Blog Archives

Picking a high-quality computer monitor for video editing is surprisingly confusing. Here is Larry Jordan’s explanation of what specs you need to look for, which you can ignore, and what criteria he uses for picking computer and video monitors.

No monitor is perfect, but if images are your life, you should make the effort to check out the ViewSonic VP2776. When I look at the same image on all three monitor connected to my Mac, the ViewSonic looks the best. Here’s a detailed review.

August is vacation time. Still, over these five weeks, we published 19 tutorials and product reviews. Here’s a summary of everything we released this month. Something to look through during the holiday weekend.

There are seven Stylize effects in Apple Final Cut Pro that create illegal video levels. This tutorial shows what they are, the problems they cause and how to fix them before final export.

The reason we use effects is to help us tell our story more effectively. While creating effects can take more time than we expect, the results, when effects are chosen wisely, can be amazing. Here are a baker’s dozen of little-known effects in Apple Final Cut Pro.

Particle Illusion is a free, powerful particle generator that runs on both Macs and Windows with hundreds of presets for 2D or 3D particles. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to get started using it.

BorisFX Continuum is the “Swiss Army Knife for visual effects for video editors and motion graphics creatives. In this short video tutorial Larry Jordan shows how to create a complex effect using blurs, color effects and multiple masks, plus Mocha mask tracking in BorisFX Continuum 2022.5 and Final Cut Pro.

This illustrated tutorial on creating retro film effects using Final Cut Pro was written by Burkhard Berger.

What I like about the Classic Color Meter is that it works the way you expect, measures colors six ways from Sunday and allows copying and pasting color values, even color images, from whatever you measured into whatever you need. Here’s how it works.

Multicam recording captures an event using multiple cameras. Multicam editing displays all those angles during the edit. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to add visual effects and color grading to a multicam clip in Final Cut Pro.

Almost all digital video cameras shoot video levels with excessive levels for any project destined for broadcast, cable, streaming or digital cinema. The highlights are too bright and the shadows are too dark. Here are two ways to control them.

Recently, the folks at ViewSonic contacted me about what they see as the top trends in 2022 for visual displays and monitors. I was intrigued by their list and emailed Jeff Volpe, President of ViewSonic Americas, to learn more. Larry: Jeff, …

Adobe morphed Auto Tone into Auto Color with the 22.3 update to Premiere Pro. The new Auto Color works, but it doesn’t work well. Here are some examples that illustrate this point.

Creating the illusion of night in video is not a case of turning off the lights. It a case of where those lights get put and the contrast between them.

Another new feature that Adobe added recently to Premiere is text gradients. These are easy to create, but a key switch you need to access this feature is somewhat hidden. Here’s an illustrated tutorial on how this works.

Like many, I get confused about the differences between HDR, RAW, HDR, Log, LUT, and 10-bit media. All too often, the explanations are deeply technical – and confusing. So, here’s an overview of what these are and how to use them.

If you’ve been wondering what the color tools in Final Cut do, or how to make them work better, this session is for you. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to adjust the color in a portion of a video clip using the new object tracking feature in Final Cut Pro.

If you’ve been wondering what the color tools in Final Cut do, or how to make them work better, this session is for you. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use high dynamic range media, called “HDR,” in a standard dynamic range (SDR) project, like HD, in Final Cut.

If you’ve been wondering what the color tools in Final Cut do, or how to make them work better, this session is for you. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to adjust skin colors, and fix color casts, using the color wheels in Final Cut.

If you’ve been wondering what the color tools in Final Cut do, or how to make them work better, this session is for you. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to fix color casts in video, using the Color Wheels in Final Cut.

If you’ve been wondering what the color tools in Final Cut do, or how to make them work better, this session is for you. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use the Comparison Viewer for color correction in Final Cut.

If you’ve been wondering what the color tools in Final Cut do, or how to make them work better, this session is for you. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan explains the Three Rules of Color Correction and how they apply regardless of which video editing software you are using.

The Video Limiter, in Adobe Premiere Pro, protects excessive video levels for broadcast, streaming, cable and DVD projects. Here’s how it works.

For web work, you don’t need to worry about video levels. However, for just about all other video projects, you do. In those cases, it’s nice to know the Broadcast Safe effect has your back by keeping your video levels “legal.” Here’s how it works.

SilverFast SE Plus 9, by LaserSoft Imaging, provides high-quality image scans for professional use. However, it has an interface that takes time to learn. It does a great job, not because of its interface, but in spite of it. Here’s my review.

This session takes a closer look at color grading in DaVinci Resolve 17, with a special emphasis on its unique color tools and secondary color correction ability. In this excerpt, Larry Jordan demonstrates how to use nodes to solve more complex problems in color grading.

This session takes a closer look at color grading in DaVinci Resolve 17, with a special emphasis on its unique color tools and secondary color correction ability. In this excerpt, Larry Jordan showcases a variety of ways to compare and match shots in Resolve.

This session takes a closer look at color grading in DaVinci Resolve 17, with a special emphasis on its unique color tools and secondary color correction ability. In this excerpt, Larry Jordan explores the different variations of RGB color wheels in Resolve.

This session takes a closer look at color grading in DaVinci Resolve 17, with a special emphasis on its unique color tools and secondary color correction ability. In this excerpt, Larry Jordan illustrates how to customize the video scopes.

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.