Color correcting a portion of a video, not the entire scene

[MasonDrummond]

Hello how do I go about color correcting a portion of my video, not the entire scene?

I'm sure I could rotoscope and then adjust it in After Effects but this is a 20min video and that would take forever.

I'm looking for any quicker methods.

I filmed a video in 4k and the lighting on the subject (me, specifically my face) wasn't as bad as my camera made it out to be. 

Screenshot attached below to see what I'm talking about.

[R Neil Haugen · Accepted solution]

Other than reshooting using some actuall fill light to correct this in camera ... it's going to take masking. Whether you track a mask on a Lumetri instance on the sequence, or go to do a full roto in Ae.

I work for/with/teach pro colorists. The Job isn't actually to make everything perfect, it's really to make things not a noticeable problem. For this, your aim shouldn't be to 'match' your face exposure to the background, but to lift just enough so that it is OK as is without anyone noticing it.

I'd just make a feathered mask around your head and upper torso, track it back and forth to make sure it's staying where it's needed. Then in the mask, lift the image a bit. 

Probably not a lot, just (again) enough to not be a problem.

[MasonDrummond]

Perfect thank you! I don't know how that slipped my mind.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @MasonDrummond,
Interesting problem. I was able to knock out the subject using rotobrush in After Effects. Do you have access to AE?

I hope you can fix your shot. Let us know if you need help.

Thanks,
Kevin

[MasonDrummond]

This would be a good solution for people with a more beefy computer. Using dynamic link for both programs takes way too long and pushes my labtop too much. Thank you though!

[R Neil Haugen]

I wouldn't have DL-ed to Ae, I'd just track a mask as noted above, in Premiere, and a bit of a feather.

I also woudn't have 'lifted' the speaker so much. Again, enough to improve things and that's all. Done. Next shot/job please!

Premiere can handle this pretty decently.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Yes, down and dirty you can create a matte in Premiere Pro, but I thought I'd introduce rotobrush so one could roto. I may have overcooked the grade but I wanted to make it obvious about what one could do.

Cheers,
Kevin

[R Neil Haugen]

I figured so. And the roto in Ae is now so nearly automated it's a breeze to use.

[AndrewTheGreat]

Use the Quick matte Ae plugin. It isolates a person way faster (if you have a mighty PC of course) than Rotobrush. Then export with alpha channel and use the result as the foreground which will not be corrected. No masks needed.