nofilmschool » colorcorrection

Knowing Your Scopes: When to Trust Your Eye and the Most Useful Scopes of All

Dave Kendricken — Sat, 11 May 2013 22:48:40 +0000

Depending on the acquisition system, waveform monitors and vectorscopes can guide quality control of your imagery from shooting all the way down the pipeline to grading, mastering, and compression for delivery. Scopes can seem a little intimidating and esoteric to the new user, but getting the basics down can really help in owning your image. Recently, Alexis Van Hurkman over at ProVideo Coalition has answered some key questions about scopes: find out which ones he considers the most indispensable below, plus when it may be a good idea to trust your own pair of eyes in making adjustments — even when your scopes are reading ‘A-Okay.’ (more…)

Premiere Pro Tutorial: Using 'Leave Color' & 'Change to Color' to Create Highly Stylized Looks in Your NLE

Robert Hardy — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:52:33 +0000

We’ve been talking quite a bit about Adobe over the past few months, as they’ve announced new versions of all their major desktop applications and ended the Creative Suite as we know it. Even though some folks are none too thrilled with Adobe right now due to the complete switch to the Creative Cloud, they still make what many consider to be the rising star of NLEs with Premiere Pro, and it’s more packed than ever with features to make filmmaker’s lives easier. Today we’re going to explore two of the lesser known color effects that come with Premiere Pro, the Leave Color and Change to Color effects. While these might not be something you will use day-to-day, they’re an excellent option when you need to create some highly stylized shots at a moment’s notice. So without any further ado, here are the tutorials, straight from Creative COW: (more…)

Avid Tutorial: How to Bring Your Shots to Life with These Basic Color Correction Tips

Robert Hardy — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 22:32:15 +0000

As most post-production folks know, Avid Media Composer is not the most intuitive piece of software. Even the simplest of tasks can take far too much time if you’re unfamiliar with the Avid interface and workflow. However, once you’ve grown accustomed to the program, it becomes one of quickest and most powerful editorial tools at your disposal. Because Avid is such a prominent tool within the industry, yet one that is shied away from by many younger filmmakers, I will be starting the “Avid Tutorial” series (and a Premiere version as well). Each post will be an aggregation of the best topical video tutorials from around the web in order help people become better oriented with the key concepts and functions within the software. So without any further ado, let’s take a peak at some of the basic color correction functionality built into Avid Media Composer, and see how you can take your shots from bland to vibrant in a few easy steps. (more…)

NAB Video: Avid & Lightworks

Micah Van Hove — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:00:26 +0000

Here’s more for editors and post-production professionals from Avid, talking about the new Media Composer 7, the Symphony upgrade, AMA linking, working with 4K footage in the HD timeline with Frame Flex. FreshDV also talks with EditShare about Lightworks and their new price-point to compete with the other NLE giants: (more…)

NAB Video: Baselight and Rampant Designs

Micah Van Hove — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:03:44 +0000

FreshDV has a chat with Baselight about their color correction offering, attempting to bring their powerful grading tools inside the NLE via their new Plugin. Plus, Rampant Design showcases their ‘drag and drop’ overlay style elements for video with low rendering times: (more…)

NAB Video: Davinci Resolve 10 and Scopes

Micah Van Hove — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:00:35 +0000

Blackmagic keeps pressing forward with version 10 of Davinci Resolve and Scopes to support the evolving market for 4K and beyond. Watch the video from FreshDV‘s coverage to hear about the new features Open Effects, the Online Editor, and Resolve Live: (more…)

Building Color Models and Exploring Color Spaces in Three Dimensions with Blender

Dave Kendricken — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 00:13:22 +0000

Color spaces and color models can be difficult to wrap your head around completely. There are additive and subtractive spaces, like RGB vs. CMYK, and different format/display technologies, like analog’s YUV vs. digital’s YCbCr — all of which you may have to traverse to achieve the final ‘look’ you want for your imagery. Not to mention that many color spaces are not absolute, meaning they don’t profile device-specific color representation. This can certainly induce a bit of a headache for newcomers to the color science realm. A great post by photographer Mark Meyer, featured recently on PetaPixel, explains how you can quite literally better-orient yourself to color spaces and models by, well, modeling them — in 3D open suite Blender, no less. (more…)

