Color grading help...
 

So many of you pull it off so well. The colors I see from most of the videos on here are amazing. What's the secret? Or at least the direction? I've played around with the color corrector and RGB balance with FC Express, but haven't came anywhere close... Anyone have any suggestions to help me out with the program I have????

Steve

Video in general has a much more narrow range then film.

If you learn to light or take away light from all your video shots on location
through use of various lights (to add) or diffusions (to take away), then you will
be able to keep the whole range of all your video shots within a tighter area
with not much contrast from darkest to lightest area. This is the best output
to work with in a nle editor for what you are wanting to achieve.

This flat output as most call it is what you will want to have if
you wish to be able to tweak and saturate colors a lot without banding in a color correction tool in post.

If your original footage is not all shot within a small mid range then you wont
be able to do as much with it in a color correction tool as you would like,
and you will end up blowing out spots or having too dark spots.

Also some programs allow you to color correct in 32 bit vrs 8 bit, there is
a noticable difference, but also in rendering time.

A lot of people on here also use 35mm adaptors which if used with certain types of
short DOF lenses will turn the background into a more easy thing to colorize to look like a watercolor painting while keeping the subject in focus.

In the end it is not a simple thing to do especially outdoors in the sun or in a dark room. If you would post some links I may be able to advise you more specifically relating to a certain video you may be wondering about.

Best wishes.

Hey Stephen,

Here's a link to a discussion from a loooong time ago (well, relatively) - might be good reading for you.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/wedding-e...olor-work.html

Matt.

Dylan has it right. Good colors start with getting it right through the lens. After that, it arguably becomes even more of an art form.

When I hit the wall with color correction, I bought a book and read it. It was worth both the money and time spent. It helped me understand not only how to do it, but why. I'd recommend that as an approach.

Thanks guys for the tips...

Dylan, wow another thing to learn about. It just goes on and on...But I'm ready for a lesson, whatever makes me better... Thanks for the intro explanation.

Matt, Thanks for the link... I've bookmarked it since they made so many great suggestions and points.

Tripp, what was the name of the book, and where did you find it? Online I assume.

Steve

I knew you were going to ask that! My bad. "Color Correction for Digital Video" by Hullfish and Fowler. I got it from Amazon.

Thanks... just bought it and looking forward to reading it.

It's actually an interesting read as there are anecdotes from major players in the biz mixed it. Not quite a page turner, but it's both informative and a bit entertaining.