Color correction-need quick help

mykmills wrote on 5/16/2012, 10:28 PM
A man was captured by my security camera and the police need the footage. I gave them the raw footage but my camera color is WAY off. If you look at the photo I've linked it looks SUPER brown but it's actually really green. The man wore a dark grey or black shirt and it looks like a very faded red, almost salmon.

When using the color correction, I have 3 dials and have no clue which way to go with them. The police would like to have a color correct version of the photo (the guy walked up and his face filled the screen) so they can use it in court. Help?

http://www.mdubm.com/photos/cameracolor.jpg

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 5/16/2012, 10:59 PM
..."so they can use it in court."

I believe you have some faulty information.

Any photographic evidence that has been altered or enhanced before reaching the forensics unit is inadmissible in any proceeding. This is true everywhere in the US afaik.

The police have there own forensics experts, and the original footage along with any enhanced copies they have made must both be presented during the discovery phase in court.

I'm not going to give you legal advice, but I would pass the evidence to the police untouched on its original storage media along with an affidavit through your attorney, and nothing else. Otherwise you could have some tough questions to answer if called as a material witness, and you need to cover your tail.
mykmills wrote on 5/17/2012, 1:25 PM
Thanks for the info but I've already given them the raw footage and am trying to help them further (and myself overall) by figuring out how to fix the video footage to reflect the correct colors.

Anyone have any idea where to start?
rdandrea wrote on 5/17/2012, 3:52 PM
If there's something in your video that's supposed to be white, you can try the Sony White Balance Track FX. It has a dropper so that you can point to something in the Preview window that's supposed to be white.
mykmills wrote on 5/17/2012, 6:23 PM
Never noticed the droppers. Ty. Gotta wear my glasses more often. I've been fiddling around with the Color Correcter (1 & 2) but is there a way to do the dropper thing with, say, my Green, Blue, Brown garbage cans? I have 3 in one shot and if I can figure out how to make them the correct colors, I can fix all 4 camera shots...
rdandrea wrote on 5/17/2012, 11:13 PM
If it were me, I'd start with white balance first.