Correcting overlit key footage

Adobe After Effects

Correcting overlit key footage

Posted by Nick Tallents on February 4, 2011 at 10:29 am

Hi All

AE CS5 – HDV 1080i footage.
AMD 9950 Quad, 8Gb RAM

I fear I may know the answer before I post this! Which is potentially “re-shoot” but i wanted to run it past you guys first, thanks in advance for taking the time to read.

I have been asked to help out a friend, he shot some poorly framed Green Screen footage but his subject is way over lit and his background is REALLY dark, shot on a dim/overcast day with a budget camera, when I say budget I mean Sony HD1000e!

I have said that I think he needs to reconsider his shot and explained about how his studio lights need to match his BG.
He said he cant re-shoot and has asked me to make the best of it. Im happy with the Key, its far better than he had achieved.

Im a bit stumped with matching it to his background, i have played with B&C, levels, and chucked a few colours over the top.

I there a way of getting rid of the washout from his lights and blending the subject & BG?

Im fairly new to this and have only really used AE for animated titles. I know its good for this sort of thing but i think im not sure what kind of terminology to look for when searching.

I have attached screen shots and would really value any tips, tutorials or advice that anyone can offer on how to get this footage to match his BG.

Thanks again for reading this.

Nick

“Life’s a progress bar”

Todd Kopriva replied 15 years, 3 months ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
3 Replies

Tudor “ted” jelescu
February 4, 2011 at 5:06 pm

Here’s a Light Wrap Tutorial similar to the one Dave mentioned and a Color Link Tutorial– this will help you matching color besides what Color Finesse can do.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist
Nick Tallents
February 4, 2011 at 5:15 pm

Thanks Both,its great to have such knowledge available.
I just clicked on the after effects forum but have now seen the basics below it! Will check that before posting next time.
I have played a little with finesse since i posted (it took a while for my post to be approved) It helps a little but that wash out is still there, with footage like this im not going to get it looking completely natural, i can see its going to be a weekend of tweaking!
Thanks for the tutorial & podcast links i will have a go at them and get back to you with an update on my progress in a few days.
Have a great weekend
Thanks again
Nick

“Life’s a progress bar”
Todd Kopriva
February 4, 2011 at 6:56 pm

One of the basics of color matching between a foreground and background is to use the Levels effect _on each channel_ to make sure that you have a similar distribution of color values in both the foreground and the background.

Another quick and dirty way to match a foreground with a background is to precompose them together and then apply a color adjustment to the composite as a whole. When both the foreground and background have been adjusted in a similar manner (whatever that manner is), they look more like they belong together and were shot together.

There are more tips for color correction here.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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