how to make video lighter? at DVinfo.net

Bohumil Stanek · December 29th, 2008, 08:53 AM

Hello,

i made some shots in church but its little bit dark.
Is there any way how to do that more lighter in Vegas?

Thanks

Dugi Barr · December 29th, 2008, 08:57 AM

Use Levels or Colour Curves.
If your not sure what your doing there's a good free AUTO LEVELS plugin here..
Mike Crash Homepage - Downloads

Darrin Ward · December 31st, 2008, 10:22 AM

You can also try duplicating the video track and changing the compositing mode to screen, then adjust the top tracks transparancy to taste.

Perrone Ford · December 31st, 2008, 10:27 AM

Oh my goodness...

This couldn't be more simple.

Click the "+" on the media in the time. Select the "Sony Brightness and contrast" plug-in. Click OK. Adjust the brightness slider until you get what you want. Done.

Now if you are doing this to create "professional looking" video, there are some other things you'll want to do, but otherwise, that's it. You're golden.

Jeff Harper · December 31st, 2008, 10:27 AM

You can also try using brightness and contrast lightly.

Mike Kujbida · December 31st, 2008, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perrone Ford

Oh my goodness...

This couldn't be more simple.

Click the "+" on the media in the time. Select the "Sony Brightness and contrast" plug-in. Click OK. Adjust the brightness slider until you get what you want. Done.

Sorry Perrone but I beg to differ.
I never use the "Sony Brightness and Contrast" plug-in.
The biggest problem is that they affect the entire scene when you may need only the dark areas brightened or the highlights compressed.

Quote:

Now if you are doing this to create "professional looking" video, there are some other things you'll want to do, but otherwise, that's it. You're golden.

Shouldn't we be striving to create "professional looking" videos all the time?

As Dugi said, learn to use Levels or Colour Curves.
It will make a huge difference in your videos.
If you're not comfortable with these tools, I highly recommend buying the Color Correction with Sony Vegas DVD from VASST.
It's well worth the money.

Perrone Ford · December 31st, 2008, 11:38 AM

Mike,

I am very comfortable with the tools in Vegas. But did the OP strike you as someone who is setting up for film, or as someone who wanted to improve his quickly shot video.

Come on guys, not everyone wants to jump in shoulder deep to this stuff. We make things FAR too complicated sometimes.

Edward Troxel · December 31st, 2008, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perrone Ford

But did the OP strike you as someone who is setting up for film, or as someone who wanted to improve his quickly shot video.

In my opinion, using Brightness and Contrast would not "improve" his video. It would make it lighter but would not "improve" it. I agree with the recommendations to use the other tools. They're not that complicated that a fairly quick improvement can't be gained.

Tim Akin · December 31st, 2008, 01:52 PM

I totally agree with Edward.

If you want one tool that does a good job to correct levels, increase gamma, saturate and correct white balance, try 'NewBlue'. It's guick and easy with some other neat tools.

http://www.newbluefx.com/video-essentials.html

Graham Bernard · January 1st, 2009, 03:53 AM

Here's the thing.

When we jump-about positioning, framing and selecting the "shot" we are doing several things. One of which IS positioning the camera to make full use of the ambient or the artificially lit areas and making use of the darks and shadows. This provides interest and visually focuses the attention of the viewer to the subject in question. By applying Brightness and Contrast fx we are literally "flooding" the whole frame with an effect that will ignore the original creative hard-won set up. If I had contrived a shot that provided some neat series of layers as a result of: shallow DoF; rich and subtle colours; somebody speaking to camera where I had positioned them so that they made use of the ambient light - I would dearly love to retain those results. But, because it is a "cover-all" fx, Brightness and Contrast Fx would destroy all my creativity. It would remove all that work. And as a result, it would also remove that all important "video-narrative" that I had contrived to setup.

Using the "other" tools suggested will provide a far far better result in retaining those "shot decisions". PERIOD!

As an aside, I too started using BnC for "dull" looking shots of mine. That was until I, literally, saw the LIGHT! Now I have become fairly competent at CC and CCurves and more plugs now than I knew existed! I was amazed at the depth of quality of the layers and digital information that was STILL within the scope of the event.

Once a "novice" sees the difference there is no going back for them. It's kinda my duty to at least guide people towards the "light"? Yeah? Sure, I often do it badly, but at least I know I have attempted. I think that Vegas should come with some explicit examples of how this is done and esp. for colour correction. However, as this IS a pro package I am guessing that SONY are considering that many will understand the basic concepts of CC, or at least are more than "willing" to learn what is more available to them? And I guess that is where we, all of us can step in and put out a helping hand. Sorry about the mixed metaphor .. !

This will come up time and time again.

Not a problem.

Happy New Year,

Grazie

Mike Kujbida · January 1st, 2009, 10:04 AM

Grazie, than you very much for your eloquent explanation of why we do what we do.

For Bohumil, here are some links that helped me and I'm sure they'll help you as well.
Correcting Exposure in Sony Vegas Part One;
Correcting Exposure in Sony Vegas Part Two;
Sony Vegas Color Correction Tutorial;
Color Correction with Sony Vegas (an excellent DVD).

