Color Correction in Media Composer – The Complete Guide
This is a collection of all resources on a Color Correction workflow in Media Composer that I’ve created within the last couple of months.
1. Laying the Groundwork
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In this episode, we’ll lay the groundwork for episodes to come, talking about scopes, what they mean and why you should always pay attention to them.
Plus: Everyone who uses the Brightness and Contrast controls should seriously consider changing his profession.
Sorry guys, but I had to split the episode into two parts, because it was just too long. So this one may be a little dull, but it’s important.
2. Manipulating Contrast
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In this episode, we’ll manipuate the basic contrast of an image, setting the black and white levels and gamma.
We’ll do this in two different ways: First by using the Setup, Gain and Gamma controls, then by using curves.
3. Manipulating Color Balance with Curves
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In this episode, we’ll severely change the white balance of an image to correct an underexposed, wrongly balanced clip and make it look decent.
We’ll use the curves in Avid’s Color Correction to do it.
4. Manipulating Color Balance with Color Wheels
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In last week’s episode, we chnaged the color balance of a shot with curves. This week we’ll do the same thing with the color wheels.
5. Matching Two Shots Part I
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One of the most common tasks when doing color correction is matching two shots. So this week and next, we’ll do exactly that.
As always, I like working with the curves in Avid, but you should be able to use the skills learned in this tutorial when using the Color Wheels as well.
Sorry for splitting this tutorial into two episodes, but I try to keep the length of the podcast around ten minutes — this one would have been too long.
6. Matching Two Shots Part II
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In this episode, we’ll continue matching one shot to another. We’ll do it manually, and we’ll use Avid’s curves.
7. Vignettes and Wrap-Up
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In the final installment of the Color Correction series, we’ll highlight parts of a shot by using a vignette.
Then, I’ll go through some Color Correction options that I hadn’t mentioned in previous episodes.
8. Secondary Color Correction with BCC and Spectramatte
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In this episode, we’ll create a secondary color correction in Avid Media Composer.
Secondary color correction is applying one correction to the image as a whole, but a different correction to a specific portion of the image. This can be necessary in a lot of situations, mostly when you need a different treatment of skin tones compared to the rest of your image.
9. Advanced Secondary Color Correction with Garbage Matte
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So you want to change the skin tones in a shot by doing a secondary color correction. You’re using the methods outlined in ASC #16 (and of course, they work incredibly well!), but there’s that nasty balloon in the shot that has a skin-tone-like color but that you don’t want to affect.
What you need now, my friend, is a garbage matte. A garbage matte restricts the key to applying only to a specific section of the image. I hear you say: "But can it be done in Media Composer?" I say: "You bet your ass it can be done! And in real-time, too!"
So in this show, we’ll build a secondary color correction with a garbage matte using the Spectramatte, a Paint Effect and a Matte Key.
If this isn’t cool, then I don’t know cool. Oh. Wait.
Update: When I first uploaded the video, I had drawn the most stupid garbage matte ever. So I added something that — while still showing the original garbage matte and thus retaining the full extent of my stupidity — will show you how to do it better.
Thanks to Alexander Fell who gave me the tip on this one.
External Resources
If you really want to learn about color correction, I strongly recommend Steve Hullfish’s “The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction”
(Disclaimer: Purchasing the book from the link above will make me filthy rich. If you don’t want to make me go all bourgeois on you, buy the book somewhere else. But buy it.)