I was handed a DVD with an hour-long .WMV file of a teacher working in front of a white-board, and was asked to create an introduction and titles.  No problem said I.  I imported the .WMV into Liquid, and found that if I created an .AVI file, imported it, and edited it rather than the .WMV file, things went much faster.  No loss of quality was perceived.

This was obviously shot on a consumer grade camera by someone with only rudimentary skills.  At least it was on a tripod--but the zooming made me seasick!  Something did not look right on the color, and all the tweaking I could do with the color editors just did not seem to make things right.  I knew that Liquid had a powerful tool in the Color Correction Editor, but it sure would have been nice to have a reference clip to match hues against.  That's when I had an epiphany!  Make one!

I created a color clip--a circular gradient with the 1st color being black, and the 2nd color as white.  After importing it, I opened the color correction editor, set the gradient clip as the reference, and using the 3 point hue tool, referenced the white papers she was holding to the white center of the reference clip, the black frame around the white-board to the edge of the reference, and the gray--well I got lucky as the wallpaper was gray--so I selected a gray between black and white (center and edge) and adjusted it more to the center or to the edge of the reference clip till the color was just right.

While not spectacular (it was a consumer camera), the color are greatly improved.  Another lesson learned--don't doubt liquid!

Sound of hands clapping!!!

 Way cool Fred.

Nice idea to use an image with the 3 colors.

I just saw that you can also use the Reference in the source window (without choosing a reference clip), it also has a gradient.

But results are not always good! It will depend on the clip.

 

I find the auto color correction filter is a good first and fast step -  and then if I am not happy with it, use color correction.  I did it by mistake one time and was amazed at how good it worked.

Hi Dave,

Like you, I am frequently surprised at just how good the auto corrector can be, although I have noticed that there are clips that are better suited for auto correction than others.

I always enjoyed the videos you have posted in years gone by--whether it was the dog or a lampoon of Andy Browne's work.  Your part of the country is so beautiful.

Cheers......Fred

Wow that threw me through a loop! I understand the concept but still trying to grasp the applied effort.

I do lots of color correction however not as you described which may be a great tool however don't always have a true black white grey reference in the actual image.

I would be really nice if we could have a dedicated forum header for just color correction techniques. really.

Hi Fred

Thanks.  That Andy just provides too much material to resist.   And this is grear country.

later