Picture profile, in post? at DVinfo.net

Chris Westerstrom · April 17th, 2012, 05:08 AM

Hey Guys, not sure where to put this one

had a stressy shoot the other day and my B-cam guy managed to scroll to the wrong picture profile during the shoot. I am in post now and although I am a capable editor, I am not the best grader if things get out of hand.

At any rate, I shot mine with the cinestyle settings that Laforet recommends for my end of the scene, my B-cam dude managed to scroll to another setting that has Marvels Cine or Digital Cinema

My settings were cinestyle with:
Sharpness 0, Contrast-4, saturation 0, color tone :0

his was: sharpness 0, contrast -4 saturation 0, color tone 0 with digital cinema (looks very different despite same settings)

and his other was Marvels Cine with Sharpness at 3, Contrast -2, Saturation -1 and Color tone +1

Each of these three has a very different look and the more I play with the color corrector the more they vary.

Can you fix these at all with the Canon EOS software in post or is this something I need to figure out myself?

Thanks!

Mark Dobson · April 17th, 2012, 10:26 AM

Hi Chris,

I'm afraid that you are stuck with what you have got.

I'ts a bit like trying to reset the focus - you can't do it.

However if you could sit back a bit and look at the footage with a fresh eye you can probably see where it differs and take away / add some go characteristics.

The settings you quoted will give a push in the right direction.

All the tools you need to fix it are quite likely under your fingers, sharpen, saturation, contrast etc etc.

Good luck

Jon Fairhurst · April 17th, 2012, 04:42 PM

As long as the shots aren't over or under-exposed, you can probably get them to match well enough that the audience won't notice. I would recommend working with color curves and a saturation control. Curves will let you push the blacks, whites, and mid-grays around to get everything to match. When you do that, you generally need to pull down saturation when you darken a curve, and push up saturation when you lighten it.

Beyond that, you might need to get into color correction to match white points, and secondary correction when certain colors still don't match.

Unless you were shooting under controlled conditions, things will probably vary from shot to shot anyway. For all you know, the shot into the sun with CineStyle might match well with Marvels for the sun-behind-you shots. Or not. ;)

The bottom line is that you need to mess with it. It's not just the picture style; it's the image and lighting that needs to be matched as well.

Best of luck!

John Wiley · April 17th, 2012, 10:17 PM

Chris, the good news is that the whole idea of those superflat image styles is to retain as much of the image data as possible, to give you better grading abiliities later on. So you are in a much better position than if you had shot, say, one camera with the standard profile and the other with faithful.

It's just a matter of finding the best way to extract the required colour data from each image - and as Jon suggests, curves might be the best place to start.

Good luck!

April 17th, 2012, 05:08 AM	#1
Chris Westerstrom Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Gothenburg, Sweden Posts: 259	Picture profile, in post? Hey Guys, not sure where to put this one had a stressy shoot the other day and my B-cam guy managed to scroll to the wrong picture profile during the shoot. I am in post now and although I am a capable editor, I am not the best grader if things get out of hand. At any rate, I shot mine with the cinestyle settings that Laforet recommends for my end of the scene, my B-cam dude managed to scroll to another setting that has Marvels Cine or Digital Cinema My settings were cinestyle with: Sharpness 0, Contrast-4, saturation 0, color tone :0 his was: sharpness 0, contrast -4 saturation 0, color tone 0 with digital cinema (looks very different despite same settings) and his other was Marvels Cine with Sharpness at 3, Contrast -2, Saturation -1 and Color tone +1 Each of these three has a very different look and the more I play with the color corrector the more they vary. Can you fix these at all with the Canon EOS software in post or is this something I need to figure out myself? Thanks!

April 17th, 2012, 10:26 AM	#2
Mark Dobson Major Player Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Horsham / United Kingdom Posts: 328	Re: Picture profile, in post? Hi Chris, I'm afraid that you are stuck with what you have got. I'ts a bit like trying to reset the focus - you can't do it. However if you could sit back a bit and look at the footage with a fresh eye you can probably see where it differs and take away / add some go characteristics. The settings you quoted will give a push in the right direction. All the tools you need to fix it are quite likely under your fingers, sharpen, saturation, contrast etc etc. Good luck

April 17th, 2012, 04:42 PM	#3
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	Re: Picture profile, in post? As long as the shots aren't over or under-exposed, you can probably get them to match well enough that the audience won't notice. I would recommend working with color curves and a saturation control. Curves will let you push the blacks, whites, and mid-grays around to get everything to match. When you do that, you generally need to pull down saturation when you darken a curve, and push up saturation when you lighten it. Beyond that, you might need to get into color correction to match white points, and secondary correction when certain colors still don't match. Unless you were shooting under controlled conditions, things will probably vary from shot to shot anyway. For all you know, the shot into the sun with CineStyle might match well with Marvels for the sun-behind-you shots. Or not. ;) The bottom line is that you need to mess with it. It's not just the picture style; it's the image and lighting that needs to be matched as well. Best of luck! __________________ Jon Fairhurst

April 17th, 2012, 10:17 PM	#4
John Wiley Trustee Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Byron Bay, Australia Posts: 1,155	Re: Picture profile, in post? Chris, the good news is that the whole idea of those superflat image styles is to retain as much of the image data as possible, to give you better grading abiliities later on. So you are in a much better position than if you had shot, say, one camera with the standard profile and the other with faithful. It's just a matter of finding the best way to extract the required colour data from each image - and as Jon suggests, curves might be the best place to start. Good luck!