| ColorMatch lets you apply a color correction to an image by taking an old set of colors (source color) and matching them to a new set (destination color) by adjusting the low, middle, and high values of the image. You can also do Contrast, Gamma, Mult, and Add color corrections. When you match color using the Color Picker, a good workflow strategy is to first select all three source colors, and then select the destination colors. Otherwise, you may pick colors that have been modified. Tip Another technique to use when you're scrubbing is to ignore the node while scrubbing (select the node and press I in Node View) and then turn it on when you're finished. Let's try to match the Florida shots using the ColorMatch node. 1. | Extract the Mult1 node by highlighting it and pressing the E key. This automatically extracts the node from the tree. | 2. | Place a ColorMatch node after florida_cu. | 3. | Double-click ColorMatch1 to make it the active node. You'll start by selecting the low, mid, and high source colors. | 4. | Click the Color Picker tab in the Node workspace. The Color Picker, which is in a tab on the Node workspace, allows you to sample values from the Viewer, and then drag and drop them onto other parameters. It includes handy analysis tools for finding and comparing different color values on your image. You can examine minimum, average, current, and maximum pixel values, which is particularly useful, naturally, when doing color corrections. | 5. | Drag across the image. As you drag, the image's values will appear in the Color Picker, interactively updating the Min, Max, Average, and Current color boxes. In matching the two Florida shots, the first step is to choose the shadows, or darkest areas of the screen. | 6. | Zoom in to the middle of Florida near the lake and the hurricane by pressing the + key repeatedly. | 7. | Drag the pointer over the dark area of water above the hurricane. You've sampled a colornow what? Make it the ColorMatch1 lowSource color. | 8. | Click the Current color box once to select it. | 9. | Drag the Current color box in the Color Picker onto the color swatch next to lowSource in ColorMatch1. Now you can set the midSource and highSource values. | 10. | Click the midSource color swatch. When you click a color swatch in a node's parameters, the Color Picker will open automatically, or become active if it's already open. When you pick a color from the Viewer, it will be entered as a parameter value automatically. | 11. | Select the midSource color according to the following picture: | 12. | Click the highSource color swatch and select the highSource color according to the preceding picture. Now that the source colors are selected, you can select the destination colors. | 13. | Change the Node workspace from the Color Picker to the Node View. | 14. | Click the left side of the Over1 node so that you can sample colors while viewing the composite. | 15. | Select the mid, low, and high destination colors. For each selection, click and drag in the area shown in the figure below until the colors match. If you are in Update Always mode, the color correction happens interactively. Once it matches visually, you can stop dragging the pointer. Your final image should look like this: |
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