alias38 wrote:
.... private event & I don't have permission to post any of the footage....
Sounds familiar - I'm volonteer at some school-projects, (not all) parents really 'fear' their kids to be displayed on the internet ... no idea the existance of Facebook Accounts most of their offsprings have LOL!!
a) if it was a dark situatiion, it is absoluely legit to show dark pictures, … then, audio gets very important.
b) when you raise the overall exposure , you usally lose contrast - so, raise the 'total' slider up, and push the shadow puck down. Use the scope (cmd-7)!
c) in dark locations, cameras (in auto mode...) raise the gain = noise (visually). Rasing the low portions of the movie increases noise/make it more obvious. that's why I would recommend usage of a de-noiser; there's the market leader Neat ($$$), and a new kid on the block, you get for 29$ at the AppStore, Photon <<click to store.
d) for too-dark material I would just play with the exposure, not with the saturation; noise creates 'colorful artefacts', raising saturation makes them more obvious; au contraire: I would lower (!!) saturation, German saying "At night all cats are grey". 😀
e) getting artistic: consider a Day-for-Night effect: tint the material to blue! That could 'cover' technical imperfections ...
A bit generic, sorry, .....
