Captures from my first wedding (60i mode)

[Wayne Orr]

No problem, Glen. Sometimes I get so wrapped up cranking this stuff out that I don't realize what it sounds like. Yeah, check out Netscape. I use IE, and as I said, I have not had any major problems with what I put up looking different from the computer. But you said you were a graphics professional, and I have to believe you set up your computer monitor different than I do for video. I mean, I would hate to see something I output go to a printer, because I'm sure it would be a disaster, and look nothing like it did on my screen.

But the major link in the chain is a professional video monitor, and since you haven't mentioned it, I get the feeling you haven't purchased one yet. I know its tough to bite that bullet for about a grand, but that will make a major difference in your video work. But of course, that also has to be set up properly using reliable color bars. And beware; there are a lot of bogus color bars floating around the web. If you are a Mac person, and I am betting you are, then you can go to the Synthetic Aperture site and download a FREE app called "Test Pattern Maker." That will enable you to create all sorts of test patterns, along with bars and tone. Then, with the monitor set up properly, you can view some footage from the camera, and be certain of what it looks like. Then you can tell if there is some messin' going on when you digitize. And with a program like Echo Fire, you can output your graphics to the monitor and see what they will look like in the world of video. Then, when you are comfortable with the whole arrangement, tweak the computer monitor a bit more to get it to look as close as possible to the video monitor. Then you be stylin'. Of course the computer monitor will always look better. If you know all this, just ignore me, and we'll hope someone is getting something of value out of this.

Unfortunately, the book I relied on heavily when I did my major monitor tweaks a couple of years ago, is out on loan. But hopefully I will get it back and be able to give you a couple of good suggestions for video on a computer monitor that you may not be aware of.

Here is a link to a Photoshop version of the groom that I knocked out that is similar to what Alex did in Vegas. http://www.digitalprods.com/groom4.jpg
As a graphic designer, I am sure you know how powerful the "curves" command is, and it takes it good deal of skill to master it. I am strictly an intermediate, but the clouds are parting slowly.

Good luck editing the wedding video. You will probably want to spend some time color correcting the final version, but the good news is; nothing is really seriously screwed up. Just look at it as a great learning opportunity.

[John Locke]

Alex,

Arrigato gozaimas for the screenshots! This thread has been really helpful to me...and the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

[Alturo Nguyen]

so many great avenues in this thread, hope more people read/contribute/help

Personally, this whole light/dark image thing, has been a recent pain here, and this thread completely relates to my situation of the same pain.
some factors are:
1)Brightness/contrast levels of the user's monitor from the exterior monitor control
2)if photoshop installed, the adobe gamma control panel
3)going into the properties of your video card and adjusting the many properties there if you have them including: brightness/contrast/gamma, and going into the VIDEO OVERLAY options, again if provided, will all drastically affect what you see on your monitor, and how u edit

Had some b/w headshots, looked great on the monitor, but when printed, were way to dark, went through all the adjustments, now what i see is what i get from the printer, exactly

COLOR BALANCE/LIGHTING ONLY>>>

Analytically approached this here, and on my monitors settings, glen's pictures, all of them look better than the other ones, ALL of them.
The color balance looks natural, not saturated, and they appear correct tone, not dark, including the non-edited pic.

Then put SVHS out to TV set, with the same results.

Have 3 different monitors, 3 different brands and sizes, all CRC, and they all yield the same results, the other 2 aren't even used/calibrated for graphics at all.. just regular default settings.


Do NOT wish to offend anyone here, am brand new, and am about to post some ?s on DOF(yes that subject),,, along with many others... but this same situation JUST happened to me, and fresh in the mind wanted to shared my situation, so we can all help each other.... i just went with what works for me here..thank you

[Wayne Orr]

Welcome Alturo. I think I have everything you said correct in my understanding. A couple comments.
If you feel looking at the original pictures on your monitor, they are correct, I would ask you to view the historgram and the info regarding them in Photoshop. There you will notice that the "groom" photo is heavily weighted toward the shadow area of the still, and there is no real "black." That is, what should be the black area of the photo is up about 30%, which is way too high. If this looks good on your monitor (and I am assuming you are speaking of a computer monitor) then you are being deceived by your monitor set-up. This is very common. You need to have a professional video monitor to judge video work, that is properly calibrated using good split field color bars. (in NTSC world)

Print and video are not the same thing. What looks good in one, will not necessarily look good in the other. If your computer monitor is set-up so what you see is what you get on your printer, that's great. For print. For video, you should be outputting to a video monitor.

Finally, Alturo, remember that the object is not to re-create reality. Reality is often harsh and unforgiving. So very frequently, we like things to appear more "romanticised" than the cold reality. This is what film people have been doing since they discovered they could twist some knobs and make things look better. "Heightened reality." I think the group's reaction to Alex's "corrections" speaks volumes for this aesthetic approach.