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| As the Color Correction portion of Well Done post-production winds down, I thought I would jot down a few notes and share some links/resources. The task was a bit daunting when I started last fall, but it was well worth the time to learn and to study/enhance the footage from a color perspective. Hardware: A big challenge is to make sure your monitor will display the image the same way (color temperature, contrast, etc.) as the image would appear on the big screen. We used a 24" Dell Ultrasharp monitor (model #2407WFP) coupled with a Matrox MXO box for color calibration. The Dell monitor is especially good for color correction because it doesn't crop (most monitors do) and it has good color. The Matrox MXO can be purchased new for about $1000, or used for a little over $400 on eBay. |
| Software: I used the 3-way color corrector in Final Cut Pro 5 (Final Cut Studio Version 1) for most of my color correcting. |
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| Advanced Color Correction and Effects in Final Cut Pro 5, from the Apple Pro Training Series (ISBN 0-321-33548-1) was my main resource when I started. Some of the most useful sections were: 1. How to set up and use an external monitor (page 387) 2. Lessons 11-15 (Controlling Contrast, Color, Color Balancing the Master Shot, Color Correcting for Scene Continuity, and Secondary Color Correction) |
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(Image showing Limit Effects being applied to turquoise blue area of color) The 3 Way Color Corrector can not only adjust color and contrast over the entire image, but also it can single out only one color (blue, for example, see image above) and change the saturation on only that hue. You can do this with limit effects, and they are discussed in Lesson 15. I used limit effects to give the reds and greens a boost, in addition to general color correction below: |
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In addition to the Final Cut controls, I did use some filters from Natress (Natress Film Effects Kit and the Big Box of Tricks). I especially liked to use the white diffusion filters for evening out skin tones and the black diffusion filters sparingly for low-light noise. Color Correction Links: |
