The first task in color correction is to restore the original look of the scene that has been filmed — in other words, to make the image match as closely as possible what an observer standing beside the camera would have perceived when the scene was shot.

This is important primarily because viewers have little tolerance for images that have unrealistic color values. For example, when a skin tone departs from our normal expectations of what skin should look like, we notice. Even when the final image is intentionally a distortion of reality, it is useful to restore the original look as a well-balanced foundation for subsequent alterations.

The color characteristics of a given shot can depart from the look of the original scene for a variety of reasons. At the time of shooting, the camera might not be correctly balanced or the scene might be imperfectly lit. During transfers (from film to tape, from one tape to another, or from tape to digitized media), inconsistencies in materials, processing methods, or calibration might alter the colors.

When you are working on an uncorrected shot, you should make intelligent decisions about what the scene originally looked like and then bring the shot into line with those decisions as much as possible. Since it is unlikely that you were present when the scene was shot, this might seem to require a great deal of guesswork, but, in fact, it can be accomplished with sufficient accuracy using the following two basic guidelines.

Generally, you can restore the original look of a shot (or at least create a believable approximation of the original look) by opening up the tonal range as much as reasonably possible and by ensuring that colors look accurate. For more detailed information on how to achieve this with adjustments, see Correcting Tonal Range and Neutralizing Color, and the examples later in this chapter.