Primary Color Correction: Tonal Range Primer - The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction - page 29

D e f i n i t i o n
practical lights: Some-
times called “practicals”;
lights that are part of the
scene, such as a table lamp
in a scene next to an actor
( Figure 1.27 ). Usually the
brightness of practicals is
closely controlled by the
director of photography by
changing the wattage of
the bulb or putting it on a
dimmer.

Fig. 1.27 The table lamp behind the sleeping woman is referred to as a “practical.”

blow out: A nontechnical
term for clipping or letting
a bright highlight get so
hot that it loses all or most
of its detail. “The only way
I can bring the level up
enough to see the actor's
face is to blow out the
window.”

better for the colorist to determine how and where the clipping occurs
than to rely on some “dumb” device downstream to do this, because
you'll have no control of the way the signal looks at that point. Plus, if
you are doing these corrections with a client supervising the session, they
may love the look of what you're doing in the suite, but may be less than
pleased when they see what the limiter does to their beautiful corrections.
For an image with highlights that are very high above the rest of the
levels in the shot, you may want to set the main “brightness” using the
midtones or gamma so that you have a pleasing level, then use the gain
controls to bring just the highlights back down to a legal level. This exam-
ple also can be an instance in which you break the rules in regards to clip-
ping. If you have a scene that is perhaps mostly dark except for a couple
of very bright practical lights that are seen in the shot or a scene with a
very bright window behind a darker subject, you can make the decision
to clip or “blow out” that window or practical in order to gain enough
tonal range in the area that matters: your subject.
Make one last check to confirm that your setup change didn't affect
your highlights, and then we'll find the correct gamma adjustment to
make this look as rich and well lit as possible.

Setting Gamma or Midtones

After setting blacks and highlights, the final tonal correction is to set your
midtones. This is how a lot of the mood of the shot is created. With the
other two levels basically done by looking for their “extreme” legal limits,
the overall tone of the piece is set using the gamma or midtone.
When I do color correction, I do not have to deal with too many
outside opinions. My decision about the look is pretty much the final say.
I realize that this is not the case for many colorists.