Do check this out because despite the unsexy name I think it's a pretty powerful grading tool tnhat btakes you well beyond the FCPX grading toolset, especially now with added Difuusion control!

Because the FCPX Color Corrector keyer leaves a lot to be desired in terms of sophistication, I thought I'd make a different way of correcting highlights and shadows via an Effect that uses a luma keyer.

You can affect either the shadows (darker areaas) or the highlights (brighter areas) or both - with a fair amount of control over how the key/mask works. (In particular, there is a control for solo-ing the mask itself so you can properly fine-tune it.) Useful for balancing out those shots where the detail is getting lost in the highlights or shadows.

Update: This new version now has controls for Diffusion of both Shadows and Highlights which if used carefully can make for some very classy images. It also fixes an issue with the Highlights section of the filter.

Hi Simon

I have tried this but maybe i am doing something wrong - when i apply the effect the clip turns from colour to a black and white ?
Any ideas?
Cheers
Paul

The default setting has the Mask On/Off Checkbox in the On position so that you're seeing the (black and white) mask rather than the affected image. Probably a bad idea ... I've now updated the effect in the OP above so that the default state is for the mask to be non-visible.

Thanks Simon

Sorry I should have checked that first
All working well now - very powerful effect!
Cheers
Paul

Hi Paul

Glad you got it working - on reflection it would have made more sense not to have the default set to show the mask, especially if you weren't expecting it!

Thanks for doing the QC on my effects - much appreciated

Hey there, been trying to find the download for TKY FCPX Shadows/Highlights effect and cannot locate the link anywhere. Could you direct me to the link? Thanks in advance for your help. Daniel Lee

Hi Simon, I am trying to find the download link on the page, but no luck. This sounds like a wonderful tool, if only we can try it

Hi there

I withdrew this effect a while back as I wasn't happy with it - but here is a new version that works better and is also simpler to use.



Hope you find it useful. It can work really well with beauty face shots but is suitable lots of kinds of shots. The best thing is to experiment.

Do try out the blend modes as you can start to get some really interesting looks with these on top of the other parameters.

Here's a before and after (very exaggerated to give you an idea of what the effect does):

A big improvement Simon. There's a lot of control with very few controls (if that makes sense). Seems a bit snappier on my machine too (late 2009 iMac).

If you've shot dSLR footage flat then simply changing the highlights blend mode to add, shadows to multiply and boosting the highlights saturation gives you a nice filmic look. You can then use the mask controls to change the contrast to taste.

Funnily enough I took a look at your old version a few days ago and created a similar effect but with an additional midtones control. Managed to get a nice separation using three luma key filters but performance was abysmal. Your new keying solution is clever.

Thanks, Rob.

This is a complete rebuild of the effect using a some different techniques to streamline things and improve performance. I think it should be quite a bit more responsive now.

The way you're talking about using the blend modes is spot on - good tip for anybody thinking of using this effect for generally enhancing the raw image. (Being able to control exactly where you want the shadows/highlights mask to operate hopefully takes this beyond a standard grading plug-in or what you can achieve with the Color Board.)

But it's well worth trying it out for some more extreme and distinctive looks - in addition to all the options that you can access via the blend modes (and the other controls), the two diffuse controls can really make a difference. Hopefully I'll get time to post a quick tutorial soon.

Thank you Simon. Found the download link, and all working. An excellent tool. Thank you for all your hard work. Much appreciated.

And now with a small extra tweak to give control over highlights glow (I knew there was something missing!):

Yes the control over the shadows and highlights mask makes this very useful.

Changing the blending modes of shadows and highlights was something I'd been playing around with and for this your effect works a treat.

Thanks again for another excellent effect Simon.

I'm a noob to the ways of FCPX. Can you provide some instructions on installing the plugin and where in FCPX?

Sorry for the inquiry, but I'm new. Where do i install the plugin? Then wehre do I access it in FCPX? It sounds like what I need.

Again, sorry for the rookie questions.

Have a look at this FAQ for installation answers:

fcp.co/forum/7-fcpx-how-to-tutorials/232...nstall-fcpx-plug-ins

This particular effect uses Andreas Kiel's outstanding Motion Template Tool (described in the FAQ) which is a really good way of managing the process.

Thanks so much, Simon.

Simon, just started really getting into this plugin last night. Man, well done. Easy to get a nice classic look as opposed to what a lot of these other plugins do, which just go over the top.

Cheers!