The video by Jason Boone from Premium Beat follows the steps below to demonstrate how to read and understand all of the video scopes in the Lumetri Scopes panel in Adobe Premiere Pro. Video scopes provide a more detailed look at a video image. Editors use them to help abide by broadcast standards and keep their images legal. Remember, any image color or exposure correction must be in accordance with current imagery ethics policy and DoDI 5040.02.
You can also perform more precise color correction with these scopes. Knowing how to read the video scopes will give you tighter control over your images. In this tutorial, learn to read the following scopes in the Lumetri Scopes panel in Adobe Premiere Pro:
- Vectorscope
- Parade
- Histogram
- Waveform monitor
Also, learn how to customize the Lumetri Scopes display panel.
- Select Window.
- Select Lumetri Scopes or select Workspaces to choose Color from the panel.
- Select the wrench icon in the Lumetri Scopes panel.
- Navigate to Presets.
- Select Vectorscope YUV.
- View saturation by reading from the center outward on the graph.
- View hue by reading in a circular direction on the graph.
A good way to look at the information in a Vectorscope is to look at color bars. This is what some video engineers use to make sure everything is properly calibrated. As long as the dots in the graph are in the boxes, the colors are not overly saturated and are the perfect hue. If you lower the saturation in the Lumetri Color panel, the dots on the graph move toward the center, which results in an image with less color or eventually black-and-white footage.
- Select the wrench icon on the Lumetri Scopes panel.
- Navigate to Presets.
- Select Histogram.
- View the values vertically from 0 (pure black) to 255 (pure white) on the graph.
- View the number of pixels for each brightness level horizontally on the graph.
If you bring the exposure down, the information moves towards the black end at the bottom of the graph, which makes the footage appear darker. If you move the exposure up, the information on the right becomes crushed and the footage becomes brighter.
- Select the wrench icon on the Lumetri Scopes panel.
- Navigate to Presets.
- Select Waveform RGB.
- View the intensity from bottom to top.
- View darkness to brightness levels bottom to top.
- View the IRE scale on the left from 0 to 100.
As you move the exposure up, all the information gets pushed to the top. If you move the exposure down, all the information gets pushed down towards the black. The gradient will change as you do this. Lowering the contrast pushes the information closer together, whereas raising the contrast spreads it out, pushing the information to the top and bottom.
- Select the wrench icon on the Lumetri Scopes panel.
- Navigate to Presets.
- Select Parade RGB.
The Parade RGB is similar to the Waveform Monitor. It shows different color channels split out and in order of red, green and blue – kind of like a parade.
Customize Your Display Panel
In the panel, you have the option of an 8-bit, float or HDR. You also have the option to select down on the Clamp Signal which will help you keep better control and stay within the legal range. Premiere Pro has a variety of presets from which you can choose. Some of these presets show multiple scopes at the same time. Different scopes have different types. The Parade Type has a variety you can specify such as RGB, YUV, RGB-White or YUV-White. The Waveform Type has RGB, Luma, YC or YC no Chroma. You can also select a Colorspace with standard, high or 4K definition. Last but not least, you can control the Brightness. The brightness is just the display of the scopes; it doesn't change your actual images. You can select from bright, normal or dimmed.
Adobe product screenshots reprinted with permission from Adobe Inc.