Color Correcting Help

Hey guys!

I am trying to color correct these two shots and I'm having trouble (see attached screenshots). Obviously I'm a newb at this and I could use some suggestions. Camera 1 is a little blue and Camera 2 is more saturated and yellow, right? I'd just like the two shots to match more and looking for suggestions since I can never get really close between them. Thanks for the help! Using FCPX v10.2.1

Adjust contrast first, before doing any color work. In shots like this, sometimes that's all it needs. Yes, contrast can effect the color appearance. They look pretty close to me. I'd just verify the highlights are just below 95%, the darkest shadows crushed, and minor twerking to the mids, if you even need to do that far. Desaturate just the tiniest bit, maybe. Maybe some reds into the mids, but maybe not even that. Just ranting off the top of my head.

Thanks BenB!

See...it's that last 5% that trips me up every time. I think I need to watch a full tutorial on How to Stop Worrying And Love Video Scopes or something... because it's still a bit of voodoo to me.

Color grading is very basic, very simple. It can get complex when you get into advanced stages of it, but on the surface, very simple. Look for the Color Correction Handbook by Alexis Van Hurkman. Or Colorgradingcentral.com.

Another vote for colorgradingcentral.com - the 20+ pieces free tut is awesome!

Two remarks from the hobbyist corner:
a) White Balance - to 'match' two shots, first step is matching White Balance; I mostly neglect/forget that on location; and being lazy, I bought a plugin ...

b) different perspectives of the same subject look different - your examples show, there's a single light, top right shoulder of cameraman ... so, pointing-away or pointing-to the light source DOES look different

.. for a first orientation, I would try to match the skin-tones of the woman....



side-by-side, you'll see better, what effect the CC has ... Follow Ben's advice!

Yes, color correct for skin tones first. If no people are in the shot, correct for either blue sky or green grass/tress. "Memory" colors are vital to get right. But, adjust contrast before doing ANYTHING else.