Semi-OT: All hail the three-wheeler

vitalforce wrote on 11/13/2006, 2:50 PM
In the past few days I've struggled to get the best color balance on a large collection of behind-the-scenes photos for my digital feature's (edited on Vegas) upcoming web site. Using Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro XI, time and again I unconsciously reach for the Vegas three-wheel color corrector and secondary corrector. Madison/Sony gave away (in Vegas 4 I believe) a plugin of huge value with this feature. How fast this would go if I could apply the learning curve I've already climbed!

On the other hand, working with stills forces me to gain a new respect for levels, histograms, curves and layers (especially the fancy multi-function plugins in Paint Shop Pro XI) that I had often bypassed in Vegas (except for curves, essential to video editing). The biggest annoyance is not being able to quickly figure out how to remove a color cast from a photo with the tools available, as simple as that sounds.
.

Comments

Jay Gladwell wrote on 11/13/2006, 3:31 PM

A basic understanding of color theory certainly helps. Maybe this introduction will help: Color Theory

For example, looking at the wheel, if your shot is too blue, you'd use the opposite color on the wheel, that being yellow, to correct the bluish cast. And so forth it goes around the wheel.


GlennChan wrote on 11/13/2006, 8:02 PM
Use the eyedroppers with the negative signs beside them. Click the eyedropper, drag-select something in the shot that's supposed to be a neutral color.

Do this for the highs and the mids (I'd start with the highs first).
Grazie wrote on 11/13/2006, 10:36 PM
Is a "neutral" colour something like a "grey"?

Glenn? Why, "(I'd start with the highs first)." ? What happens when starting with the LOWS first?

Always ready to learn!

TIA
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 11/14/2006, 7:58 AM
in my experience using the neg dropper on the lows has never really worked all that well. And often, just correcting the highs is all that needs to be done sometimes.

Dave
vitalforce wrote on 11/14/2006, 2:45 PM
Good point JG. Even though I don't have a color wheel in the UI, I can still THINK color wheel. And nice link to the Artsparx site.
GlennChan wrote on 11/14/2006, 8:45 PM
Is a "neutral" colour something like a "grey"?
Yep, that is what I mean by neutral. The proper term may be achromatic. White, grey, and black are achromatic.

Glenn? Why, "(I'd start with the highs first)." ? What happens when starting with the LOWS first?

The order will give you slightly different results. I find that I get better results doing the highs first, then the mids. The lows I don't even bother with, because they are correct most of the time (unless you mess up the camera settings).

The difference:
If you start with the high eyedropper first, then the highs will get white balanced to white. However, the highs will change. When you use the mids eyedropper second, this will shift the highs slightly to pick up the opposite color cast.

If you reversed the order, then the highs will be neutral and the mids will have a slight color cast.

I just find that doing the highs first gives better results. If the color cast is extreme, then the Color Corrector alone doesn't do that good a job at fixing it. You can use the Color Corrector Secondary to help things out... use it to de-saturate the highlights.
Serena wrote on 11/14/2006, 9:20 PM
There's a good DVD on colour correcting using Vegas. Has a chappie called Glen in a lot of it, who seems to know what he's doing; the techniques he explains really work. He also supplies a 6 wheel colour corrector. There is also a "spot" of image enhancement, and that shouldn't be missed.
Grazie wrote on 11/14/2006, 10:36 PM
Glenn, you total Star-Man! Thank you for your reply.

I sometimes read a response that doesn't "explain" the reasons for an approach, rather it's just the approach ( hmmm, now I wonder who THAT reminds me of? Hmm . . ). Knowing why something is done helps to "nail" or "hammer" it home, at least for me. Going from HIGHS to LOWS makes perfect sense to me too. Going for a HIGH first IS setting the upper limit to what in effect IS a WB anyway - yes? It's that white I would have put in front of the camera. OR the WB template I would have or should have selected for WB in camera? Interesting.

Again thank you.

Serena, as always, thanks for "suggesting" Glenn's DVD on CC. Reading and rummaging between your lines I'm of the opinion that another chappie makes a "spot" appearance too? But I could be totally incorrect in my assumption.
MH_Stevens wrote on 11/14/2006, 11:43 PM
Just a comment.
I use the -ve dropper frequently, but as the original poster is knowledgeable in the still world I will say the Vegas droppers do not work anywhere near as well as the Photoshop ones. How I wish Photoshop tools could be used in Vegas!

Grazie wrote on 11/15/2006, 12:22 AM
How I wish Photoshop tools could be used in Vegas!

Would it then be called Prem?? LOL!!?!?
DGates wrote on 11/15/2006, 3:31 PM
Imagine being in my boat. It's harder to color correct when you're color blind. Either way, I still know bad white balance when I see it.