(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to the 21st episode in this Beginner's Guide
to Adobe After Effects. In this tutorial we are going to look at color adjustments in After Effects. (upbeat music) So over the past few
videos we have been looking at animation effects that can
be applied to your layers. Now After Effects is not just
good for adding animation. Now a lot of designers
will use After Effects to color grade and adjust
color to their video footage. In this video we will be
looking at how we can use After Effects to adjust
color to our video footage. So let's get into it. So here I am in After Effects, and I have a project open here that I'm going to use to demonstrate how you can apply color
adjustments to your video. In the last episode we
looked at transition effects in the Effects & Presets panel over on the right of the interface. Now instead of focusing on
the Animation Preset category, this time we're going to look further down at the Color Correction folder. Now if we toggle down the
Color Correction category, we can see we have quite
a few effects here. So let's take a look at a few examples. Now if you have the Project Folder, you can open up this document I have here. With the Project Folder open, click into the S2
Essential Practice folder into Folder 21, Color Effects, and open the Color Effects
After Effects file, and you will have the same
document I have open here. This is a document you could
use to quickly experiment with color effects with me in this video. Now if you don't have the Project Folder and you want to follow along with this tutorial using this document I have prepared especially for you, you can download this Project
Folder for a small fee. The download link with
instructions is in the description. The Download folder comes with
lots of exercise documents we will be using on this course that have been carefully developed to aid your learning experience. The folder also comes
with document resources such as videos, graphics, and images you can use to build your
first video presentation from scratch later on in this course. To get the full learning experience, I recommend you get the Project Folder. Download link with instructions
is in the description. So with the Project Folder open, click into the S2
Essential Practice folder into Folder 21 Color Effects and open the Color
Effects After Effects file and you'll have the same
document I have open here. So now I want to draw your attention over the the Project panel. Here you can see I have a folder called Color Edited and
one called Original. For now I need you to pay attention to the Color Edited folder. So double-click on the
first composition, Camden 1, and it will appear in
the Composition panel. So I'll make sure the time indicator is at the start of the timeline, and I'll press space
bar to activate preview. So here we have a video which
I took in Camden Town, London. And here I have applied
a few color effects. To create this effect, I
simply dragged on a preset. Now with the layer selected
in the Timeline panel, if we come up to the top of
the Project panel on the left and click on the Effect Control tab, here we can see I have
three color effects applied. So to this I have a Toner effect, and I'll toggle this off. Next I have a Black &
White filter applied, and I'll toggle this off. And last I have a Brightness
& Contrast effect applied, and I'll toggle this off. So now you can see the original
footage I started with. So I'll click the tab next
to the Effects Controls to go back to the Project panel, and this time double-click
on the next composition, Camden 2, and it will appear
in the Composition panel. So I'll make sure the time indicator is at the start of the timeline, and I'll press space
bar to activate preview. So here is another video
but this time I have applied some color effects that make
the video look more vintage. So with the layer selected
in the Timeline panel, if we come up and click
back on the Effect Controls, here we can see I have
three color effects applied. So to this I have a Photo Filter effect, and I'll toggle this off. Next I have a Color
Balance filter applied, and I'll toggle this off. And last I have a Vibrance effect applied, and I'll toggle this off. So here you can see the
original footage I started with. So I'll click the Project tab to go back, and this time double-click on the next composition, Camden 3. So I'll make sure the time indicator is at the start of the timeline, and I'll press space
bar to activate preview. This time I have applied an effect that makes the video look
quite graphic with two colors. So with the layer selected
in the Timeline panel, if we come up and click back
on the Effect Controls tab, here you can see I have
two color effects applied. So to this I have a Tint effect,
and I'll toggle this off. And last I have a Brightness
& Contrast effect applied, and I'll toggle this off. So here you can see the
original footage I started with. So I'll click the Project tab to go back, and this time double-click on the next composition, Camden 4. I'll make sure the time indicator is at the start of the timeline, and I'll press space
