Need opinions on a color grade. Did I over do it?

[brett8883]

I'm doing this video to promote a building, basically a real estate shoot and it has been difficult to shoot. The mirrors on the building present some issues as well as the entrance is cut into the building and is facing Northwest. Literally the only time of day light gets in there is right before sundown.

I am usually pretty confident in my color grading but this one has me all over the place. I can't decide if this is too over done or looks good. The purpose of the video is to make the building look good so keep that in mind. No more than probably 10 seconds of this clip is gonna be used so ignore the horizontal movement at the end. it was pretty windy that day.

Thanks,

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I'm doing this video to promote a building, basically a real estate shoot and it has been difficult to shoot. The mirrors on the building present some issues as well as the entrance is cut into the building and is facing Northwest. Literally the only time of day light gets in there is right before sundown.

I am usually pretty confident in my color grading but this one has me all over the place. I can't decide if this is too over done or looks good. The purpose of the video is to make the building look good so keep that in mind. No more than probably 10 seconds of this clip is gonna be used so ignore the horizontal movement at the end. it was pretty windy that day.

Thanks,

No you did not. That is some beautiful 4K footage , Prime time : Great landscape and those reflections looked really nice an clean.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Rain and Float on water.

 

[Tony McDrone]

I am just learning to color grade, so my opinion may not mean a whole lot, but I think it looks amazing.

I hope that you are able to get more qualified opinions. It is my goal to learn from those critiques of those more qualified.

 

[THE CYBORG]

Looks good to me

 

[Howard70]

I think the building looks great. The green of the trees in the parking lot strip seems artificial to me - maye a tad too bright? The red ground cover under trees on viewers left of building and within the triangle of sidewalks associated with the entryway also looks just a bit artificial. Really nitpicky points and if you went with it as is, I suspect clients would be happy!

Howard

 

[vindibona1]

It depends on what you're going after. I thought the greens might be too over-saturated, but of course that depends on purpose and taste. I did a screen shot and did two additional samples reducing saturation in Photoshop by the indicated amount (not percent, but the Photoshop number). You may want to mask the sky to leave it alone, but I thought the greens were a little too much.

 

[brett8883]

It depends on what you're going after. I thought the greens might be too over-saturated, but of course that depends on purpose and taste. I did a screen shot and did two additional samples reducing saturation in Photoshop by the indicated amount (not percent, but the Photoshop number). You may want to mask the sky to leave it alone, but I thought the greens were a little too much.

View attachment 114390

Yea this is exactly the conundrum I have with this.

It’s actually yellow that’s at max saturation. I didn’t add that it’s just due the yellow light from the sunset. But it looks fake even though it isn’t. But at the same time reducing it takes some of the punch out and I don’t want that either.

 

[vindibona1]

Yea this is exactly the conundrum I have with this.

It’s actually yellow that’s at max saturation. I didn’t add that it’s just due the yellow light from the sunset. But it looks fake even though it isn’t. But at the same time reducing it takes some of the punch out and I don’t want that either.

I can see what you're saying and it made me curious. So I did two more renditions just for giggles; one reducing the yellow saturation. The second just bumped the contrast a hair after reducing the yellow, as you've said that you don't want to lose the punch. I think desaturating the yellows or even the image globally put more detail in it. Again, these are only quick approximations and subject to taste. Perhaps it was that the original had too much yellow? Here's my second round with it...

 

[brett8883]

I can see what you're saying and it made me curious. So I did two more renditions just for giggles; one reducing the yellow saturation. The second just bumped the contrast a hair after reducing the yellow, as you've said that you don't want to lose the punch. I think desaturating the yellows or even the image globally put more detail in it. Again, these are only quick approximations and subject to taste. Perhaps it was that the original had too much yellow? Here's my second round with it...

View attachment 114396

Both of those look good to me. Now let’s see if I can get the same look in Resolve. I might bring down the mid frequency sharpening too.

 

[brett8883]

Thanks everybody you’ve all been a huge help.

My take away is that it isn’t too over done and generally looks at least acceptable. If I can find a way to rein in that yellow without changing the overall look I will but you all have given me the confidence that if I can’t this this will do just fine as is.

