Color Correction Filters

     

Color Correction Filters

Color Correction filters can be used to improve picture quality, adjust your video to proper levels, match shots that should match but don't, and more. But a huge caveat should be mentioned here. Don't use your computer's display to correct color that will eventually be delivered to a TV set or video monitor. The gammas are much different between your computer's display (which can actually show you a lot more color variations than a video monitor can). Use an external video monitor (or even a TV set with monitor inputs) to evaluate your color and luminance levels.

Broadcast Safe is a quick filter to add to bring your luma and chroma levels to a broadcast-legal level. It clamps any luminance to 100 IRE and lowers any chroma (color) levels to a legal amount as measured by a Vectorscope. It's easy to apply and saves time setting these proper levels. Broadcast Safe does a very gentle clamp, not as harsh as what a broadcaster or cable operator will do to your pictures down the line. It can be configured to cut off at any level, but the default is pretty much in line.

Color Corrector is a basic tool that can perform color corrections. It's more likely than the Color Corrector 3-way to be supported by real-time hardware. If you open the disclosure triangle near the bottom of this filter's visual display, you can limit the changes you make with this filter to selectable color and luma ranges. The eyedroppers select individual pixels, so it's helpful to zoom all the way in on your image to select the exact color you want. White Balance (color balance) can be quickly fixed with this tool. All you need to do is select the upper eyedropper and then pick a pixel that should be absolutely white in your image. All pixels that are this color then become white, and all other pixels become the color that they are supposed to be. The disclosure triangle near the bottom of the visual display opens the limiting tools, which are used to limit your correction to a selectable color range, starting with picking it with the eyedroppers there. This filter works in 16-bit if your sequence's video processing is set to 16-bit precision (this setting is found in the sequence's settings in the Video Processing tab).

Color Corrector 3-way is very similar to the Color Corrector, but it gives you more options to control the black, mid (much the same as a gamma control), and white levels somewhat independently of each other. Keep in mind that each of the color wheels and controls overlap the others' luma values a bit, so adjusting one might affect the others. The top of the luma is unaffected by the Blacks and the Mids. Conversely, the Whites and Mids do not affect the blackest area of the image you are working with. You can think of it this way: Each of the three controls affects about two- thirds to three-fourths of all the luminance values present. The Mids don't affect the top or bottom of these values, but areas in the Mids are affected by both the Whites and Blacks adjustments. This filter works in 16-bit if your sequence's video processing is set to 16-bit precision (this setting is found in the sequence's settings in the Video Processing tab).

Desaturate Highlights lets you lower the color levels in a picture's highlights when you apply either Color Correction filter. This filter works in 16-bit if your sequence's video processing is set to 16-bit precision (this setting is found in the sequence's settings in the Video Processing tab).

Desaturate Lows does the opposite of the Desaturate Highlights filter. It takes away color from the lows (blacker areas) of a color-corrected clip. This filter works in 16-bit if your sequence's video processing is set to 16-bit precision (this setting is found in the sequence's settings in the Video Processing tab).

RGB Balance lets you adjust your image's individual levels of red, green, and blue values. It also allows you to change these values in three different luminance areas of the image. I find this tool useful to match color between two clips that should match, monitoring the changes with the RGB Parade Videoscope.