Color Corrrection

Ever wonder why scenes in Hollywood movies look like paintings and your home movies look like crap? The pros use a tool called "Color Correction" to make every shot look like they filmed the most beautiful people and places on Earth and waited for the perfect light conditions. I've been learning the art and science of color correction with my new Sony Vegas Pro editing suite and the results are dramatic.

On the left is a boring frame I shot on the Rail Trail. Washed out so no color, lit from above so no shadows or highlights. Very YouTube. On the right is the color corrected version. Very Lord of the Rings!


Here I've subjected the realistic documentary-style shot of my house to the same color correction process. It looks like something that exists only in Hollywood. Kind of weird really.


Finally here's a shot I took at night. Nothing looks good under the creepy pink light of a sodium vapor-arc lamp, not even Jessica Biel. But I subtly removed the awful purple and punched up the oranges and blacks, turning a cold, dreary looking shot into a warm summer midnight shot.


Can you tell I'm having way too much fun? These are only three of the dozens of scenes I've been practicing color correction on. When we start shooting for real, I'll be able to make every frame look like a National Geographic cover and every amateur actor look like a Movie Star!

Next I'll be learning how to clean up and enhance sound tracks. Then I'll cut a short film using both color correction and sound design and post the results. Stay tuned!