How do I color correct to look like this

[Elliot DeBonee]

Here is an image from a Limp Bizkit documentary, it seems the colors are smoothed out or something. I cant seem to figure out how they got it to look so good. I have Color Finesse in adobe after effects cs5. Im pretty sure the footage was shot on Hi8 or something but it still looks amazing.

 

[Daniel Smith]

Here is an image from a Limp Bizkit documentary, it seems the colors are smoothed out or something. I cant seem to figure out how they got it to look so good. I have Color Finesse in adobe after effects cs5. Im pretty sure the footage was shot on Hi8 or something but it still looks amazing.

 

Looks like the hues of the blues in the sky could change to produce more of a purplish/magenta tone, adding reds only to the blue component. The relatively low contrast helps. I'd try lowering the detail/clarity levels to give the image a pearly effect.

[Elliot DeBonee]

Looks like the hues of the blues in the sky could change to produce more of a purplish/magenta tone, adding reds only to the blue component. The relatively low contrast helps. I'd try lowering the detail/clarity levels to give the image a pearly effect.

 

Everything in the image seems to have a soft appearance to it, especially around the edges of the wind blades. I read somewhere that pro colorists use some sort of color chart or something and get color fixed perfectly. I could never figure out exactly how to color correct properly. I do study footage from documentaries like this to attempt to help myself color correct better but it never seems to work. I mean how do they know what saturation levels certain things are and stuff? Would calibrating my monitor with something like Spyder 3 color calibrator help because it could also be my monitor, Im sure the pros use much better color correction stuff than I have at home.

[Daniel Smith]

Everything in the image seems to have a soft appearance to it, especially around the edges of the wind blades. I read somewhere that pro colorists use some sort of color chart or something and get color fixed perfectly. I could never figure out exactly how to color correct properly. I do study footage from documentaries like this to attempt to help myself color correct better but it never seems to work. I mean how do they know what saturation levels certain things are and stuff? Would calibrating my monitor with something like Spyder 3 color calibrator help because it could also be my monitor, Im sure the pros use much better color correction stuff than I have at home.

Many professionals use grade 1 monitoring, which is far too expensive for most people to afford independently. The environment you are grading in is also important to consider, if the room is painted sky blue, it may affect your eyes overall perception of colour thus affecting the outcome of your grade. Lighting is also important, try and work in a dimly lit room where your perception won't vary as a result of surrounding light.

 

Normally grades consist of a technical grade followed by more of an artistic grade. The technical grade often entails exposure, black level and colour matching alterations, whereas the artistic grade is more about making things look pretty (ie. lowering the detail to create a silky effect, like the one you referred to.)

 

The real problem with grading is that our eyes are constantly grading themselves, thus altering our perception and ability to grade images impartially.

 

Check out effects like bilateral blur in After Effects.

[Manny Frutos]

Everything in the image seems to have a soft appearance to it, especially around the edges of the wind blades. I read somewhere that pro colorists use some sort of color chart or something and get color fixed perfectly. I could never figure out exactly how to color correct properly. I do study footage from documentaries like this to attempt to help myself color correct better but it never seems to work. I mean how do they know what saturation levels certain things are and stuff? Would calibrating my monitor with something like Spyder 3 color calibrator help because it could also be my monitor, Im sure the pros use much better color correction stuff than I have at home.

 

 

Colorist will mainly use Vector scopes and RGB Waveforms to gauge saturation and color levels. You can find some basic forms of these scopes in Color Finesse.

 

If you really want to put in the time you can acquire a decent understanding of these scopes and grading in general through some commonly available books. Then you could pull the footage you like into After Effects, apply color finesse and read the scopes. Though it takes considerable experiences to use these scopes to their full potential, you can still get useful information relatively quickly that could help you color match your footage to the one you posted.

 

Good Luck.