Working With Reference Images Part 2: Evaluating Camera Source Footage

Do Your Reference Images Line Up With The Footage On The Timeline?

In this Insight, we’re continuing our exploration of working with reference images. As we discussed at the outset of this series, the ability to break down a reference image and borrow visual ideas from it is a vital skill for working colorists.

In Part 1, we focused on evaluating our references and identifying their key components, much like a chef might evaluate a dish, or a musician a piece of music.

In this Insight, we’re going to focus on making a similar study of the material to be graded. This is just as important as understanding our references because we need to incorporate the right ideas, in the right way, in order to best serve our footage. To do this, we’ll ask:

• How processed is the footage — RAW, Log, or Gamma?
• How well-exposed is the footage?
• What are the strongest and weakest technical aspects of the footage?
• How similar is the footage to our reference in terms of subjects, environments, lighting, and lensing?

Finally, we’ll use this information to identify which of the attributes identified in Part 1 we’re going to focus on borrowing from our reference.

After completing these steps, we’ll be in an ideal position to dive into Part 3, where we’ll use everything we’ve learned to get hands-on and build our look.

If you have any questions, thoughts, or something to add to the discussion – including how do you go about evaluating your source material? – please use the comments below.

-Cullen