Practical Color Correction
One of the most often discussed, and often confusing aspect of working in any Non-Linear Edit system is that of color correction. What does it do? How do you do it? Why is it important in my project? While there have been a rather large number of books, training DVDs and other sources for answers, they usually require you to flip through page after page in a book, or shuttling through chapters on a DVD. When you can’t spend the time looking through these conflicting sources, and you need the information explained to you in a relatively short amount of time, you need Intelligent Assistance’s new offering: Practical Color Correction.
What makes Practical Color Correction so valuable to a Final Cut Pro 4 or Final Cut Express 2 user is that the program resides on the same computer you are working at. Instead of searching for the book on the bookshelf, Practical Color Correction is just a mouse click away. In fact, if you size your Final Cut Pro/Express application correctly, you can even have Practical Color Correction running right alongside while you edit. Why is that important? Intelligent Assistance has taken a very keen approach to creating a help system. With all of their titles, you can search via keyword, browse through video tutorials, or even type a question directly.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]Contained on this installment, are over 60 minutes of training video (spread out over 20 sections), and around 70 pages of How2s and Advice. The topics range from the very basic but important “Knowing Your Scopes”, to topics not often thought of by beginners like “Secondary Color Correction”. The content is put together really well and the CD even contains footage for you to practice with. Philip Hodgetts and crew have once again put together a valuable package that provides the information you need, when you need it, and have made it very accessible.
Instead of sitting through all the tutorials, and reading all of the How2s and Advice. I put Practical Color Correction through its paces by using it during a real world edit and color correction process. While I have a good understanding of the topic and am able to correct footage without much of a problem I wanted to see how useful this application is from the beginner/novice/intermediate perspective. During the session, I would stop often and type a question or key phrase into the ask box and in an instant the answer or technique appeared.
As with other Intelligent Assistance titles, many of the How2s and Advice sections contain video explanations of what you are reading. Very helpful indeed! Even though this disc doesn’t contain all of the information found in 200 page tomes (which I have also reviewed on this site), it does contain the most important and valuable information. Philip even takes the time to explain how to calibrate your video monitor – an essential step if you are doing color correction.
The only negative comment I can make about Practical Color Correction is on the audio side. Occasionally when you are working through a tutorial and you are going from one step to another or one chapter of the tutorial to another, the audio tends to fluctuate. In one movie the sound is loud, while on another clip it is softer. While not a big problem, it is one that I should point out for those of you who are using your built in speaker to listen to the content.
At a mere $35, Practical Color Correction from Intelligent Assistance is a Must Buy for anyone doing color correction and needs guidance now and then. Great tips, informative advice, and real world examples, ranks this in the top three sources for color correction information.
When not working deep in the labs of the DMN Central Division testing the latest and greatest software/hardware products Stephen Schleicher can be found at the local university teaching a few courses on video and web production. He can be reached at schleicher@mindspring.com. You can also visit him on the web at www.mindspring.com/~schleicher
Related DMN Channels: • AV Video • Broadcast Newsroom • Corporate Media News • Creative Mac • Digital Animators • Digital Post Production • Digital Producer • Digital Video Editing • DV Format • The WWUG
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