Apple Final Cut Pro 7 - Manual (Page 1390)

In general, using the Auto-Balance eyedropper will get you close to where you need to
be quickly and easily. However, to achieve the look you really want, you need to make
further adjustments to the Balance control by hand.
11 Click anywhere in the Balance color wheel and drag to move the color balance indicator
relative to its previous position.
Because you already used the Auto-Balance eyedropper to add more reds to compensate
for the blues that you didn’t want, this will be your starting point as you work to achieve
the particular effect you want for this scene. For example, you could drag the color balance
indicator farther into the direction of magenta in order to make the image look a bit
warmer and more inviting while preserving the corrected color balance.
Because you’re not worrying about matching this image to any other shots right now,
you can select whatever look you want. Whether you go warmer, cooler, or even into
other more surreal balances of color is purely a creative choice at this point. If you’re
going for a realistic look, however, it’s important to restrain yourself and stick to making
subtle changes.
Once you’ve achieved the color balance you want, it’s time to adjust the saturation of
your clip to complete the look of the shot.
12 Drag the Saturation slider to increase or decrease the saturation.
Be careful when you do this. A common mistake beginners make is to automatically
oversaturate shots to make them look “better.” While a highly saturated look is sometimes
appropriate, less saturation may actually improve the look of your footage. This is especially
true if you have a camcorder with artificially vivid color. In this case, it may be appropriate
to desaturate the image somewhat to keep it from looking too “hot.”
Note: As always, be careful to make adjustments to saturation only while looking at a
properly calibrated broadcast monitor. It can be very tempting to oversaturate the colors
of your clip based on the way video looks on a computer display. It’s a good idea to turn
on the Excess Chroma option (in the Range Check submenu of the View menu) to keep
yourself from inadvertently setting illegal chroma levels by boosting the saturation too
high.
Example: Using the Color Corrector 3-Way Filter
While the Color Corrector filter lets you adjust the overall color balance of a clip, the Color
Corrector 3-way filter gives you even more control by allowing you to adjust the color
balance of the shadows, midtones, and highlights individually. All three of these affected
parts of your picture overlap, allowing you to make extremely involved changes to your
picture. For additional information, see
“Blacks, Midtones, and Whites.”
1390 Chapter 82 Color Correction Examples