Correcting Shots - The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction - page 288

I would typically build a circle just about where it is right now. I tend
to go a little deeper with my shapes as far as overall correction, and
as I soften it, I'll make the decision of whether I need to add some-
thing or take something out. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going
to go back inside the circle. I just want to clean up the black areas a little bit.”
Pepperman lowers the low saturation setting inside the window as he
explains his change from his earlier stance, “I typically wouldn't use low
sat or high sat here, because you can build yourself into a corner. Because
what happens with a DaVinci is that the color correction that you apply
to the scene will go to the next scene. I just don't like painting myself in
a corner that way.”
I want to go to the point where I don't see emulsion anymore, what
we consider emulsion in the blacks, but I still see detail.
- Chris Pepperman, NFL Films
Finally, he softens the edge of the vignette and moves it up a bit from
where it had been. “Now I want to go inside the circle and increase the
video (highlights) a little bit. And I want to come up on the peds (blacks)
a tad. I want to go to the point where I don't see emulsion anymore, what
we consider emulsion in the blacks, but I still see detail.”
Next, industry veteran Mike Most of Miami's Cineworks Digital Stu-
dios, takes on the “alley” scene: “The whole thing is timed a little cool for
my tastes, so once again I'll go through my usual. And I'll look and see
if there's anything that warrants being white, and in this case it probably
does. In this case, I wouldn't be afraid to let some of the white areas clip.
Normally, you try to hold those in check if you can. But in point of fact,
the grayscale of this—if I start pulling it up, the picture just looks flat, so I
probably want it down where it was and yet I want his face to look right.
So I can do that either with a window, or more likely, I'll do it by just clip-
ping the white areas and then fixing the flesh tone a little bit. The reason
I prefer to do it that way is simply because it gives me a little more kick. I
mean, he's clearly in a shadow anyway, so you don't want him too bright.
But there's nothing up there that you need to see, so I would just kind of
let it go,” Most states as he points to the sky in the top left of the picture.
Mike Most
Mike Most has an extensive background in both color correction and visual effects. His
color correction credits include L.A. Law, Murder One, and NYPD Blue. He has also served
as visual effects supervisor for shows like Ally McBeal and Charmed.
Currently, he supervises visual effects at Miami's Cineworks Digital Studios.