Primary Color Correction: Color Control Primer - The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction - page 94

also in this tonal range, so they will start going too red. There is a lot of
the façade that is affected by highlights controls, but moving the high-
lights too red makes the sky look an odd yellow color. Normally, we'd
try to qualify the sky or the façade or the pine trees with a secondary
color correction, but for now, just try to find a nice balance using your
primary color correction tools.
With the tonal fixes and the color balancing, this is now a much more
pleasant image ( Figure 3.29 ) .
Fig. 3.29
Visual Clues to Color and Contrast
Although we usually want to balance the colors so that our blacks and highlights are
neutral and the tonal range is nicely spread out, there are certain clues that we need to
look for when determining color balance and tone. One of the main clues is the position
of the sun in outdoor shots. By looking at the shadows in the image, you can tell whether
the sun is high (deep, close shadows) or whether it is low (long shadows).
Those long shadows usually indicate a nice, warm “golden hour” feel. The shadows
are rich and the colors are reddish-yellow.
Even indoors, you can use shadows and the presence of practical lights in the scene
to guide your corrections. Although you don't want an entire scene shot with fluorescent
light to look bright green, it's natural to include some of this green cast if your characters
are working in an environment typically lit by fluorescents, like a police station.
Similarly, with a nice table lamp next to a subject, your audience will be expect-
ing a nice warm light to be coming from it. As long as these colors make sense in the
emotional context of the story, use the lighting clues to give you a direction on color
and contrast.