Blog Archives

There are many reasons to send a project from Final Cut Pro to Resolve, then bring them back into Final Cut. Fortunately, the process isn’t hard, but there are a lot of steps. Here’s what you need to know.

While human skin gray-scale and saturation values can vary by individual, skin color values are remarkably consistent. Here’s an illustrated tutorial on how to set skin color values to fix color problems and make on-camera talent look “normal.” This applies to all video editing software.

Last week, as part of Adobe MAX, Adobe released a flock of new features and improvements to Premiere Pro. Here’s a summary of what’s new.

Recently, Apple updated Motion to version 5.6, where one of the highlighted features is a new neon text effect. In this video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how this works and how you can add an effect to make it look even better.

“Ask Larry Anything,” is a free-form conversation about subjects related to editing. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates the two key video scopes in Apple Final Cut Pro, how to read them and how to use them to fix color problems like color casts and dark exposure levels.

Adobe introduces Auto Tone in the beta version of Adobe Premiere Pro. Here’s a description of what this new automatic color correction tool does.

Apple updated Final Cut Pro, Motion and Compressor last week and both Final Cut and Compressor got a flurry of new features. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to reduce the file size of an animated image sequence. We do this without losing any video quality, by using indexed color and Apple Compressor.

DPI (Dots per Inch) is a measure of image resolution. It also confuses a lot of people. Here’s an illustrated guide to where DPI matters, where it does not, and why images look bad when you scale them larger.

Here’s how to create a logo or shape in Photoshop, fill it with moving video in Final Cut Pro, then place that over a moving background. This works with video or stills and with any text, logos or shapes you care to use. Plus, it is fun to create – once you know how.

Adobe has made continual improvements to the color grading controls and video scopes in Premiere Pro. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use the Hue / Saturation Curves to change the colors of a portion of an image, for example, to change the color of a shirt.

Adobe has made continual improvements to the color grading controls and video scopes in Premiere Pro. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to change the color grade as colors change within a single shot; for example, as an actor walks from daylight in to interior lighting.

Adobe has made continual improvements to the color grading controls and video scopes in Premiere Pro. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use masks and tracking in Premiere to change the color of something in the frame – even if that element moves around during the shot.

Adobe has made continual improvements to the color grading controls and video scopes in Premiere Pro. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use the Video Limiter in Premiere Pro to make sure your video levels stay within legal boundaries.

Adobe has made continual improvements to the color grading controls and video scopes in Premiere Pro. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to analyze your images using the video scopes inside Premiere.

Adobe has made continual improvements to the color grading controls and video scopes in Premiere Pro. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use the new Comparison View in Premiere.

Adobe has made continual improvements to the color grading controls and video scopes in Premiere Pro. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to analyze your images using the video scopes inside Premiere.

Everything in production was perfect – except someone wore the wrong color. How do you “fix it in post” in Apple Final Cut Pro? Here are two methods: Color masks and the Hue/Saturation Curves. One of them is CLEARLY better!

Motion has a virtually limitless package of lights that can be positioned for both 2D and 3D elements. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates the four different light types in Apple Motion, and how they are used.

Motion has a virtually limitless package of lights that can be positioned for both 2D and 3D elements. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates what happens when you change light settings in Apple Motion.

[This is an excerpt from a recent on-line video webinar: “Advanced Techniques in Apple Motion 5.5” which is available as a download in our store, or as part of our Video Training Library.] EXCERPT DESCRIPTION Explore the capability of Apple …

Adobe added minor features to both Premiere Pro and After Effects in its January, 2021, update. As well, it announced it is adding new, more inclusive language to its software. Here are the details.

Effects are the fun part of video editing because there are so many different options. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan presents three simple ways to fix color problems in Adobe Premiere Pro. One to change the look, another to fix exposure and a third to correct color problems.

The Comparison Viewer is tricky to find, but very useful once you open it; especially when you are trying to compare the look between multiple shots. Here’s how to use it.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use the new Comparison Viewer in Apple Final Cut Pro, along with a quick way to modify colors across multiple clips.

