It’s easy when you first start out in the video production field to focus on the simple things like: hitting the record button when you want to start so you get the bride walking down the aisle and hitting the record button a second time when you want to stop so you don’t film your feet for ten minutes. It’s also easy to think about how to show your client that you are knowledgeable and have experience (even if your only experience is filming Christmas morning for you family).
Once you get settled in to producing wedding videos, you’ll find the importance of color correction. I always make sure the cameras are white balanced to the correct setting, but at times I notice that when I’m editing, they still need a hint of color correction. Sometimes worse than others but you can still see a huge difference in the brides dress when you color correct and when you don’t. It separates the amateurs from the pros. Most editing programs have some type of color correcting. Final Cut Express, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, Magix Movie Edit 10, Pinnacle Studio, and Ulead VideoStudio all support color correction in some form.
Original frame but white balanced in camera from a recent wedding
This is a view of the couple without color correction. Notice how the bride’s dress appears dingy and not crisp and pure white? If the entire wedding is like this, then you might be able to get away with it but I would never recommend that. The skin tones are also a bit off and appear dirty and not true to life.
Color Corrected frame from a recent wedding
AHHHH…much better. Doesn’t that look a lot better?
The Bride’s dress look a lot more pure white and the skin tones seem more natural. This process only took me a few seconds but makes a world of difference. Most programs allow you to adjust the colors and even let’s you determine what is true white and then adjusts the footage accordingly.
So the next time you shoot a wedding video, make sure you white balance your camera (or you’ll have results worse than those above) and spend the extra time while editing to white balance. The Product will look better and you will look more professional.
That’s how to Improve Your Video.
