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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Colour Grade a video in Photoshop....

D'Arcy Foley-Dawson

D'Arcy Foley-Dawson

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....Anyone done it? What was it like?

I've got a video that's going to be graded sometime next week (when we get sign-off from the client) and the guy doing the grade mentioned he'd be keen to try doing it in Photoshop, since apparently it now supports quicktime video.

Since I don't have a very recent version of Photoshop I can't test this function myself, but I was wondering if many people out there had graded a video in Photoshop, and if so, how did they find it? eg., Was it a huge strain on their processors, was it a convenient and time efficient workflow, etc. My understanding is you can't get a video out to a broadcast monitor via Photoshop, so an additional final tweak in a dedicated program like Color would be necessary.

The project is 3 minutes long, all ProRes 422HQ 1080p material, a music video so there's quite a lot of clips/cuts.

The benefits we perceive in using Photoshop is obviously having much greater control over manipulation of the image.

Since time is of course a factor, is it worth having a crack at doing the grade in Photoshop or should we just stick with a dedicated program? Opinions from people who've tried it would be much appreciated.
 
I've done it once for a 30 seconds TVC. I exported the TVC as Tiff files, created an ACTION as I colour corrected a frame and then created a DROPLET to apply to all the frames that made up the shot.

Bottom line: Images were way crispier and there are more options for correcting images in PS then in FCP. I even did some cloning, etc. If I had the time I would ALWAYS grade in PS. It is worth it.
 
rameshjai said:
there are more options for correcting images in PS then in FCP.
Click to expand...

I should point out we have access to Color and I think some other grading programs, so FCP isn't an option. But thanks for your thoughts.

As I understand it, the latest version of Photoshop can handle actual video files, ie. you don't even have to treat each individual frame?
 
rameshjai said:
Now that will be really helpful.
Click to expand...

....but the big question is: how is the workflow?

Do you need massive amounts of processing power to make it effective?

Is it going to be more time consuming than working in dedicated grading software?

Is it hard to compare different clips for the sake of matching them up, considering Photoshop is designed for handling still images?

Do these possible limitations cancel out any benefit Photoshop might have over using proper grading software?
 
daveb said:
Have you considered Color Finesse with in AE ?
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The person doing the grade has put it on the table, yes. He's quite familiar with AE. But my own colour skills are limited to FCP and Photoshop, I've never really used AE.

We'll probably end up going with Color or AE, but we were both intrigued by the prospect of doing the grade in Photoshop.
 
Completely unfamiliar with Shake too! I'm pretty straightforward in my tastes, I just like to cut in FCP. I don't even like transitions, I might occasionally use a fade in/out..... :sarcasm: Whenever I do a job for a client I get someone else (a professional) to do the colour grade. Although I have a good eye and know my shit when it comes to colour, I made the decision a while ago to focus my energy on directing. So I know I could learn to use AE and Shake and whatever else, but my time is prioritised differently. I'm happy just telling someone else exactly what to do. :innocent: I bet you weren't expecting such a long-winded answer.

Kyle, when you say AE is the "video equivalent" to PS, do you mean exactly the same functions are available in AE? If so, why would Photoshop even have video functionality? Or do you mean there's virtually enough you can do in AE that, combined with the fact it's designed for video, far outweighs any minor limitations it might have compared to Photoshop?
 
I have used Photoshop CS3 for video quite a bit. It actually has some great functionality as well as some tools that aren't available in After effects. Of course it does have some things it can't do, basically any effect that has to be added per frame (blur, sharpen, masks, noise reduction) will have to be added to each frame manually, unless I missed something. Playback is pretty good, and file compatablility is second to none. The biggest issue that i have is trying to figure out which color space to work in. I'm guessing Adobe RGB is not correct and there is a definite gamma change.
 
DArcyFD said:
Completely unfamiliar with Shake too! I'm pretty straightforward in my tastes, I just like to cut in FCP. I don't even like transitions, I might occasionally use a fade in/out..... :sarcasm: Whenever I do a job for a client I get someone else (a professional) to do the colour grade. Although I have a good eye and know my shit when it comes to colour, I made the decision a while ago to focus my energy on directing. So I know I could learn to use AE and Shake and whatever else, but my time is prioritised differently. I'm happy just telling someone else exactly what to do. :innocent: I bet you weren't expecting such a long-winded answer.

Kyle, when you say AE is the "video equivalent" to PS, do you mean exactly the same functions are available in AE? If so, why would Photoshop even have video functionality? Or do you mean there's virtually enough you can do in AE that, combined with the fact it's designed for video, far outweighs any minor limitations it might have compared to Photoshop?
Click to expand...

Just that AE is streamlined for video. Most of the stuff you can do in Photoshop is covered in After Effects, but AE goes above and beyond Photoshop for other things besides the grading.
 
That is a lot of work to do Photoshop. At 24fps and 3 minutes, there would be 4,320 frames. It certainly can done, but IMHO you would be far better off using AE even with the learning curve.

I would recommend Magic Bullet Looks. We recently used this to grade a feature and it has a very nice feature set for the money.

If you have access to a colorist, they could help you develop the "Looks" and then you can apply and tweak each shot as needed.

If you are an expert in PS, grade a few stills to your liking and then try and duplicate the grade in AE. It takes a little trial and error, but you will be better off the end.

I hope this helps.

Edgar
 
I think I would throw up blood from my eyes trying to do a grade in PS or Shake (and I love Shake).

AE with Color Finesse, maybe...

Basic AE has most of the functions of PS, to answer your question.


The real issue here is how nice it is to use, I think. All of these apps will give good results. Color, while buggy, is made to do color work. It is set up in a logical and usable fashion. Moving on up, Autodesk, Assimilate, Quantel, all have excellent offerings for color work.
 
there is a format, called filmstrip, it used to work very well in photoshop. also, i remember someone, i think rob legato, that did the color in photoshop for scorsese's movie, the aviator. there is a link somewhere, but i couldn't find it!
 
actually a lot of the correction tools from lightroom are now in photoshop cs4, very precise and accurate tools. it will be pretty easy to write an XML type plugin that brings your footage into photoshop seperated by shots. That will be the day though. truth is the tools you need are in photoshop,, but the enviroment and interface sucks for longform video color correction
 
at the prosumer level, colorista, looks and color are the best tools out there
 
santiago said:
there is a format, called filmstrip, it used to work very well in photoshop. also, i remember someone, i think rob legato, that did the color in photoshop for scorsese's movie, the aviator. there is a link somewhere, but i couldn't find it!
Click to expand...

They just exported a LUT from PS, didnt work in it
 
Update

Update

Began grading today, we opened the 3 minute video up in Photoshop and it was amazing!

So far only worked with ProRes 422HQ, and haven't done any render tests yet, but there were no performance issues, wasn't sluggish, no dramas.

The video has it's own timeline and you can apply layers only to specific frames. In other words, you just isolate each shot/set-up/angle with it's own layer, extremely simple (although admittedly not as simple as a dedicated shot-by-shot grading program, but as shasbagu pointed out this could be worked around with a plug-in).

Not sure if it's possible to send a signal out to a broadcast monitor, but I'm sure this is a function that can be added.

It's pretty exciting to be able to grade in Photoshop. At this stage it may not be an option for large projects, but for a three minute music video it's sweet as.
 
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