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637Final Cut Pro User Guide
In Final Cut Pro, you can:
• Automatically balance colors: With one click, neutralize any color casts and maximize
image contrast. See
Intro to balancing color in Final Cut Pro.
• Automatically match a clip’s color and look: With two clicks, make one or more clips
match the color look of any clip that you choose. See Match color between clips in
Final Cut Pro.
• Automatically white-balance a clip: Use an eyedropper to define a white or neutral gray
highlight in a clip and instantly remove an unwanted color cast. See Manually white-
balance clips in Final Cut Pro.
• Manually adjust color, saturation, and exposure: Manually correct a clip’s overall color.
You can even add multiple manual color corrections to one clip. See Intro to color
correction effects in Final Cut Pro.
• Target specific colors or areas: Use color or shape masks to limit a correction to a
particular color range or area in the image. See
Add a color mask in Final Cut Pro and
Add a shape mask in Final Cut Pro.
• Save color correction settings and apply them to other clips: Save a clip’s color
correction settings and apply them to other clips in the project or in other projects. See
Save color correction presets in Final Cut Pro.
Although these methods are independent of one another—you can turn any of the
corrections off and on to see their effect—the order in which you use them matters. In
general, you should use these tools in the order of Balance Color (including white-balance
corrections), Match Color, and (if necessary) manual color correction.
Final Cut Pro also includes several video scopes you can use when manually color
correcting your video. The scopes make it possible to precisely monitor the luma and
chroma levels of your video clips.
Quickly balance and match color
Intro to balancing color in Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro includes several handy color-balancing features that you can use to quickly
and easily improve the look of your video clips.
Automatic color balance
When you balance color automatically, Final Cut Pro samples the darkest and lightest
areas of the image’s luma channel and adjusts the shadows and highlights in the image
to neutralize any color casts. In addition, Final Cut Pro adjusts the image to maximize
contrast, so that the shot occupies the widest available luma range.
The video frame used as the reference frame depends on the position of the playhead
and whether the clip has been analyzed for color balance. See Balance a clip’s colors in
Final Cut Pro and Analyze a clip for color in Final Cut Pro.