Test your color correction skills!

[azmyth]

Here are 2 stills from my new feature..

They were shot on a panasonic GH2 with vintage primes.

Shot 1 is a 135mm prime not sure of the brand (not my lens)

Shot 2 is a canon fd 50mm prime 1.8

I challenge you to color correct these so that they match. You can use whatever "style" you want as long as they "match".

GO! The winner can volunteer to color correct my film (he..he...) and get screen credit for a awesome feature film destined for distribution and extreme awesomeness.

http://i41.tinypic.com/1zzrvyx.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/5nvzns.jpg

[Janke]

It's well nigh impossible to "match" such differently lit pictures - one is hard backlight, the other softer side light.

I'd just darken the closeup a bit, and maybe warm it up slightly.

Two shots of the same subject in the same lighting with those two lenses could be matched.

[Shaunp007]

Az, which color feel are you going for? Which picture is your "master" so that the other pic can be made to look like it. I'm gonna take a crack at this as soon as I get back from the gym.

[drapeama]

It's well nigh impossible to "match" such differently lit pictures - one is hard backlight, the other softer side light.
I'd just darken the closeup a bit, and maybe warm it up slightly.

1) I kind of agree with you here. The shots are too different to start with, and you can make them to look like each other, but the lighting isn't the same so it'll end up not to look exactly the same.
2) I guess skin tones can be matched, but other than this...one looks almost blown-out (backlit) and the other looks a bit underexposed. They can look like each other, but they won't match each other.

I can give it a try tomorrow, if I have time...

[redfalcon]

[drapeama]

That's about the best you could expect from these two grabs.
Nice job red.

[redfalcon]

[azmyth]

This was a morning diner scene.

Without tons of big flags to tone down the sun outside, it was tough for the outside not to be blown out.

[azmyth]

Az, which color feel are you going for? Which picture is your "master" so that the other pic can be made to look like it. I'm gonna take a crack at this as soon as I get back from the gym.

Neither really, they are untouched straight from the camera..

the reason the closeup is brighter is because of it being in front of a window, where we had little ways to control the amount of sun coming into the windows.

[redfalcon]

Didn't do any kind of grade, Az. Just matched em.

[azmyth]

I guess when I meant "match" I meant, so that they work in the scene together. The lighting we had there is almost identical in both shots.. whats happening is from the closeup, that character is directly in front of a glass window where the sun was beating down inside.

[azmyth]

I think you did a fairly good job matching them. I don't know that they need much grading.. thoughts?

[redfalcon]

Not really, just personal choice.

They're matched nicely on the scopes.

[azmyth]

I'm guessing you did alot more to the closeup than you did to the 2nd shot correct? Shaun, I'd still like to see what you can do. I'm gonna get this monitor stuff to you soon, I am going to edit it first.

[redfalcon]

Not really......

whether you have to adjust black level, mids, saturation, or whatever 1 notch or 10, you still have to go through all the steps for each shot.

Both shots were well exposed and pretty well white balanced. Don't worry about the blown out window, it's commonplace these days. Story and performance are always king anyway!

[azmyth]

Yeah, we knew about it on set.. nothing we could do. We tried ND filters, but then everything else was too dark. Hard to compete with the sun on a budget.

[Shaunp007]

Shaun, I'd still like to see what you can do.

Oh I'm working on it. Just having fun color correcting. I'll be done in a bit.

[redfalcon]

My latest short has every window blown out pure white.....

Part of the story.



That shot is totally fine. You want the audience looking at the character, not what's outside. And they will.

[azmyth]

Oh I'm working on it. Just having fun color correcting. I'll be done in a bit.

You better watch out.. or I'll be piling you up with all sorts of stuff. I can't wait to get you this monitor stuff. I'm editing as we shoot so that by the time we are wrapped (May 28th) we'll have a rough cut already done.

[Shaunp007]

Trial 1.jpgTrial 2.jpg
click for larger versions

Just tried to remove the DSLR "Fog" and reveal the natural colors of the scene.

[azmyth]

Cool man!

[Shaunp007]

Now that was sort of just color correcting. If you had a style of grading you like, we could throw that on there. I was working with my personal favorite, I call it the pretty and gritty style.

Trial 4.jpgTrial 3.jpg

[azmyth]

hmm, interesting.. I'd have to see something like that in motion to be able to give an honest opinion.

[Almohada]

Without tons of big flags to tone down the sun outside

... scrims not flags! hahaha

[Almohada]

Now that was sort of just color correcting. If you had a style of grading you like, we could throw that on there. I was working with my personal favorite, I call it the pretty and gritty style.

Trial 4.jpgTrial 3.jpg

That is disgusting dude... I almost threw up. Why shoot on beloved DSLR if the footage is going to end up like trash. What happened to the "beautiful footage". That look does not work here AT ALL.