Color Correction theory?

[Brandon Fraley]

I've always felt I had a natural ability for composition and lighting, but as much as I hate to admit it, I think my grading skills kind of suck And now that I'm shooting RAW I feel those skills are more important than ever.

Are there any books/tutorials/videos can can discuss the theory behind grading, rather than the tools?

 

[Rudi Herbert]

Mark Christianson, and Adobe writer, has a few EXCELLENT books on After Effects color correction and other apps. If you look him up and buy some of his materials, it'll pay for itself many times over, specially if you own a RED. Also, at www.lynda.com there are many tutorials on anything and everything, including color correction, both with Adobe and Apple programs. There's an amazing wealth of knowledge on that site.

 

[Morten Eriksen]

"The Art And Technique Of Digital Color Correction" by Steve Hullfish
"Encyclopedia Of Color Correction" Alexis Van Hurman from Apple Pro Training Series - actually about CC in FCP but he has some nice little tricks.

Morten

 

[Manuel Wenger]

i second the recommendation from Morten, the book by Steven Hullfish is a great ressource. There are a lot samples referring to Color, so you can easily recreate the corrections. Explanations are very good and in depht.
Great book !

 

[Graeme Nattress]

Alexis' book is great. He seems to be one of the few that likes to get his terminology correct

Graeme

 

[Brandon Fraley]

Thanks guys I have a lynda.com account and have watch some color correction tutorials, but again they go more into how to use the software's features rather than go into the artistic principles behind creative grading, understandably.

I'll definitely check out those books, and if anyone has other suggestions I'd love to hear those as well

 

[Morten Eriksen]

BTW if you want to read about colors in general and ideas on how to use them as a visual tool I can also recommend :

"If It's Purple, Someones's Gonna Die" by Patti Bellantoni and
"The Visual Story" by Bruce Block

Morten