bar to activate preview. This time I have applied an effect to really push out the colors and create a really vibrant effect. So with the layer selected
in the Timeline panel, if we come up and click back
on the Effect Controls tab, here you can see I have just
one color effect applied. To this I have Curves,
so I'll toggle this off, and you can see the original
footage I started with. So I'll click the Project tab to go back, and this time double-click
on the next comp, Camden 5. I'll make sure the time indicator is at the start of the timeline, and I'll press space
bar to activate preview. This time I have applied quite a psychedelic effect to the video. With the layer selected
in the Timeline panel, if we come up and click back
on the Effect Controls tab, here you can see I have just
one color effect applied. To this I have a Colorama effect applied, and I'll toggle this off, and you can see the original
footage I started with. So I'll click back on the Project tab, and this time double-click on the next composition, Camden 6. So I'll make sure my time indicator is at the start of the timeline, and I'll press space
bar to activate preview. This time I have applied an effect that makes the video look
light with a warm feel. So with the layer selected
in the Timeline panel, if we come up and click
back on the Effect Controls, here you can see I have
two color effects applied. So to this I have an Exposure effect, and I'll toggle this off. And last I have a Photo Filter applied, and I'll toggle this off. So now you can see the original
footage I started with. So back again in the Project tab, this time I'll double-click on Camden 7. I'll make sure the time indicator is at the start of the timeline, and I'll press space
bar to activate preview. This time I have applied an effect that makes the video
again look quite graphic though with a more monotone effect. So with the layer selected
in the Timeline panel, if we come up and click
back on the Effect Controls, here you can see I have just
one color effect applied. To this I have a Tritone effect applied, and I'll toggle this off, and you can see the original
footage I started with. So I'll click back on the
Project tab to go back, and this time double-click on the last example composition, Camden 8. I'll make sure the time indicator is at the start of the timeline, and I'll press space
bar to activate preview. So this time I have
applied some subtle effects just to make the footage
feel rich and clear. With the layer selected
in the Timeline panel, if we come up and click back
on the Effects Controls tab, here you can see I have just
two color effects applied. So to this I have a Vibrance effect, and I'll toggle this off. And last I have an Auto
Levels filter applied, and I'll toggle this off. And now you can see the
original footage I started with. So those are a few examples
of the types of color effects that can be made in After Effects. You can make subtle adjustments or quite drastic adjustments to create a very distinct effect. So now I'm going to demonstrate how you can apply color
adjustments in After Effects. So I'll click the Project tab to go back, and notice under the Color Edited folder, we have an Original folder. Well, in here are the exact same examples I just showed but without
the effects applied. These have been placed here
for you to have a go yourself. So let's begin by clicking
on the Camden 1 comp. So here in the timeline we can see we have one layer of footage. So I'll make sure the time indicator is at the start of the timeline. And to make sure my video
plays nice and smooth, in this instance I'll click
the Resolution Factor Popup at the bottom of the Composition
panel and select Half. And I'll press space
bar to activate preview. So here is a video I took
from my Canon 80D SLR camera. Now the video looks fine, but in this case I think it would benefit from a little adjustment
just to make it pop a little which is most often the case when I bring in my raw
footage from my camera. So I'll press space bar
to stop the preview. And to add a color effect, we can use the same technique we used in the previous video. If we come over to the
Effects & Presets panel, we can click down on
the Color Correct tab. So at the top we have
a few useful effects. Now I want to make this
video pop a little, so I can do this easy
by clicking and dragging the Brightness & Contrast
effect onto my video layer. Upon release we will
see the Effect Controls up here in the panel to the left. So now I can tweak the Contrast. In this instance I'll push
the Contrast up to 20, and that's making the colors
just pop a little more. If I toggle the effect on
and off on the control panel, we can see the effect that is having. And I'll press space
bar to activate preview. So just like that, I made a very simple and easy adjustment to improve the quality of the video. So what if I want to make
this footage black and white? Well, there is an effect for that. Back in the Color Correction folder, if I click and drag the
Black & White effect onto the layer and release, the video is now black and white. Now I could leave it there but if I want to add
