Help me color correct this please?
 

Hi, I am having trouble making this picture looking good for DVD (to be viewed on both televisions and computers) Can someone with more experience tell me what settings to use to fix this? I used the Levels filter but it doesn't look right. See attached for an .avi frame of the raw footage (rename .mov to .avi) If you can tell me which FX/filters and what settings to change on those, I would appreciate it!

What's the problem? It looks fine to me. I would have lit it differently but you can't change that now.

the problem is that the black background doesn't look like a good solid black and it just looks kind of dull in general to me

Hows this.

Jim

How's this?

Jim, I like yours! There is good contrast and black looks black; how did you do it?

Using Vegas, I applied the following effect string.

Black and White, Levels, 3 way color corrector, curves.

Turn the footage black and white. Using a waveform monitor set your blacks to 0 and whites to 100, take off the black and white filter which should return you footage to color.

Using the 3 way color corrector using the highlight wheel to white balance the shirt.

Using the curves filter form a flattened s shape, this will increase your contrast by raising the whites and lowering the blacks. It is your preference on how far you want to take it.

Hope that helps.

Jim

whoa, that's a lot of stuff, I don't know if I can duplicate that without the actual number values you used for the various filters...

I've been developing this new pluggin that colour corrects, does skin smoothing and corrects poor lighting all at the same time.
It's still in the beta phase of development though.

Dennis, I would name that pluggin "The Miracle" for those of us who don't have time to learn all the details of color correction and just need to "get the job done" I only wish I had something like that right now!

Levels Filter Input Start .05, Input End .82

Color correction High: Angle 316.3 Magnitude .437

Curves does not have a value. Just apply the filter, grab the upper bezier handle a raise it a little, the lower one lower it a little, adjust to taste.

Check out Glenn Chan DVD at VASST.com

Jim

Dennis? Would you mind posting your "before" too? Looks great - but what was it like before?

Grazie

Here's the before photo.
My pluggin is damn amazing.

Dennis - That is classic. Take a bunch to get a laugh out of this old geezer.

JIm

NOT so much of the OLD!! - Excellent! Fell off me chair . . . .

Grazie