Best wishes for a very Happy New Year to all the helpful people on this forum!!

December 29th, 2008, 08:53 AM	#1
Bohumil Stanek New Boot Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Brno, Czech republic Posts: 18	how to make video lighter? Hello, i made some shots in church but its little bit dark. Is there any way how to do that more lighter in Vegas? Thanks

December 31st, 2008, 10:27 AM	#4
Perrone Ford Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 4,100	Oh my goodness... This couldn't be more simple. Click the "+" on the media in the time. Select the "Sony Brightness and contrast" plug-in. Click OK. Adjust the brightness slider until you get what you want. Done. Now if you are doing this to create "professional looking" video, there are some other things you'll want to do, but otherwise, that's it. You're golden. __________________ DVX100, PMW-EX1, Canon 550D, FigRig, Dell Octocore, Avid MC4/5, MB Looks, RedCineX, Matrox MX02 mini, GTech RAID, Edirol R-4, Senn. G2 Evo, Countryman, Moles and Lowels.

December 31st, 2008, 11:38 AM	#7
Perrone Ford Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 4,100	Mike, I am very comfortable with the tools in Vegas. But did the OP strike you as someone who is setting up for film, or as someone who wanted to improve his quickly shot video. Come on guys, not everyone wants to jump in shoulder deep to this stuff. We make things FAR too complicated sometimes. __________________ DVX100, PMW-EX1, Canon 550D, FigRig, Dell Octocore, Avid MC4/5, MB Looks, RedCineX, Matrox MX02 mini, GTech RAID, Edirol R-4, Senn. G2 Evo, Countryman, Moles and Lowels.

December 31st, 2008, 01:52 PM	#9
Tim Akin Major Player Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Newbern, TN Posts: 414	I totally agree with Edward. If you want one tool that does a good job to correct levels, increase gamma, saturate and correct white balance, try 'NewBlue'. It's guick and easy with some other neat tools. http://www.newbluefx.com/video-essentials.html __________________ Tim

December 29th, 2008, 08:57 AM	#2
Dugi Barr Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Esher, Surrey Posts: 89	Use Levels or Colour Curves. If your not sure what your doing there's a good free AUTO LEVELS plugin here.. Mike Crash Homepage - Downloads

December 31st, 2008, 10:22 AM	#3
Darrin Ward New Boot Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Conway, AR Posts: 13	You can also try duplicating the video track and changing the compositing mode to screen, then adjust the top tracks transparancy to taste.

December 31st, 2008, 10:27 AM	#5
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	You can also try using brightness and contrast lightly.

January 1st, 2009, 03:53 AM	#10
Graham Bernard Old Boot Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: London UK Posts: 3,633	Here's the thing. When we jump-about positioning, framing and selecting the "shot" we are doing several things. One of which IS positioning the camera to make full use of the ambient or the artificially lit areas and making use of the darks and shadows. This provides interest and visually focuses the attention of the viewer to the subject in question. By applying Brightness and Contrast fx we are literally "flooding" the whole frame with an effect that will ignore the original creative hard-won set up. If I had contrived a shot that provided some neat series of layers as a result of: shallow DoF; rich and subtle colours; somebody speaking to camera where I had positioned them so that they made use of the ambient light - I would dearly love to retain those results. But, because it is a "cover-all" fx, Brightness and Contrast Fx would destroy all my creativity. It would remove all that work. And as a result, it would also remove that all important "video-narrative" that I had contrived to setup. Using the "other" tools suggested will provide a far far better result in retaining those "shot decisions". PERIOD! As an aside, I too started using BnC for "dull" looking shots of mine. That was until I, literally, saw the LIGHT! Now I have become fairly competent at CC and CCurves and more plugs now than I knew existed! I was amazed at the depth of quality of the layers and digital information that was STILL within the scope of the event. Once a "novice" sees the difference there is no going back for them. It's kinda my duty to at least guide people towards the "light"? Yeah? Sure, I often do it badly, but at least I know I have attempted. I think that Vegas should come with some explicit examples of how this is done and esp. for colour correction. However, as this IS a pro package I am guessing that SONY are considering that many will understand the basic concepts of CC, or at least are more than "willing" to learn what is more available to them? And I guess that is where we, all of us can step in and put out a helping hand. Sorry about the mixed metaphor .. ! This will come up time and time again. Not a problem. Happy New Year, Grazie

January 1st, 2009, 10:04 AM	#11
Mike Kujbida Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Windsor, ON Canada Posts: 2,770	Grazie, than you very much for your eloquent explanation of why we do what we do. For Bohumil, here are some links that helped me and I'm sure they'll help you as well. Correcting Exposure in Sony Vegas Part One; Correcting Exposure in Sony Vegas Part Two; Sony Vegas Color Correction Tutorial; Color Correction with Sony Vegas (an excellent DVD). Best wishes for a very Happy New Year to all the helpful people on this forum!!