00:00when I first started working as a
00:01colorist one of my least favorite notes
00:03to get was the blacks are too crushed
00:07and it wasn't because I didn't
00:08understand what the note meant I
00:09understood perfectly well what the note
00:11meant but it's one of these notes that I
00:13would get and more often than not feel
00:15like by the time we were done addressing
00:17it and moving on either the client would
00:19be a little less happy or the image
00:21would look a little bit worse than it
00:23did before and there's a variety of
00:25reasons why I think I was experiencing
00:27this but really the main one is that
00:28this is one of the most common notes and
00:30color grading and it can be symptomatic
00:32of all kinds of different problems and
00:34if we want to identify and diagnose and
00:36treat these problems we have to know
00:38what questions to ask so today I want to
00:41share with you a couple of the questions
00:43that I've developed over the years for
00:45helping understand what's really going
00:47on when the client says the blacks are
00:49too crushed it's kind of like when
00:50someone goes into the doctor and they
00:51say Doc my stomach hurts well a good
00:54doctor knows that your stomach hurt can
00:56hurt for a wide variety of reasons and
00:58they're not going to simply try to to
01:00treat your stomach ache they're going to
01:01try to understand what is causing your
01:03stomach ache and treat the root cause as
01:05opposed to Simply medicating the symptom
01:07same thing with something like the
01:09blocks are too crushed it can mean so
01:11many different things that we really
01:12need to know the right questions to ask
01:14to figure out what this client means
01:16when they say these blacks are too
01:18crushed okay so I want to give you a
01:20couple questions that you can ask to
01:21help you through that process the first
01:23one it's going to sound really obvious
01:24but it's a great place to start frankly
01:25for almost any piece of feedback you can
01:27get when you're collaborating with
01:29clients is my client seeing what I'm
01:31seeing sounds basic but it's really easy
01:33to overlook and if you're not sitting in
01:35the same room looking at the same screen
01:37it can be really really tough to have
01:39confidence and to guarantee that you're
01:41seeing fundamentally the same image and
01:44if you are not there's nothing you can
01:46do here to solve that problem that's a
01:48problem of two different images two
01:50different displays that are not agreeing
01:52with each other getting your two images
01:55uh to agree getting your two displays to
01:56agree can be fairly easy a lot of the
01:59time it can be quite difficult so
02:00something that I always encourage if you
02:02have any doubts about this at least at
02:05the beginning of the process at least
02:07once in the process sit together in the
02:10same room and look at the same screen if
02:12nothing else what's that's going to do
02:14is give your client an image in their
02:16Mind's Eye that they can reference back
02:18to and if it looks crushed on their
02:20device later on they're far more likely
02:22to go wait a minute that doesn't look
02:24like what we were digging when we were
02:26all sitting in the room together so it
02:28sounds obvious but it's almost
02:30impossible to overstate the importance
02:32of asking that question are we even
02:34looking at the same thing because if
02:36you're not there's nothing you can do
02:37here nothing you can do here that's
02:39going to solve the fact that you're
02:40looking at two different images because
02:42of the displays that you are viewing on
02:44best solution there simplest solution
02:46there if at all possible is to get both
02:49sets of eyes on one screen at least for
02:51long enough to get a sort of common
02:54understanding and get in sync with what
02:55the image should look like so that your
02:57client actually has the ability to call
02:58it out if they're getting a weird
03:00reproduction on some other screen okay
03:03so that's question number one question
03:05number two is my exposure optimized this
03:08is a great example of something that
03:10doesn't seem to speak directly to block
03:12level but if we look at an image like
03:14this one here and resolve and I just
03:16spin my exposure what is the easiest way
03:18to crush my blocks in this image well
03:20it's to expose even further down than I
03:22am now like yeah those blocks are super
03:24crushed but it's not really because
03:26there's too much of a contrast ratio in
03:28the image necessarily it's because the
03:30exposure is really really low so we
03:33always want to go back to asking the
03:34question has my exposure been optimized
