Sensor Cropping, Super-sampling and Chromatic Aberrations

Red cameras are amazingly awesome, don't get me wrong! Just pointing out some things about sensor cropping that caught me out many moons ago when I purchased my RED Scarlet-X. In hindsight, for this video I should have generated some noise for each of my grey box examples so that you could actually see how effective super sampling is at "reducing" noise for delivery of a lower resolution (8K to 4K or, 4K to 1080p for example).

Oh, and I also should have mentioned that I'm very aware that most modern day cameras (except RED) actually DO sample more pixels than they record, and super-sample the recorded image, in camera. For example, the Arri Alexa Classic "ONLY" records 2K, but it samples 3.2K at the sensor and super-samples that down to 2K...which is why it looks so detailed and beautiful even though it's only 2K. Same with Sony A7 and a6xx series cameras (and GH5, etc) - They sample more than UHD so that the final delivery of UHD is crisper and cleaner.

Meanwhile, why then when you look at a 100% crop from a Black Magic Pocket Cinema camera (original), with a sensor that is sampling at 1920x1080 but also delivering at 1920x1080 does it seem sharper than a RED Scarlet-X (or even Epic-X) at 100% crop? Well, now we have to talk about the OLPF (Optical Low Pass Filter) and other in-camera processing which affect overall detail and sharpness of a recorded image. That's another video!

I should also mention that today's red cameras actually DO let you super-sample in camera, but only to ProRes or whatever intermediate codec they're supporting - not to RAW.

Oh and finally, when I casually say "4K" (DCI 4096 x 2160) I really should be saying UHD (3840x2160) for the examples in the video.

Didn't mean to bash on RED so much hehe....can't help it!

Follow up video after learning some stuff (please read comments on YouTube for more info)…

Grading the Pocket Cam in Resolve

This isn't a great tutorial, it's rushed but hey...it might be helpful :)

THE FILM LOOK [ is more than colour grading ]

In this tutorial, I go through step by step how to create a "film" look. Once contrast and colour are done, it's time to add film grain and nice highlight bloom/glow. All of these techniques can be adapted and used in DaVinci Resolve. To download the original 5K RAW clip in its native RED format, check out the new DOWNLOADS section at the top of the page :)

If you have trouble with vimeo, here is the youtube version: http://youtu.be/lvRhE93aNS8

BLENDING FILM GRAIN [ using EDIUS 7 and blending modes ]

In this tutorial I have a look at different ways in which we can effectively blend film grain with video to make it look more organic.  

QUALIFIERS, MASKS & BALANCING BASICS [ DaVinci Resolve Lite ]

Here's a new tutorial I created for beginners wanting to get more from DaVinci Resolve.  

And here's the result :) 

EYE WIDE OPEN [ DaVinci Resolve, Photoshop, After Effects ]

In this tutorial I quickly go over the basics of Resolve Lite, do some cloning in Photoshop and some tracking in After Effects. All for a 2 second shot of an eye.....but WHAT AN EYE!​

For a diagram and explanation of the lighting for this shot, check out the LIGHTING section above :)​

REDUCE THE NOISE [ selective noise reduction using NEAT Video ]

I recently shot some under-exposed video and tried to rescue it in post. In the tutorial below I demonstrate how to selectively apply noise reduction to problem areas while maintaining detail in others. NEAT Video is amazing :)

And here's a quickie for Premiere Pro users.....​

REDCINE-X CURVES & EXPOSURE [ red camera tips ]

In this RedCine-X tutorial, I talk about working with RAW, good exposure and using curves to create a look.​

SET THE SUN [ creative luma key tutorial ]

In this tutorial we use a Luma Key to help sell the effect that the sun is behind the clouds. From there, it's color correction using secondaries as per usual ;) For a more believable glow, try adding a second SUN layer underneath the original sun layer and add a SMOOTH BLUR filter to it. Then, use a YUV Curve on the blurred sun to adjust it's glow intensity. Download a small section of the 4K RAW clip now from the above DOWNLOADS section :)

SHOOT THE MOON [ edius matte painting the moon ]

Here's a tutorial that borrows a lot from the Keying & Transparency tutorial set below. It's a good one though, cos I had 3 coffees :)

FREE TUTORIALS

Below you will find an increasing number of tutorials that I have created for YOU! My teaching style is quite loose and unstructured and I tend to go off on tangents here and there, so please bare with me as I get to my point...some of these are over 45 minutes long! In future I will be creating tutorials that explore other powerful and useful programs like DaVinci Resolve, RED Cine-X, After Effects and more. Stay tuned :)

SEARCH TIP: If you are looking for a tutorial that is not imediately visable in the blog, try searching the same criteria that is inside of the [ description brackets ] For example, search "edius colour" or "edius transparency".

