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Trouble reading this newsletter? Read it online:http://www.aweber.com/t/BJAjJ The Tao Colorist Newsletter Curated links of news, reviews, thoughts, career
advice, and humor for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sunday. Issue CCXXXVI A TaoOfColor.com Publication Publisher: Pat Inhofer Managing Editor: Jim Wicks
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It's late Saturday night, I'm in Las Vegas and I've got a full day of color correction teaching with my Mixing Light co-partners, Robbie Carman and Dan Moran. That means this is going to be a short intro.
News releases have been coming in this past week. We've only had time to get a
few of those items in this week's newsletter. You can be sure the next issue will feature lots of instant analysis of this week's news. Of course, for a color correction newsletter, one of the big questions: What does Blackmagic have in store for DaVinci Resolve?
Here's the only solid news I've been able to gather, make of it what you will:
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We'll see you next week with the full details!
Happy Grading!
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- [video] 12th Annual pre-NAB Discussion Panel - brought to you by the Editor's Lounge. (editorslounge.com)
- Feeling Blue, Seeing Gray - "This is a pilot study
whose results need to be replicated. Nevertheless, it shows that processing of visual information related to contrast is altered in the retinae of depressed patients." I've got a few sharp remarks to lighten the mood—but I'm not sure it would be appropriate, which is a signal for me to pass. (scienceblogs.com via Luxfilms)
- Study: Mood Mismatch Between TV Shows and Ads May Hurt Advertisers - in my grading sessions, it always seems my commercial clients are happy with this mismatch; something about getting the
audience's attention. But it may be this behavior negatively affects brand recall. (theglobeandmail.com)
- How to Kick the Tires on a Color Corrector - I really like the work of Stu Maschwitz but I have mixed feelings about this:
"If a color correction tool feels hard to use, it is. It’s not your fault for not learning how to use it." The post is really about how to evaluate these tools at a trade show. (prolost.com)
- The Fall - I'm not sure why I've put this is in Craft... other than it's inspirational nature. Fascinating aerial images of Toledo, Spain. (bldgblog.blogspot.com)
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- [forum] NAB 2015 Color Exhibitor List - Colorist and friend of the Tao, Marc Wielage, has compiled a master list of color-related Exhibitors and booth numbers. Later in the thread, booths where the Tangent Element will be
displayed and where to find Lightspace. (liftgammagain.com)
- [video] Tutorial: Baselight for Nuke - FilmLight has announced the Baselight for Nuke plug-in. The video in
this link shows how it works. Nifty to watch if you don't know Nuke or Baselight. (filmlight.ltd.uk)
- Premiere Pro CC 2015: More Colorful - the peeps at Adobe have been busy redesigned (and imagining) the color tools of Premiere Pro and the overall color pipeline among Adobe products. (blogs.adobe.com)
- What's Coming Next to SpeedGrade? - in the blog post above, Adobe links to this post about what's next for SpeedGrade. Click through for the answer. Here's how I read it, summarized in two words: Premiere Pro. Bummer. (blogs.adobe.com)
- [forum] How fast is your Resolve? - some time ago Copenhagen-based colorist Sascha Haber developed a non-disk-all-GPU benchmark to help test the speed and efficiency of Resolve on your rig. The test has stirred renewed interest on Lift, Gamma, Gain. There has been talk that a more robust test is needed given the massive power in modern GPUs... but no one has published such test—not that we've found. (liftgammagain.com)
- Media Composer 101: Export Settings Part 2 - "We're also going to look at the new 8.3.1 update, and how you can export 2K, 4K and UHD as Same as
Source QuickTime exports, which is a much welcome update, as opposed to having to export DPX sequences." (provideocoalition.com)
- [photoshop] Color Grade Made Easy - typically, the video color correction world borrows concepts well developed in Photoshop and applies them to moving images. This developer is now borrowing from film and video colorists, introducing the 3-Way Color Corrector to Photoshop'ers... with an explanation on how to use the 3-Way. It's probably not the first plug-in to do this
for still photographers but it's the first one we've noticed. (blog.phaseone.com)
- [photoshop] Color
