Color Correct LOG Like a Pro in Final Cut Pro (No Conversion LUTs or PLUGINS)

calibrating see log footage is actually much  easier than you think with a tiny bit of knowledge   you'll be able to go from this to this in about  one minute today I'll show you how to do it   without any special plugins or let's I'm Rafael  and welcome to the channel conversion lots are   great when they work what do you do when they fail  and they will fail this technique I'm using in   this video will work in any editor that has color  correction tools I did this exact same walkthrough   in DaVinci Resolve and Adobe Premiere you can find  those links in the description below in this video   we'll talk about how to set the exposure and  contrast properly in log 3 how to easily white   balance with and without a color chart using the  waveform how to correct skin tone issues using   the vector scope how to check to make sure that  the skin tone is set between 40 and 70 Ayari and   exposed properly how to set the presets to use on  all your footage and how you'll never have to ask   for help again once you've practiced these steps  full disclosure I am NOT a colorist but for most   of my client work I will gladly hire pros to be as  precise as possible to grade the footage however   for smaller projects and my own personal work I've  learned these steps required to quickly get from   log footage to the base grade without using Luntz  or expensive plugins so this isn't the be-all and   end-all for color correcting C log footage or any  log footage for that matter there are many ways to   do the same thing but it's a method I found that  works really well to rough-in a base grade and add   some personality to it after so let me ask this  question why do we shoot log in the first place   it's to ensure that the camera captures the most  amount of detail in any scene the darkest dark   and the brightest bright rec.709 is designed to  output between seven and nine stops of dynamic   range and it's mostly a display standard log helps  expand that distance to twelve to sixteen stops   depending on the camera rec.709 color space looks  pleasant log footage does not so then we have to   bring back the information to a pleasant look but  now we can choose if we want the brighter end the   darker end or a nice mix of both as I go through  this method I will try to cut it down to only the   essential things you'll need to know to correct  and then grade your footage all these steps assume   that your footage is exposed mostly correctly  and is within the right white balance check out   this video where I talk about correctly exposing  your EOS r4c log footage and since you're here   give this video a thumbs up and subscribe if this  video helps you out quick terminology recap we'll   be talking about in this video color correction  and color grading color correction is when you fix   color issues color space color temperature the  white balance or skin tones in the video color   grading is adding color for creative purposes to  convey meaning mood location time of day themes   character associations it's really powerful stuff  psychologically if you have a color chart this   will help setting up your own Luntz or correcting  for any location but don't worry I'll show you how   to correct even without a color chart all a lot  does is tonal easily map colors from one place   to another this value should be this and that  value should be that and it's all based on log   footage you start with that is why different lots  don't work with different log footage and it's   why creative lots never work without normalizing  your footage first they all assume the footage is   starting from a certain color space like rec.709  which is the most common but we won't be talking   about the creative grading much in this video this  video is how to get your log footage to a starting   point by normalizing it the creative decisions you  make on how you want your footage look after that   that is up to you that's where you get to play  and have fun if you like it and you think it looks   good go for it there really are no rules to be  clear there isn't unless your footage is perfectly   exposed with 100% perfect white balance expect  to do a bit of tweaking either the color tint or   the luma though there are some simple truths that  do work as a starting point and today we'll cover   that workflow and if you have a color chart up I  know what you're thinking but Rafael I don't have   a color chart so this is gonna work for me and you  would be wrong random citizen I am going to show   you how to do it without color charts and even  without any skin tone in the shot so just give   me a second we're gonna start with the color chart  first because this is the best way to get precise   colors open up the waveform monitor let's make it  a little bit bigger this represents the luminance   values across the image from left to right the  bottom is black and is full white so from left   to right you can actually see where all the hot  spots are where all the brightness happens here   are all the colors on the color chart the white  gray and black right here so what we want to do   with these three stripes right here we want to  bring the white as close to the top as we can   we want to bring the middle gray right into the  middle and we want to bring the black as close   as we can to the