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R
R223301230cu0
Participant
December 20, 2021
Answered

Colors of footage change after import and export

  • December 20, 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 3488 views

When I import my footage into Premiere Pro 2022, the colors significantly change (more exposure, more lights, strange colors). Then, after I edit the footage and I export the video "as media" (I make yoga videos for youtube), the colors change even more (way too much exposure). I edit on a MacBook pro. Does anyone know how to solve this problem? I see many of you faced the same problem, but I could not find a solution.

 

Thank you in advance!!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer R Neil Haugen

There are two major areas for the OP ... first, using a Mac, and second, the major changes in Premiere's color management that came with the 2022 version.

 

And I mean completely rebuilt CM for the 2022 version. It ain't the same app for CM at all.

 

Mac ColorSync Issues

 

The Mac ColorSync utility mis-applies display standards for Rec.709 or "SDR" (standard dynamic range) media. It does not apply the second of two required transforms, and it applies a gamma of 1.96. The standards require the Bt.1886 display transform which ColorSync does not apply. The standards also set the gamma as 2.4 in a semi-darkened room, 2.2 for bright-room working environments.

 

There's no easy way around this. Macs with Retina monitors simply display Rec.709/SDR files differently than the "intended" by standards display. Premiere is expecting that Rec.709 rules will be applied to the display.

 

Mac users need to check that the "display color management" option is checked in Premiere's preferences. That tells Premiere not to assume proper Rec.709 rules are being followed, and it instead checks the monitor ICC profile, and remaps the image as shown within Premiere to correctly show a Rec.709 image. This helps the user to set their video closer to proper Rec.709 settings.

 

It does not make the video look the same outside Pr on a Mac ... you can't. There are two different and incompatible display settings being used. It does make the video look correct on systems that do apply correct video standards.

 

There are some long threads explaining the issues here on this forum. And I've taught the CM of Premiere and the differences between Premiere and Rec.709 standards versus the Mac ColorSync at NAB and on the MixingLight colorist's subscription website. I've got hours with pro colorists, the Adobe chief color scientist and others on the issue.

 

New Premiere Color Management in the 2022 Release

 

Premiere has been built totally around a Rec.709/SDR "pipeline" or sequence processing math. They then added the ability to add "extended" Rec.709 values a couple major release back. This allowed under certain circumstances, and with the right external gear, being able to do minimal work in HDR, high dynamic range.

 

But HDR isn't just brighter ... it's a vastly larger color space requirement. So they had to rebuild Pr's color "engine" to enable real HDR abilities. Which they rolled out in the 2022 release. It no longer is built around Rec.709/SDR.

 

And without having most users know about it, that's been frustrating.

 

They've added new controls for the user to set CM and color spaces in several locations. They've also changed a number of default behaviors for how especially many log-encoded clips and most HLG clips are treated in Pr. Which has really fouled up a lot of users.

 

I wrote a couple FAQs on this ... the first on the changes that Pr2022 has for CM, and how to work with this. The second is covering what I can tell by testing with the use of monitors and HDR media in Pr2022, which has also changed a lot.

 

Neil

 

FAQ:PremierePro 2022 Color Managment for Log/RAW Media

 

How to Set Monitors for HDR work in Premiere Pro 2022?

 

 

4 replies

A
Andy 1968
Inspiring
February 14, 2022

All editing systems can look awful if not setup correctly as seen in the video link below. There are settings for the graphics card as well as the Adobe software that need to be tweaked. 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njiGU7jNdJk

R Neil Haugen
R Neil HaugenCorrect answer
Legend
December 20, 2021

There are two major areas for the OP ... first, using a Mac, and second, the major changes in Premiere's color management that came with the 2022 version.

 

And I mean completely rebuilt CM for the 2022 version. It ain't the same app for CM at all.

 

Mac ColorSync Issues

 

The Mac ColorSync utility mis-applies display standards for Rec.709 or "SDR" (standard dynamic range) media. It does not apply the second of two required transforms, and it applies a gamma of 1.96. The standards require the Bt.1886 display transform which ColorSync does not apply. The standards also set the gamma as 2.4 in a semi-darkened room, 2.2 for bright-room working environments.

 

There's no easy way around this. Macs with Retina monitors simply display Rec.709/SDR files differently than the "intended" by standards display. Premiere is expecting that Rec.709 rules will be applied to the display.