Control Like Never Before - a follow-up blog post to the item above that contains lots of kernels of understanding like this: "In general, the Color Balance tool is all about color and intensity, whereas Levels and Curves will also change contrast and luminance. Because of that difference, when using Levels or Cuves, a given image will need more adjustments than usual to obtain the same end-result and will likely be much harder to achieve." (blog.phaseone.com)
- [video] In Action: The New Hawwiki Keyer - an FX
Factory plug-in with a ton of great design ideas in here that colorists would find immensely useful! Definitely give it a watch. I'll try it soon. My suspicion: for a busy NLE Finisher not working in a color grading app, it's gets too much in the way. If you've tried it, hit us up on Twitter
with your thoughts. (youtube.com via Robert Griffiths)
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- Mentorship As You Know It Is Dead - "Mentors provide the knowledge we are missing, open doors to new connections, and impart philosophies we otherwise would have had to wait years to learn. Companies don’t invest in that model
anymore" Yup. And is the entire reason for the existence of Colorist Flight School, the Tao of Color and Mixing Light. Good article... although I find a remarkable number of Millennials are less tech-savvy than suggested. (99u.com)
- Five NAB Storage Trends To Watch - from the peeps
at ProMax. (studiodaily.com)
- Amazon’s Not-So-Subtle Influence On IMDb -
Definitely click on this link to see how far off track some IMdB pages have gotten in regards to advertising vs. content. Stunning seeing it this way. (keithbradnam.com)
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The stories featured in this section are from MixingLight.com, a companion color correction membership website to TaoOfColor.com and this Newsletter. Want to read a story listed here but not a member? Sign up for a free 24-hour Test
Drive. - [video] Frequency Separation for Skin Smoothing: An Introduction - we've linked to an interesting thread on Lift Gamm Gain about a complex node tree for skin smoothing that lots of people seem to like. Dan Moran likes it too and explains how he uses it. (mixinglight.com)
- [video] Budgeting Time For Color Correction, Part 1: The Six Phases of a Color Correction Session - it's NAB presentation season for Team Mixing Light. Between the three of us we've got about 15 color-related session we're teaching. In honor, I've recorded a presentation I gave at NAB 2012 about figuring out how to budget time for a color correction gig. Part 1 is about the six different stages of a session. (mixinglight.com)
- [video] Getting to Know Lattice - "As you'll see in the video, I can think of no other tool that makes working
with LUTs so easy." You can visualize, create, convert, LUTs while isolating, combining and perform advanced transforms on them. (mixinglight.com)
- [video] How to
Estimate Time for Color Correction - by learning how to allocate your efforts across the six phases of a color correction session. (mixinglight.com)
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- Focus - we’ve featured a number of articles about the new FCPX workflow used on Will
Smith’s new film. Friend of the Tao, Oliver Peters, weighs in with this thoughts. (digitalfilms.wordpress.com)
- [video] The Benefits Of Meditation, Explained In One Short Video - (lifehacker.com)
- [video] Add Drama To Your Lighting Setup With Negative Fill - on breaking the rules of the standard 3-point lighting setup. (premiumbeat.com)
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Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers |
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- [game] Kuku Kube - try this simple online puzzle game to test the quality of your color vision. The developer says scores between 29 to 31 in 60 seconds are 'normal'. We played three times and got to 42. It's as much a reflex test as a perception test. (kuku-kube.com)
- [video] What Gives Popcorn It’s Pop? - a pair of French researchers use slow-motion video to help explain why kernels of corn leap and emit their distinctive sound. (youtube.com)
- First Ever Phantom 4K 1000FPS Drone Footage - Cool stuff. (petapixel.com)
- 1000 Piece CMYK Color Jigsaw Puzzle - move from color perception testing online games to a color perception testing offline 1000-piece CMYK jigsaw puzzle. (petapixel.com)
- [video] Arch20 / Oculus 3D Augmented Design - Not fun. Not funny. Just cool. The action really starts at about 35 seconds in. (youtube.com via @j_salvo)
- [video] A Song From
Sounds Created With Car Wheels and Tires - Fun. The link starts you 55 seconds in, which is where this video really should have started. (youtu.be)
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- Flanders Scientific:
5 New Displays Debut at NAB 2015 - at the high end, a new OLED series with new processing that features real-time LUT manipulation, zero-latency monitoring, HDMI / Display Port cross-conversion to SDI output. Plus a new line of LCD displays that start at $1995 for a 21" up to $6500 for a 55". (flandersscientific.com)
