Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema [Paperback]

Alexis Van Hurkman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0321713117 | ISBN-13: 978-0321713117 | Edition: 1

The colorist working in film and video is the individual responsible for breathing life into characters, bringing a mood into a scene, and making the final product polished and professional-looking. This craft is an art form that often takes years to perfect and many trial-and-error attempts at getting it right. Here to help both the newcomer and professional who needs to brush up on their skills is the first book to cover a wide variety of techniques that can be used by colorists, no matter what system they’re using. Whether you’re using a video editing package with a color correction tool built in (Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro) of a dedicated application (Apple Color, Assimilate Scratch, Baselight, or DaVinci), this book covers it all.  From the most basic methods for evaluating and correcting an overall image, to the most advanced targeted corrections and creative stylizations typically employed, you’ll find this highly organized book a solid reference that’s easy to navigate.  The accompanying DVD contains footage as well as cross-platform exercises and project files for readers to experiment with.

After reading the techniques, readers will learn to apply the methods that all of the color correction applications use, how to problem-solve and trouble-shoot, how to maximize the effectiveness of each tool that’s available, and they will discover how to creatively combine techniques and tools to accomplish the types of stylizations that colorists are often called upon to create.

Praise for Color Correction Handbook:

From Alexis Van Hurkman comes an up-to-date, most welcome, encyclopedic guide for colorists: Color CorrectionHandbook (Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema).   The breadth of this work is almost impossibly ambitious: Van Hurkman embraces all the important topics, and the liberal use of illustrated examples, with accompanying waveforms and solutions from various platforms, succeeds in providing a single reference work for the colorist at almost any level of expertise.... Colorists will find gaps in their knowledge are as well-served by this book as the aspiring colorist already under the tutelage of a master.

Ron Lingelbach
Colorist, Dolby Laboratories; Founder, TKcolorist Internet Group (TIG)

Color correction is a complex and subtle craft. The student needs to sit next to professionals on a real jobs, and ask them continuously what they just did, and why they did it. The professional rarely has the time and the patience to answer newbie questions, and the earnest scholar quickly ends up outside the grading suite, wondering sadly whether there was an easier road to knowledge.

Now, at last, there may be. Alex Van Hurkman's book comes with a DVD of example material you can load onto your color grading workstation. It covers many useful real examples, explaining what you might do to make the images look better, what is the easiest way to do it on any of the popular platforms, and even how to explain what you are doing to others. If you want to learn color correction, this book will make a difference.

Dr Richard Kirk

Colour Scientist, FilmLight Ltd

Recipient of 2010 AMPAS Scientific and Engineering Award

Van Hurkman covers the theory and the practical application of color-correction very well...it's always good to understand the theory of *why* the image looks good or bad and how it relates to photography, electronics, and physics.

I have no doubt Van Hurkman's book is as close as we're going to get to a standard textbook for the world of color correction.  If nothing else, I think it communicates the idea to neophyte filmmakers that there's far more to color-correction than just having the software or the box.  It's *experience* that makes good color -- not the system.

Highly recommended.

--Marc Wielage/Senior Colorist

Lowry Digital/Burbank

Product Details

• Paperback: 552 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (November 25, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321713117
• ISBN-13: 978-0321713117
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Computers & Technology > Digital Media Management > Audio & Video Editing
  • #27 in Books > Computers & Technology > Digital Media Management > Video Production

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Instant confidence boost for video editors January 21, 2011

By Katherine Sierra

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am fairly new to video editing, and a one-woman production but striving for higher standards with each project, and now shooting with Canon DSLRs and high-quality prime lenses. It made no sense to take such care in capturing and editing video, then fail to properly color correct. I had been getting by with basic usage of (and much trial and error) Final Cut Pro two and three way color correctors, but did not truly understand what I was doing, how to properly use the Final Cut scopes, and was way too intimidated by Apple's Color. This book has not only given me a much richer understanding of how to use the tools for color correction and grading, but it has also given me a much better sense of what, why, and when to apply certain approaches to correct typical problems I was struggling with constantly including noise and underexposure.

The format is extremely useful and learner-friendly, with a conversational tutoring style that walks you through a wide range of common problems then showing you not just the BEST adjustment, but also the other possible adjustments you might imagine trying, and then you can see the results with the waveform next to each image. Of course there is always the problem that many of the images showing subtle shifts from corrections simply do not come through well in the printed page. The color and paper quality of the book are good, but there are still some shots where the before and after are just too slight, especially when talking about noise/grain, but this book has done a better production job of this than some of the others I have tried.

I was a little put off by the first part of the book where the author emphasized the importance of having the proper hardware for color correction and grading... I very nearly quit reading the book at chapter one! It gave me the impression that this book was not for me, at home, with my Mac and Final Cut Studio software, but no dedicated scopes, monitors, hardware controllers, or even a properly configured "room" (turns out my entire office is wrong... Eg. workstation faces a window, has way too much uncontrolled light and color surrounding it, etc.). While I recognize the importance of having the proper set-up for anyone who is going to be a pro colorist, the book itself if enormously useful to ANYONE who simply wants to take the next step in improving their video, and I would think especially all those new "digital cinema" folks moving from still photography to video thanks to Canon.

I am so grateful for this book. This is a fairly complex topic, but once you begin to understand the use of the scopes, your confidence and skills will take a huge leap forward. Thank-you to Alexis for such a wonderful book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My Color Correction Bible December 30, 2010

By Taj Jackson

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Wow, that's all I can say. I have never ever wrote a review before on Amazon or any other site for that matter. Partially because I am naturally lazy, and partially because I have never felt inclined to. However I will gladly make this book my first review. It truly is a must if you are interested in only dabbling into color correction, or if you want to do it professionally. As a complete newbie myself to color correction, Alexis made this topic not only understandable, but entertaining as well. There are plenty of pictures and clear examples to follow along with so you won't get lost. Color correction had always been a complete mystery to me in the past. Not anymore. I now feel like I have the tools and techniques to color correct my own projects with confidence. I know this review may sound like a sales pitch, but I really don't care, I can't recommend this book enough. Now with the Kindle format version, I can always have it by my side when color correcting and grading. Well done Alexis and thank you.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Color Correction Handbook April 27, 2011

By Alvaro Calandra

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book in Amazon along with Steve Hullfish's The Art and Techinique of Digital Color Correction and I have to say both books have enriched me as a video editor, since before them I was like they say "Color Illiterate", meaning that you cut video and render and do stuff, but really don't realize all the other things you have to do concerning the grading as they call the color correction process that can enhance your work.

Both this books talk about the same problems but from different perspectives and besides software applications, control surfaces and other infrastructure and considerations about room characteristics for this job, they answer different things in a very clear and practical manner that helps you understand the importance of this craft, so I highly recommend to get them both, since they complement each other very nicely.

Alvaro Calandra