Even after filming with a professional camera, you’ll find a color difference between the footage and what you see with your eye. You’ll find its hue, saturation, brightness, and color tone on the screen aren’t levels with real life. That is why video color correction is essential, especially when you aim to create professional videos for YouTube.
However, questions like what exactly color correction is, how it’s different from color grading, and how you can color correct your videos come to mind. Don’t worry, as this article covers almost everything there’s to know about color correction and has included a complete guide to adjusting cinematic colors. So, without much ado, let’s dig into it!
In this article
Color Correction Vs. Grading: What’s the Difference
While the terms color grading and correction are used interchangeably, they represent two phases in a video editing process. Here’s a detailed difference between video color correction and color grading:
| Feature | Color Correction | Color Grading |
| Purpose | Its purpose is to fix the issues with the color of your footage and match it with what you see with your eyes. | It involves enhancing the overall style and mood of the footage. |
| What’s Done | You tweak things like contrast, exposure, and white balance to ensure the correct representation of the skin tones and hues. | You might use a LUT (Look-up Table), often available online, and change the visual tone to manipulate the storytelling. |
| Workflow Stage | Color correction is usually done in the post-production process | Color grading is done as the color correction process is complete. |
| Tools Used | It involves the application of basic color tools and scopes to ensure color consistency throughout the video. | Advanced color grading software, masks, LUTs, and keys are used here. |
| Examples | Fixing a scene that looks too blue under the fluorescent light. | If your film is a thriller or crime drama, washing your footage with blue tones makes it feel somber and goes with the storytelling. |
Can You Color Correct On YouTube?
YouTube is the most popular and widely used video-sharing platform. But to stand out in the crowd of thousands of YouTubers, you must share a video that makes others watch it over others. The first step (aside from a script and capturing quality videos) is learning how to edit your videos. Editing videos allows you to present engaging and unique content for your users.
Thankfully, you can make basic color corrections in the “YouTube Create” app available on Android for free. Here’s the step-by-step process for YouTube video color correction:
Step 1: Select and upload the footage you want to edit.
Step 2: Tap on the “Adjust” icon from the toolbar.
Step 3: Use available options to color-correct your video by changing its saturation, contrast, and tint. You can use the slider for each option to adjust the intensity.
Step 4: Tap “Done” to apply the adjustments to the video.
That’s how easy it is to correct color on YouTube. There are several other options that you can access to make the video even more engaging and gain more traction.
Color Correction Tips for YouTubers
Now that you’ve learned to color correct a video for YouTube, explore some of the valuable tips and tricks to ensure an excellent result:
Shoot Well-Rounded Footage: High-quality footage is the basis of any engaging YouTube video. Ensure proper exposure while filming, as correcting the colors of overexposed or underexposed footage can be challenging. By paying attention to exposure during filming, you can capture a broad range of colors and details.
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Set A Correct White Balance: Correct white balance is crucial in achieving the right colors. Otherwise, you just end up with a video with a strong color cast, such as orange or blue tint. Many cameras offer preset white balance settings, which you can use, but it’s recommended that you do it manually to get the right color balance throughout the footage.
Use the Right Tools: Now that your professional camera has done the magic, use the professional tools to give it a final touch. Many professional tools are available in the market, but get one with plenty of color correction features, including color curves, wheels, and scopes.
Match Shots For Consistency: If there are multiple shots on your video, it’s crucial to match them for consistency. Adjust the colors of each to ensure a unified look in terms of style and color temperature. It becomes crucial for documentary or narrative filmmaking work.
Utilize Scopes: Scopes are extremely important for excellent color correction. It provides reliable verification; without that, you must rely on your eyes and monitor. However, the chances of technically inaccurate results are very high regardless of how great they are. The scopes, however, show the accurate picture- the color, levels, exposure, and everything, and you won’t need to rely on the subjectivity of your eyes. But you must learn to use them well.
Pay Attention to Highlights and Shadows: Balancing highlights and shadows is crucial in obtaining a well-rounded image. Blown-out highlights or dark shadows can affect the detailing, and no amount of color correction can fix that.
Fix Skin Tones: Fixing skin tones is a primary concern of color correction. Overly warm or cool skin tones might deliver an unnatural look to your subject. You can use color curves or wheels to adjust hue and saturation until the skin tone looks natural.
How to Correct Video Color on Filmora-Easy Steps
With its simple interface and basic tools, YouTube Video Editor is only for beginners and casual users. It lacks advanced features, precision, and professional color correction tools often needed for professional videos. It is where professional video editing tools come into the picture.
Wondershare Filmora is one of the finest tools, with almost every feature a professional might seek in their video editing software. The best part is its super simple interface, so whether you’re a beginner or a professional, the software is easy to use.
Besides, Filmora's color grading and color correction tools are vast, so provided these are used correctly, you will always end up with professional videos. Here’s how to color-correct your video with Filomora post-production:
Step 1: Install and Launch Wondershare Filmora
Download the Filmora app from the official Wondershare website and install it on your device. If you’ve already downloaded it, launch the software. Select the video you want to edit in the “new project” tab. Or drag and drop the video and start with the color correction process.
Step 2: Color Correct the Video
Double-click on the video to access the editing panel. Here, you’ll find four options: Video, Audio, Color, and Speed. Select the “Color” Tab. From there, adjust the light color, Exposure, Vibrance, Contrast, and White Balance. Then, add an LUT value or move the slider to apply the changes.
You can also apply a preset filter that is available on Filmora. Here’s how:
- Filmora has many preset filters if you don’t want to do it manually or don't comprehend the respective settings. To do so, double-click on the video you want to edit and go to “Advanced Color Tuning,” represented by the color tuning icon. Tap on it and select “Color Correction” from the drop-down menu.
Step 3: Choose Adjust or Preset
The newly opened window has two options: Adjust and Preset. Choose the preset you want to apply to your video.
Step 4: Color Match the Videos
Toggle the “Color Match” option and tap “View comparison” to see the difference between the raw and edited shot.
Step 5: Save and Export
Now, you can proceed with color grading to enhance your video further. If not, you can save the footage to a local folder. To do so, tap on the “Export” button, select file type and destination from the pop-up menu, and click on Export. Your file is saved to your local storage, which you can upload on YouTube or any suitable platform.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this post has given you a good understanding of video color correction for YouTube. Although YouTube editor lets you perform basic color corrections, relying on professional editing tools like Filmora would be ideal. Its simple interface and extensive collection of tools let you color-correct your videos professionally in no time. There are plenty of other tools that you can use to make your videos even more appealing.
