Color Correction

warriorking wrote on 2/2/2009, 11:27 AM
OK, I am pretty new to Vegas, My friend just gave me some footage he shot at our local arts center, the All state chorus was performing on stage so he shot the footage with his cannon HG10 AVCHD camera, wanting me to tranfer it to DVD..The choir looks washed out in the footage due to the onstage lighting, choir wore all black so all their faces are just fuzzy white blobs , Is there anything I can do with vegas to help make the faces somewhat better or am I stuck with the footage as is......

Comments

craftech wrote on 2/2/2009, 11:54 AM
Like most cameras that are halfway decent, that camera has a Spotlight Mode which he should have used.

That said,

Zoom in on the faces and look for details. If they aren't there or you can barely make out actual features I don't know of any good way to correct it. If there is, then start with this valuable tutorial done by a very helpful former Vegas forum member that I really miss.

Start with that.

John
warriorking wrote on 2/2/2009, 12:57 PM
Thanks for the tip and the link..., I will give it a try.........
farss wrote on 2/2/2009, 1:13 PM
One thing not mentioned that may help 'restore' partially lost detail is the Convolution Kernel FX. I could get it to help last time I used it. However if the images are really cooked you really are out of luck.

Bob.
GlennChan wrote on 2/2/2009, 1:51 PM
You can get back some highlight detail by mapping the superwhites into the legal range. This is free detail.

http://www.glennchan.info/articles/vegas/color-correction/tutorial.htm

2- The convolution kernel FX can do the same thing as the Sharpen filter (and the unsharp mask filter).

I prefer using the unsharp mask filter for any sharpening tasks.
http://www.glennchan.info/articles/vegas/usm/usm.html

However if the images are really cooked you really are out of luck.
That's true. :(

You can make it look 'intentional' by adding glow effects.
richard-amirault wrote on 2/2/2009, 4:54 PM
Like most cameras that are halfway decent, that camera has a Spotlight Mode which he should have used.

OR .. shoot in MANUAL exposure .. or use SPOT METER mode if that is available.

I've come across a similar situation myself .. a man with a black suit jacket, standing behind a black poduim, in front of a black curtain. The only way to shoot is manual (or spot meter) otherwise you end up with the problem you have now.
craftech wrote on 2/2/2009, 8:06 PM
Like most cameras that are halfway decent, that camera has a Spotlight Mode which he should have used.
-----------------------------------
OR .. shoot in MANUAL exposure .. or use SPOT METER mode if that is available.
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Manual exposure on that camera?
The camera has a cheap little flimsy wheel on the edge of the LCD screen with a four-way touchpad in the middle of the flimsy little wheel. That is the manual adjustment for shutter proirity, aperture priority, white balance, and of course the image effects no one needs. They are really limited. When I said halfway decent camera, I meant halfway.

From the review at Camcorderinfo:

"Exposure & Aperture (7.6)
The Canon HG10 has controls for both exposure compensation and, in Aperture Priority mode, direct f-stop controls. Exposure compensation, the simpler of the two, is accessed by pushing the set button on the LCD panel. A small window pops up in the lower right screen. Keep pushing down on the touchpad until “EXP” appears. Then push up. A blue scale appears at the top of the LCD panel. Pushing left and right makes the image darker or brighter – the simplicity of the control makes it appealing to beginners. The scale ranges from +/-11 in whole number increments.

For a little more precision with your depth of field, put the camcorder into Aperture Priority mode. To do this, go to the Function menu and switch the setting from “P” mode to “Av.” In Aperture Priority, the shutter speed is automatically adjusted for proper exposure. You cannot adjust aperture and shutter speed independently. Aperture settings include f/1.8, f/2.0, f/2.4, f/2.8, f/3.4, f/4.0, f/4.8, f/5.6, f/6.7, and f/8.0. "

John