Hi,

We're trying to color correct shots that are back lit - i.e. subject's face is dark against bright outdoor background. Any tips on how to bring out the subject's face without excessive artefacts?

Thanks.

Depends on how heavily back lit the piece is...as far as technique goes, you could use the image itself as an alpha mask, then correct the background darker and the foreground slightly lighter and hope that the lowering of the contrast of the image will help the eye itself pull out more light and detail from the dark face.

try duplicating the image on a higher track, then right clicking the higher track and change Composite Mode to Add ... use a Garbage Matte or Mask Shape combined with the Opacity of the clip on the higher track to limit the area of the effect

you might also like Marcus Herrick's Facelight plugin that you can grab for free here: http://www.haiku.com.au/2005/08/final-cut-pro-plug-ins.html

and search around ... i'm sure i saw a tutorial on exactly this topic floating about the other day

Andy, Cole,

Many thanks to you both for finding the time to write. I'm going to try these options - and the download - and will share my results.

Zareh