Editors Lounge sheds light on color correction
July 16, 2012

Editors Lounge sheds light on color correction

BURBANK — The recent Editors’ Lounge (www.editorslounge.com), held at AlphaDogs, here, shed light on the art of color correction via seminars by Steve Hullfish and Steve Holmes. Throughout the evening, three 45-minute seminars were presented, each crammed with tips and information on developing color-grading techniques as a creative skillset as opposed to just another step in the post process. 

Hullfish is the author of "The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction," and presented on the creative use of external waveform monitors when color grading in conjunction with vectorscopes. Attendees commented, saying it was the first time in their lengthy careers that they finally understood the benefits and importance of waveform monitors. Telma Guerra of Leperdog Productions said, “I didn’t know before this presentation what I would want a scope for. But now I can see that there are many uses.” 

The waveform monitors and vectorscopes built into most software are not sufficient enough for the needs of a professional. It is recommended to use external monitoring of the signal that is actually coming out of the edit system.
 
Holmes is a senior applications engineer for Tektronix, and talked about how one of the key aspects at the core of doing good color correction for video is making sure that the image can be properly reproduced and delivered to a variety of media and screens. The main technical challenge with maintaining proper color reproduction across a variety of media and broadcast methods is to understand the importance of legal and valid gamut. Tektronix has developed a set of tools that can help editors and colorists easily adjust the color fidelity of the image and maintain the video signal within suitable gamut limits.

Editing and finishing artist, Ronen Pestes noted, “It was a pleasure listening to Steve share his years of expertise. His way of presenting this dry subject in a clear manner made it interesting. I was amazed at how much I learned in one evening!” 

Basic color theory, color limits, logging errors to timecode, and Tektronix displays were all examined.