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Although these features are independent of one another—you can turn any of the
features o and on to see its eect—the order in which you use them matters. In
general, you should use these features in the order of Balance Color, 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.
Analyze and balance color automatically
Color balance overview
Final Cut Pro includes an automatic color-balancing feature. When you use the color-
balancing feature, 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 image contrast, so
that the shot occupies the widest available luma range.
The video frame used as the reference frame depends on whether the clip has already
been color analyzed:
 If the clip has been color analyzed, either during import or while in the Event Browser:
The analysis process extracts color balance information for the entire clip. Whether
you add a portion of the clip or the entire clip to a project, the color-balancing
feature chooses the frame within the project clip that is closest to being correctly
balanced. This means that if you add multiple partial clips from the same Event
Browser clip to the project, each clip is balanced based on analysis information for
its own section of media.
 If the clip has not been color analyzed and you balance its color: You can determine the
reference frame for a clip selected in the Timeline by moving the playhead to that
frame in the clip. If the playhead is on a dierent clip or you’ve selected a clip in the
Event Browser, the clip’s middle frame is used.
Analyze a clip for color balance
To automatically balance a clip’s color, Final Cut Pro uses a single frame from the clip
as a reference and calculates a correction for it that is then applied to the entire clip.
Analyzing a clip for color balance allows Final Cut Pro to choose a representative frame
as the clip’s color balance reference frame.
You can have a clip’s color balance analyzed when you import it, whether importing
from a camera, importing a le, or dragging a clip directly to the Timeline from
a Finder window. You can also analyze a clip’s color balance at any time in the
Event Browser.
410 Chapter 13 Color correction