 

Mac users need to check that the "display color management" option is checked in Premiere's preferences. That tells Premiere not to assume proper Rec.709 rules are being followed, and it instead checks the monitor ICC profile, and remaps the image as shown within Premiere to correctly show a Rec.709 image. This helps the user to set their video closer to proper Rec.709 settings.

 

It does not make the video look the same outside Pr on a Mac ... you can't. There are two different and incompatible display settings being used. It does make the video look correct on systems that do apply correct video standards.

 

There are some long threads explaining the issues here on this forum. And I've taught the CM of Premiere and the differences between Premiere and Rec.709 standards versus the Mac ColorSync at NAB and on the MixingLight colorist's subscription website. I've got hours with pro colorists, the Adobe chief color scientist and others on the issue.

 

New Premiere Color Management in the 2022 Release

 

Premiere has been built totally around a Rec.709/SDR "pipeline" or sequence processing math. They then added the ability to add "extended" Rec.709 values a couple major release back. This allowed under certain circumstances, and with the right external gear, being able to do minimal work in HDR, high dynamic range.

 

But HDR isn't just brighter ... it's a vastly larger color space requirement. So they had to rebuild Pr's color "engine" to enable real HDR abilities. Which they rolled out in the 2022 release. It no longer is built around Rec.709/SDR.

 

And without having most users know about it, that's been frustrating.

 

They've added new controls for the user to set CM and color spaces in several locations. They've also changed a number of default behaviors for how especially many log-encoded clips and most HLG clips are treated in Pr. Which has really fouled up a lot of users.

 

I wrote a couple FAQs on this ... the first on the changes that Pr2022 has for CM, and how to work with this. The second is covering what I can tell by testing with the use of monitors and HDR media in Pr2022, which has also changed a lot.

 

Neil

 

FAQ:PremierePro 2022 Color Managment for Log/RAW Media

 

How to Set Monitors for HDR work in Premiere Pro 2022?

 

 

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    R
    R223301230cu0Author
    Participant
    February 13, 2022

    Thank you so much for your reply. If I understand you correctly, the only thing I can try is checking the "display color management" option and then accepting the fact that my Youtube videos turn out overexposed? 

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Legend
    February 13, 2022

    R22 ... um, no, perhaps you didn't quite understand. It seems you're talking about the problem with the Mac ColorSync mis-application of "standards" ... and perhaps also suffer from the common mis-assumption, that others will see what you see on your screen, period.

     

    First, let's deal with that specific rig. You have never, ever seen the exact image as crafted by a professional colorist on that screen when viewing it through Chrome, Safari, or QuickTime player ... because your computer applies different color settings to Rec.709/SDR video than it was graded under.

     

    Do you complain about that? Um ... have you even noticed this? Because all pro media, broadcast -- streamed -- theatrical ... is graded to those standards. But your rig doesn't apply the second required transform, the display transform, and it uses that odd 1.96 gamma instead of the 2.4.  So it simply, physically can not show you a 'correct' image, as the image was seen during grading. Because Apple in all their wisdom choose to display the image ... uniquely.

     

    But then, as someone who works with/around colorists daily, most people don't understand the 'world-view' the colorist lives in. NO ONE will ever see exactly what their system shows, and the only screens that come close are other reference monitors calibrated, profiled, and fed images via breakout devices like their own system. (And actually a few high-end iPads ... IF you know how to turn off a bunch of things and reset the screen.)

     

    Every screen out there will be different than any other, and in a different viewing environment. Someone watching your YouTube on their phone at noon on a sunny day on a park bench is going to see a very different image than that same phone in a dark bedroom.

     

    So that's why colorists are so freaking picky about grading to and within the standards, as the only thing they can control is the screen they grade on. They know and accept that it will vary on all other screens.

     

    But they accept one fact that most others don't seem to realize:

     

    If you grade tightly to the professional standards, then on every screen out there, your images will look, relatively, like all other pro produced media. If you vary from the pro standards, your media will not look, relatively on all screens, like other pro produced media.

     

    So the choice is actually to color correct/grade to the standards, which means your images will, on other screens, be similar to pro produced media on those screens. Or ... not, at which point, your images will not look simliar to pro produced media on any one screen.

     

    That's not the choice most editors seem to understand. But it is the choice you have.

     

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    M
    Mr. Friesian
    Participant
    December 20, 2021

    same here, also my auto correction (for simple and some fast corrections) doesnt work at all anymore.
    no solution found so far

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