a Tone on top of that, well, I can click and drag
on the CC Toner preset and release on the layer. And if I want to change the tone, I can come into the Effect Controls and explore some other colors, but I kind of like the original, so I'll press Command + Z on Mac or Control + Z on PC just to undo that. So that's how easy it is to apply some color effects to your footage. And there is so much more to explore. Let's take a look at another example. So back in the Project panel, this time double-click on Camden 2. I'll make sure the time indicator is at the start of the timeline, and I'll press space
bar to activate preview. So I want to make this video
feel a bit more vintage. To do this requires a few effects. To start I can drag a Vibrance effect on. So towards the bottom of
the Color Correction folder, I'll click and drag the
preset onto my layer. Upon release we will
see the Effect Controls up here in the panel. So now I can tweak the Vibrance. In this instance I'll push
the Vibrance up to around 80, and that's making the colors
in the video more vibrant. If I toggle the effect on and off, we can see the effect that is having. Next I'll come back to the Presets panel and drag Color Balance onto the layer. And in the Effect Controls I'll push up the Midtone
Red Balance up to 100. Next I'll drag on the Photo
Filter onto the layer. And in the Effects Controls
I can toggle down the filter and choose from an array of presets. But in this instance I'll
keep it set to a warm filter, and I'll push up the density to around 60. And that is looking pretty cool. So let's look at another example. So back into the Project panel, this time click on Camden 3. I'll make sure the time indicator is at the start of the timeline, and I'll press space
bar to activate preview. So this time I want to give the video a very distinct visual effect. To start I can drag a Brightness & Contrast
effect onto the layer. Upon release we will
see the Effect Controls up here in the panel to the left. So now I can tweak the Contrast. In this instance I'll push
the Contrast up to around 50. Next back in the Presets panel, I'll drag Tint onto the layer. And in the Effect Controls I'll click the Map to Black color and choose a navy blue color and click OK. Then I'll click the Map to White color and choose a red color and click OK. And that is creating a
super cool graphic effect. So let's look at one more example. So back into the Project folder, this time double-click on Camden 8. So I'll make sure the time indicator is at the start of the timeline, and I'll press space
bar to activate preview. So what we can see here
is a piece of footage that appears to be affected by the light which looks as if it's
bleaching the video slightly. So to this video I don't want
to add any jazzy effects. All I want to do here is just enhance it. One of the easiest ways to do this is to simply drag on Auto Contrast. So I'll click and drag Auto Contrast from the Presets panel onto the layer. Upon release, the footage has improved. Now if you want to tweak
this a bit further, we can come into the Effects Controls and push up the Black Clip
from 0.10 up to about one. And if I toggle the effect on and off, you can see before it was
slightly bleached by the light, and with the effect applied, the blacks and the colors are
a bit more punchy and rich. Now if I want to boost
the colors a little more, I can click and drag a Vibrance preset out and onto the layer. In the Effect Controls I can boost the Vibrance up to around 50, and that will make the colors
punch out a little more. And that is looking much better. So that's how easy it is
to make color adjustments to your video in After Effects. So at this point I would
say continue to explore and have some fun with color effects. Go back to the Project
panel and look again at some of the edits I made
and the effects applied in order to learn and see how they work, then try and apply some color effects to some of the compositions I have created for you
in the Original folder, or even try and bring in
some of your own video and experiment with color
correcting on your own video. When applying effects, make sure to look at the Effects Controls and what settings you can tweak. And remember that you will sometimes have to add a variety of effects to achieve an overall effect. So have fun and explore. So that's an introduction
to color effects. Now we just looked at how we can add color effects directly to our layers. In this video we looked at
some very simple compositions where we applied color
effects to just one layer. Now what if we have a really
complicated composition consisting of, say, 20 plus layers, and you want to apply a single
effect to the entire comp? Now it would be tedious and take some time to apply the same effect to every layer. Well, in After Effects
there is an easy way. In After Effects we can use what are called adjustment layers. In the next video we will be looking at how adjustment layers work and how they can be used to apply an effect to an entire composition. So see you in the next video. (upbeat music)
