Color Correct LOG Like a Pro in Premiere (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 Final Cut  Pro 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 log3 how   to easily white balance with and without a color  chart using the waveform how to correct skintone   issues using the vectorscope 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 lots or expensive plugins so this   isn't the be-all and end-all for color correcting  see 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 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 ease   remap 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  so the first thing you want to do is go over to   the color tab 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 right the bottom  is black and top 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 also open  up vectorscope because these are the tools we'll   be using make sure you have your clip selected  go into basic correction this is where we're   gonna start bringing down the black slate not too  far we're gonna also bring up the whites expand   that out and it's finding the balance between  highlights and shadows and the black and whites about pushing it too far if you need to you can  bump up the exposure but again you're trying to   get the blacks to about five to ten percent and  the whites to about ninety ninety-five percent   so already this image is looking better next we  want to add some contrast not too much twenty five   fits pretty good want to add some saturation  at about 115 to 120 depending on the shot so before and after and now we're going to  make sure that the white balance is good   so so we're going to make a mask around the  white gray and black go back to the Scopes   and we want to turn on parade RGB we want  to make sure that the red green and blue   are all they're all the same height this  is where you can adjust your tint you can   notice that they're dancing so we just want to  bring them in line we want to make sure that   that male gray gets down to the middle here so  this is where we can draw up everything down and the blacks are about 10% middle grades at  50 and the whites are about 90% if we check   these lines here you can still see that there's  a little bit of extra blue in in the shot this   is where I would go to color wheels and I would  add in a little bit of green that drop down the   blues and even looking here looks like there's  still more blue and green and red in the shadows   so I would push it away from blue to balance  it out a little bit better we know that this   is white this is gray and this is black so I'm  just gonna turn off masks so now that we're here   we're just gonna double check the skin tones to  make sure that they are the right exposure as   well and also the right color so I want to go  back to scopes and we're looking at the color   and that looks pretty good overall if you need  to adjust it this is where you can use tint to   push it one way or another so definitely  a little bit to the right of the skin tone   indicated would be ideal but we're noticing  that it's a little bit hot so this is where   we can drop down the highlights overall because  proper exposure for skin tone is between 40 and   70 Ayari you know a little bit over a little bit  under depending on the situation and definitely   the tone of the skin so we're just gonna drop  it down just a little bit the highlights gonna   drop it down so it was comfortable you can also  drop down the whites just bounce it out because   ultimately it's the skin tone that we want to  make sure that is completely accurate and the   color looks pretty good you can tweak that just  a bit so now we're going to turn off the mask   and we're gonna save right-click save this as a  preset we're gonna call this color chart studio   we're gonna save it in presets and where it's  saved its saved into your effects palette there   it is so we're gonna go to a shot that I know was  filmed in the same location we're gonna take that   preset double click it it'll add it that looks  pretty good we're just gonna double check to   make sure that the skins are exposed properly  and definitely make sure that you don't select   the lips or the eyes because that will give you  interesting color variations so it does seem a   little bit hot even for this so this is where you  can drop it down even further the highlights and   just bring bring the color back to the skin tone  indicator close to that line because the other   shot we were working off hands so this is more  accurate representation of what you will actually   see and what will actually work best we're just  gonna turn off the mask right now just take a   look at it and that looks and feels good as a good  base color correct this is where I would add in a   little bit of sharpness about 15 I try not to  go higher than that the reason I like to have   sharpness at zero in the camera and added in post  because if there's any skin blemishes that I don't   want to accentuate having that sharpness already  baked into the image I won't be able to get rid   of it so this way I can add in sharpness if you  wanna do selective color correction this is where   you can do it where you just select the highlights  where you just select a specific color and you're   able to adjust it by itself but we're not gonna  be talking about that today this is also where you   can start adding in the teal and orange looking  for the shadows so base color correct and a simple   teal and orange it's really about subtlety when  it comes to color correction but again we're not   gonna be talking about that too much today it's  just about the base correction to make sure that   the image is