color removal

[Adolfo Rozenfeld]

That as in example of what it’s known as “secondary color correction”. That term implies the selection of certain hue/saturation/luminance range and then applying corrections to that selected range. In the case you mention, if you for example select the color ranges of skin tones, you could then able to desature those (or desaturate everythng else, by quickly inverting the selection). Converting the selected color range to B&W is just an example of the power of this kind of tool. You could also change the color of someone’s shirt, or a car in the shot, etc.

Fortunately, the Pro versions of After Effects now come bundled with a very sophisticated color correction tool called Color Finesse (for free!). There’s very little in terms of color correction that CF can’t do.

Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires – Argentina
https://www.adolforozenfeld.com
adolfo(AT)adolforozenfeld.com

[Richard Sutcliffe]

Thanks for that pointer, how would you deal with the example I mentioned above when there are other red brick walls in the same shot but you only wanted the one in the foreground to retain its colour, some form of masking and layering?

[Adolfo Rozenfeld]

Well, not necessarily. A capable secondary color correction tool allows you to define the color/luminance selection range with such precission, that many times there can be somewhat similar colors in the scene without problems. As an example, in some of my classes, I use a clip of a girl with a strong red t-shirt, that we change to something else. The scene has plenty of other red tones, including (no less) than the girl’s skin. Yes, sometimes you have to do (very simple) masks, but not always.

Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires – Argentina
https://www.adolforozenfeld.com
adolfo(AT)adolforozenfeld.com

[Michael Hancock]

Search the Cow for “Pleasantville Effect” and you’ll come across a list of posts that answer your question. This is brought up about every other week and there have been a lot of different methods for achieving the effect. Sometimes the hardest part is just knowing what to search for! Hope this helps.

Mike.

[Chris Smith]

Use the ‘Leave color’ filter.

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[Ron Lindeboom]

Adolfo is correct but sometimes when using the Cow’s search engine, the less you use in your searches, the better. A simple “Pleasantville” will get you more threads than “Pleasantville Effect” because many people don’t call it that.

Also, do not forget to use the archives and set the date range as we do not automatically search all of the Cow. This, as if every search was calling every post, it would slow down the site and it’s not necessary every time a search is made.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

[Richard Sutcliffe]

Thanks for that. I do always search where I can but as you say, knowing what to search for is half the problem!

Cheers