Tutorial: Inspecting the Inspector in Final Cut Pro X, Pt. 2
This tutorial on Apple Final Cut Pro X takes a closer look at color correction in the Inspector, exploring the Balance Color, Match Color, and Color Mask and Shape Mask features.
Match Color
Next up is Match Color, which you’ll find right below Balance Color. Match Color allows you take a clip and match it’s tonality to another clip.
To begin, select the clip that you want to change and then, once you select it, it’ll give you the option of selecting a reference clip from which you want to copy its color tonality. On the right in Figure 3 (below) is a shot we captured in a vineyard at a wedding, and the shot on the left in Figure 3 was shot right outside the church at a different time of day, so it has a little bit of a different color tone. But I want these two shots to match. The tonality on the left is the color that I want, and the tonality on the right is the one I want to change.
Figure 3. Right, the color we want to change; left, the color we want for both shots. To see this screenshot at full size, click the image.
So we select the shot that we want to change, and click the box adjacent to Match Color to turn it on. So now if you look closely at Figure 4 (below), the cursor looks like a position tool with almost like a camera icon next to it; it’s essentially working like an eye dropper that you click to sample the portion of the shot that you want to pull the tonality from. You could do it multiple times.
Figure 4. The transformed cursor with Match Color selected. To see this screenshot at full size, click the image.
So now, when I click on the image on the left, you see the colors change on the right (Figure 5, below). And as I click different portions of the clip, the colors keep changing.
Figure 5. Matching the color in the image on the right to the image on the left. To see this screenshot at full size, click the image.
Now as you can see, it does get the colors closer to the tonality, but the problem is, this is using a mathematical formula; it’s looking at all the color tones of the image, and applying them like a broad stroke across the whole image so their skin tones are getting kind of a weird, purplish-grayish tint. It just doesn’t really work very well. Now if there are two shots--say, if you're doing a multi-camera shoot, and you have one of your shooters that's off by a few Kelvin, and their show is just a little bit warmer or cooler than yours, you’ll be able to click Match Color and it will work pretty well. But that's the only type of case in which I’ve ever seen it work.
Again, just as with Balance Color, I find that doing it manually will yield better results every time.
All that said, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Not all the functions of the color section of the Inspector are bad. In fact, the last two portions that I’m going to cover in this tutorial are awesome, and I use them quite often.
Related Articles
Here's a look at two workflows for applying film grain to your footage in FCP X using cineLook (with and without Gorilla Grain), first with 4k footage shot with the Blackmagic Production Camera, and then with Cinestyle-flattened DSLR footage.
In our first tutorial on the recently released FCP 10.1, we look at the new Libraries feature, which enhances project and media organization and eases the adjustment for editors transitioning from FCP 7.
This tutorial on Apple Final Cut Pro X inspects the Video Inspector, a context-sensitive area of the FCP X interface that allows you to change settings of various filters and settings, and focuses on making basic but effective color adjustments.
In this video tutorial Glen Elliott of Cord3Films looks at FCP X's Timeline Index which provides innovative options for viewing, navigating, and searching your projects, including three different types of timeline markers and the ability to create a navigable To Do list of editing notes that's indispensable for collaborative workflows.
In this tutorial, Cord3Films' Glen Elliott demonstrates how to mix audio from multiple off-camera sources in a multicam edit in Apple Final Cut Pro X.
In part 2 of our series on multicam editing in Final Cut Pro X, Glen Elliott explains how you can accelerate and streamline the multicam-syncing process in Red Giant's PluralEyes 3.
Our Final Cut Pro X tutorial series continues with the first installment of a 3-part series on multicam editing in FCP X, addressing the basics like creating a multicam clip and cutting and switching audio and video using the Angle Editor.
Working with compound clips in FCP X is similar to nesting sequences in Final Cut Pro 7. Once you understand how it works, and how changes to compound clips can ripple across projects, it's a powerful feature that you'll find yourself using more and more.
In this tutorial, we'll look at several ways you can use connected storylines to enhance your FCP X edits and mix in cutaways and creative shots in a quick and efficient way.
This tutorial explores advanced editing techniques in FCP X including back-timing your edits, replacing edits and auditioning, top-and-tail editing, extend edits, trim-to-selection edits, keyboard trimming, and the Precision Editor.
The magnetic timeline is one of the major revolutionary changes in Apple Final Cut Pro X, and one of the areas editors struggle with when they're coming from track-based NLEs. In this tutorial we'll break it down and show you how to make it work for you.
In this first installment of our new tutorial series, Glen Elliott demystifies Final Cut Pro X, illustrates its core functions, and focuses on one of the most powerful new features for organizing, accelerating, and streamlining your edits: metadata keyword tagging.