Day 5: Color

Objectives

Practice files: Click here 

  • Students will understand the importance of coloring clips
  • Students will be familiar with the lumetri color panel and how to make adjustments using each of the following.
    • Basic Correction
    • Creative
    • Curves
    • Color Wheels & Match
    • HSL Secondary

Outline

Introduction / Hook:

  • Any questions from last class?
  • Review the material from the last class.
  • How you hook the class in is up to you. We suggest showing the class a finished video, either one you’ve made before or the finished video example from the class files.

 

Basic Color Corrections:

  • Go to the “Color” workspace
  • There are two ways to color videos: Directly on the video or through an adjustment layer.
  • Direct Application: Preferred when you want to change the colors in one specific video instead of a group of videos.
    • Click on a video and go into the Lumetri Color window. Make sure to open up the Basic Correction tab and explain each of the following features:
    • White Balance Selector: This lets you choose what true white is for the clip, and then adjusts temperature and tint for you.
    • Temperature/Tint: These help you balance (or unbalance, if you’re making creative color choices) the video’s colors so they are truer to the vibe you’re trying to create.
    • Exposure: The amount of light in the image.
    • Contrast: Heightens the difference between darks and lights, creating a deeper or flatter image.
    • Highlight/Shadow: Helps recover detail
    • Whites/Blacks: Bumps up true lights and blacks
      • NOTE: Go into the Effect Controls panel. Notice that the Lumetri Color effect has been applied, so you can now edit and/or turn off your color adjustments by clicking the FX button on the left. 
  • Adjustment Layers: This is preferred when you want to apply a general color adjustment across a group of clips instead of just one.
    • Click into the Project window and either right click in the empty space and select “New Item” or go to the bottom and click on the sticky-note-looking icon and choose “Adjustment Layer.” This will create a new adjustment layer in your Project files which you can now click and drag into your timeline.
    • Go into the Lumetri Color window and make an adjustment. The effect will now be applied to the Adjustment Layer and acts as a kind of filter on all of the videos underneath the Adjustment Layers.
    • You can apply any number of effects to adjustment layers, each of which will be applied to whatever is beneath it.

Lumetri Color and Scopes

  • Lumetri Scopes: Because every eye and monitor are different, this gives you a visualization of where the colors are sitting within your clips.
    • The best way to use these Scopes is to round out the colors in the clip. You can do this by making adjustments in Lumetri Color so the values (or rainbow pattern) just hits the top and bottom of the scope.
  • In the Lumetri Color window, there are many different color editing tabs besides just Basic Correction. Review at least the main outlined points in each of these with the class:
    • Creative:
      • Look: Cool way to add filters or color alterations straight from the get-go
      • Saturation/Vibrance: Saturation boosts all colors, vibrance boosts all colors except skin tones.
    • Curves
      • RGB Curve: If you’re going to edit here, the best practice is to make the curve look like an S. Check the attached video for more details.
      • Hue Saturation Curves: A graphical way of adjusting color saturation and hue in the same place.
    • Color Wheel and Match: Allows you to adjust color temperature for highlights, midtones and shadows. Used to do split-toning, or adding different hues to your clips, which creates a more cinematic look.
    • HSL Secondary
      • Key
      • Refine: Used to denoise (Sharpen) or blur your images
      • Correction
    • Vignette: Adds a black/white rim to the edge of your video, which can make it pop.

Mask Review

  • Take a few moments to review how to apply and track masks (Refer to Day 3) on your image, except this time use it with the Lumetri Color effect. This will allow you to make small color changes on specific parts of a clip. A good clip to practice this on is video C181.

Conclusion:

  • Review Questions
  • Today we learned:
    • How to navigate the Lumetri Color window
    • How to apply Adjustment Layers to clips
    • Reviewed how to create and track masks.
  • Next time we’ll learn: Effects and Captions
  • Be sure to remind the class about Badges!