OH! Boy! Over Exposed....Help!

[Tom Marks]

Hey,
Well I got my first wedding and I have to say that is hard work. I give my hat out to all you wedding videographers. I was spent at the end of the day.
Now. I have a huge problem. I loaded my footage into my computer and I have big problem on my hands. The footage is over exposed. How in the world do I fix this? Im working on Final Cut Pro. I played around with the Gamma correction and it helped a bit but I need some more fixing, any suggestions? Suggestions on what video filters to put on the footage. Any programs that can help. Anything. I cannot hand a finished product like this.
Im sure one or two of you came across this problem please help.
Thanks,
T.

[Don Bloom]

I will not ask nor comment on the fact that the job is overexposed badly enough to make the comment "that I cannot hand a finished product like this".

Once it's gone, it's gone and there is very little you can do to fix it other than what you've done.

[Thanh Nguyen]

if it underexposure it can be fix with composite mode in FCS but not over because there are hardly any color for you to bring back most of the color now are white. That why if it your first wedding you should shoot auto or spend more time with your camera before go do the wedding you know shoot your dog cat back yard living room or whatever you think ok. Good Luck

[Chris Harding]

Hi Tom
It's sad when you get a shock like that and the decision what to do is a hard one!! Do you scrap the footage and return their money??? or do you try and salvage it, the best you can and offer compensation???

What's a lot more important here is to figure out what went wrong!! especially if you intend to do more weddings!!! In a pinch if you are unsure about exposure it's probably best to set the camera on full auto until you are 100% confident that you can control exposure manually so it doesn't happen again!! I also preview footage after each "event" to make sure everything is OK...that way if something goes wrong only part of your shoot needs to be salvaged. Weddings allow you a few minutes after each event where you can watch the previous 30 seconds of video to make sure everything is still on track!!

I would also have a "fiddle" with brightness and contrast and see if you might be able to achieve a watchable bit of footage.

Chris

[Bill Vincent]

Wow. My heart goes out to the B&G. Sorry if that's not a constructive comment - I don't mean to sound harsh, Tom. It's just not a good situation for your client or you to be in - nobody wins.

If there's anything constructive that can be said about the situation, it's that you'll probably never make this mistake again. Live and learn...

[Susanto Widjaja]

over exposed is helpless.. I'm sorry mate.. there is basically no more information than white on your footage. it depends on how "bad" it is but all you can do is use 3 color wheels on fcp and try to drop down the white and the mid a bit and see if that helps. I've been through some of those myself. The one I remember clearly is the one when the bride walked down the isle, lucky that it was still cureable although professionals who watch it can easly tell that its a lot over.

I always go full manual on weddings and sometimes it is hard when everything comes so quickly and you're on steadicam. flicking nd and iris together with focus sometimes just a little bit too fiddly.

One thing I learned is that always check the LCD screen on your camera if you're renting. The LCD might be set to lowest brightness and you crank the aperture up accordingly.

maybe post a clip for us to judge as well?

Santo

[David Barnett]

Does anyone know if neatvideo.com can work with this?? Maybe not, but I know it helps for low light, not sure if it works with overexposed light. Probably not.


I think your other shot is as Chris Harding said maybe try adjusting the brightness/contrast. Something like -5/+10 or something might help, but chances are it will just turn into some artistic/creative look.

I would do my best, if I were the groom I would still want the bad footage (with my money returned, of course if it's that bad) than nothing at all. Is it the entire days footage that's over exposed, or only the ceremony or dance floor scenes or something. Next time, shoot on auto as much as you can.

[Danny O'Neill]

Its clear that there is little you can do. If its a little over exposed you can come back to some degree. In Vegas we have levels so you can pull back on them and recover a little. But once its gone its gone. It is hard as the dress could be blown out but skintones are fine (the important bit).

Going forward look for some sort of levels on your camera. On the FX1's we use they have zebras, these little stripes show up on screen when things are over exposed. Or if you set them right will come up when its all perfectly exposed.