Two “Top Ten” lists of tips and techniques from “The Inside Tips” for 2020. The first is by number of views, the second is by reader ratings. These cover Adobe and Apple software, along with codecs, media, visual effects and production.

Motion has a full range of lights and, more importantly, lighting presets that can add drama and visual interest to any scene – especially one that involves 3D objects. Here’s an illustrated tutorial on how to use them to increase the drama in your projects.

Here’s a summary of the new features introduced at Adobe MAX (Oct. 2020) for Adobe Premiere Pro, with a link for more details.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates why correctly setting the HDR Graphics White Point for HDR HLG media is important when adding graphics or SDR media to an HDR sequence. This is a new feature in Adobe Premiere Pro v.14.4.

Earlier this week (Sept. 15, 2020), Adobe announced new versions of Premiere Pro and After Effects. Available immediately, as part of a Creative Cloud subscription, here are the new features.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use the new ISO and white point settings to adjust ProRes RAW media using the latest 10.4.9 version of Apple Final Cut Pro X.

I first wrote these “Media Planning Guidelines” as a series of bullet points to help us think about media and the storage necessary for video editing. In this article, I expand these to explain my thinking to help you make better media decisions for your next project.

Examples of how blend modes can add texture to colors and scenes, along with how to use them to fix problems with exposure or color. This is created in Adobe Premiere Pro, but applies to all NLEs.

CommandPost is a free, flexible, customizable tool that allows editors to get far more out of Final Cut Pro X than they would ever expect. Here’s an illustrated tutorial to this powerful software.

A LUT (LookUp Table) is a conversion table that instantly changes pixel values from one setting to the next. Final Cut provides two different ways to apply LUTs to your footage: the Inspector and the Custom LUT effect. This article describes how to use the Custom LUT effect.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan answers a question showing how to use Apple Final Cut Pro X to match the color between video clips shot using different cameras, one of which was an iPhone.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan answers a question on how to use LUTs to color grade HDR or Log video in Apple Final Cut Pro X.

There is difference in how the same color is displayed in Premiere, Final Cut and QuickTime. This made worse when looking at media on a P3 display. Here’s what you need to know.

In an ideal world, all your green-screen source files are perfectly lit. This illustrated tutorial deals with reality – green-screen source files that are badly light, poorly saturated and with gear lying all around the frame. Sheesh!

A fast, automated method to optimize grayscale (exposure) settings to video clips in Adobe Premiere Pro.

In this short video demo, watch as Larry Jordan shows how to color grade Panasonic HLG Log media in both a Rec. 709 and HDR projects. Bonus: Larry also illustrates how to use the HDR Tools effect for converting HDR media.

In this short video demo, watch as Larry Jordan illustrates how to display and color grade ProRes RAW media in Apple Final Cut Pro X. (This also includes a bonus technique on using the Balance Color effect for HDR media.)

In this short video demo, watch as Larry Jordan illustrates the different color spaces between SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) and HDR media.

An explanation of how Apple Final Cut Pro X handles ProRes RAW images, along with a link to an Apple white paper to learn more.

Color correction and color grading are part art, part science and part applied technology. In this short video demo, watch as Larry Jordan demonstrates how to adjust grayscale values and use the video scopes to improve the look of your images.

Color correction and color grading are part art, part science and part applied technology. In this short video demo, watch as Larry Jordan shows how to use the video scopes in Adobe Premiere Pro to evaluate skin tones.

Color correction and color grading are part art, part science and part applied technology. In this short video demo, watch as Larry Jordan shows how to create two color effects using masks in Premiere Pro.

This is a REALLY fast way to get rid of color casts in video clips using Adobe Premiere Pro.

Match Color does more than simply match colors between clips. Once you understand what it is REALLY doing, you can use it to create some fascinating effects.

In this short video demo, watch as Larry Jordan shows two different ways to remove color casts from skin tones and improve color accuracy in Apple Final Cut Pro X.

In this short video demo, watch as Larry Jordan shows how to use the Hue and Saturation Curves in Final Cut Pro X to replace and adjust a single color in a clip.