AE Gamma shift issues
- November 10, 2020
- 1 reply
- 2340 views
Hey folks,
I'm working in After Effects on test footage for removing wires. I'm running into what I think are typical color workflow issues, where the gamma seems to be be interpreted differently. This footage isn't critical, but it seems like a good opportunity to make sure I understand how to handle color in AE. This may be a little long, but bear with me.
The camera used was a Canon 5D IV, using a standard picture profile. The footage is dark, as the scene will be candle lit (though this is still a bit under exposed). I'm not exactly sure what color space the 5D uses, but I believe it's Rec 709. The picture profile is set to standard. I'm working on an iMac Pro (2017) and the build in 5K display.
I've attached 4 screen shots to illustrate what I'm seeing:
- The original file as viewed in QuickTime player (which I believe is using gamma 1.96)
- The file in AE with color management disabled
- The file in AE with color management enabled (and "use display color management" enabled, output simulation disabled)
- The original file viewed in the Screen app, with custom settings of Rec 709 and 2.4 Gamma
Here's the main problem - If I leave color management off, put this clip into a composition and render it out to ProRes 422, the darker gamma is burned into the export. If I try to use less contrast via Lumetri, the little detail you see in the Quick Time screenshot have already been lost, and can't be recovered.
So I guess my two questions are:
- With color management disabled, why are the darker values written on export? Is this a export format issue? Or something else?
- Using a color managed workflow, is there a way to retain some of the details you can see in the quicktime player screenshot?
Thanks for reading this far, and any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Bill
