How do I make color corrections?
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Exposure and tint correction is an essential part of video postproduction. You can use it to correct any flaws that you didn't notice during shooting. You will also be able to create creative effects and give the picture a certain idea. To edit your video footage, you will also need a special computer program for video editing. In this article, we will tell you how to make color correction by yourself, and that it will be at a very high-quality level at the same time. You will get valuable tips that you can put into practice.
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What and where does one resort to color correction for?
Before you get good advice about how to do color grading, you need to understand exactly where and what it is used for. Color correction comes in handy most often in cinematography. In the past, the color of a frame depended on the conditions of shooting and the chemical characteristics of the film. The old cameras were non-uniform, so scenes didn't look the way they were supposed to. Today, setting the palette for a movie isn't that difficult - it's all done on computers. The film or frame, mounted in a single gamut, is perceived more holistically.
The palette of most modern films is orange and blue. Orange was chosen because most scenes are shot of people and skin color, which is a shade of orange (from pale peach to dark brown). And blue shades are perfect for contrast because they are on the other side of the color scheme.
Also, color correction is used for:
- Retouching and creative photo processing (especially in Lightroom and Photoshop),
- Preparation of materials for advertising,
- Creating photorealistic graphics.
Of course, color correction is not limited to all of this. You need to work with color wherever high-quality images are a priority, such as in YouTube or TikTok.
Work only with the right equipment
Work on a calibrated monitor for which a suitable profile has been created. For accurate image editing, calibration and profiling are paramount. Otherwise, the image that appears on your monitor will look different on another monitor.
Resort to using adjustment layers
Use adjustment layers to adjust the tonal range and color balance of your image. They allow you to go back and make subsequent tone changes without removing data from the image layer or making irreversible changes. Remember, however, that using adjustment layers increases file and image size and requires more RAM.
Maintain a balance of brightness and contrast
Brightness and contrast issues are the most obvious reasons to correct color in a photo. A photo that is too dark or too dim will not be of interest. Tools dedicated to adjusting brightness and contrast allow you to make detailed adjustments to the tonal range of the image. You can find these tools in almost every editor. For example, in Photoshop. How do they work? Moving the brightness slider to the right expands the light areas of the image, while dragging it to the left decreases the values and expands the shadows.
Use curves
When you use curves, you adjust the relative brightness of the color channels. The lower the curve, the lower the luminosity of the channel. For this reason, if you need to significantly reduce the strength of a particular channel, you can easily do so with curves.
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