Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
spots have had the most time spent in refining the look. Also, if you're
checking out images on a video monitor or TV set, make sure it is
properly calibrated. Another good visual training tool is to watch an
image on your professional video monitor, then transfer it to a DVD
and watch it on several of the regular TV sets in your home. Look
to see how the image changes on each set. It can be a little bit of a
depressing exercise to see the way your carefully honed images look
“at home.” Try to keep your home TV sets set up properly so that
you're always watching the broadcast images as close to the way the
colorist intended them.
Also, study print advertisements. Though these advertisements often
have images that are hard or impossible to replicate on video, you can
learn valuable techniques by studying the way print advertisements
are retouched. (Retouchers are the print equivalent of colorists.) Also,
because the print advertisement doesn't move, it's much easier to analyze
for a lengthy time period.
One of the ways to train your eyes to better understand and analyze the
image is to confirm what you are seeing with some other method of ana-
lyzing the image, like a waveform, vectorscope, eyedropper, or histogram.
Let's take that list in order.
I've already discussed the basics of the waveform monitor in the first
chapter, but that was just to understand the tonal range of the image as it
was displayed. It is also possible to find many critical clues about the color
of your image using the waveform monitor.
The standard waveform display is not going to tell you a lot about
color, but switching to RGB Parade mode or YRGB Parade mode is a
favorite colorist tool for analyzing color. My guess is that if most color-
ists were stranded on a desert island with only one scope, they'd choose
the RGB Parade. The main reason is that the red, green, and blue cells
of the RGB Parade waveform correspond easily to the red, green, and
blue controls available on most color control panels. The RGB Parade
also gives intuitive visual clues as to which tonal range is exhibiting a
specific color cast.
Let's run through a quick tutorial to see how the RGB Parade
waveform displays color information.
The standard waveform display is not going to tell you a lot about
color, but switching to RGB Parade mode or YRGB Parade mode is a
favorite colorist tool for analyzing color.
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