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The Tao Colorist
Curated links of news, reviews, thoughts, career advice, and humor
for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sunday.
The Craft
- Chroma Subsampling Techniques - 4:0:0, 4:1:1, 4:2:2, 4:4:4... What's it all mean? A great explanation of chroma subsampling, what it means and why. (red.com)
- [Infographic] Pantone Traces 50 Years Of Color History - Color Palettes from the '60s through this year. (psfk.com via @tparish)
- The Color of Old Film Rolls - What happens when you pull Casablanca out of storage, put one reel on its side and take its picture? And do that for a dozen well-known classics? Click through to see. Definitely worth a few minutes of your time. (petapixel.com @post_vfx)
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Flanders Scientific Broadcast Monitors
The LM-2461W is an affordable 24" color critical reference monitor featuring 10bit color depth, 3G/HD/SD-SDI Inputs, 12 onboard scopes, and DCI P3 support. All standard and all for just $4,995.
The Tools
- OLED Calibration - Can you calibrate a Sony BVM OLED with an XRite i1 puck-style probe and Sony's White Balance Software? Ben Cain says, no... but for field monitoring--it's close enough. Plus some commentary calibrating the PVM OLED right out of the box. (negativespaces.com)
- [Video] Overexposed Footage on F55 Raw - An interesting 15 second clip showing highlight recovery on F55 Raw footage. More interesting is the comments. (vimeo.com via @post_vfx)
- [Avid] Basic Color Correction Tips - Features two embedded videos; one on contrast the other on chromance. (nofilmschool.com)
- What's Coming In The Next Version Of SpeedGrade? - To whet your appetite. (blogs.adobe.com)
- Canon C300 Log LUTs and More Scene Files - Canon Provides their 1D LUTs as .csv files. Andy from AbelCine converted them into proper LUT files that you can download and load up. Gotta say, I'm starting to have mixed feelings about the attention that LUTs are getting by post-pros. It's effecting my willingness to continue linking to this sort of thing. (blog.abelcine.com via @JimWicks)
- Blackmagic Camera Post Workflow - The basics on creating proxies for CinemaDNG camera originals using Resolve. (hurlbutvisuals.com via David E. Bell)
- Resolve 'How To Use Scratches, Grain and Fogging Material' - Focused on Warren's effects for sale at FXPhd but these techniques can be used with anything. (vimeo.com)
The Business
- Apple Q2 Results: iPad Sales Up, Macs Flat - Year over year Apple sales are up but margins are down. (MacWorld.com)
- Broadcast TV Needs a New Business Model - The 'bundling' model is unravelling. (blogs.hbr.org)
- The Form Factor of UltraHD Will Be It's Undoing - There are many uses for 4K. Home theaters? I just don't see it. This article has an interesting take on why HD television took off and why 4K isn't sufficiently different for the general public to desire. (broadcastengineering.com)
- Save Money On Your Digital Indie Film - Don't hire a DIT. Just send the dailies to a digital lab at the end of each day. (definitionmagazine.com)
- Selling Your Film to PBS: New 'For Filmmakers' Resource - A step-by-step guide to try and sell your documentaries to PBS and film festivals. (nofilmschool.com by Oakley Anderson-Moore)
- RED's Two Most Significant NAB Announcements - Which you probably didn't hear about (including new color science). (redsharknews.com via David E. Bell)
Outside 'The Box'
- [Video] Alfred Hitchcock's Seven Minute Editing Master Class - I linked to this a year or two ago. Definitely worth another look. (openculture.com)
- Intro To Slow Motion Video - Nice overview on the concepts behind slow motion photography and the various choices available to a filmmaker. (red.com)
- [Video] CGI Takes A Huge Leap - From a NVidia presentation showing Ira; a CGI face that is on the other side of Uncanny Valley... until he talks. Remarkable, nonetheless. (redsharknews.com via @AphaDogsPost)
Edumacate Yer'self
- Biscardi Creative Media Announces: Colorist FlightSchool LIVE! - 3 Days of non-stop DaVinci Resolve training taught by your humble Tao Colorist Newsletter editor. Join us! It's going to be terrific fun. Atlanta, GA (forums.creativecow.net)
- Discount Code: Colorist Flight School LIVE! - Save 5% on the training using this discount code for Tao Newsletter Subscribers: taonewsletter (TaoOfColor.com)
- Basic 101: Introduction To Smoke For Mac - 3 Days, Singapore May 20. (media-asylum.com)
- RAW Workshop With Geoff Boyle - 3 Days, Singapore June 18. Looks interesting. (media-asylum.com)
Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers
| JL Cooper Eclipse |
Avid Artist Color |
Tangent |
|
Software: v2.9.3 |
Mac: v2.7.1
|
Hub: v1.0.9 |
|
Color Plug-in: v 1.0.5 |
PC: v2.7.1
|
Wave Firmware: v1.9 |
|
Updated:
Jan. 2 |
Updated: April 15 |
Updated: Feb. 7, 2012 |
Sunday Morning Fun(nies)
- Michael Bay Apologizes For 'Armageddon' - Heh. But I didn't realize they had a 15 day shooting schedule. (vanityfair.com)
- [Video] The 50 best Opening Scenes Of All Time - Check it out. Decide for yourself. If nothing else, a good list of movies. (film.com)
- Woman Photoshops Herself and Her Cell Phone Camera Into Historical Photos - Funny. (petapixel.com)
- Wringing Out Water On The ISS - A High School science project executed on the International Space Station... what happens in Zero Gravity when you wring the water out of a soaking towel? Just watching them get the towel soaked is worth the watch. (youtube.com via @elonmusk)
Weekend Warriors
- How To Wire Your House With Cat5e Or Cat6 Ethernet Cable - Classic Weekend Warrior tasks. (lifehacker.com)
- REC10 Wireless Range Extender Fixes Your Crappy Wi-Fi Signal - 'cause we all have crappy Wi-Fi somewhere in the house. (lifehacker.com)
Gear Heads
- [For Sale] JL Cooper Eclipse CX - Good price. (ebay.com)
- iSchmutz: Keeping The Mac Pro Clean - An air filter for your Mac Pro. (barefeats.com)
Tired of fiddling and want to start color correcting?
Check Out:
It's like Flight School for Colorists!
1) Learn the DaVinci Resolve 9 'Instrument Panel'
2) Develop color correction muscle memory
in our 'Color Grading Simulator'
3) Get Personal Feedback on your Work
If you want to dig deeper than the buttons,
then this training is for you!
New Kid on the Block
- Short Film Shot with The 'MōVI' - On the off-chance you haven't seen this. (vimeo.com via @PixelShack) Plus the story as reported on Gizmodo. (Gizmodo.com via Glenn Rempe)
Career
- Men: Look Your Best With The Style Pyramid - Fit, fabric and style. Gentlemen, no more excuses. (lifehacker.com)
- 15 Questions That Win New Customers - Just don't ask them all at once! (inc.com)
Tweet of the Week
Just got asked to make a sky look 'more masculine and beefy'. Ahhh, the little things. @robsbessette
The Next Step is a Doozy
- Diamonds Are Bullsh-- The Tao Treasurer doesn't agree! Diamonds are a girl's best friend. (blog.priceonomics.com)
A Step Too Far
- 3-D Printed Guns on the Horizon - I'm a huge fan of 3D printers but this story highlights their pitfalls. On the plus side, they melt after a few rounds. (macworld.co.uk)
Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you next week. Happy Grading!
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Curated + Edited by: Patrick Inhofer, photon-wrangler & founder, TaoOfColor.com