Grab Some 4K Canon 1D C DSLR Sample Footage, and Check Out a Possible FCPX Workflow

Dave Kendricken — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 07:22:44 +0000

Canon’s 4K video capable DSLR, the EOS-1D C, has marked an upset for the DSLR industry — and in more ways than one. Many feel that the addition of Motion-JPEG alone is not worth the camera’s $12K price point. This is particularly the case when weighing in controversial speculation that internally it’s mostly identical to its $7K 1080p sibling, the 1D X — and the fact that Canon is likely anticipating with gritted teeth the possibility of firmware hacks 4K-ifying the 1D X. That said, it could be a near-perfect blend of features depending on your application. If this is the case for you, but you want the chance to check out or grade some full-res video footage before pulling the trigger, you’re in luck — planet5D has just posted some downloadable 1D C 4K footage for your viewing consideration (assuming of course your machine can handle it). (more…)

Want an Interactive Master Class with Legendary Spielberg Color Timer? There's an App for That

Dave Kendricken — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:41:14 +0000

Is it possible we’re losing something through the non-destructive way in which we decide the final look of our shots? The answer, quaintly enough, is absolutely yes — but what, exactly? Simplicity. True finesse in color timing is something Dale Grahn (Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator, Munich, Apocalypse Now: Redux) knows a lot about, and in a true chemical timing sense — which says a lot about the power of bold and minimal control over imagery. Lucky for any of us looking to learn from the experience, Mr. Grahn is asking you to match his own color grades by way of a new iPad app — and in the process interact with the very essentials of color grading. (more…)

Getting Started with Color Correction: Using Waveforms and Scopes with Colorist Steve Hullfish

Dave Kendricken — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 18:02:21 +0000

The colorist’s job has gotten a whole lot easier since chemical baths stepped out of the picture in many cases. Non-destructive color timing is the future in which we now live — that said, the principles at work in creating properly balanced imagery is as important as ever. Each camera we may be shooting on has its own unique implications in chromatic reproduction, and the ability to delicately correct a given color mixture (regardless of its source) is key. Ironically, or not, tools such as waveform monitors and vectorscopes — staples of the bygone analog video world — are as relevant today as ever in filmmaking, if not more so. A recent presentation by noted color correction author Steve Hullfish demonstrates precisely this point, as well as the basics in using your scopes to full advantage. (more…)

A Color Grading Case Study of the New Music Video from Hip-Hop Artist Killer Mike

Tristan Kneschke — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:30:40 +0000

Even with the growing prominence of cheaper color correction systems, the craft of color grading is still mysterious to many, including those who work in post-production. I’m often asked how I approach specific projects or how I achieve particular looks so I thought it would be helpful to illustrate some of my methodologies with a music video for the rap artist Killer Mike. Beyond nerding out on Resolve, I hope the reader will start to see that there is a lot that happens outside of the software. (more…)

A Complete Guide to Setting Up a Home Color Grading Suite

Guest Author — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:08:40 +0000

This is a guest post by Cinematographer Ryan E. Walters.

As Moore’s Law continues to make technology more accessible to the masses, it is time to start exploring what it takes to build your own grading suite at home or in your office. Before reading the rest of this post, I recommend that you check out How To Get The Most Out Of CS6, DaVinci, & Your Mac Pro, as this article continues to build on what I’ve outlined. So let’s get started shall we? (more…)

A Colorist’s Perspective: Practical Comparisons of DaVinci Resolve and Apple Color

Tristan Kneschke — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:36:05 +0000

This is a guest post by Tristan Kneschke.

With the release of Apple Color several years ago, the once-niche field of high-end color grading trickled down to the average user. When Blackmagic released DaVinci Resolve on Mac it became more obvious that color grading was the next big wave. Having already been grading professionally with Color shortly after it was released, I quickly decided to invest in a traveling DaVinci Resolve Mac Pro tower. The client demand for color grading in particular, and a traveling station specifically, has grown my business at a rate I never thought possible. Now, with Resolve 9 nearing its official, non-beta release, Blackmagic has separated itself even more from Apple’s killed product. (more…)