bottom without touching it I like  bringing the black to about 5 or 10% and the white   to about 90 95 % and then adjust from there so  once you have your image open and waveform is up   choose waveform luma and IR e we're gonna add some  color wheels to this image I'm going to drop the   blacks down and bring the highlights up near 100  that looks pretty good we want to add saturation   over here then we want to crop the image just to  the white gray and black and this is where bump up   the mid-tones just a bit you can go to RGB parade  this is where you want to check to make sure that   your whites are white and your Gray's are gray  so there's definitely a little bit of red in   the image in the highlights so you want to move  away from the red and into the the green and the   blue until they're roughly lined up and then you  want to make sure that the mid-tones are in the   same place so there's a little bit of blue so you  want to add some red just ever so slight then you   can check to make sure that your your shadows  are in a good place so that feels pretty good   I'm going to bring the iree back to 70 now I'm  going to double check and double check the skin   tones so I mean just make sure that I trim and  only have the skin tone go into the vectorscope   and we can see that it is leaning towards yellow  we want to bring in some red and magenta overall   especially to the highlights and just watch that  over ever so slightly that looks good now open   that up and then we want to add some curves to add  some contrast to the overall image this log again   and it is very flat and nice add some contrast  and saturation that is your correction this is   the before this is after and then you can save  your preset the colors save it to studio save   it to the category that you want click Save and  we'll go to an image that I know was shot in the   same lighting scenario go into settings and add  Studio drop it in and then your colors are there   now because this feels a little bit bright I'm  gonna double check to make sure that the skin tone and select the brightest part and I'm  gonna go to the waveform again and just   go to luma and make sure that the skin  tones we are between 40 and 70 percent so I can drop down the overall brightness and  this as a base correction you can definitely   work with this and then and this is where you  can start adding your teal and orange overall   to the image add some teal and boost up the  saturation and add some orange and subtlety   is the key so again before after base correction  teal and orange simple so let's do another shot   right from scratch I'm gonna add in some color  wheels I'm gonna drop down the shadows bring   them all the way down this waveform monitor shows  the luminance values of every single pixel in the   image I know that this shirt should be blacks but  not totally black so around 10 percent it looks   good and then these doors should be blowing out a  little bit so I'm gonna bump that up and her face   is right here represented by this so I don't want  to go above 70 so that feels pretty good want to   add some overall saturation not too much then I  want to add some contrast overall again knowing   that the skin tone for lighter complexion should  be around 70 no higher you don't want to go too   high but now we're just going to double check  the skin tones to make sure that they are what   they need to be so I'm going to go over the cheek  and tried to make sure you don't get the eye or   the lips because that's our side in different  colors and it will mess up your vectorscope so   then go to the vectorscope and that looks pretty  good already and definitely exposing for the   right color temperature when you're filming is  going to help you with these color Corrections   down the line but you can tweak it just a bit so  there you go so this is straight log and this is   the corrected image and from here you can start  adding your creative Luntz or doing any kind of   color correction so let's just do the popular  orange and teal we're just gonna add another   color wheels we're gonna add some teal to the  shadows and we're gonna add a little bit of orange   overall we're just going to double check the skin  tone to make sure that it's still in a nice place overall just add a little bit of saturation and  you just want to lay the skin tone stay closer   to the center of the vectorscope because  if you add in too much saturation let's   see what happens okay so I want to keep it all  right around there I'm gonna turn off that but   let's say we wanted to add a lot of saturation  becomes a little bit nutty so it really comes   down to your creative choices and what you feel  looks good and what you want it to look like so   I definitely like to stay closer to natural  this is proper exposure and color correction   this is a little bit of Keylong Orange so let's do  another shot which has no skin tone so I'm going   to add color wheels and I open up my waveform  monitor and drop down the shadows boost up the   highlights and again because I know that these  boots should be black but there's gonna be a   lot of reflection that's coming in from a the  warm Sun and be the reflection of the ground   so this already feels like it should look like  that but let's add in a little bit of coolness   overall so I'm just gonna crop so I can see  just the black boots go to RGB