LS300 video- Jersey release party

[Jay P. Kaley]

The local NPSL soccer team had an event to release their new jerseys, kind of a run and gun press conference setting. All video is LS300, J-log with Canon 24-105 f4. Not a go pro or time-lapse frame in sight. :)

It was a shady pavilion with bright sunlight all around. The first few "man on the street" interviews I had ISO at 1200 accidentally, it's especially clipped outside. But after adjusting I still basically let the outside blow out, curious if you guys would have tried to keep both areas exposed, or how much of a hassle that is to light.

Then the black curtain and bright sun on the stage made for quite a range of light, that curtain kept wanting to go vantablack haha, can see the gain jump around on the CU when the curtain reveals the white shirt, I struggled with that part a bit.

YouTube (Short URL)

[Jay P. Kaley]

To be more specific, I'm not looking for like/dislike on content or shots, but whether you think the color looks normal, or is "off" in some way. I'm not great with color and I just can't tell for sure sometimes.

It hasn't been as much of an issue in the past because I've never shot log and tweaked color much at all, appreciate any input on the color part of it.

[William Hohauser]

Lots of blue cast to all the shots. It needs to have the blue toned down and some warmth added to the white balance. Gently of course.

[Jay P. Kaley]

Thank you very much William, I'm trying to go by the scopes and I'm not interpreting them correctly. I was seeing some blue also, and I had done what I thought was pulling down the blue.

Most of the scopes on those videos look similar to this, I'm thinking with the blue lower there is less blue, but don't feel like I should make it way down low.





I was trying to 'level' the RGB graph, then pulled some blue down.

-Looking again now, is the middle of the blue too high?

-In general, should the RGB parade 'match up' to equal sizes on the graph, or does it just depend?


This may not be the right place for this topic, I'm just a bit frustrated I know somethings off with color but I can't put my finger on it or make the right adjustment. I've googled and read a lot about grading log, if anyone has a link to a favorite or especially enlightening tutorial on grading I'd be interested in taking a look.

[William Hohauser]

I wouldn't use the RGB parade if you have the vector scope available. The vector scope should have a flesh tone reference mark so you can get the faces in line. Ideally you want adjust to neutral white. It helps to find a shot with something white, mask off the rest of the image and then use a color wheel or color board to adjust the white balance to true white. Then unmask the image and see if it looks good, adjust to taste. Then copy the settings and apply to everything filmed in the same lighting situation.

[Jay P. Kaley]

I'm learning to use a vectorscope too, I was looking at it and trying to get them on the flesh tone line, not sure how much of the marking on the scope should be there.





I think that the light hitting the edges is oversaturated so I try to keep it from doing that, but I don't know specifically what changes to make by looking at those vectorscopes.


Thanks again for some discussion on this, I'm trying to get a handle on it. I used to shoot auto ENG, grab a white balance, just worried about framing and zoom and 'creating bokeh' and let the camera do the rest.

[Jay P. Kaley]

Couple more examples with 3 scopes, these seemed right to me, but i'd like to be able to tell from the scopes and not trust my eye.


Is that 'blue tail' on the vectorscope saying that it's too blue?


The one I thought I had almost too red or something, I'm lost lol.



Or if there is a certain shot that seems particularly overly blue I can post it and the scopes and kick it around, really appreciate the input.

[William Hohauser]

That "blue tail" is the man's shirt. Everything looks better by the way. Which program are you in?

[Jay P. Kaley]

I thought that's what that was, there was a lot of blue on site, I was trying to keep it from touching the edges of the vectorscope so it wasn't oversaturated.

I'm using Color Finale Pro from Color Grading Central I think it's called. It was one of the ones suggested when I got the Leeming LUT. I've since read Davinci Resolve is really good, but it didn't seem to work inside FCPX like Color Finale does.

I don't know if Color Finale Pro is as good of a color grade program, there are a lot of good things said about Davinci Resolve but I've never used it. I've also seen tutorials online of people doing good stuff with just FCPX's built-in corrector, it's all a bit confusing but I know more than I did a month ago lol.

White balance seems a little trickier in log, I think I was trying to change it too often.

[Lee Powell]

Ideally, white balance should be set just once - in-camera before you start shooting.

[William Hohauser]

Color Finale uses color wheels. Look at the vector scope as you manipulate the color balance. Usually in odd lighting situations like where you were, it's best to adjust the highlights at first. Adjusting midtones or shadows initially can really throw the image off. Rarely do I find myself in a situation where the blacks are off. Midtones are sometimes off but usually I adjust that to give a feel to a setting.

The FCPX color board does the same adjustments but the visual representation is different. In a way it's easier to understand what's happening. You are either pulling away a specific color level or adding to it.