Color corrections

[Gary Randall]

I am using VMS Plat and I have a clip that I would to make darker, I can't find where to do that. Any help?

Gary

[Edward Troxel]

Many of the effects can do that. Does Platinum have one of the color corrector effects? If yes, just lower the gamma or gain. "Levels" can adjust the gamma. "Color Curves" can be used as well.

Another option could be to simply move the mouse/cursor to the top edge of the clip, it will turn into a hand pointing to the top, and then click and drag down. That will lower the opacity of the image.

[Jeff Harper]

Don't forget the brightness/contrast fx, great for darkening and punching up the contrast at the same time if needed, or vice versa, etc.etc.

[Ian Stark]

A little rider on the brightness/contrast filter - it affects the entire image uniformly, as opposed to other correction filters that Edward has mentioned, which give you much greater control over specific ranges.

In other words, with the brightness/contrast filter, if you increase brightness, you increase it to the same degree over the whole image, or if you decrease contrast, you do so over the whole image uniformly.

One obvious downside to this is that if, for example, you are trying to increase contrast to give some depth to your shadows, you may, at the same time, be causing your highlights to clip. The Levels filter will offer much better control and allow you to adjust the areas yuo want without affecting other areas (unless that's the look you want, obviously).

As a quick fix it's fine, but if you're looking to tonally correct/adjust an image in a controlled way then you'll want to avoid it.

(Not trying to trash your suggestion, Jeff, just wanted to offer a wider view! There are times when you will WANT to raise brightness/contrast evenly - I use it to drop contrast on a clip that sits behind generated text, to help the text stand out more - got that tip from Steve Hullfish's excellent book on colour correction).

Ian . . .

[Jeff Harper]

No problem, Ian, great clarification there, as always. I just heard him say "darken" and I immediately thought of that method.

I actually use the contrast thingy tons, which is another reason I jumped right on that method. I shoot primarily with the Vx2100 and find when I notch up the contrast just a tad on most all of my footage (my cam doesn't have black balance) it really adds punch to most everything, but mind you just a tad.

I actually learned that from a wedding videographer, possibly Randy Stubbs, maybe someone else, don't remember now.

[Ian Stark]

Thanks Jeff. I think you hit the nail on the head there - "just a tad". As I mentioned before - nothing wrong with using brightness/contrast per se - just as long as it's with the full knowledge of what it's doing!

Cheers,

Ian . . .

[Plamen Petrov]

Also I think that the OPACITY level is perfect sometimes for such a puprpose...

[Ian Stark]

Originally Posted by Plamen Petrov

Also I think that the OPACITY level is perfect sometimes for such a puprpose...

Unless you have a track underneath, which of course would then show through. And again, keep in mind that it lowers the opacity for the entire image uniformly.

[Gary Randall]

Hey Jeff,
You mentioned that you shoot with a VX2100, I aslo use that cam. I am still learning how to use it. I did a wedding last Sunday and I was in a room that had a lot of windows. (reception) Some of my shoots came out dark. The windows in the background were very bright. Can you tell me how to adjust my VX2100 so that the background brightness is not making my shot so dark? When the (FOB) father of the bride was giving his speech, he was just way to dark because of the background light. I hope this makes since.

Gary

[Jeff Harper]

This topic is best discussed in the VX2100 or lighting forum. I suggest you bring it up there also. The name of the phenomenon you are dealing with is called "backlighting" or "backlight". You will go into manual settings to deal with it.

It is a common problem and you will want to practice the different methods of dealing with it so that when it happens on a shoot you will be able to make the adjustments necessary quickly enough. As you are learning, on a wedding shoot you don't have time to play around. This situation happens sometimes unexpectedly, especially if you don't know in advance where the speaker will be located until the last minute. Often they say the toast, etc will be in one place, then they will change up on you without warning.

Anyway, if the subject is in between windows and there is no window directly behind them, move closer to the subject or zoom in to eliminate the bright areas. In this situation this works well most of the time. After you zoom in, locate and hit the exposure button which will keep the exposure correct for when you have to zoom out to follow subject if he moves.

If the area behind them is all windows you could theoretically zoom in on their face for an extreme close up, but that is rarely an option because their face will move in the frame, impossible to follow.

With all windows behind your subject or in any bad backlight situation you must activate the exposure button and set it to where the subject is bright enough. This will make the bright areas around him even brighter and is very distracting, but it is pretty much all you can do short of adding additional light from an on-camera light.

In any event, try to always shoot with a second camera that is wide so that while you are making your adjustments you have something to cut to in editing.

And let's not forget on-camera lighting....if you can get away with blasting the subject with a light, that will help immensely and will dramatically improve your image, but is intrusive. I find though that using a light for toasts, etc. is usually fine when necessary and people seem to not mind it much, but I avoid it anyway. Hope that helps.

To practice, set an object in front of a window, or have a person stand in front of a window, and practice the various methods.

[Mike Kujbida]

Having bright windows in the background is where a camera with full manual exposure control really pays off.
Anytime I run into this situation, I open the iris so that the person's face is properly exposed.
At this point in time, I really don't care how badly the window exposure is blown out.
All I care about is getting a good exposure on the person's face.
The same issue arises when shooting almost any kind of perfomance, be it theatre, concert, skating competition, etc.
When the spotlights come on, the performer will get over exposed if you're not paying attention to your iris setting.
The bottom line is to know your camera, its controls and its limitations.

[Gary Randall]

Jeff & Mike,

Thanks a lot guys, big help

Gary