Which tool to correct Underexposure

Musician wrote on 7/20/2007, 3:23 PM
I shot some footage at a club recently, and I purposely underexposed the footage about 1-2 stops because of the bright lights, lasers, etc. and decided to correct it in post if needed. I realize that there are so many tools to use to fix an image or to get the look you desire. I could fix it with a color curve, but it is very subjective. I could use color correction and add gain. But I would like to learn the appropriate tool commonly used to correct underexposure. Any suggestions?

Comments

JackW wrote on 7/20/2007, 3:30 PM
A good starting point would be "Levels." Be sure to use the scopes with this so you stay within legal limits. Keep the blacks down around "0" and the whites no higher than "100," perhaps even a little less.

Don't use "Brightness," and I would be very careful adding "Gain" as you'll tend to wash out the image if you over do it.

Jack
Musician wrote on 7/20/2007, 3:52 PM
Thanks Jack. I use Levels a lot when I use Photoshop, but I have found them to be a little less intuitive to use in Vegas. But you think this is the common tool for fixing underexposure in video applications as well?
p@mast3rs wrote on 7/20/2007, 8:22 PM
Curves can help as well in this situation.
FuTz wrote on 7/20/2007, 8:50 PM
I use levels in Photoshop too, and mainly Curves in Vegas.
Personnal input... and I'll back Jack: avoid Brightness (you'd be working on the whole pic on every move you make instead of pinpointing each level in the pic)