Improve Your Color Correction Skills While Playing the 'Color' Game

Joe Marine — Sun, 06 May 2012 21:02:04 +0000

Many argue the legitimacy of games when it comes to learning, but games can certainly exercise the mind if they challenge you to think and problem-solve. I’ve never really seen a game of any kind that could possibly help me become a better filmmaker — that is, until now. If you’re brand new to color correction, or even any sort of graphic art where color is involved, there is now a game called Color that will help you improve your skills. (more…)

DaVinci Resolve Now Available on Windows Thanks to Free Public Beta

Ryan Koo — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:14:22 +0000

Just because the popular color correction software DaVinci Resolve uses a Mac monitor for its press image (at left) doesn’t mean it’s Mac only — any more. Resolve, which has a free version known fittingly as Resolve Lite, now comes in a Windows version for the first time thanks a newly-released Public Beta. If you have already purchased Resolve for Mac, the Windows version comes included, so you now have a Windows license too. (more…)

New Version of DaVinci Resolve Lite Removes Key Restrictions, Plus Here's Some Free Training

Ryan Koo — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:46:17 +0000

In July DaVinci released a free version of their $1k color correction software, Resolve (also available with a $30k control panel). Now they’ve upgraded Resolve Lite, as the free version is known, to version 8.1, also removing the two node restriction and allowing for unlimited color correction nodes (nodes are similar to layers in After Effects, though they’re generally more flexible). There are a number of other updates as well (see the press release below), but to go along with the new release, there’s also a 15-minute video tutorial from Dan Kanes, who also did a recent free REDCINE-X Pro tutorial: (more…)

Magic Bullet Quick Looks Limited: 20 Color Correction Presets Free for NoFilmSchool Readers

Ryan Koo — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:00:06 +0000

Red Giant’s Magic Bullet Looks is an aggressive color correction tool. For a more subtle approach, I recommend Colorista, but for dramatic results very quickly, it’s hard to beat Looks. Quick Looks Limited is, as you can guess from the name, a limited set of twenty presets from Looks — free for NFS readers! Anyone can sign up using the link at the bottom of this post, but this bundle was only available with certain purchases previously. Now it’s gratis for anyone to experiment with: (more…)

The Foundry Axes Storm Post-production Software Because of REDCINE-X PRO

Ryan Koo — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:02:19 +0000

In a hypothetical future wherein I start shooting on a RED camera, one of the first things I was planning on doing was getting The Foundry’s Storm post-production (and on-set) software. The RED folks really seemed to love it, as they were quoted on the Storm product page, and at this year’s NAB I was impressed by The Foundry’s numerous demos (some of which took place in RED’s tent). But then RED released REDCINE-X PRO this week — their own version of Storm, in a lot of ways — and now The Foundry has officially killed Storm, at a nascent version 1.04. While Storm was priced very affordably, putting it well within the range of indie filmmakers — $375 — REDCINE-X is free, and you can’t beat that. Via fxguide, here’s the official word: (more…)

Curious About High-End DaVinci Resolve Color Correction? Free Live Webinar September 8th

Ryan Koo — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:57:04 +0000

Ever since DaVinci released a free version of their $29,995 high-end Resolve color grading suite — and, more importantly, premiered a $995 software-only version — the color grading application has seen a drastic increase in accessibility. If you’re interested in learning how to use the program, which conveniently comes at a time when Apple has discontinued Color (which was itself the $25k program FinalTouch before Apple bought and then axed it), there’s a free 90-minute live webinar this Thursday September 8, 2011 at 10AM PDT (1PM EDT). Here’s a preview: (more…)

Red Giant Releases Magic Bullet Mojo for Final Cut Pro X, Offers a 50% Discount for All Editors

Ryan Koo — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:22:31 +0000

When Apple released Final Cut Pro X, they did so without giving third-party plugin developers access ahead of time; thus there’s been a shortage of add-ons for the controversial app. Red Giant Software has just released their first plugin to be ported to FCPX, and it’s one of their simpler apps, Magic Bullet Mojo. FCPX’s current architecture doesn’t support some of the more complicated functionality included in Looks or Colorista, so X editors will have to make do with the simpler interface of Mojo for the time being. As a bonus, however, Red Giant has cut the price in half for this week only, bringing it down to $49 — and the coupon code works on all platforms, not just FCPX. Here’s the program in action: (more…)