color correction with Color Finesse, by Andrew Devis

Andrew Devis has recently released a couple of excellent tutorials on color correction on the Creative COW website:

• Primary color correction in After Effects using Color Finesse
• Secondary color correction in After Effects using Color Finesse

Primary color correction is the adjustment of all of the pixels in the frame. Secondary color correction is the adjustment of only some of the pixels in the frame—such as desaturating only the reds in a specific object defined by a mask.

Andrew’s tutorials go far beyond just showing the UI controls in a specific piece of software. He also gives great advice that’s relevant to color correction with any tool, such as working in a room with constant lighting and frequently resetting your eyes to real-world neutral by looking away from the computer screen.

There’s more information about color correction in general and Color Finesse specifically on the Adobe website:

• “Color correction, color grading, and color adjustment”
• “Resources for Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse”

By the way, be sure to download the recent Color Finesse 3.0.3 update, which addresses major issues for Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder and minor issues for After Effects.