Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 1246)

Chapter 20 Color Correcting Clips 459
II
The Blacks and Whites sliders automatically adjust themselves to achieve the best
numeric distribution based on the luminance levels shown in the Histogram. This gives
you a starting point from which to proceed.
If your image was incorrectly exposed, you would now adjust the Blacks, Mids, and
Whites sliders as necessary. As with all level controls, moving a slider to the right
redistributes the affected values farther to the right, making the affected parts of the
image appear brighter. Moving a slider to the left redistributes the affected values
farther to the left, making the affected parts of the image appear darker.
In this example, the image is underexposed, so move the Mids slider to the right to
bring more detail out of the image.
∏
Tip: One of the key differences between film and video is that video preserves much
more information in the shadows of an underexposed image than film does. You might
be surprised at how much detail you can bring out of the shadows of an underexposed
video clip. On the other hand, video doesn’t preserve any information in overexposed
highlights, whereas overexposed negative film does. The picture in an overexposed film
shot can be corrected during the telecine process, so that you have the maximum
amount of information available to you when color correcting the transferred video.
Note: Unlike negative film, reversal film preserves details in dark areas, much like video.
Now it’s time to address the color. In the example, the image is too warm because the
video camera was color-balanced incorrectly for tungsten instead of daylight. Although
this is obvious by looking at the shot, you can see just how far off the color balance is
by comparing the cluster of color falling above and to the right of the flesh tone
indicator in the Vectorscope of the Video Scopes tab.
Move the Mids
slider to the
right...
... so more detail comes
out in the image.