Effects and transitions

Adjust luminance using levels

The Fast Color Corrector and the Three-way Color Corrector effects have Input Levels and Output Levels controls to adjust the luminance in a clip. The controls are similar to the ones in Photoshop’s Levels dialog box. In the Fast Color Corrector effect, control settings are applied to all three color channels in a clip. The Three-way Color Corrector effect lets you apply the levels adjustments to the entire tonal range in the clip, a specific tonal range, or specific range of colors.

1(Optional) Set up your workspace for color correction. When adjusting luminance, it might be best to view the YC Waveform in a Reference Monitor ganged to the Program Monitor.

2In the Effects panel, click the triangle to expand the Video Effects bin, and then click the triangle to expand the Color Correction bin.

3Drag the Fast Color Corrector effect or the Three-way Color Corrector to the clip in a Timeline panel.

If the clip is already selected in a Timeline panel, you can drag the effect to the Video Effects area of the Effect Controls panel.

4In the Effect Controls panel, click the triangle to expand the Fast Color Corrector or Three-way Color Corrector controls.

5(Optional) Do any of the following to set preview options:

•To view only the luminance values in a clip, choose Luma from the Output menu. This option only affects the preview in the Program Monitor, it doesn’t remove the color from the video.

•To display a before and after view of the clip in one monitor, select the Show Split View option. You can specify whether the split view is horizontal or vertical by choosing from the Layout menu. You can also adjust the relative proportion of the before and after views.

6 (Optional for the Three-way Color Corrector only) Do any of the following:

•To restrict your correction to a specific tonal range, choose Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights from the Tonal Range menu. Choosing Master applies correction to the entire tonal range of the image. If necessary, use the Tonal Range Definition controls to define the different tonal ranges. You can choose Tonal Range from the Output menu to view a tritone preview of the tonal ranges in the Program Monitor.

•To restrict your adjustments to a color or range of colors, click the triangle to expand the Secondary Color Correction controls. Define the color or color range using the Eyedropper tool, slider controls or enter numeric values. See also “Specify a color or range of colors to adjust” on page 324.

7 Use the Output Levels slider controls to set the maximum black and white levels:

Black Output slider Controls the resulting output of the shadows. The default is 0, where the pixels are completely black. Moving the slider to the right specifies a lighter value for the darkest shadow.

White Output slider Controls the resulting output of the highlights. The default is 255, where the pixels are completely white. Moving the slider to the right specifies a darker value for the brightest highlight.

If the YC Waveform is displayed in a Reference Monitor, adjust the Black Output and White Output sliders so the maximum black and white levels of the waveform are within 7.5 to 100 IRE. This ensures that the levels are within broadcast standards.

Last updated 1/16/2012

Effects and transitions

Original image (left); blacks and whites corrected to broadcast limits (right)

8 Use the following controls to set the black, gray, and white input levels:

Black Level eyedropper Maps the sampled tone to the setting of the Black Output slider. Click an area in the Program Monitor that you want to be the darkest value in the image. You can also click the color swatch to open the Adobe Color Picker and select a color to define the darkest shadow in the image.

Gray Level eyedropper Maps the sampled tone to a medium gray (level 128). This changes the intensity values of the middle range of gray tones without dramatically altering the highlights and shadows. You can also click the color swatch to open the Adobe Color Picker and select a color to define the medium gray in the image.

White Level eyedropper Maps the sampled tone to the setting of the White Output slider. Click an area in the Program Monitor that you want to be the lightest value in the image. You can also click the color swatch to open the Adobe Color Picker and select a color to define the lightest highlight in the image.

Black Input Level slider Maps the input black level to the setting of the Black Output slider. By default, the Output black slider is set to 0, where the pixels are completely black. If you’ve adjusted the Black Output to 7.5 IRE or higher, the darkest shadow will be mapped to that level.

Gray Input Level slider Controls the midtones and changes the intensity values of the middle range of gray tones without dramatically altering the highlights and shadows.

White Input Level slider Maps the input white level to the setting of the White Output slider. By default, the Output white slider is set to 255, where the pixels are completely white. If you’ve adjusted the White Output to 100 IRE or lower, the lightest highlight will be mapped to that level.

Note: You can also adjust the Input and Output levels by scrubbing the underlined text or typing a value for Input Black Level, Input Gray Level, Input White Level, Output Black Level, and Output White Level.

More Help topics

“Fast Color Corrector effect” on page 356

“Three-Way Color Corrector effect” on page 363

“Define the tonal ranges in a clip” on page 323

“Specify a color or range of colors to adjust” on page 324

Select a color with the Adobe Color Picker

You can use the Adobe Color Picker to set target colors in some color and tonal adjustment effects. Clicking a color swatch in an effect’s controls opens the Adobe Color Picker.

When you select a color in the Adobe Color Picker, it simultaneously displays the numeric values for HSB, RGB, HSL, YUV, and hexadecimal numbers. This is useful for viewing how the different color modes describe a color.

