Dark Video from backlight

videonovice wrote on 12/11/2006, 5:23 PM

I shot a video on a day that was sunny and inside a white tent. My problem is that the video looks dark because of the backlight. Can anyone tell me how I can get it to look good and not grainy?

Comments

Paul Mead wrote on 12/12/2006, 6:31 AM

From my experience you will be stuck with "grainy". I don't know if this is the best way; try it out and see if it helps. You can bring up the darker parts of the scene by using the Color Curves effect (under the Video FX tab). Basically, you just bump up all three colors in the darker (lower left side) of the color curve. That will increase the brightness of the darker parts of the image without increasing the brightness of the already bright portions of the image. You won't get great contrast, but at least you will get more detail out of the shadows. I suggest clicking on the "?" and reading the help to get an idea on how that effect works.

You can also try using the Brightness and Contrast effect, but it will wash out any detail in the bright portions of the image. That may be OK for your purposes.

videonovice wrote on 12/13/2006, 6:41 PM

Thanks Paul. I was using the Brightness and Contrast controls....but I like your way better using color curves....then if I need to add a little brightness and contrast after using the color curves....it works pretty good.