Nikon D90 color grade tests and some decent footage... If you only watch one. Watch the deep sea footage. All in 720P




nikon D90 On Train tracks Color graded

YouTube - Nikon D90 color grade test train tracks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NcanpJepNk)


Young Girl 85mm F/1.4 lens Nikon D90
YouTube - Nikon D90 85mm F/1.4 lens Color grade HD (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPiBJV7f82Y)



The Streets of Atlanta Nikon D90 and the 50mm F1.8 lens.. Walking shot with the Tokina 11-16mm lens..

YouTube - Nikon D90 50mm F/1.8 lens HD Video Atlanta Streets (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqamqdknPZU)



Deep Sea Siving with the nikon D90 and the 50mm F1.8 lens.. Sharks and jellyfish.

YouTube - Nikon D90 50mm F/1.8 lens Deep Sea Sharks HD video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCIjKiDaM0A)

Erick,

The only one I had time to watch from this batch was the girl video. I chose this because of my background as a portrait photographer who has done a lot of women's portraits (from 2 to 80+ years of age). Your comments indicated you are aware of having too much yellow but you like the greens.

But what you have on skin tones is absolutely ghastly. I think you are "caught up" in the color grading and not really seeing where it is leading you. Look at the skin tones, highlights are badly "blown out" not from exposure but from a buildup in contrast that is happening in the color grading. And in skin coloration I see not only way too much yellow but also too much green, and the increase in saturation makes it look awful (I wouldn't show her this video, I'm sure the stills you took work well).

Suggestion: (Parallels what I posted in the other test thread) Back off completely from "color grading" and try a slight enhancement of the dark tones (just enough to strengthen the blacks) and notice how that makes the image begin to "pop". If that's not enough add a touch of contrast, then if colors seem weak add just the barest touch of saturation. If your NLE doesn't have these functions some of the effects in the color grading program may.

Take some of the stills you did of her and use the levels command in PhotoShop or PhotoShop Elements, click on the leftmost slider (dark tones) and drag it to the right a bit. If the histogram shows no vertical data at the leftmost margin drag the slider just to the base of the slope and watch the blacks and dark tones "pop". Be careful about moving the highlight tone slider (rightmost) to the left as this can increase contrast and cause "blown" highlights.

The important thing is to avoid using too much of anything.

I don't mean to come off this critical, if you were deliberately trying for a "garish" effect you got it and I apologize.