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All the tweaking and color correction and mixing and then client watches video in full sun on laptop by the pool with music blaring @BenjEckstein
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- [video] A Slick Commercial - need a lift? Take this cool 90-second Pennzoil TVC from legendary NY ad agency J. Walter Thompson for a spin. Tight editing, cool VFX, and nice color. (youtube.com)
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NAB Show Parties: The Website - great friend of the Tao, Divergent Media has launched a public
service website listing industry parties during NAB week in Las Vegas. Spread the word! It's a great idea, well executed. (nabshowparties.com)
- [social] 18th Media Motion Ball - the attendee list tends to read like a Who's Who of post-production professionals. If this is your first NAB, a great place to meet the people who guide others through this industry. Price includes a buffet-style sit down dinner. Monte Carlo Hotel. Monday. (mediamotionball.com)
- [social] 14th SuperMeet - the Ultimate (and granddaddy) of the classic User Group. Big stage. Big presentations. A unbelievably massive raffle. The last few years had a Grand Prize raffle of a $30,000 DaVinci Resolve Colorist Control Surface... Early Bird pricing is in effect. Riveria Hotel. Tuesday. (supermeet.com)
- [PPW] How to Think Like a Colorist - the highlight of my NAB teaching schedule, it's 5 sessions of nuthin' but color grading. We're not ready to announce our A-List colorist presentation... but it's looking like a doozy! (nab15.mapyourshow.com)
- [PPW] The Full Grid - if you buy a full pass to Post | Production World then what kind of classes can you
choose between? A PDF download of Field Trips, classes and certifications. (nabshow.com)
- [PPW] SpeedGrade, LOG & RAW, Roundtripping and On-Set Sessions - with MixingLight's Robbie Carman. (nab15.mapyourshow.com)
- Aerial Robotics and Drone Theater - long-time readers know my fascination with video drones. It looks like NAB is catering to the fascination. The link takes you to a list of drone-related sessions. (nab15.mapyourshow.com)
- [PPW] Registration - Yeah, it's annoying figuring out where to sign up if you want to attend a Post | Production World event. Here's the link (you start by giving your name and email). You can buy One-Day or
Multi-Day Passes to the educational sessions. (registration.experientevent.com)
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Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you next week. Happy Grading! 7,750+ Stories Now Shared
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The Book Shelf
- Color Correction Handbook, Updated - Alexis Van Hurkman has updated his Color Correction Handbook, which has set the standard for learning all things color correction. (amazon.com)
- Color Correction Look Book - This is the second part of the Color Correction Handbook, exploring the creative techniques for over 200 different visual looks. A sort-of recipe book for colorists.
(amazon.com)
- The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction - Read how a dozen different colorists grade the same footage with the same gear, differently. A fantastic approach to learning the craft of color grading by Steve Hullfish. (amazon.com)
- Autodesk Smoke Essentials - Walk through grading a short sci-fi film (with downloadable ProRes4444 source material) while learning the ultimate online finishing app... Autodesk Smoke. (amazon.com)
- Color Grading with Avid and Symphony - Written for version 6. Fully applicable to version 7. I was a contributor. (amazon.com)
- Adobe Speedgrade CC: Classroom in a Book - A solid book for a solid grading app. (amazon.com)
- Digital Cinematography: Fundamentals, Tools, Techniques and Workflows - Don't let the title fool you. I'm only a third way through this book and its explanations of how digital images are recorded, sampled and viewed is essential knowledge for anyone who's craft intersects with digital images. Not light reading. But not filled with math either. I highly recommend this book. (amazon.com)
Have a book you think should be in this list? Reply to this email and let me know!
FCC Disclaimer: Links in this email to Amazon.com, B&H Photo, or ToolFarm are Affiliate links that help support the TaoOfColor.com. FSI is a paid sponsor. Tao of Color, Inc. is part owner of MixingLight.com. BlackMagic Design is a current client.
We thank you for your support.
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Managing Editor:
jim@jimwicks.com
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Published by:
Patrick Inhofer: Photon-Wrangler, Fini.tv | TaoOfColor.com | MixingLight.com
patrick@taoofcolor.com
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