03:37and that doesn't mean for a shot like
03:38this where I'm looking at the fill side
03:40of the character's face that I need to
03:42swing it way open and get a super bright
03:44reproduction but we do want to make sure
03:46that we're really happy with the
03:47exposure exposure is a creative
03:49parameter so it's not about getting the
03:50exposure right it's about getting the
03:52exposure where you and your client feel
03:54it should sit and a great question that
03:56you can ask your client when you're
03:58evaluating things at this point of is
04:00the exposure correct ask them hey just
04:02for the sake of argument just for a
04:03second forget about the Shadows forget
04:05about the blacks for just a minute just
04:07look at the subject I don't care if it's
04:08a person or a product whatever it is ask
04:10them to look at the subject and to look
04:12at the exposure on the subject and to
04:14tell you does it feel like that subject
04:16is well exposed do you like their
04:18exposure level how bright they are
04:19sitting in the frame or do you feel like
04:21they're under or they're over no matter
04:23what their answer that is going to give
04:25you some insight into where that
04:26feedback that the blacks are true
04:28crushed is really coming from
04:30and certainly if they're telling you no
04:31it's too far under or even it's too hot
04:34then you want to get that sitting in the
04:36proper position before you start
04:38addressing more localized things like
04:40the shadows in between that subject and
04:42the floor of the signal okay so that's
04:44question number two is my exposure
04:46optimized okay next question that I want
04:49you to just get into the habit of asking
04:51whenever that this note comes up of the
04:54blocks are too crushed the next question
04:56that comes up let's assume all right we
04:57have optimized our exposure and things
04:59are looking pretty good the next
05:01question that I would ask is have I
05:03shaped my low end and for that matter my
05:05highend enough have I shaped my tonality
05:07have I shaped my contrast in the image
05:10enough that's something you can evaluate
05:12by eye it's also something you can
05:13evaluate on your scopes for example when
05:16I look at this image and when I look at
05:18my histogram here the blacker 2 Crush
05:20could well still be a pretty valid note
05:23for this image and I can tell by looking
05:25at the image itself on my monitor but I
05:27can also tell from looking at the
05:29histogram and the fact that the signal
05:31is kind of like smashing into the wall
05:34right now it's just hitting at full
05:36strength into this left Edge so that's a
05:38clue to me both visually and uh going by
05:40my flight instruments that I could stand
05:42to shape my lowend more there's lots of
05:45different ways you could do this you
05:46could do it with your custom curves
05:47there's a gazillion tools and resolve
05:49for making this adjustment but where I'm
05:51going to start is right here in my
05:52primaries by opening my lift way up and
05:55it may look weird for a second like this
05:57looks far too open and sort of like
06:00artificially lifted for a second but one
06:02of the best tricks that you can employ
06:04when you're trying to get a little bit
06:06less crunchy or uh you know kind of
06:08clipped out feeling blacks is to go up
06:10on your lift and then down on your gamma
06:13and what you're going to find is that
06:14you often need to marry that with going
06:16up on your gain to kind of keep things
06:18in place but if we now look at the net
06:21of this adjustment with the exposure and
06:23all we've made a big move and even if we
06:25do this let's copy this node and sort of
06:28uh separate out our uh gain and lift and
06:31Gamma adjustments from our offset
06:33adjustments so on this node we're just
06:36doing exposure with our offset and on
06:38this node we're just doing our tonality
06:41with our lift gamut and gain I'm just
06:42separating these out so that we can see
06:44uh one versus the other so we've got our
06:47exposure in place but even once that
06:48exposure is in place check this out I'm
06:50seeing a lot more into the image and I'm
06:53not necessarily just like flattening out
06:55the contrast of the image that's the
06:57biggest like challenge when you get this
06:58feedback that the blacks are too crushed
07:00and the biggest like sort of thing that
07:02we often bristle against as colorists is
07:04we recognize well contrast is necessary
07:07we want to have Rich contrast and Rich
07:08tonality and we don't just want to
07:10flatten things out in the bottom end to
07:12make them more visible so this is one
07:13good example of how you might go about
07:15that of just kind of opening things up
