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Colorista question
Hi There,
I’ve searched through the archives of the forum, so forgive me if this question has been asked and answered. I haven’t found it…
Both Walter Biscardi and Shane Ross have talked about layering Colorista in FCP as an acceptable working method during color correction. I recently purchased it and love it. My basic question is:
Is there a limitation to how many layers it is advisable to use? Or are additional instances of Colorista applied to the same clip functionally equivalent to additional adjustments within a single layer?
The reason I’m asking is that I’m getting better results with five or six layers than by trying to do everything in one or two passes. Now I should say off the bat that I’m color correcting footage that was shot badly on HDV (by me) with a camera that was never white balanced. (The project was low budget, I was shooting by myself, and as it turned out, shooting myself in the foot in the process.) So there was a lot of correction to do.
I’ve found a look that works through multiple layers of colorista (as well as good old color corrector non-three ways to help with overall levels) but I’m having a lot of difficulty replicating the same look in fewer layers. When I render the clip with six layers the effects applied, I can’t detect a quality difference in the finished shot from a shot rendered with three (though I can tell that I got the color right on the former and not the latter). But more experienced advice would be much appreciated.
If there’s a reason for me to try to keep my effects to as few layers as possible, I will. But if it doesn’t matter, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got.
Thanks for your time and feedback!
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3 Replies
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[artisanal television] ”
Is there a limitation to how many layers it is advisable to use? Or are additional instances of Colorista applied to the same clip functionally equivalent to additional adjustments within a single layer?”I generally use three to four layers of Colorista with any shot. First instance to balance the shot. Then I do a primary grade. Then I’ll probably do a mask and depending on the shot, a final pass with some final tweaks.
I also follow this method with FCP’s 3 Way CC tool. You really can’t grade any shot using just one instance of a CC Filter.
The one big gotcha with Colorista, and it is supposed to be fixed on a future release, is that it will clip off any highlights above 100 when it’s applied. This is never a good thing as you lose detail. So what I always do with any shot that has anything above 100 is apply the straight FCP Color Corrector to bring the highlights down to 100, then I apply the first instance of Colorista to balance a shot.
But I love Colorista and have delivered a bunch of HD broadcast shows that were graded using that tool. We’re working Final Touch / Color back into the workflow, but Colorista is still a major tool in our shop.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi
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Thanks very much Walter for your quick response. I tried this trick of bringing the levels down first, and it really helped. I’m able to use less layers of Colorista to get the same result now.
If I’m reading you correctly, you don’t see a problem with invoking multiple instances of the effect — for example if I already have two or three layers of Colorista and then needed to place two extra layers to create masks to bring down particular hotspots?
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[artisanal television] “If I’m reading you correctly, you don’t see a problem with invoking multiple instances of the effect — for example if I already have two or three layers of Colorista and then needed to place two extra layers to create masks to bring down particular hotspots?”
Exactly. I’ve had up to 4 layers of Colorista on a single shot.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi
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