Colour Grading in Avid

Today in Post Production tutorial we looked at colour grading in Avid, before this tutorial colour grading was quite a new subject to me and I wasn't sure of how it can be used. I have used colour grading in previous work in college but I did not use it correctly. After this tutorial I feel I have a better understanding of how to use colour grading.

The above image shows a still from one of the clips I was colour grading, and the before and after is visible on screen. As we can see the original look of the shot was very blue and it looked flat, but colour grading makes the footage look like it has more depth and it looks like the colours are more realistic for our eyes.

Something new I have also learnt from this lecture is the legal limits for material that is going to be broadcast. This legal limit can be shown above in the Y Waveform image. For example if the Luma is adjusted incorrectly, the green wave form will be in the red boxes appearing as a white waveform. This is not correct for broadcast material.

This legal limit can be controlled in the HSL controls and it will prevent it peaking into the white waveform.

Before you can edit the colours in the footage, you will need to change the luma adjust so that shadows are black and the shot appears brighter. This will make the footage look like it has a more depth and it will prevent the image from looking flat. Gain is the highlights, Gamma is the midtones, and setup is the shadows. Each of these are essential for beginning the colour grading process.

 

To adjust the colour of shots either a colour wheel or curves can be used. The way colour works in video is by opposites, for example if a shot had a lot of blue where it was meant to be white you would need to add more yellow to the shot to remove blueness. By white balancing the camera during production, the colour grading process can often be a lot easier because the camera will pick up white better.

Personally, I found it easier to use the colour wheels than the curves. I found that colour wheels had more control over the different tones where as curves were harder to control. I think that most people would find curves to be the easiest option because they show colour opposites to make colour correction easier.

Below are some shots which I colour corrected, showing the before and after on screen.