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Judging Gamma when color correcting…
I’ve been wondering what it is people generally use for judging weather the Gamma (mids) is right when doing color correction and if there is a method to it while using scopes.
I know what to do for whites and blacks, but there doesn’t really seem to be an established opinion on mids.
I have the two color correction books (the bible and the fcp 5 book) and gamma doesn’t really seem to be covered there.
What I seem to be seeing/hearing about it is, that if it looks good on the CRT go with it, but that seems a bit subjective which is why I’m asking about what to look for in the scopes when making gamma adjustments.
Thanks.
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4 Replies
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I would say it has to be a subjective decision – what you are talking about is essentially the ‘look’ of a shot, and where the mids lie will depend on the shot itself – areas of shadow and light, and will also very from hue to hue. Setting the black and peak white levels correctly will ensure your mids have the full range available to them. Having a well set up CRT is more vital here than scopes.
Just my 2 pence.
Ben
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Ben thats my way of thinking currently as well.
I thought there might be more to it as I notice a shift in luma levels when adjusting gamma.
I was hoping there was some sort of guide to looking at the scopes to ensure your as close as can be (scope wise) to a properly balanced image, and if that looks good on the CRT as well, than your all set.
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Gamma levels do more than just set the look of a shot. Using a good CRT is essential, but the scopes can give you specific information that (in my experience) becomes critical when trying to match shots within a scene. The gamma levels not only define a tonal range, but they serve what I would say correlates to negative density in photography. When one matches two shots by eye on a CRT, the monitor often masks variations in density and saturation that may show up when projected, viewed on a plasma or exported to tape or especially encoded to DVD (as the subtle differences get amplified when a software based encoder deals with the different levels). Am I making any sense? The best results come from both judging by eye to find whe look you want, and using the scopes to ensure a consistent value set from shot to shot.
Eric Grush
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That does make sense to me.
thanks.
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