How can I lower the light level on my face?

[Norman Willis]

I should add that my face is relatively static, as I am sitting in a chair, and basically ‘giving a talk.’

I was just hoping to apply the effect before I begin cutting and splicing. Or if I can add it as a track-level effect, it would not make a difference.

[D. Eric franks]

Generally, you can use levels or gamma or gain to fix things up (provided it’s not completely blown out and digitally clipped). A more specific solution would be to use the Secondary Color Corrector: use the eyedropper to select your face, toggle the Mask view on and adjust until the face is selected (this is easier than it sounds) and then use the gamma/gain on that. Honestly, the whole-image adjustment is probably the better way to go.

[Norman Willis]

Thanks. Just bringing the track level down to 96% seemed to help a lot.

I kept trying to get 95%, but it wanted to jump from 96 to 94. Is there any way to set it by typing it in?

Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org
servant@nazareneisrael.org

[Norman Willis]

Love your videos, by the way.

Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org
servant@nazareneisrael.org

[D. Eric franks]

First, the easy bits. Yes, you can “do it by the numbers” by double-clicking them and entering a value. You can also improve the precision of a mouse-drag by holding down the CTRL key while adjusting just about anything in Vegas, from sliders to envelope nodes.

Now if I may paraphrase my favorite Duke Ellington quote “If it looks good, it is good,” I do want to suggest that using the track level is the “wrong” technique here. What you are essentially doing is making the track a little more transparent to the black background, which can definitely be useful for lots of reasons (esp. when combined with the Blending Modes), but it’s also going to make your white areas grayer (which might be exactly what you want sometimes).

I hesitate to call this the “right” way (because I am decidedly an amateur at color correction), but the Gamma slider on the Color Corrector is how I’d do it, again, with the end of the discussion ultimately being that if you get what you want, that’s the right way. The tricky part is learning what you want, I suppose!

And thanks, Norman: I love producing those videos and get most of my ideas for topics from patrolling around here and seeing what people are interested in.

__________
You know what your problem is? It’s that you haven’t seen enough movies.
All of life’s riddles are answered in the movies.
— Steve Martin —
https://videopia.org

[Norman Willis]

>>I hesitate to call this the “right” way (because I am decidedly an amateur at color correction), but the Gamma slider on the Color Corrector is how I’d do it, again, with the end of the discussion ultimately being that if you get what you want, that’s the right way. The tricky part is learning what you want, I suppose!

I’ve got to work on some other projects for a few days, but I will try the Gamma slider on the Color Corrector when I go back to finish the project.

Thanks!