Optimum Sequence of Adding FX Effects

BobWard wrote on 9/4/2010, 10:36 AM
Sorry for all the questions I have been asking the last few days. But I have one more topic that I am having trouble getting a good handle on.

This question goes back to the old 1950s 8 mm film that I am working on in VMS10 in an effort to try and enhance the image quality. The film was over 50-years old when digitized and the images are now very dark (muddy looking) and have lost a lot of the original color.

Seems like I heard somewhere that the editing sequence (FX Effects) can have a big impact on the looks of the final product. I have generally been applying editing effects in the following order; 1) levels, 2) white balance; 3) brightness/contrast; 4) color adjustment & saturation tools; 5) sharpen.

Is this a pretty reasonable order of editing to clean-up the images from this old film? Or, is this going to be pretty much a trial & error approach to see what works best? I guess I am just looking for a good starting point.

Bob

Comments

jetdv wrote on 9/4/2010, 3:33 PM
My biggest comment is GET RID OF #3! You can achieve better results using the Gamma and other settings of the color corrector and the levels tool to make things brighter.
Richard Jones wrote on 9/5/2010, 3:00 AM
Yes, I very much agree and would be inclined to use white balance before anything else.

Richard
BobWard wrote on 9/5/2010, 3:45 PM
If I delete the brightness/contrast tool, I can still use the other tools, as you suggested, to brighten up the images, but theother tools do not offer any contrast adjustments do they?

Bob
Richard Jones wrote on 9/6/2010, 4:01 AM
Yes there are Gamma adjustments under under both of the Colour Correction options (and perhaps in other FX as well although I would have to check on this).

Incidentally you might sometimes wish to use Unsharp Mask for sharpening (sounds contradictory but it dates to ther days when a B & W negative could be aligned with a copy to correct an out of focus problem) or the preset in Convolusion Kernel. I've found them both very useful.

Richard
BobWard wrote on 9/6/2010, 9:01 AM
Thanks Richard. I will give that a try.

Bob
Byron K wrote on 9/6/2010, 12:39 PM
Reply by: BobWard, Date: 9/5/2010 12:45:25 PM
If I delete the brightness/contrast tool, I can still use the other tools, as you suggested, to brighten up the images, but theother tools do not offer any contrast adjustments do they?!

I used to use Brightness/Contrast effect a LOT until found, through recommendation from folks on this forum, that Color Corrector (Secondary) does a better job adjusting contrast and more accurate at color matching and adjusting than just the Brightness/Contrast effect.

Use Gama to adjust brightness, Gain and Offset to adjust the contrast. Saturation adjusts color intensity. Use the Chrominance wheel to adjust any colors that may have been washed out during the process.. Keep in mind little adjustments goes a long way.
BobWard wrote on 9/6/2010, 5:41 PM
Thanks Byron, I will work with those tips as well.

I read on an older thread that some folks recommend adding the Black & White filter first and then work on Levels while the image is monochrome. Once the Levels are adjusted, disable the B&W filter and begin doing color corrections.

I am just getting ready to give that a try.

Bob
Markk655 wrote on 9/6/2010, 6:05 PM
Byron,

Thanks for bringing all of that info in a very clear, concise manner. I have read that in pieces, but it was nice seeing it all together.
BobWard wrote on 9/7/2010, 8:54 AM
I notice that several of the FX filters have gain, gamma, offset, etc. sliders. Once you have adjusted these sliders in one filter, is it neccessary to adjust the same sliders again on the other filters? Is this a duplication of effort?

Bob
Richard Jones wrote on 9/8/2010, 3:14 AM
How does it look in the Preview or on the external monitor? That should give you a good idea of what's what but the various scopes (if they're available in VMS (Ctrl + Alt + 2 to access all of them in Pro))
are more than useful. There's an excellent intro to these at:-

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/trainingvids.asp?prod=vegaspro

You may also find that the following link gives a helpful intro to colour correction in general:-

http://www.jetdv.com/tts/Colour_Correction_Summary.doc


Incidentally, the B & W filter is an excellent way of checking/correcting exposure (using Levels) and the Colourt Corrector for for checking the White Balance.

Richard