TRANSPARENCY [ edius transparency 3/3 ]

[ 3/3 ] In this tutorial set, we look at keying and transparency and how they work within EDIUS, but also how we can use transparency as a creative tool. Much of what is learned here can be used in other editing software as well :)

TRANSPARENCY [ edius transparency 2/3 ]

[ 2/3 ] In this tutorial set, we look at keying and transparency and how they work within EDIUS, but also how we can use transparency as a creative tool. Much of what is learned here can be used in other editing software as well :)

TRANSPARENCY [ edius transparency 1/3 ]

Here is the second installment of tutorials I'm creating for EDIUS users. I hope you enjoy them but more importantly, I hope you learn and apply the power of transparency. I have only scraped the surface of what can be achieved creatively here and I'm constantly discovering exciting new ways to use transparency as a creative tool in my edits all the time. My aim is to teach things that may not be completely understood, thus giving you, the user, a better understanding of how things work so that you can get the most from this awesome software. Let's keep supporting EDIUS!! The guys at Grass Valley are looking out for us :) The more users we get, the more feedback they get and the better this software will become. Not to mention having a greater user base creates a more valuable EDIUS community in which we can share ideas and learn from each other.

[ 1/3 ] In this tutorial set, we look at keying and transparency and how they work within EDIUS, but also how we can use transparency as a creative tool. Much of what is learned here can be used in other editing software as well :)

COLOUR GRADING [ edius colour 5/5 ]

[ 5/5 ] In this tutorial set, we look at the basic colour tools available to us within EDIUS 6 but also learn how powerful they can be when stacked and used as a group. The colour ability of EDIUS is only limited by you the colorist, because all of the professional tools you need are here.

COLOUR GRADING [ edius colour 4/5 ]

The final colour tutorial for EDIUS 6 is coming up in which I will be extensively covering Scopes, Safe color and going DEEP with Chrominance ;) I'll also be giving away a preset effect that I created that I like to call "ULTIMATE BAY" which is a one-stop Blockbuster preset that you can manipulate to suite whatever shot you like :) Thanks to Jim Jannard for letting the public have access to these amazing .r3d's :)

[ 4/5 ] In this tutorial set, we look at the basic colour tools available to us within EDIUS 6 but also learn how powerful they can be when stacked and used as a group. The colour ability of EDIUS is only limited by you the colorist, because all of the professional tools you need are here.

COLOUR GRADING [ edius colour 3/5 ]

[ 3/5 ] In this tutorial set, we look at the basic colour tools available to us within EDIUS 6 but also learn how powerful they can be when stacked and used as a group. The colour ability of EDIUS is only limited by you the colorist, because all of the professional tools you need are here.

COLOUR GRADING [ edius colour 2/5 ]

[ 2/5 ] In this tutorial set, we look at the basic colour tools available to us within EDIUS 6 but also learn how powerful they can be when stacked and used as a group. The colour ability of EDIUS is only limited by you the colorist, because all of the professional tools you need are here.

COLOUR GRADING [ edius colour 1/5 ]

I've talked about it for way too long, so here's the first installment of more to come. Please leave some feedback and let me know what you think, remembering that this is the first of a 5 part series of Color Grading tutorials (using EDIUS 6) which gets a lot more exciting once we start creating specific looks and the basics are covered. NOTES: * EDIUS is PC only. * RED Epic raw files were downloaded from www.reduser.com and transcoded directly from R3D to 3k 10bit HQX using VirtualDub and a plugin that can be found here: http://arenafilm.hu/alsog/vdr3d/ * I will be creating many more tutorials that cover more than just color grading and color correction so please come back and visit soon. * Although many of the techniques you will see in this tutorial set are possible in EDIUS 5 and earlier, remember that the older versions (pre version 6) do not have a mask tool, don't support 10 bit and only accept up to 1080p resolution. EDIUS 6 has SOOOOOO many improvements and if you haven't upgraded you should! Download the free fully functioning 30 day trial here: http://www.grassvalley.com/products/editors * Feel free to post these tutorials wherever you like, however they will not be available for download at this stage.

[ 1/5 ]  In this tutorial set, we look at the basic colour tools available to us within EDIUS 6 but also learn how powerful they can be when stacked and used as a group. The colour ability of EDIUS is only limited by you the colorist, because all of the professional tools you need are here.