Color Finale 2 Practical Color Grading - RGB Curves

[Music] hello and welcome to the practical color grading series in this series we work through color correction and grading problems that both beginner and advanced users experience most of the following techniques are universal over many other image processing applications but here we will use the color finale plugin many different tools exist for color correcting video some are easier to understand and some are more convenient others are more precise or unlock completely new approaches to color correction today we'll talk about rgb curves rgb curves are used by many professionals to color correct videos and photos but for someone who is just beginning to learn the ins and outs of color correction rgb curves is a challenging tool to understand at first we will talk in detail about how these curves work and use them on several examples footage shot with regular camera settings log footage and also drone footage but first let's begin with an explanation of what rgb curves are we'll open up an image of a stepped gradient go over to the effects and apply color finale open layers choose curves and four different curves appear in front of us white red green and blue underneath we also have a drop down list containing three working modes master and rgb luma and rgb and luma preserving to start with we'll learn to work with curves in a first mode and then later explore the other modes and how they are different from each other if you look at the bottom part of the curve labeled master you'll notice that there is a gradient from black to white these are the input values for the channel shadows are to the left and highlights are to the right on the left side there is a vertical gradient again from black to white these are the output values each channel's curved graph has this mapping between input and output values if we raise the lowest point on the curve representing shadows then the darker regions in the image become lighter if we drag the top right point down representing highlights then the light turns dark each rgb curve also has these gradients from dark to light let's suppose we lower all the curves by the same amount the only thing that changes is the brightness this is how the master curve works in the first mode it affects all of the rgb curves simultaneously let's take a closer look at this process this gradient is composed of shades from black to white it is actually the combination of three color channels red green blue if we increase the value on the master curve then the total brightness and the brightness of each color will increase in lock step and vice versa if we lower the values when we increase the value of only one of the color channels then more of this color is added into the final color when we decrease the value of one of the channels then it is subtracted from the result for red the opposite is cyan green is opposite magenta and blue is opposite yellow changes in the master curve become superimposed onto the values of each of the rgb curves so even though it's one curve it affects the brightness of the other three let's go back to the gradient and see how the master curve works and how exactly it affects the brightness right now let's go over this in detail with the help of the luma waveform scope we'll open this scope by going to view show video scopes two scopes vectorscope and luma waveform opened up in front of us let's just see the wave form for now and we'll return to the vectorscope in a bit the waveform of this scope shows us the brightness of the whole image where zero are the darkest parts in this case it's this black color and 100 are the brightest parts right now this is the right most brightest tone now let's see how this works in relation to curves directly below the curve there is an eyedropper if we use the eyedropper to select some area for example this one a point will appear on the line of the curve that corresponds to this color let's select every shade of the gradient as you can see if we use the eyedropper to select the brightest and darkest areas no new points appear on the curved line since they already exist these are the points at the bottom and top if we take and drag one of the points upwards then this shade will start to get lighter and if we lower it it will get darker in this way if we take the point that corresponds to some gray shade and start raising it towards the next shade the two will merge this can be clearly seen on the waveform the two shades line up by using the curve we have placed these two points on one line the same happens but lighter shades if we lower one point so far down that it lines up with the previous point exactly the two shades are equal this is also clearly visible on the wave form if on the other hand we increase the distance between some two points we are increasing the contrast between them this is what contrast is the difference between the dark and light tones we can use this to increase the contrast of the whole image let's see now how we can use the curve in a practical manner we'll open the first example apply color finale and go to the layers panel from there we add a curves layer and take a moment to see where the lighter tones are in this image in this example in the sky let's select the dark tones the shadows and then a mid-tone in our case it's a foreground and the tiles on the floor if we want to make the tiles darker and add more contrast to the image as a whole we can lower the middle point after darkening the mid-tones if we want to recover part of the highlights a point can be added closer to the highlights and brought back to the original line in this way the whole image gains more contrast let's move on to the next example applying color finale opening the curves this video is in log the options assume log use aces and use input flood apply tone mapping and transform the color space into a color space for video such as rec 709 or rec 2020 if we don't apply any of these options we can use curves to manually tone map this image to give the right amount of contrast for this the shadows need to become darker and the highlights brighter we place a point in the shadows and by lowering this point we make those darker regions in the image even darker notice how the brightness and contrast have already changed quite a bit in our shot now place a point in the highlights and drag it up towards white the image has developed a lot more contrast note that the curve resembles the shape of the letter s so when you hear someone say apply the s curve you know what's happening we can reduce the contrast a bit by slightly lifting the shadows see how easily we have managed to fill this image with color and contrast let's go over to the third example in front of us is footage taken with a drone in these shots the sky often fills up large portions of the frame but within the cloudy sky there are a lot of clouds that cannot be seen for a lack of contrast in these tones in order to reveal details in the clouds we can use curves to select the upper part and work on them to introduce more contrast to this tonal range try not to bend the curve too much so that you don't completely lose the colors and make them unnatural because of this we only slightly lower the curve and return the other shades to their original values the clouds have now increased in contrast and there is a lot more detail visible notice that there is more blue showing through a swell we'll talk in a little while about how to control colors by working in a different curves mode but for now let's return to the first example and analyze the rgb curves let's go into the layers panel and select curves and to help visualize how color curves work let's open up another helpful scope the vector scope shows the plot of primary and secondary colors red green blue yellow cyan and magenta the more of a