Dont get too used to auto mode. While it may seem like an easy answer if you get into that way you may never get out. You see, the camera will see the lovely white, bright dress and close down the iris to compensate and then everything else is dark. OR somone stands in front of a window during the speeches, and people have a habit of swaying when they are nervous. Lots of light, iris close, light goes, iris open and this happens a lot as they sway.

Full manual here, even when on the steadicam. Its a lot to twiddle, but the FX1's make this quick and easy.

[Tom Hardwick]

Originally Posted by David Barnett

Next time, shoot on auto as much as you can.

I agree with Danny - auto exposure is death on a wedding video. The dark suit, white dress, silver car, bright sky, window backdrop - all are specially put there to keep your diaphragm flickin' and rockin' all day long.

Looks atrocious.

Much better to ask the camera. In auto, point the camera at the important subject and lock in that reading. If half the screen's white and half black that gives perfect exposure - and funnily enough that's what you get when bride and groom stand next to each other.

tom.

[Danny O'Neill]

You will also want to use your ND filters. If you close the iris too far you can get a sort of halo around people (you do on the FX1) so use the ND to control the light.

When I started out I had such a dilema. How do I control light and brightness when we have ND, exposure, gain and shutter speed which all seem to do the same thing and then I figured it all out and do it in this order.

Shutter speed I pretty much lock at 50 (60 for you USA boys and girls). Unless Im trying to get a specific look.

First control using the ND
Then the iris
Then use Gain

Gain adds grain so its a last resort. Take off the ND, open the iris and then use gain.

[Jim Snow]

Originally Posted by Thanh Nguyen

spend more time with your camera before go do the wedding you know shoot your dog cat back yard living room or whatever you think ok. Good Luck

That's very good advice. You really need to become very familiar with your camera. When you are shooting you are multitasking and need to be able to flow with everything without being overwhelmed. In addition to controlling the camera, you have to monitor your audio as well as be aware of what you are shooting and what is going on around you.

I recently shot a wedding which had bright sun to full shade interspersed at the ceremony venue. I did a decent job of riding the iris but I was out of focus on a couple of shots because the sun was shining on my LCD monitor and I didn't have a hood for it. As a result, I didn't see the out of focus shot.

It pays off to anticipate the shooting conditions and plan accordingly.

[Brian Boyko]

Can you add a screenshot? Overexposed is one of the hardest problems... but maybe it can be cracked.

[Asvaldur Kristjansson]

Overexposed parts can be replaced with photos or videos teken by guests at the same time. You have the sound track in order so in a way you have "half" of the final product. This is the only way I can think of partly damage footage. If all of it is overexposed then it is a bit harder to deal with.

[Ken Diewert]

Originally Posted by Tom Marks

Hey,
Well I got my first wedding and I have to say that is hard work. I give my hat out to all you wedding videographers. I was spent at the end of the day.
Now. I have a huge problem. I loaded my footage into my computer and I have big problem on my hands. The footage is over exposed. How in the world do I fix this? Im working on Final Cut Pro. I played around with the Gamma correction and it helped a bit but I need some more fixing, any suggestions? Suggestions on what video filters to put on the footage. Any programs that can help. Anything. I cannot hand a finished product like this.
Im sure one or two of you came across this problem please help.
Thanks,
T.

Tom, as bad as it may be, we can't help till we see it. We've all been in recovery at times, it's just a matter of how much we can salvage of what we have left. You may be able to go to B&W, presumably you still have the vows. You could salvage by putting together a video slideshow using the photogs pics with the vows voiced over for the ceremony etc.

This forum is like 'Videoholics Anonymous"... Hi my name is Ken... and I set up my main camera on a tripod in a bad spot and had sunlight coming in thru a window over the brides shoulder, (while I was roving with the 5d) and didn't monitor the footage close enough.

We can all relate at some level.

Ken.

[Steve Slattery]

Black & White tends to look ok if the image is hot to a certain extent, maybe some scenes are worse than others and you can mix it up a bit? Would advise running it through waveform before doing any corrections.

Steve