Color correct to fix this shot in FCP 7 shot with Canon Vixia HF20

Can you do a frame grab of the video and post a still?(I must have posted before your upload) That way we know exactly what your seeing and can offer suggestions for correction.

In the future I would probable use a camera light or if you have an extra set of hands a light reflector. A Camera light, even though outside will help brighten your subjects face when the competing background is too bright. You can get an led one starting at $109

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/642756-REG/Bescor__LED_35_LED_On_Camera.html

Or one that can be dimmed for a little more. $229

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/542007-REG/Litepanels_LP_MICRO_LPMICRO_Micro_LED_on.html

Currently I own both. There both plastic so you'll have to be carefully with them. But they do a great job and batteries will last the entire day/evening. Be careful that you you use your filters to try and match the color temperature outside with your camera light.

Just a quick solution; make a copy of the clip place it on video track 2 over the original clip. On the copied clip on Track 2 - Right click > Composite Mode > Overlay

This will brighten you subjects face. It also lightly brightens the background but does not blow the background out.

Tweaking using the color correction tool can also be done but this was one of the quick solutions. You'll have to compromise with lightening the background.

This is something I did real fast w/the 3-way CC in FCP. His face is a bit noisy and how well this much of a change will hold up on a moving image I'm not sure, but you can always hit "undo", right?

High contrast conditions like this are hard to shoot in especially w/consumer cameras that don't have very good dynamic range. If you can get a neutral density filter that can help or a bounce board (as someone else mentioned) but that's not really viable for an event like a wedding, and a tiny, on-camera light has no chance to compete w/the sun. Another option is to buy a nicer camera that has better dynamic range. Ultimately you have to expose for your subject even if that means losing other parts of the image. Is seeing the guy's face more or less important than seeing the sky?


Lethal

thedirtyduo said:

Thanks Lethal for posting that. I noticed when I would tilt down to the Grooms hands that it would adjust nicely and the range looked perfect. What setting in the Canon or any other camera would have to be played with so that the camera focus' on the face and not the background?

Click to expand...

There's not really a mode or setting to tell the camera "Hey, expose for this person's face" and have the camera track that person's face and adjust the exposure on the fly. You need to pay attention to the area you want to properly expose (zebras are great for this) and adjust exposure manually as needed. Of course the down side to consumer cameras (and to a lesser extent 99% of prosumer cameras) is that adjusting settings on the fly is not easy. It something that takes practice as well as being familiar w/your camera so you can learn how "wiggle room" you have w/regards to exposure and manipulating the image after the fact in your NLE.


Lethal

That's good job Lethal!
I tried and it still looked like crap

Thanks.

Steve Hullfish has some good books about color correcting video digitally (all three are listed in the "What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?" section). Once you learn how the different parameters affect the image color correction makes much more sense and you need much less trial and error to achieve the look you want.


Lethal