Pls share the discussion, I love color correction!Doughie wrote:if you could PM me, or post here...
About doing special looks without MB Looks, I'd suggest reading that excellent book by Steve Hullfish: The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction. He first does a recap of basic CC skills (like using the scopes, adjusting contrast distribution, matching shots), then interviews a series of professional colorists (who do it for films and TV), and they explain how they would personally grade this or that shot in order to give a certain look / mood / atmosphere.
He's not focusing about any tool (although using FCP or Avid a lot), rather giving skills that you can leverage with just about any tool. And most importantly as I found, the changes done are sometimes so subtle that this book is essentially about training your eyes to see what it is that you like or dislike, and want to change in a shot.
Much more time-consuming than Magic Bullet's canned effects, though.