What are some tricks and techniques you can use to recover overexposed footage?  Though many video shooters are at least vaguely familiar with using tools like exposure sliders and color wheels to bring back blown out highlights and generally overexposed shots, this might not always be sufficient.  There can be cases where - unlike log or RAW with an abundance of dynamic range to allow for grading your shot - footage was captured instead in a picture profile that possesses less dynamic range, and/or contains less information in the highlights to recover.  This was particularly true for a recent rock school-like concert I shot where I needed to recover overexposed clips. Specifically, this footage was captured on my Sony a7S III in the Movie gamma and color gamut in some difficult lighting situations.  Thus, simply adjusting exposure in your non-linear editor (NLE) might not be enough to recover your shots in some situations.

In this Final Cut Pro X (FCPX) tutorial, I'll go over some less common tricks and techniques I used for these shots to correct their overexposure and recover them.  This includes adjusting the color space of the Library beyond Rec. 709 to Rec. 2020 (Standard to Wide Gamut HDR) and applying LUTs designed for Log (e.g. Canon Log) to additionally push the color in a more dramatic direction prior to adjusting exposure.  In the end, these less-common techniques can open up additional information to assist in color grading, and can manipulate the image in a way to bring things closer to where they need to be once recovered.

Though this video is focused around how to apply these techniques within Final Cut Pro X, and is demonstrated using that software, you'll find the same rules/principles can be likely applied in other editors (Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve) as well to achieve the same look.

If you like tips and tricks videos like this one, and/or content centered around editing and Final Cut Pro X, let me know in the comments and I will definitely try to make more!

0:00 - Introduction, going beyond the basics of recovering exposure...
0:51 - Example clips, context for this example
2:13 - Analyzing the footage
2:51 - Using Color Boards to correct exposure
4:02 - Changing the FCPX Library color space
5:36 - Applying a LUT to further push color
7:05 - Adjusting exposure after the color space and LUT changes
8:09 - FInal exposure changes applied
8:45 - Applying corrections to other clips
9:24 - Summary of corrections and takeaways
10:39 - Conclusion

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My Current Kit:
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Cameras & Lenses:
Sony a7S III: https://amzn.to/3Gd87kK
Sony a7 IV: https://amzn.to/3g3Ipoq
Sony a7 III: https://amzn.to/3GcEX5x
Sony 20mm f/1.8 G: https://amzn.to/3AE7pMt
Sony Zeiss Sonnar 55mm f/1.8: https://amzn.to/3r6Lo5M
Sony 24-70 f/2.8 GM: https://amzn.to/3HfLIoy
Sony 70-200 f/2.8 GM: https://amzn.to/3He70Ts

Audio:
Rode VideoMic NTG: https://amzn.to/3AJwTrW
Tascam DR-10L: https://amzn.to/3AIRA7l
Zoom H6: https://amzn.to/32HCgep

Lighting:
Aputure LS 60x: https://amzn.to/3Gc04og
Aputure Amaran P60c: https://amzn.to/3ob7qm6
Aputure Amaran AL-F7: https://amzn.to/3g3IzMy
Aputure MC: https://amzn.to/34l8DzS

Tripod/Monopod:
Manfrotto 290 Xtra 128RC: https://amzn.to/3o8bPpV
iFootage Cobra C180-II: https://amzn.to/3r8kfPY

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