Tip of the Week - Black Point

Black point. Objects in the foreground tend to have a lower black point that objects in the background. This is usually the case with extreme environments; matte paintings, set extensions, and also when CGI is composited into live action.

One of the rules is to match the black point of your CG to the black point of your film plate. You would never have a black point that is lower in the background than it is in the foreground. You can sample the color values of the darkest dark in your film plate and compare it to your darkest dark in your CGI. Do they match? Is one darker than the other? The color values may not be visible to you, but bump up that gamma on your monitor or TV. You're sure to see some discrepancies.

While watching The Two Towers and Return of the King, several of these black point issues jumped out at me. These scenes include Merry and Pippen on the back of Treebeard as he walks through Fangorn Forest, the Ents attacking Isengard, and the guard tower at the top of the pass after Frodo and Sam are attacked by Shelob.