Writing. Writing. Sleeping. More writing. The periodic grading gig interruption.
Yes, it’s “the last month of writing my book,” and just like every other book’s last month, it’s a round-the-clock marathon of typing, research, setting up example projects that look good and explain the topic at hand, screenshot-taking, and illustration making; all amidst a vague feeling that I should be getting more sleep.
And the periodic beer.
However, amidst all the toil, there are still magic moments, and today was the culmination of a plan I’ve long had to more fully examine and portray the possibilities of human skin tone (one of the chapters of the book I’ve put particular emphasis on). After I identified the list of complexions I wanted to document, photographer Sasha Nialla assembled a terrific roster of models, and with me playing client shot all of them under controlled lighting conditions, allowing me to show an apples to apples comparison within the book of the basic categories of complexion, for analysis and consideration.
Photographer Sasha Nialla shoots our redhead sample subject. It's the sexiest science you're going to see…
My personal criteria for how good a technical book I’m writing [...]
Continue reading Digging in the Word Mine…
I had some back and forth with friend and colleague Patrick Inhofer (Colorist and owner of FINI), about what the “official” peak luma setting should be for a monitor he’s evaluating. The long and short of my response was that SMPTE Recommended Practice document RP 166-1995 (now archived, but there’s no replacement just yet) calls for 35 footlamberts (ft-L) of light output for a calibrated CRT display, which when converted to cd/m2 is 119.92 nits (round up to 120). In other words, a 100 IRE white field, when measured, should be outputting 35 ft-L or 120 nits. This was decided in the CRT days, which are waning, but so far as I know it’s the only official peak luma standard in place for color critical monitoring on a self-illuminated display (the projection standard is 14 ft-L).
However, there are all sorts of posts where folks claim all sorts of peak luma values that they prefer to use for their own monitoring situation. When I’m asked to explain why, it’s always difficult to do so without either taking sides or wondering if one or another emerging monitor technologies really does merit revisiting the previous standard. [...]
Continue reading Monitoring Peak Luma Funnies
The south hall NAB show floor (where all the postproduction was) on Wednesday was packed.
Upon my return to New York and my first full night’s sleep in a week, I thought it would be good to follow up upon my last post and share some experiences from the rest of the show before they faded from memory. Overall, I had a great time visiting the different vendors of color correction hardware and software and comparing what they can do. Interestingly, the south hall (where most of the postproduction hardware/software vendors were located) was packed, much moreso then what I saw of the north and center halls, where all the production and distribution gear was located. With the abundance of tools now available to enable talented people to do increasingly incredible things, it’s a good time to be involved with post.
I got a fuller demo of the workflow involved with moving Avid and FCP projects to and from Baselight. Baselight has a clean, if packed, user interface, and as far as I can tell has pretty much every software tool ever devised for making [...]
Continue reading Notes From NAB, Part Deux
Another year's pilgrimage to NAB, in Vegas…
Well this year’s NAB is shaping up to be a doozy. Having spent the day chatting with representatives from various vendors of color correction software, color critical broadcast monitors, and accelerated storage systems, all of which I take a professional interest in, I thought I’d share some end of day thoughts.
Of course, the biggest news is Blackmagic/Davinci’s announcement of a $995 Mac OS X compatible, software-only license of their flagship color correction application, Resolve. Spending $30K gets you the overwhelmingly designed control surfaces (USB connected, by the way), while $50K gets you the control surface and a Linux license (and then you need to buy the appropriate CPU/multi-GPU configuration to run it).
A terrible picture of a terrific color correction system, Resolve for Mac OS X
Interestingly, on Mac OS X, you’ll end up installing two NVidia GPUs into your Mac Pro, one in the default slot that’s used to run the UI, and a second one to do the image processing. Coupled with an additional Blackmagic card for video I/O (they say they’ll introduce compatibility with [...]
Continue reading Notes From NAB
I’m a week overdue in mentioning this, but after a month of preparation and two weeks of backbreaking work, I’ve moved my color correction suite to co-locate with Twitch Post, with whom I’m partnering to offer my color correction services to an even more diverse clientele.
For those of you who’ve already been working with me, nothing has changed. You can still reach me through correctionforcolor.com and contact me directly for inquiries and scheduling, and I offer the same range of color correction and compositing services as before. However, being located at Twitch means that additional editorial and finishing services are also available under the same roof, should you need them!
My new, larger suite offers many advantages, not the least of which is a huge 114″ front-projection screen (nearly 10′ diagonal), for an immersive grading theater experience suitable for any project. My HD-native projector is THX-calibrated, and the entire room has been constructed to conform to established digital cinema evaluation standards. Narrative and documentary features, shorts, and promos can be color corrected with complete confidence that what’s on the screen is what the audience will see.
And not only have I moved, but I’ve [...]
Continue reading I’ve Moved! (My Suite)
Another fine trip to London
Amazingly, Google has already stuck my blog onto the front page of hits for my name, so I guess I’d better get on the stick with this thing.
Just returned last week from London, where I had the opportunity to put my writer/director hat on to present a project that’s been near and dear to my heart. Anyone who knows me can attest that I love discussing my work, and it was an extremely productive exchange.
Of course, while I was there I had a nice time wandering around the city on Halloween, as well as attending an opening night party for Hammer Film’s London Festival, with a great collection of vintage posters and publicity stills from various movies. Later in the week I also attended a screening of Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter at the Curzon Soho theater, where I got to meet the wonderful Caroline Munro. We chatted about acting and her role in the upcoming film Eldorado (an extremely eclectic cast, and the final performance of David Carradine).
All in all, a fantastic trip. I hope to have reason to return soon.
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You’ve Found Me Congratulations on being intrepid enough to track down my small corner of the web. I'll likely be rattling on about my latest writing project, color correction observations, or production that's underway (which at the moment is my web serial, Starship Detritus). Whatever the topic, you're welcome to browse through and comment—I'm glad to hear from you.
Books and Videos 
Coming this fall. I'm currently working on this platform-agnostic book covering all aspects of professional color correction, in theory and practice. This book pulls together information ranging from room setup, detailed color and contrast theory, practical correction techniques, QC adherence, scene balancing, image ideals, all the way to a wealth of creative techniques—this book has something for colorists at all levels. Available for pre-order from Amazon.com.
On behalf of Ripple Training, I've created a one-hour set of instructional videos covering every new feature in Color 1.5. If you already know Color, and just want to get up to speed with what's new, these will give you a focused tour of the new features and workflows available in this upgrade to Final Cut Studio 3. Best of all, these are available for immediate download in iTunes! New Features in Color 1.5.
I used to write an ongoing series on grading in Color in the digital newsletter Edit Well. Many of my articles from the series, and others from experts in Final Cut Studio applications, have been collected into the verbosely named book Edit Well: Final Cut Studio Techniques from the Pros.
My own book, the Encyclopedia of Color Correction, is a focused compilation of color correction methods and information I've found valuable while working with my own clients. Combining color correction techniques with technical information relevant to colorists and finishing editors alike, it's an invaluable resource to post production pros who are using Final Cut Studio. Available now from Amazon.com.
If you're a fan of video tutorials, I recorded a series of 13 video lessons that provides over four hours of training spanning every room in Color. Buy it now from Magnet Media.
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