Question: What is best way to correct this clips color (I failed to set white balance) And I need to learn how to do it post.

Supporting File:
Watch: http://www.expressionsdancecenter.com/media/JulieAnne_2.mp4
Download: http://www.expressionsdancecenter.com/media/JulieAnne_2.rar

What I have tried:
1. I did search the forums some and must be using bad keywords If you know a post one This already please let me know the keywords you used to search so I can learn the best methods to search myself.
2. I have a Lynda.com account and watch some the tutorial on white balance and they just use the auto color correction. Problem- While at first I thought It was great I then saw there was a lot of flickering as the auto settings tried to change as the camera moves around.... So auto is not going to work very well.

Back Ground: Ok so i set the white balance to interview some dances in the lobby under Florissant lights, Then I apparently failed to reset for solo's in the studio which has those large halogen (at least i think they are the big ones that use in warehouses that take a while to heat up)

Don't use Auto. Use Fast Color Corrector.

Adam's right. I've done the same thing you did. Fast color corrector. Use the "select white point" eyedropper and click on what you think it white. It might take a couple of tries to get it right, but it works really well. You can also just copy the effect from clip to clip to keep the white point consistent, as appropriate.

Hi Michael. As Adam suggest use the Fast Color Corrector - there is a tutorial at Lynda in Premiere Pro CS3 - Color Correction Using Effects which goes into it, including your white balance. I suspect what you might also want to do is match both shots. To do this in Premiere go to Window/Reference Monitor. An extra floating monitor will appear. Take your time marker to your good footage and press the button down the left bottom of the Reference monitor ('Gang to program monitor') so that it's turned off. Take your time marker to your bad footage (the Reference Monitor won't change) then do your Fast Color Corrector alterations on your bad clip and you'll be able to see when it matches up with your good footage. Trust that helps.

While Fast Color Corrector does work, and Three-Way Color Corrector is even better for more intense correction, I do wish there was a way to simply adjust the Kelvin white balance of footage within PPro as you can in REDCINE-X. I've never seen footage cleaned up and properly balanced as well in PPro as I can do with REDCINE-X. Is it just a limitation of the color abilities of non-RED formats, that won't let us adjust Kelvin balance in post?

I've never seen footage cleaned up and properly balanced as well in PPro as I can do with REDCINE-X. Is it just a limitation of the color abilities of non-RED formats, that won't let us adjust Kelvin balance in post?

Are you bringing other RAW formats into PPro like you are into RED-Cine? Maybe other 4:4:4 sources? Because if you are bringing in 4:2:2 or 4:2:0, then yea, there's a MASSIVE difference in color information versus working with RAW. Like bringing a GIF vs a TIF into Photoshop.

Hi Michael. As Adam suggest use the Fast Color Corrector - there is a tutorial at Lynda in Premiere Pro CS3 - Color Correction Using Effects which goes into it, including your white balance. I suspect what you might also want to do is match both shots. To do this in Premiere go to Window/Reference Monitor. An extra floating monitor will appear. Take your time marker to your good footage and press the button down the left bottom of the Reference monitor ('Gang to program monitor') so that it's turned off. Take your time marker to your bad footage (the Reference Monitor won't change) then do your Fast Color Corrector alterations on your bad clip and you'll be able to see when it matches up with your good footage. Trust that helps.


I am getting much much closers than i was. What else should i change.

The image on the left is with the white balance on the camera set, On the right i have the footage I am trying to correct with split view on. If you need something more to test this or give advice let me know.
Image www.expressionsdancecenter.com/images/color_correct_solo's.jpg

I would recommend adding three-way color corrector and applying some blue tint to hightlights. Also don't forget that you can change the range of where each slider begins, ends and how it tapers off, so play with it a little to get the effect that you think is best. You can also try to reduce output white level a little bit to get less light in the highlights.

Bart,

Thank you that did help some more. I have alot to learn still, but at least now it is not driving me crazy to look at it.

This is probably an overkill for your particular clip, but for more challenging cases I would recommend "RGB curves".

I do a lot of color correcting and use "RGB curves" all the time. To me, this is the most powerful color correcting method in Premiere. RGB curves take time to get used to - small changes in curves result in big changes in picture - but you know always what you are doing, instead of using a "black box" method.

I open up the Reference monitor (file menu Windows - Reference monitor) in "RGB parade" mode. Top values indicate image highlights, bottom ones the darkest shadows. Reference monitor horizontal position is the image horizontal position. By adjusting the top right end point of the Red, Green and Blue curves, the whites can be fixed at will (and blown up highlights rescued). The bottom left RGB curve points take care of the black levels. Bending Master curve or individual color curves up makes picture lighter, S-shape gives more contrast etc. (File menu - Sequence settings - Maximum bit depth should be ticked for all this to work properly.)