Secondary Stage

The Colorista II tools are organized into three stages of color correction. This page covers the intermediate Secondary stage. Secondary quickly lets you qualify an area based on a Power Mask shape, or use a powerful Keyer to fine-tune specific tones or areas. The first stage is Primary and the final stage is Master.

Important Note: Once a Secondary key is created, all color correction in the Secondary stage affects the keyed area only. If the Secondary Power Mask is activated, then Secondary stage affects both the key and mask area. If there is no key or mask activated, then Secondary stage affects the entire source image.

Keyboard shortcuts: Press Cmd+2 on Mac [Ctl+2 on Win] to twirl open the Secondary group, and twirl closed Primary and Master. Press Opt+K on Mac [Alt+K on Win] to twirl open Secondary, twirl closed Primary and Master, and open the Keyer UI.

 

 

 

Secondary Exposure

Exposure stretches or compresses the Red, Green and Blue channels. Exposure is good for setting the overall brightness of the image. You can use the 3-Way Highlight control to similar effect, but you may already have used it to adjust white balance. Use Exposure when you want to add brightness compensation after adjusting the other correction controls. Read more here.

 

 

Secondary Density

Density shifts up or down the value ranges for the Red, Green and Blue channels. This tool allows you to reset the color range that you are using. Primary Density is more for larger shifts while Secondary and Master Density are best used to fine tune areas. Read more here.

 

 

Secondary 3-Way

The three color wheels adjust the Shadows, Midtones and Highlights in your image. These wheels are traditionally called Lift, Gamma and Gain. The 3-Way wheels operate in HSL space (Hue, Saturation, Luminance). Read more here.

 

 

Pop

Pop has two unique functions, depending upon whether it is set to a positive or negative value. Value range is 100 to 100%. Default value is 0%, or no effect.

When set to positive values, Pop adds local contrast to your image for more visual 'pop' or clarity. Increasing the Pop contrast can help footage that looks hazy or unsharp. The higher the value, the more contrast that is applied. Positive Pop provides better visual sharpness for many types of challenging footage, such as outdoor backlit shots.

When set to negative values, Pop removes sharpness and creates a smoothing effect. This is terrific for quick and simple complexion smoothing for cosmetic cleanup. Negative Pop sets a softer look that, when applied to skin tones, can serve to smooth out and clean up problem skin. The lower the value, the more smoothing that is applied. The best part is that Pop creates a diffusion effect for skin but preserves the sharpness of important detail like eyes, teeth, lips and hair. Use negative Pop combined with the Secondary Keyer, which by default looks at skin tones. Your older talent will love this control.

 

 

Secondary Saturation

The Saturation slider raises or lowers the colorfulness or intensity of color of your footage. Value range is –100 to +100%.

The default value of 0% does not affect the saturation of your image. Lower values drain color from the image, making it closer to grayscale. Higher values add color intensity and causes your image’s color to become more bold. Be careful when using this parameter as a high Saturation can make colors look too pure and artificial-looking.

 

 

Secondary Hue

Hue offsets the color of the selected color. The number value takes you that number of degrees around the color wheel. Value range is 0 to 360 degrees. Default value is 40 degrees. Positive/higher values move the color sample counter-clockwise along the color wheel. Lower/negative numbers sample clockwise along the color wheel.

There are two parts to Hue, a numeric value and a rotation value. The rotation value doesn't affect anything, it just starts the color rotation over again.

 

 

 

Secondary Power Mask group

The Power Mask generates a rectangular or elliptical shape-based mask to qualify or isolate an area. The Power Mask group has many tools that are useful for a power user or professional colorist. For instance, use the mask to add a gradient filter to a sky or vignette when used in combination with Exposure and 3-Way controls. Read more here.

There are two Power Masks, one in Secondary stage and one in Master stage. Use them separately or in combination for powerful effects. The mask is perfect for qualifying a change to a face when used with the Secondary Keyer.

 

 

Secondary Keyer

This powerful Keyer allows you to precisely adjust colors or ranges of colors using HSL tools. The Keyer opens its own interface window and gives you intuitive controls to sample colors, and soften, choke or invert the matte. By default, the Keyer looks at skin tones, which makes it a terrific skin retouching tool. Use the key in conjunction with the Power Masks for ultimate control.

The Keyer opens opportunities for more creative effects and precise control over exactly how your shot will look. Good for all levels of users, including the power user and professional color finisher. Read more here.

 

 

Secondary Mix

The Mix slider is a refinement control that sets the interaction between the original image and the Primary correction stage. Value range is 0 to 100%. Default setting is 100%, which means the Secondary correction is fully applied. Lower values make the Secondary correction less visible. At 0%, the Primary correction is effectively turned off.

Mix gives you very fine control over how much a stage contributes to the overall correction. Let's say that you have added a lot of contrast with your Secondary correction. Instead of having to turn down each of the controls in that stage, you can lower all of the controls at once by lowering the Mix.

There is a Mix control in each stage of correction. By controlling the transparency or strength of each stage, the user can back off the effect to provide for more subtle color correction. This provides for greater flexibility in combining and adjusting the three stages.

 

 

Secondary Bypass checkbox

The Bypass switch similarly turns off all the controls in the Secondary stage. Turned off by default (unchecked). By activating Secondary Bypass, you are passing over the color correction of the Secondary stage. This makes it easier to evaluate the Colorista results as you work.

Bypass also lets you solo a correction stage. For instance, if you bypass the Primary and Master stages, then you have effectively solo'ed the Secondary stage, meaning you are only viewing and using Secondary. Like the Mix control, the Bypass switch provides for greater flexibility in combining and adjusting the three stages.

Keyboard shortcut: Press Cmd+Option+2 on Mac [Ctl+Alt+2 on Win] to toggle on/off Secondary Bypass.