particular color there is in an image and the more saturated that color is then the greater the deviation is from the center point towards that color the center point represents zero saturation now let's have a look at the rgb curves we'll start with the first color red if we place a point on the curve and raise it then not only are we increasing the influence of the red component of the rgb image as we can see on the waveform scope we can make the image more red the rest of the curves work in the exact same way if we raise the greens the image becomes greener same with a blue curve if we lower the point on the curve then the color will go in the opposite direction from red that is into cyan the same happens with the rest of the curves opposite green we have magenta and opposite blue is yellow let's see now if we lower the green curve then the mid tones begin to turn magenta and the image becomes darker if we lower the blue curve we get an intense yellow look knowing this we can now work on an artistic look for this image for example we can turn dark areas cyan and lighter areas orange cyan is opposite red so we can grab the bottom point on the red curve corresponding to the shadows and move it slightly to the right in the direction of cyan notice how the shadows are turning blue now let's add a little bit of orange to the highlights orange is between yellow and red so in order to get orange highlights we need to add red for this we move the top point of the red curve left and add a little yellow by lowering the top point of the blue curve in this way the highlights become more orange similarly we can get any other color combinations by mixing the base colors if we want we can further mix in this effect we can place a point on the red curve effectively letting some cyan or blue into the shadows likewise we add yellow by lowering the blue channel but to protect the shadows so that they stay blue we can block off the range we want to work in by placing one or two points that hem in a middle point and then manipulating the midpoint to get the result in this way we achieve an image with a lot of color contrast getting the ever so popular teal and orange look that's often used by colorists in tv series and films as you can see this is relatively easy to achieve and you can recreate it in your own color treatment let's go over to the next clip now in this shot the sunset bathes the water in orange tones let's suppose we want to leave the color of the sky as it is but make the water look slightly colder for this we can again place a point in the red channel's shadows and lower it we can see that the sunset has less effect on the water now we can bring back the highlights so that the sky remains as bright as before let's now go over to the third example in this shot we can see a lot of green that really influences the whole image we can add yellow to the shadows by moving the bottom point of the blue curve to the right producing a more autumnal feeling or we can make it more emerald adding cyan to the shadows by moving the bottom point on the red curve but one way or another rgb curves let us adjust the tints of turns in general dark light neutral tones and so on if we want to interact only with a specific range of colors of the foliage it is better to use another tool that uses curves to represent the relationship between colors in many different ways hue saturation and luma curves with hsl curves we would be able to target a specific color or color range and modify it according to our goals hsl curves is a precise tool that allows to change the tones brightness and saturation in an image we will cover this tool in more detail in another episode for now though let's return to the rgb curves tool and explore its different modes up until now we have been using the mode master plus rgb there are two further modes of work luma plus rgb and luma preserving the master curve controls the final output of the three color channels let's suppose we lower the rgb channels by the exact same amount only the brightness of the image changes if we create another layer and lower the master curve to the same position then we technically get the same effect as in the previous layer a side effect of the master curve is that saturation changes along with the brightness of the image by increasing the contrast with the master curve notice that on a vector scope the saturation of the image begins to grow alongside the brightness if we lower the curve then the brightness and saturation decrease together too other modes treat the image differently like this next one lemur plus rgb if we place a point and raise or lower the luma curve then the brightness will change but the color saturation stays the same notice how at the very high brightness the image becomes pale let's compare with the result we got from using the master plus rgb mode you can see that the saturation increases together with the contrast in comparison to the second mode rgb curves work in the exact same way as in the previous mode the brightness changes together with the tone in contrast to the third and last luma preserving mode in this mode tone changes maintain brightness if we lift the red curve we get a red image but its overall brightness doesn't change the same goes for the other curves the brightness does not change only the tones if we repeat this in any other mode then together with the tone the image brightness would change as well now let's look at the practical example and choose what mode is best for each situation as we mentioned before we don't really want to have the intense blue color in the sky for this reason the second mode works better than the first mode in order to separate the clouds with the additional contrast we have increased the contrast but in comparison to the first mode we didn't get any additional tones and any unwanted boost of color saturation in the sky the second mode lima plus rgb is better in this situation let's have a look at the rest of the examples in this example of log footage the master plus rgb mode fit our purpose well it meant that we could change the brightness and contrast without using any other tools meanwhile in the very first example the shadows are already satisfyingly dark as you can see they practically lie on a zero line on the luma waveform and the highlights are also appropriately bright if we want to change the tones of highlights and shadows in a way that doesn't let them go below minimum or maximum values we can use this last mode luma preserving in this mode if we make the shadows blue then they won't get any darker and if we change the light areas to orange then they won't get brighter only their hues will change in this way we haven't changed the contrast of the image but only modified the colors in the necessary areas rgb curves is an indispensable tool because it is so powerful it shows up in all color correction software now you too can use this tool to reach your artistic goals however if these rgb curves are not enough for your project you can also use hsl curves which we will be exploring in another episode which tools do you use leave a comment in the comment section if you found this video useful don't forget to subscribe and get notified about our new releases by hitting the bell icon see you in the next video

Channel: Color Finale

Views: 6,264

Keywords: FCPX, white balance, color temperature, temp, tint, auto white balance, color charts, color correction, color grading, xrite, color checker passport video, grey scale chart, cinematic look, final cut pro, Final Cut Pro X, Final Cut Pro X tutorial, final cut, skin tone, skin, tones, grading, luma, saturation, hue, video scopes, rgb, colorfinale, color finale, color finale 2, color finale 2 pro, exposure, curves, skin color

Id: wkdEN9jEGow

Length: 18min 50sec (1130 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 19 2021