07:17down there in that low end I'm going to
07:19show you one other alternative to this
07:21let's grab a still here and I'm going to
07:23delete this node for now so we've just
07:25got our exposure but we again want to
07:27work on our tonality here's something
07:30go to your custom curves and tap the
07:33sort of upper region of what you're
07:35thinking of as the crushed Shadows okay
07:38so for me that might be somewhere around
07:39here as the light is falling off from
07:41this uh far side of his face uh to the
07:44fill side that's closer to camera I'm
07:46just going to tap somewhere around here
07:48and now I'm going to option click and
07:49maybe move this up a little bit and I'm
07:51going to bring some fill light just down
07:53into this Zone okay something like that
07:57now this is something that because it's
07:59quite localized you can totally take too
08:01far and make it look weird but this can
08:03also be a really really powerful way of
08:06just slightly opening up the low end of
08:09your image and I want to do the same
08:10thing here I'm just going to copy this
08:13and wipe out this custom curve and then
08:15paste and wipe out the exposure
08:18adjustment here so I've got the curve in
08:20a separate node you can see here like
08:22sometimes that's all you need when
08:23you're getting that note that the blacks
08:25are too crushed that's another thing
08:26that I feel like I had to learn over
08:27time is when I would get that feedback I
08:29would think oh my God I have to like
08:31completely rewrite the image and I don't
08:32know how to CU I don't think it looks
08:34that bad right now but sometimes all you
08:36need is that little nudge and sometimes
08:38all your client needs is your
08:39encouragement that like hey I see what
08:41you mean the blacks were feeling a
08:43little bit clipped out and crunchy
08:44before and I feel like just making this
08:46little nudge really makes a big
08:48difference and adds texture and
08:49dimension and life down in the low end
08:51and I don't think your your blacks feel
08:52crushed anymore sometimes that's as big
08:55a part of anything you're going to do
08:57for the client is what you say to the C
08:59client and help them uh sort of get a
09:01fresh perspective on how the image is
09:03feeling to you as the colorist okay
09:05that's another really good one to ask is
09:07like have I shaped my lowend my high end
09:09enough million different ways to do that
09:11we just looked at two of them and you
09:13can even do a shootout here like this is
09:14what we just did with our LIF or gamma
09:16in our gain like so and this is what we
09:20just did with our fill sort of different
09:23approaches but they're both tackling the
09:24problem in different ways and I think I
09:26actually prefer this second solution
09:28that we just implemented here but you
09:29can try out both and always be working
09:32on how you shape things in the very
09:34bottom and the very top of the image
09:36that's really where the money gets made
09:37for us as colorless most of us can
09:38figure out how to make an image look
09:40good in terms of middle exposures but if
09:42you can shape things really really well
09:44in the low and in the bottom end then
09:46you're really going to start to see big
09:47gains in uh what you're doing with your
09:49color grades okay so that's question
09:51number two question number three rather
09:52and the last question that I want to
09:54leave you with is this one do I have the
09:56right look in place we have even talked
09:59about our look in the course of this
10:01entire conversation today but if we go
10:03over here to the timeline section of my
10:04node graph and take a look at my look
10:07it's doing a lot to this image right I'm
10:10using my Kodak 2383 L here this is a
10:12free download that you can grab uh in
10:14the link in the uh description for
10:16today's video but this L is doing a lot
10:19and this L can do beautiful things to an
10:21image but if you're getting this note
10:23about crushed blacks especially like on
10:24a recurring basis if it's not coming up
10:26once but two three five times across
10:29different shots at different moments in
10:31the project that can be a clue that you
10:34might not have the right look in place
10:36and when I say the right look I don't
10:37mean the look is terrible I mean the
10:40client may not like the look that you
10:42guys have landed on and they might not
10:44even realize realize it because they're
10:46just looking at one shot after another
10:49so this is another really good question
10:50to just train yourself to be asking if
10:52you're getting recurring feedback of the
10:54same type really of any type it doesn't
10:56have to just be about crushed blacks any
