaking Part 2 - Color Correction
 | | AE's Set Channels let's you replace selected color channels. |
The Proc Amp tool works more like the TBC controls on a typical VTR. It lets you adjust setup, video and chroma levels plus the chroma phase. It’s more useful for correcting improperly balanced shots than for adding an overall tonality to a scene. But if minor hue adjustments are all you need, it may do the job. The chroma level part of it is very useful, though. You can add the Proc Amp after other color correction tools only to use the chroma control to adjust the overall color level of the shot. By the way, setting the chroma control to zero makes your image black and white. If you add the Tint control after that you can give your image an overall pure color tint.
The Tint control lets you pick any specific color and use it to give an overall tint to your scene. The Amount slider lets you control how intense the tint effect is. This is a less sophisticated color-balancing tool but it can produce decent results very quickly.
Another way to manipulate colors in FCP is through the use of the Levels control. In this case, you only have access to one of the three basic color channels at a time. So if you want to focus on correcting the reds, for example, you can use Levels. You can also stack more than one of these tools, setting each one to adjust a different color channel. This method produces slightly different results but it’s a little bit more complicated to use.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Using Compositing Applications
 | | Boris AE's Correct Selected Color was used to alter the color of the leaves on the right side of the image so that this summer shot looks more like fall. |
Any compositing program such as Softimage Digital Studio, Discreet effect, Eeyon Digital Fusion, Nothing Real Shake or Adobe After Effects can be used for color correction. The main advantage of using such applications is the increased complexity of control that you are given as a user. Because the traditional compositing process for film involves a lot of color matching between layers and elements, the color control tools must be more complex in order to ensure perfect results. Another excellent reason to use compositing programs for color correction is the availability of great plug-ins for this purpose.
 | | Shake's extensive color toolset. |
Nothing Real Shake is a good example of how versatile a high-end application can be in terms of color manipulation. Not only does it offer a multitude of color tools but also the ability to combine them with masks and other effects in a very visual and powerful hierarchical chain. Many of the available color tools are very specialized and can take care of specific situations. One tool that I find very interesting is ColorMatch. It allows you to apply colors already present in the shot to high, mid and low ranges, matching them. It pretty much lets you create a color palette just like you do when painting with oils or other traditional media. The results are very natural looking and pleasant. You can also use different images as sources for your colors, if you want.
Due to its popularity, I am going to use Adobe After Effects 5.0 and its plug-ins for the rest of the examples. But you can apply the same techniques using the equivalent tools available in your favorite composite program.
 | | Composite Suite's Paste Color plug-in for Adobe After Effects. |
To start, bring your footage in as one layer. Open Effect > Image Control > Color Balance. Notice that you have individual controls for red, green and blue channels each for shadows, midtones and highlights. That gives you a lot of tweaking room, which can be very nice. It would let you, for example, keep your blacks intact while adding a desired tint to the rest of the image. Another very powerful color manipulation tool can be found under Effect > Adjust > Channel Mixer. Notice that you can adjust all of the available color channels just like you mix audio channels using a mixer. A monochrome button turns your image to black and white but still lets you tweak the color channels, letting you create interesting effects such as an infrared look.
Still under Effect > Image Control you can find the Curves tool. It lets you adjust the overall image or individual color channels by using curves or by drawing your own color profiles. Use it as a traditional color correction tool or to create unusual color effects. Still in the same folder is the Hue/Saturation tool. The name says it all but the colorize button also stripes the color from your image and then adds an overall tint, making it great to create effects such as an old sepia look.
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Related sites: • AV Video • Creative Mac • Digital Post Production • Digital Producer • Digital Video Editing • DV Format • DVD Creation • Film and Video Magazine • The WWUG
Related forums: •
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
|
|
