Image
Washed Out
Original Image washed out. This is the opposite problem
of the first image that also can easily be corrected by
applying levels and curves. This time the highlight and
shadow regions have slopes in reverse direction and the
shadow and upper midtone area is shifted further down
near the upper portion of the shadow area. This type of
"S" curve boosts the washed shadows the most and also
helps out midtones more than highlights. A minor adjustment
to tweak levels and do a simple color correction to warm
up the image, redo levels a bit and we're well on our
way to having a much improved video.
While
most videos can be corrected by staying within the RGB
channel you can make adjustments to the red, green and
blue channels separately. This can be especially useful
if you can't seem to get color balance right. Start by
dropping the Color Balance filter on an event and
work with the midtones, then move on to add a separate
filter for shadows and/or highlights if needed. Future
tutorials will show more advanced tips, but you should
understand the basic correction methods explained in this
tutorial first.
Tip: To adjust levels start with Gamma which
can be found under the Levels filter. You rarely
should have to go lower than .800 or higher than 1.200.
If after adjusting Gamma and applying Color Curves you
may wish to make slight adjustments by increasing the
Input Start slider (under Levels) if you image
is still a little washed out or by increasing Output
Start to lighten the image further if it still seems
a little bit on the dark side.
The
"S" curve gets its name from its shape more obvious in
this example than the other, however as you can see it
is a flattened and sloped S shape. This one goes in the
opposite direction than what we used to correct a image
that was too dark. In the example it is dragged slightly
down and to the right of center.
Additional control points can be added anywhere along the
line to more precisely adjust just shadows, midtones on
highlight areas. You can begin with a preset and adjust
off of those if your prefer. You may wish to make several
custom "S" curves to adjust for common conditions with
each "S" a little different. While it takes some practice
and some trial and error, this form of adjustment is far
superior to using contrast and brightness by itself which
effects the entire image a like amount. Using Color Curves
combined with levels you get to pick which area of the
image gets adjusted.