parade and we   want to make sure that these all roughly line  up so I want to add some blue to the shadows not too much cuz I know it's supposed to  be a warmer shot so when you look at it again this is before this is the after let's do  one more shot again starting from scratch you   know let's futz gonna add some wheels drop down  shadows/highlights are already kind of pretty   good we're gonna add some saturation overall add  some curves to bring back some of that contrast   I'm going to double check skin tones to make  sure that they're exposed properly and of the   right color so right now everything feels a  bit too bright so I can just drop that down then I want to check to make sure that  the skin tones are the correct color and   they look like they need a little bit  of red and magenta just bring it over   that skin tone line indicator so then when  we pop back out this is before and after you can save these presets so once I have a base  color correction that's when I add in sharpness   usually leave it at the default 2.5% this is  just adding back some of the sharpness that was   lost when filming in C log but there are some  shots that I feel that definitely benefit from   pushing a little bit more or some that don't  need it at all especially if you want to keep   any blemishes or skin issues off this is where  you don't want sharpness in but there are some   cases where you do want to make it a little bit  punch here but I tend to leave it at the default   2.5 which is what the camera would have done  naturally unless you bring it down that's why   I bring down the sharpness but it allows me for  those situations where I want to get rid of it   completely and soften the image or boost it up  I have that control I like that and especially   if I built it into the preset I can just quickly  then turn it off the other thing that I do add for   a lot of my other shots is a vignette and drop it  in make sure that it is focused in around where I   want the audience to look so with it off with it  on you just want to make sure that it's not too   dark everything is about subtlety with color  grading and color correction and the vignette   definitely helps get rid of some of the extra  noise that builds up in the darkness in us our   shots but it helps draw the attention all these  lines are leaving here the focus the brightest   thing in the image is my face or the R which  is all in around here this is where I want the   audience to be looking so before C log and then  the final grade so let me know what you guys think   of this process it is simple you don't need lots  you don't need expensive plugins you don't even   need the color chart that I'm using I recommend it  I think it's great and there's a lot of coloring   tools that work really well but you don't need  them if you have any of these editing software   you're going to be able to achieve really good  looks with all the footage that you have knowing   how to correct when a lot fails you'll be able  to correct your images properly if you have a   computer all you need is the Vinci resolve which  is the industry standard and probably one of the   most powerful tools out there to use and it  is free I personally like using Final Cut Pro   I bought it in 2011 I've only paid once for it  and it has gotten better over time I find that   it is the quickest tool from in to out with any  personal project that I have - again before and   after there are many other things you can do but I  just wanted to show how to color correct for C log   footage from the canada-us R and C log 3 footage  from the C 200 so let's recap use the waveform   monitor drop the shadows to about 5% bring the  highlights to about 95% add a little contrast   boost the saturation using the vectorscope check  to make sure your skin tones are on the skin tone   indicator use the luma value between 40 to 70  or for skin add your creative grade that fits   your story in mood sharpen the image to what feels  right for you i de vignette to help focus on the   important thing in the scene save your preset or  LUT apply the grade to the rest of your footage   and you are done if you do find a lot that works  for you and it converts and corrects your log   footage correctly use it you'll save you a lot of  time I made this video as a guide for when your   Luntz don't work or you get tired of a particular  look and you want to create your own and for you   to be able to color correct your C log footage  in any scenario let me know if you guys have any   tips or tricks to color grade your C log footage  also I would love to see how you guys use these   techniques to color grade your own C log footage  as always thanks for watching give this video a   big thumbs up subscribe if it helped you out I'm  Raphael I'll talk to you soon bye for now you

Channel: Rafael Ludwig

Views: 37,263

Keywords: canon, color grading, color grading tutorial, color grading vs color correcting, color correction, how to color grade c-log footage, easy color grading tutorial, how to color grade without luts, color grade log footage, c log, how to color grade log, final cut pro x tutorial, final cut pro x color grading tutorial, how to color grade in final cut pro x, color grade final cut pro x, color grade and chill, EOS R, log footage, color grade log

Id: UYWFOimYFGA

Length: 17min 52sec (1072 seconds)

Published: Wed May 20 2020