10:58feedback that you're getting getting on
10:59a recurring basis can be a good clue
11:02that you may want to go back and revisit
11:03your look and in the case of the shots
11:05that we've looked at uh here in this
11:07timeline or this shot specifically and
11:08some of these others what we might find
11:11is that we simply need to back off on
11:14our look a little bit now there's lots
11:16of different ways that we could go about
11:18that but one really simple way would be
11:20to just prepend a Serial node set a
11:23pivot point in my contrast pivot at
11:25336 and just do a little bit of negative
11:29like so okay let's go back to the shop
11:31that we've actually already exposed
11:32properly we probably don't even need
11:34that much by the time we've uh done some
11:36of those local Solutions but this is
11:38something else that you should just be
11:40in the habit of sort of asking yourself
11:43and then asking of the client like hey
11:45do you want to go back and take a look
11:46at our overall look just for a second
11:48and make sure that we're not doing
11:50something that is at odds with your
11:52creative intent for this project so
11:54that's the last thing to leave with is
11:55do I have the right look in place or do
11:57I need to tailor or tune in or do I need
11:59to get rid of it completely and try a
12:01different look that's getting me images
12:03closer to what my client wants to see
12:05right out of the box that's a good clue
12:07when you're uh implementing your look
12:09you should be looking at images once
12:11that look is applied and you and your
12:12client should be going cool that looks
12:14good and then wanting to address finesse
12:16things as opposed to looking at an image
12:18and going no no no no no the blacks are
12:19too crushed which as I said is a a note
12:22that's what's the opposite of near and
12:24dear not near and dear to my heart
12:26because of uh the number of times I felt
12:28stumped by it and flx by it uh early in
12:30my career but it's one that comes up a
12:31lot so we want to know how to address it
12:33and this is another really good way to
12:36address it way to diagnose the note is
12:38to assess whether we have the right look
12:40in place to begin with and that really
12:42connects to the biggest single thing
12:44that we can keep in mind when we are uh
12:47taking this note and trying to implement
12:49an adjustment for it of the black or 2
12:51Crush it's all about your client more
12:54about your client than it is about the
12:55image you need to understand what
12:57they're seeing whether that's physically
12:59what monitor they're looking at it on or
13:01what they're responding to in the image
13:02and what they want to see more of or
13:04less of the more you can focus on your
13:06client and on managing your client
13:08managing their expectations in some
13:10cases encouraging them that you don't
13:12actually think the blacks are too
13:13crushed this stuff is as much a part of
13:15the process as anything that you're
13:17going to do right here so it's something
13:19I want to encourage you to always keep
13:21at the front of your mind when you are
13:22thinking about color grading and if this
13:24is something you want to learn more
13:25about how to work with clients at a
13:28professional level and really be an
13:29effective collaborator who clients love
13:31to work with and love to come back to
13:33it's one of the main focuses that we
13:35emphasize in my colorist career
13:36accelerator course we run it several
13:38times a year we're going to be running
13:39it again very soon and we'll have a wait
13:41list ready for uh you to uh jump on to
13:43if you are interested in staying in the
13:45loop about that course and signing up
13:46for it for the next time when we do it
13:48and really talking about how to take
13:50your client management skills how to
13:51manage your client's expectations and a
13:53professional level and give them great
13:55images and a great collaborative
13:57experience that makes them want to K
13:58coming back to you again and again and
14:00again so hope you enjoyed this
14:02walkthrough on the way we can think
14:04about crust blacks in a bit more of a
14:07specific way and a bit more of a nuanced
14:09way than just swinging the left to the
14:11right and seeing how far we can go
14:12before we hate it there's a lot more to
14:15addressing this note than simply opening
14:16up the low end of the image and I hope I
14:18gave you some good food for thought
14:19today with these questions that I have
![#Uwu #Uwuvoice #Itshannahowo Hannah UwU || Hannah UwU voice ❤ [Compilation]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F2V2xm_LDYPA%2Fhqdefault.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
