Creative Effects > Colour Warper > Correcting Colour Imbalances >
Removing Unwanted Colour

Unwanted colour can be caused by factors such as inconsistent lighting conditions during a shoot or incongruities between the white levels set on a video camera and the given lighting conditions. Factors such as these can result in clips or images that contain unnatural looking colours or one predominant colour, which gives the image an unwanted colour cast. After setting black and white points, you can remove the unwanted colour without affecting the black and white levels. You can:

- Use the Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights trackballs to remove colour from the shadows, midtones, and highlights ranges.
- Use the Suppress trackball to remove a range of colour, such as a colour cast that pervades the entire image.

Not all colour casts detract from the natural appearance of the image. Before you remove a colour cast, it is best to analyse the image or clip, both in relation to other clips in the project and with an eye on maintaining the atmosphere, or mood inherent to the clip. For example, images of sunny summer days should have a reddish cast to convey an atmosphere of warmth. Completely removing the reddish cast may result in a colder feel than you want. In cases where the cast is a complementary one, you may want to refine it to improve the overall effect. See Creating Colour Casts.

The shadows, midtones, and highlights trackballs in the Basics menu are described as follows.

(a) Trackballs

NoteTo make the trackballs respond to changes in pressure, use the Pointer preferences in the Preferences menu. See Pointer Preferences.

Shadows trackball
  Modifies the chroma in the low luminance area without affecting the luma.
Midtones trackball
  Modifies horizontal RGB curves in the 2D luma histogram. These curves represent the amount of chroma tint you apply to the image. For example, if the red and green curves are above the middle line while the blue curve is below the middle line, you are adding a yellow tint to the midtones components of your image.

By default, the Midtones trackball affects all ranges except white and black, as shown by the histogram's RGB curves. To set the luma range affected by the Midtones trackball, use the two midtones triangles below the 2D luma histogram. Drag the triangles closer together to decrease the range and further apart to increase it. You can modify the range as many times as you like. When working with 16-bit floating point images, the midtones range is set to 0:1, and the midtones triangles can only be moved in this range.

(a) RGB curves(b) Midtones triangle(c) Midtones triangle

Because you can modify the range that the Midtones trackball affects, the trackball will always return to its default reference value—when you release the Midtones trackball and apply the change, it will return to 0.

NoteYou can animate the curve using the Shape channel under Midtone in the Channel Editor. Click Animation to view the Channel Editor.

Highlights trackball
  Modifies the chroma in the high luminance area without affecting the luma.

To remove unwanted colour using the Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights trackballs:

1. Click Basics to display the Basics menu.
2. Enable Plot and then sample the image's highlights.

   The sample (outlined in red) appears in the 2D or 3D vectorscope.

   TipYou can determine the colour of a sample by dragging right in the Saturation field to temporarily increase the saturation while monitoring the sample in the 2D vectorscope. When you release the mouse, the level that appears in the field resets to its default reference value. Once you determine the cast of the colour, click Undo to reset the saturation level and then resample the image.
3. If necessary, double-click the 3D vectorscope to display the 2D vectorscope.
4. While viewing the 2D vectorscope, drag the Highlights trackball to move the sample towards the centre of the 2D vectorscope.

   The chroma in the high luminance area of the clip is modified without affecting the luma.

5. Drag the Midtones trackball to make minor adjustments to the chroma content.
   TipDrag the left midtones triangle to decrease the range affected by the Midtones trackball. Make sure the range includes the sampled colour.

   The RGB curves in the 2D luma histogram reflect the changes you make. More of the unwanted colour is removed from the image (while still preserving luma) without affecting the black and white points.

   TipTo achieve true white, drag the Highlights and Midtones trackball to move the plot sample to the centre of the 2D vectorscope.
6. Continue modifying the highlights and midtones until you are satisfied with the result.
7. Enable Plot and then sample the image's shadows.
8. Repeat steps 2 to 6 using the Shadows and Midtones trackballs to remove unwanted colour from the shadows (and midtones) in the image.

To remove unwanted colour using the Suppression trackball:

1. Click Basics to display the Basics menu.
2. Select Suppress from the Trackball option box.
3. To sample the colour you want to suppress, enable Plot and then sample the image.

   The sample (outlined in red) appears in the 2D or 3D vectorscope.

4. While monitoring the 2D vectorscope and image, drag the Suppress trackball towards the colour you want to suppress to move it closer to the centre of the 2D vectorscope. For example, to suppress yellows, move the trackball towards yellow.
   TipDisable Source and Destination to only view the sample.
5. Release the trackball.
6. To further increase the suppression of the same colour, use the trackball to move the colour closer to the centre of the 2D vectorscope.