Thanks again!

 

[brett8883]

I think the building looks great. The green of the trees in the parking lot strip seems artificial to me - maye a tad too bright? The red ground cover under trees on viewers left of building and within the triangle of sidewalks associated with the entryway also looks just a bit artificial. Really nitpicky points and if you went with it as is, I suspect clients would be happy!

Howard

Nice call on the mulch. I hadn't noticed that.

Getting rid of that got rid of some errant red/orange tint on the whole image too.

Thanks

Before

After

 

[bmeek11]

I loved it as well. The increased saturation not only make the trees more visually appealing but really brought out the reflections in the glass. I don't think it could be improved. Professional quality.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

One thing I have learned when I first got people excited about 4K and even 8K is that if there is no WOW effect in the video , the audience is just going to be disappointed.

When you start hearing people say is this 4k is this 8K you know your about to disappoint .

So I am in favor of video that is clean and has the Pop because without it you might as well be back to 2k .

The worst thing you can do is tell someone you Shot in 8K because they expect to have a visual of a Holographic 3D elements coming at them from 17 different angles. and unless you have something really clean and Pops its no good.

Now I no longer excite with the K and just hope the video gets a few compliments.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

 

[brett8883]

I loved it as well. The increased saturation not only make the trees more visually appealing but really brought out the reflections in the glass. I don't think it could be improved. Professional quality.

Thanks so much!

 

[Greekislandlover]

I tend to increase the saturation - especially as I tend to film with D-Cinelike. So for me, the saturation was good.

I think you have a bit of a conundrum in that the glass building reflects, and sort of gets absorbed into the sky. So whatever time of day you shot it, you would still be seeing the building blending into the sky. I guess that's what the architect wanted to achieve.

I guess my question then is, are you demonstrating that the building fits in with it's surroundings extremely well? It shows that very well.

 

[brett8883]

I tend to increase the saturation - especially as I tend to film with D-Cinelike. So for me, the saturation was good.

I think you have a bit of a conundrum in that the glass building reflects, and sort of gets absorbed into the sky. So whatever time of day you shot it, you would still be seeing the building blending into the sky. I guess that's what the architect wanted to achieve.

I guess my question then is, are you demonstrating that the building fits in with it's surroundings extremely well? It shows that very well.

Thanks! My only real motivation is to do the building justice and show it in its best possible light.

Yea the mirrors, the shape of the building, and its orientation present many problems. To have the building properly lit by the sun the sun has to be behind the camera. To have the front entrance lit by sun the sun has to be low in the sky. If the sun is low in the sky behind the building the reflection of the sun shines right into the camera as if looking directly into the sun.

At ground level the sky reflects off the building to your eye making it look like a beautiful luminous blue color. From the sky the ground and parking lot reflects off the building making it look like a dark muddied mess and nothing like what it looks like in person from the ground.

This
and this

Vs this

There was like a 15 minute window during 3 months of the year that the sun was low enough to light the entrance but at enough of an angle that the sun doesn’t shine right into the lens.

I didn’t want the building to get lost in the sky that’s correct. That’s why I chose a day with some good looking clouds so it wouldn’t disappear.

 

[The Scary Monsters]

I'm doing this video to promote a building, basically a real estate shoot and it has been difficult to shoot. The mirrors on the building present some issues as well as the entrance is cut into the building and is facing Northwest. Literally the only time of day light gets in there is right before sundown.

I am usually pretty confident in my color grading but this one has me all over the place. I can't decide if this is too over done or looks good. The purpose of the video is to make the building look good so keep that in mind. No more than probably 10 seconds of this clip is gonna be used so ignore the horizontal movement at the end. it was pretty windy that day.

Thanks,

It’s a little bit too ‘HDR’. Just get your blacks black, adjust your shadows and highlights and adjust your saturation no more that 5%. That will give you a decent picture.

 

[TerryToast]

One thing I have learned when I first got people excited about 4K and even 8K is that if there is no WOW effect in the video , the audience is just going to be disappointed.

? so true.

They’re watching heavily compressed YouTube via their 1080p phone (which is 5 inches high) and ... they end up disappointed with 4K. Go figure.