Things to Remember

For simple white balancing, brightness, and master color casts the Fast Color Corrector is the proper tool for the job. Using the White Balance eyedropper of the Fast Color Corrector effect, you can quickly assign a white balance adjustment to any clip in the timeline with just a few clicks. Using the Auto Black Level and Auto White Level buttons you can increase and redefine the white and black points of your image so that the brightest value of your image becomes pure white and the darkest, pure black.

Although color correction can be daunting, familiarize yourself with the subject the best you can so that you can increase your skills. Much as learning a few key features of Audition can help you improve your overall sound quality dramatically, learning how to use the color correction effects to their full potential can increase your projects' overall picture quality dramatically.

Notes

To take effects work and color correction techniques a step further, take a look at the Nesting_FX.wmv turorial, located in the Video Tutorials folder on the book's DVD. Not only does this clip demonstrate the nesting technique, it also calls out a specific workflow that allows for a lot of control when trying to apply a single color correction to a large number of clips. When the file loads in Windows Media Player, press Alt+Enter to play it back at full-screen size.

When applying color correction effects, one way of learning how video responds to the corrections is to view the various Output modes (Waveform, Vectorscope, and Parade) that monitor the color and lightness data of your image. Using a Reference Monitor that is set to YC Waveform enables you to monitor the video results of your color adjustments in the Program Monitor and signal results (remember, YC Waveform equals luminance) in your Reference Monitor.

Remember, if you intend on doing any individual color corrections for specific tonal ranges, such as highlights, midtones, or shadows, you need to use the Three-Way Color Corrector for that added level of depth. The next chapter shows you how to use the Three-Way Color Corrector for traditional color correction and for secondary color corrections. Secondary color corrections are a way in which you target one color range (not tonal range) and apply a color adjustment to that range. For example, if you wanted a certain shade of red to be more prominent in your image, the Secondary Color Correction effect would define that shade of red and allow you to apply a correction to only the selected color. It's brand new for 2.0, and it's very cool to play with.