"Me" <me@somewhere.com> wrote in message news:uKp4b.31546$uh6.9789@lakeread05...

[...]

> 1 - I always set my white balance when shooting, but most people don't. Is

> there a program/filter/etc. that will allow me to adjust white balance after

> the video has been shot? Hopefully this will allow me to balance the video

> between old stuff and stuff I shoot in the same location.

In Premiere, which you use, you have available both 3-color adjustment and hue

adjustment. These can take a bit of practice for getting good results easily

and quickly. BTW, you can also adjust tone-relationships to match image

contrasts and mid-tone brightnesses in Premiere (and other good editors).

> 2 - For home use purposes, I don't worry about it too much, but most of my

> video is clear, but seems to have a "flat" color depth. In other words, it

> closely mimics the reality of the things I shot, but isn't very vibrant.

> Most professional video/movies/TV seems to have an exaggerated color depth.

> The blue sky is a much deeper blue then reality. Reds are more vibrant and

> greens are richer. Does anyone have any ideas of tricks or techniques I can

> use to enrich the color of my video?

Shooting subjects that are well-saturated to begin with is the easiest way

(shooting on very clear days, etc. - and possibly using a polarizer for

exteriors), but this is may not be an option for interiors (where it is often

more useful to lower saturation a bit to get better skin-tone, better results

with mixed lighting, etc.). Different cameras also are capable of different

color-quality. You don't say what you use, but a good 3-CCD Mini-DV

camcorder will give you better color than a 1-CCD Hi-8 camcorder,

for instance. Also, if the camcorder sensitivity is low, you may be using

high gain for the interiors, which will rob you of color saturation and

good picture smoothness. Adding more light, if possible, would help

with this...

> I use premiere 6.0 (thank goodness for free software with hardware

> purchases) but I really don't do anything but basic cut edits and slight

> adjustments. I have played around with the COLOR BALANCE filter,

> particularly with the saturation settings, but all that seems to do is cause

> multi-colored "ballooning" around any brightly colored objects in my field

> of view.

You cannot correct color-bleeding/blooming of original footage.

A better camera is likely to improve both color resolution and

saturation, particularly if it has good sensitivity...

>Note, I am NOT trying to reproduce some Hollywood flick. I am

> realistic enough to know that I have neither the time nor experience to do

> this at their levels, but I have to believe that there are a few tricks I

> can use to increase the color level of my video to give it a richer feel.

If you can darken the image without making it too dark to look

good (best done in-camera, since blank highlights cannot be recovered

while editing, but dark areas often can be) - this will often improve the

color saturation and sharpness and overall look of the image. Raising

the light level and/or improving the sensitivity of the camera you use

can also help. If none of this is practical, going for a bland,

overall-consistent look may be your best option until you can control

the variables that will make the most difference...