I shot some video tonight and edited it in vegas. The video is pretty dark, but I can still see the details and shadows during editing.

When I rendered the video it came out too dark, and I couldn't see ANY of the details that were visible in the editor.

How do I get the program to render my video and not make it darker? Does that make sense?

Rendered files can often look slightly different to previewed video, this is because the preview window does only shows a 'low fi' version of the edit to enable real or near real time output whereas the final render that takes much longer includes all calculations to max accuracy.

It is good practice to render a short part of your work befor the fianl render to check things are going ok.

If the output is too dark just use the 'brightness / contrast' video effect to lift things slightly.

If you place the effect in the effects chain in the video output track (at bottom of editing window) then all video will be adjusted.

Thanks, I figured out how to render a 'loop', and used the brightness effect with keyframes and it worked great. I have ditched video before that was too dark, I wish I had known about this.

Here's the video I made.

OK. If you want to get a better, more controlled treatment to "dark" footage -

Step 1 - NEVER USE BRIGHTNESS!

Step 2 - ALWAYS use Colour Correction ( primary and secondary) & Colour Curves

Reason is that Brightness affects ALL your DV information and results in everything being washed out. It is like taking a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. What you need to do is "push" the colours you DO have. What Brightness does is "bleaches" it all. It does not retain the colour information. Please try it out and you will instantly see the difference. I can;t tell if you used CC or CCurves. I can see a lot of "bleached" footage.

Have you started using the Vegas Scopes? If you were to, then you would instantly observe just how much information you can "remove" solely using Brightness - instead of a combination of Colour Correction + 2nd Colour Corrector + Colour Curves.

Please, I implore you to experiment with it. I too was about to ditch some footage of a a very dark African singer. But now, having used CC+CCurves it is as if I had a lighting rig present!

Brightness bleaches. CC allows us to manipulate ALL colours, colour's intensity.

I agree with every cell in my being, advice on curves, http://www.videoforums.co.uk/reviews..._articleid/235

Thanks for the great advice. I used the brightness adjustment, and it worked. I'll try to figure out color curves, too.

The original video was so dark there was almost no color in it. Does this affect the results of color curves?

When you use CC on an already Brightness FX you are trying to tune something that is already potentially, in audio terms, clipping. Meaning, you have brightened stuff by turning UP the volume to a point where you are extracting the good stuff.

Please leave the B Fx alone. Start again, use the CC and CCurves and THEN come back here. You need an online CC Tutorial for Vegas.

"The original video was so dark there was almost no color in it." - Well, use the CC Fx and then come back here and say the same? Yeah? - You may very well be in for a monster shock of your life. I mean it. I had this happen to me. Mostly you ARE sitting on a mountain of SDV information "locked" down by poor lighting. Using CC will expose - literally - the colours. If I think you've got what I THINK you've got!!!

Thanks for the great advice. I re-rendered my video using color correction. The shadows and detail were clearer and didn't look washed out.

When rendering video, there are options for good, best. How much do they differ?

EXCELLENT!! We got there - huh? There is much MUCH more to experience using the CC CCurves.

I have ONLY used Best for the best Slomo that Vegas can give. And it IS extremely excellent too!! Also when I use Motion Blur. Otherwise I can't see Best doing anything for my colours. Maybe other users can?

My next video was shot today (easter). It's outdoors in full sun. How should I adjust my CC to reduce the brightness a little?