Welcome back to another Final Cut Pro tutorial!
How do you like them color curves? I like them. Let's check them out.
First, select the clip to correct, then position the playhead over the clip so that it appears in the viewer.
Now, navigate to the enhancements icon below the viewer...
...and choose "Show Color Inspector." Or use the shortcut "Command +6."
Navigate to the top right, click on the pop-up menu at the top...
...and add the color curves effect.
The controls will appear in the color inspector.
We can control the view by navigatingto the top of the inspector...
...and either choosing "All Curves" or "Single Curves," which will show one color curve at a time.
And we can select which curve is displayed.
We'll set it back to "All Curves."
We can see we have a "Luma Curve" which controls thelights and darks of our image...
...as well as a red, green, and blue curve.
By default, each curve will start out with a straight diagonal line, indicating that no changes have been made.
For every curve, the left of the line represents the shadows...
...and the right side represents highlights.
So, the middle of the line encompasses all values in between.
To adjust the darkest and lightest points, drag the control points on the ends of the luma curve.
For instance, we can darken our footage by dragging our shadow control to the right....
... or lighten it by dragging it upward.
The same concept applies to the highlight control, which we can drag it left to lighten our footage...
...or downward to darken it.
If we'd like to adjust any values in between, we simply click anywhere on the line to add a point.
Then, drag the line upward or downward to adjust the luminance of the value.
The more points we add to the line, the more narrow the range of the values we can adjust at once...
...allowing for more precise changes.
That's pretty impressive.
Now, let's adjust a color channel.
We'll go for red.
Click to set some control points and drag one up to increase the intensity of the red in that particular value range.
If we drag it down, we'll actually add the opposite of red to that value range.
In this case, green.
We can adjust the amount of red in the shadows as well as the highlights.
And we're not limited to just red, green, or blue.
To adjust a specific color, we can click on the eyedropper located here.
Then, click or drag over a color in the viewer.
And with yellow selected, we can add yellow to these values...
...or decrease yellow to add purple.
Did you hear that?
That's the sound of amazing things taking place.
Color curves also gives us a way to adjust the white balance.
To do this, select the eyedropper from any curve.
Then, click or drag over an area that should be white.
A vertical gray line will appear on the color curve.
Click to add a control point at the intersection of the line and the curve.
And drag the control point down, just until the selected color turns white.
If you drag too far, you'll add too much of the complementary color, which in this case is blue.
In case you'd like to narrow your selection, you'll need to add additional points around the value.
And drag those points back into normal range.
To delete a control point, select it and press "delete."
And to reset the values for the color curve, click the reset button.
At the bottom, we can check this "Preserve Luma" check box to preserve the overall brightness of the clip regardless of any color changes.
Let's show you how that works.
In this example, it's a pretty subtle change.
And we can adjust the "Mix" to adjust how much of the original image blends with the color corrected image.
This was a basic guide on how to use the color curves tool.
But if you'd like to learn more on how to color balance real footage, check out the tutorial linked in the description below.
And that is color curves in Final Cut Pro.
Stay tuned for the next one!
Don't forget to check out Pixel Film Studios, where you can find Final Cut Pro plugins designed for beginners and professionals alike to take your projects to the next level.
I learned a lot in those couple of minutes, what about you?
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