Byron, nice footage. There are probably several ways to approach this but this is what I would try.

1. Duplicate your track.
2. On the top-most track, use the secondary color corrector on her face and darken it as required. This will likely affect other parts of the image as well, which we'll fix with step 3.
3. On the top-most track, apply a mask to limit the correction to her face.

/jerry

I hope this isn't hijacking this thread. If so, my apologies.

I downloaded this clip using the Firefox YouTube downloader and have been using my laptop to try some correction scenarios.

As the others have mentioned, my first thought was to use the secondary color corrector. However, I ran into a problem: the singer's face is too small to accurately use the eyedropper to click-and-drag a selection (on my small screen laptop, anyway).

So, here's my question: is there anyway to zoom the preview screen so one can more easily select an area for color correction?

the other,
...Jerry

Really appreciate the responses and suggestions.

I figured this was going to be a challenge.

The footage was taken in Guam so it was quite warm and it was a dark venue (as with most of my videos)

I've already done some color correction (2ndary) and enhanced the clip w/ noise reduction, Unsharp Mask, Sharpen FXes. You can also see the reflection on the bass player's arm. I actually have about 20 minutes of these guys so key framing masks is going to take a while..

Farss you mentioned that this is hard to correct even when it's noticed. Is there a way to minimize this effect when I do see it?

Again, thanks for all the assistance!
Byron

Byron,
Can you upload the original camera clip to MediaFire or somewhere?
I think I can do quite a lot with levels and gamma alone, and would be happy to post the settings.
However, Youtube changes the colorspace, so I don't think that is the best starting point.

It appears to have been shot through glass, is that correct?

"Farss you mentioned that this is hard to correct even when it's noticed. Is there a way to minimize this effect when I do see it?"

Obviously all you can do is reduce the exposure to protect the highlights. The unwanted effect of doing that is to push the rest of the frame into darkness and the noise floor.

Great images start with good lighting. If you cannot control the lighting you can face situations where it's impossible to get good let alone great images.

Bob.

There is a reason that any "name" band has a truckload of lights, scrims and crew to work it all.
This is a very good video -for what it is.
Unfortunately there is no magic bullet.

Sometimes you've simply got to live with reality - if the singer wants to make this better, and (let's say) this is a priceless performance...
I'd reshoot in a controlled environment to synced playback.
Realistically - that's how the majority of music videos are produced anyway.

For this particular video - I'd hope that the singer and keyboard guy would simply be happy to have a record of the event - the audio is good and you can clearly see everything. Unless someone else shot the same setup and has spectacular footage, I'd just lay it to rest.

On the third hand - I would have liked some (many) more tight closeups. That would immediately have solved a lot of your issues - not completely, but tight shots tend to hold a lot more luminance detail and give an apparently wider range of exposure.
VIC'S RULE: YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG WITH CLOSE-UPS AND CUTAWAYS - SHOOT A LOT OF THEM

v

Thanks for all the replies and assistance.

It's funny because this wasn't planned, this video was actually one of those priceless moments where we were having dinner at this place and the duo was playing. I thought hey, these guys are actually pretty good and just happened to have my Kodak PlaySport (I carry this little thing w/ me everywhere) which is probably why the quality isn't as good in the first place.

I think I've gotten the video edited to the point that it's useable.

Vic, Definitely some great tips and I'll keep the close-ups rule at the top of the list next time! (:

This exercise was definitely a great learning experience of how important it is to try to get the best quality shot possible because you can only do so much in post.

-Byron

"...just happened to have my Kodak PlaySport (I carry this little thing w/ me everywhere)..."

I brought two Kodak camcorders with me to an amateur movie premier event. A Zx3 PlaySport and a Zi8. I set the PlaySport at 1280x720 for the wide angle and the Zi8 at 1920x1080 for the narrow angle.

The lighting was really, really bad so I used a LED flashlight to illuminate the speakers face. I put the video together the same night so it could be posted the next day. Of course, I used Vegas!
http://www.vimeo.com/12899948
Warning, there is some cursing, so it's not a work-safe or child-safe video.