[Tig] Curves for serious Color Correction

[Kassner, Neal]

Just to echo what others have already said, I find the Custom Curves tool on my da Vinci DUI to be less than useful for most color correction. If it worked the way Photoshop's curves do, i.e., drag the default curve around and--hey presto--see the color change, that would be one thing. But on my system at least, first you need to modify the default curve and then adjust the primary joyballs and wheels to see anything happen. Why would I want to do that when I can do my basic corrections using the big-iron hardware panel, which has the added benefit of allowing me to balance colors and adjust the luminence at the same time, rather than doing just one color at a time?
 
In fact, in my line of work (usually grading network newsmagazine broadcasts), the few times I've found Custom Curves helpful have been to undo a problem in the original footage. For instance, I used it recently to help out an editor who'd shot some stuff for a piece he was cutting using a rental camera that was shipped out of whack--the midtones were stretched way up and the highlights were clipped at 85 IRE. Being primarily an editor, he didn't realize how far out his material was until he started editing. I had him shoot a chip chart and used the curves tool to bring the gray scale back to normal, then applied that grade to all of his footage. But other than times like that, the primary corrector does the work just fine...
 
Neal Kassner
Colorist
CBS News/NY