But as a starting point, I recommend these Exposure settings: I’ve found it also helps to drop your highlight levels down a touch as well, to avoid bright highlights clipping too severely.Įvery shot will be a bit different. This alone improves the look of iPhone footage subtly, making it softer and more natural. Take a look at this sample image, raw from the iPhone:Īnd here’s what it looks like with the mid tone / shadow adjustments: Drop your mid tone levels way down so that you are crushing the shadows, and then bring your black levels back up to taste. There is very little mid tone contrast, which is partly what makes it look like video. By default, iPhone footage seems to have a lot of overall contrast, but it’s mostly in the shadows and highlights. The very first step in your iPhone color grading workflow is to adjust the exposure levels of your shot. These same adjustments can also be made using three way color correctors, curves, or any other tool for that matter.īut perhaps the easiest way to set a base look with your iPhone footage (inside of FCP X) is to simply add a clip to your timeline, hit CMD + 6 to bring up the color board, and start making adjustments. The Color Boardįor the purpose of this quick tutorial, we are going to use the Color Board panel in Final Cut Pro to make our adjustments. The most important part is understanding what the footage needs to look more organic, as opposed to which tools you use to get there. One quick note before we jump into the recommended iPhone color grading workflow –Īlthough this post focuses on settings adjustments you can make within Final Cut Pro, these exact same principles can of course be applied in any other video editing software, including DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro. But today, I want to share a quick tip for improving your footage that was shot with the native Apple camera, which is also capable of great results. There are workflows for achieving those type of results using third party apps (like the incredible Filmic Proapp). In any case, if you’re reading this article you are likely trying to break out of the stock iPhone aesthetic and find something more tasteful for your project. It’s not that there is anything “wrong” with the native iPhone look per se, but it’s just not exclusively intended for filmmakers seeking a polished narrative or high end documentary look. This is a result of many factors – sharpening, internal processing, small sensor size, and to a large degree color science. With that said though, iPhone footage does still come off the camera with a baked-in video look. And as I’ve learned recently, the raw footage is very easy to grade – or even match to other cameras like the Arri Alexa. Virtually any iPhone model released in the last 4 – 5 years is capable of producing pretty incredible video results in the right hands. If you can't find a LUT that matches what you're looking for, you can always go the paid route or learn how to create your own.In this quick post I am going to walk you through a very simple color grading workflow that will elevate your iPhone footage and make it appear as if it were shot on a cinema camera. My suggestion is to load up some free LUTs to see how they work. Some LUTs are free (such as from freshLUTs) and some have an associated price. You can also create your own LUTs, but that's a very complicated process, so your best bet is to use your old pal Google and search for LUTs that can be used with Final Cut Pro. You'll find people have created LUTs that resemble modern films and even older films. Those changes can be anywhere from a romantic feel to an almost identical look of a certain film. Essentially, you load a clip into the timeline and double-click a LUT you've either added or is included by default, and the changes are automatically applied.Īlso: The best laptops for graphic designers With LUTs you can achieve very dramatic effects without having to go through hours of manually altering the various values for color. LUTs use predetermined sets of mathematical formulas to make adjustments to gamma, contrast, saturation, luminance, and hue to alter the look. LUT stands for Look Up Table and they make it very easy to change the look of your clips. I'm going to simplify this, so you don't get bogged down in terminology or the science of it all.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |