Softening my PD-150 footage...

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

I recently shot some performance footage for a singer friend of mine. It was in an empty auditorium, so I was free to make the lighting as romantic and handsome as I wanted. Which I took full advantage of.

 

However, my only choice of camera for the day was the PD-150. I'm very happy with what I shot, but I think just the edges and detail might be a little too crisp and harsh.

 

I'll be editing in FCP, so I was just curious if there were any filters or other methods of going about altering the footage to remove that harsh DV feel. I played with some light gaussian blur, and that got me close to what I'm going for, but not quite.

 

Not necessarily going for the coveted "film look". Just fishing for things that other PD-150 shooters might have done.

[Chris Keth]

I recently shot some performance footage for a singer friend of mine. It was in an empty auditorium, so I was free to make the lighting as romantic and handsome as I wanted. Which I took full advantage of.

 

However, my only choice of camera for the day was the PD-150. I'm very happy with what I shot, but I think just the edges and detail might be a little too crisp and harsh.

 

I'll be editing in FCP, so I was just curious if there were any filters or other methods of going about altering the footage to remove that harsh DV feel. I played with some light gaussian blur, and that got me close to what I'm going for, but not quite.

 

Not necessarily going for the coveted "film look". Just fishing for things that other PD-150 shooters might have done.

 

One thign I have done in the past with DVCam footage is to overlay a copy of the footage over itself, in sync. Then apply a small gaussian blur to the top clip (a couple pixels should be fine). Then you can dial in the opacity of the top clip to get the amount of softness you want.

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

Interesting, I'll definitely give it a shot! thanks :)

[Chris Keth]

Interesting, I'll definitely give it a shot! thanks :)

 

No problem. It's a favorite treatment of mine for video. It softens subtly (or more, if you want that look) and can easily look like you did nothing at all, which is generally the goal.

[Chris Keth]

Is that doing it for you?

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

Hey Chris, I haven't worked the footage too much yet. Been editing together the music we recorded for it first, so I can cut to it.

 

I'll let'cha know :)

[Shawn Mielke]

In the future, I would begin by shooting wide open and dialing in-camera sharpening down as far as can be. Utilizing a longer focal length may further enhance this, depending on the shot/subject.

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

In the future, I would begin by shooting wide open and dialing in-camera sharpening down as far as can be. Utilizing a longer focal length may further enhance this, depending on the shot/subject.

 

I shot most of it at a longer focal length, maybe just 2 wide shots. Don't know if I'd want to mess with the sharpness though, I'd rather go with diffusion filters in the future. I just didn't happen to have any at the time. Black Diffusion/FX filter would have been perfect, but oh well.

 

thanks :)