Last updated 1/16/2012

Effects and transitions

In the Adobe Color Picker, you can select colors based on the HSB (hue, saturation, brightness), RGB (red, green, blue), HSL (hue, saturation, luminance), or YUV (luminance and color difference channels) color models, or you can specify a color based on its hexadecimal values. Selecting the Only Web Colors option configures the Adobe Color Picker so that you can choose only from wheelbase colors. The color field in the Adobe Color Picker can display color components in HSB, RGB, HSL, or YUV color mode.

B C D E

F

A

Adobe Color Picker

A. Selected color B. Color field C. Color slider D. Adjusted color E. Original color F. Color values

1In the Effect Controls panel, click the Color swatch property for an effect to display the Color Picker.

2Select the component you want to use to display the color spectrum:

H Displays all hues in the color slider. Selecting a hue in the color slider displays the saturation and brightness range of the selected hue in the color spectrum, with the saturation increasing from left to right and brightness increasing from bottom to top.

S Displays all hues in the color spectrum with their maximum brightness at the top of the color spectrum, decreasing to their minimum at the bottom. The color slider displays the color that’s selected in the color spectrum with its maximum saturation at the top of the slider and its minimum saturation at the bottom.

B (in the HSB section) Displays all hues in the color spectrum with their maximum saturation at the top of the color spectrum, decreasing to their minimum saturation at the bottom. The color slider displays the color that’s selected in the color spectrum with its maximum brightness at the top of the slider and its minimum brightness at the bottom.

R Displays the red color component in the color slider with its maximum brightness at the top of the slider and its minimum brightness at the bottom. When the color slider is set to minimum brightness, the color spectrum displays colors created by the green and blue color components. Using the color slider to increase the red brightness mixes more red into the colors displayed in the color spectrum.

G Displays the green color component in the color slider with its maximum brightness at the top of the slider and its minimum brightness at the bottom. When the color slider is set to minimum brightness, the color spectrum displays colors created by the red and blue color components. Using the color slider to increase the green brightness mixes more green into the colors displayed in the color spectrum.

B (in the RGB section) Displays the blue color component in the color slider with its maximum brightness at the top of the slider and its minimum brightness at the bottom. When the color slider is set to minimum brightness, the color spectrum displays colors created by the green and red color components. Using the color slider to increase the blue brightness mixes more blue into the colors displayed in the color spectrum.

Last updated 1/16/2012

Effects and transitions

3 Do any of the following:

•Drag the triangles along the color slider, or click inside the color slider to adjust the colors displayed in the color spectrum.

•Click or drag inside the large square color spectrum to select a color. A circular marker indicates the color's position in the color spectrum.

Note: As you adjust the color using the color slider and color spectrum, the numeric values change to indicate the new color. The top rectangle to the right of the color slider displays the new color; the bottom rectangle displays the original color.

•For HSB, specify hue (H) as an angle, from 0° to 360°, that corresponds to a location on the color wheel. Specify saturation (S) and brightness (B) as percentages (0 to 100).

•For RGB, specify component values.

•For #, enter a color value in hexadecimal form.

Define the tonal ranges in a clip

The Luma Corrector, RGB Color Corrector, and Three-way Color Corrector effects let you define the tonal ranges for the shadows, midtones, and highlights so you can apply a color correction to a specific tonal range in an image. When used along with the Secondary Color Correction controls, defining a tonal range can help you apply adjustments to very specific elements in the image.

1Select the clip you want to correct in a Timeline panel and apply either the Luma Corrector, RGB Color Corrector, or Three-way Color Corrector effect.

2In the Effect Controls panel, click the triangle to expand the Luma Corrector, RGB Color Corrector, or Three-way Color Corrector effect.

3(Optional) Choose Tonal Range from the Output menu to display a tritone image of the shadows, midtones, and highlights areas in the image.

The Tonal Range preview updates as you make changes to the Tonal Definition controls.

4 Click the triangle to expand the Tonal Range Definition control.

A B C D

Tonal Range Definition control

A. Shadow threshold B. Shadow softness C. Highlight softness D. Highlight threshold

5Drag the Shadow Threshold and Highlight Threshold sliders to define the shadow and highlight tonal ranges. It’s best if you make the adjustments while viewing the tritone Tonal Range display of the image.

6Drag the Shadow Softness and Highlight Softness sliders to feather (soften) the boundaries between the tonal ranges.

The amount of falloff depends on the image and how you want the color correction applied to it.

Note: You can also define the tonal ranges by changing the numeric values or moving the sliders for the Shadow Threshold, Shadow Softness, Highlight Threshold, and Highlight Softness.

Once you’ve defined the tonal range in the clip, you can use the Tonal Range menu to choose whether to apply the color correction to the shadows, midtones, highlights, or the entire tonal range (Master).

Last updated 1/16/2012