exposed from sea log all right let's  do another image from scratch so this one can open   up our scopes go to base color correction and drop  the blacks down the highlights already look like   they're pretty far out there drop the shadows  add a little bit of contrast add the saturation we're gonna select we're gonna add the skin tone  making sure to avoid the eyes and the mouth that   looks pretty good we can tweak it just a bit but  definitely feels a really bright comparatively   because we want the skin tone the brightest part  to be around 70 so this is where you can drop down   overall let's take a look at that you can add in  a little bit more contrast definitely bringing the   blacks down if you wanted to just go to where the  image feels good overall that feels pretty good   properly exposed because the waveform is showing  us from left to right so everything here in the   middle is the yellow shirt and the face tones and  probably add in a little bit of saturation I would   save this out and apply to every piece of footage  that I have in the timeline you can work on your   final grade here and then apply to everything else  premiere also lets you export a lot where you can   use in other applications so let's do another  image and see how fast we can get it done again   starting from scratch looking at the waveform  drop the blacks down along with the shadows now   I know this is a black shirt but it shouldn't  be completely black add some saturation add   some contrast next we're gonna check the face to  make sure that the skin tone is exposed properly trying to avoid the lips and the eyes so it's  a little bit bright so I can drop that down   overall the color looks pretty good we can add a  little bit of saturation into that and the more   saturation you have it depends on the skin  tone and the subject that you have but pale   skin tone is closer and then you can push it a  little bit further out so let's take a look at   that turn off the mask so this is the before  and after that's your base color correction so   let's do a shot where we don't have any skin  tones and no color chart again starting from   scratch wear and drop blacks and the shadows down  going to bring up the whites and the highlights that's some contrast and some saturation now I  know that this shot was exposed correctly for   the color temperature but because it feels on the  warm side I want to add a little bit of the blue   back in and I know that these are black so I'm  going to double-check this so I'm just going to   select the black I'm gonna select the black boots  I'm going to open up the parade and I want to make   sure that these line up as close as possible this  is where you can so then I would go to wheels and   in the shadows I would add more blue to the shot  which brings down the red and the green so let's   jump back out turn that off there's the before  and after and even before we added the blue and   then after and then I would say this out and put  it for the rest of the image add some sharpness   add a little bit of vignette just keeping it  subtle to keep the focus on there okay let's   do one more shot where there's not much skin tone  just starting from scratch again drop the blacks   trying to keep them out around 5 or 10 between  there we're gonna bring up the highlights we're   gonna bring up the lights bring down the shadows  and the blacks add some saturation a little bit   of contrast and the contrast and saturation  are what is key to bring back log footage   into something that is very pleasant in rec.709  trying to get rid of that flat image so because   we have a little bit of skin tone here so we're  gonna double check that to make sure that it's   properly exposed so let's take a look at that  so just checking on the vectorscope definitely   push the tint towards magenta and red and the  exposure is a little bit hot so we can bring   down the highlight a little bit of the lights so  let's jump out of that take a look at it overall add a little bit more contrast blacks feel a  little too black and that feels pretty good we   have our saturation and it really comes down to  what feels good there are no real rules let's   just remap what colors should be and should look  like so this so this value should be this value   and that value should be that value and that's  exactly what we're doing we're doing the exact   same process but this allows you to have complete  control over your image for every single project   and you can save these lets out if you're filming  in the same location over and over again you can   save these presets and Lutz and use them as  you see fit there are many other things you   can do but I just wanted to show how to color  correct for C logged footage from the Canon USR   and C log three 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 skintone indicator use the luma value   between 40 to 70 or for skin add your creative  grade that fits your story and mood sharpen the   image to what feels right for you add a 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 from when you're 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: 37,191

Keywords: capricorn8, canon, video making, camera basics, premiere pro, premiere pro tutorial, premiere pro color grading, premiere pro 2020, premiere gal, color grading in premiere pro cc, color grading, color grade premiere pro, color grading tutorial, color grading vs color correcting, color correction, adobe premiere pro, how to color grade c-log footage, easy color grading tutorial, how to color grade without luts, color grade log footage, c log, EOS R, eos r5, Log Footage

Id: 8lTUqg9uHRg

Length: 19min 31sec (1171 seconds)

Published: Wed May 20 2020