Selective brightness

[Phil]

Hi

I'm running Ultimate x6 and I'm wondering under Brightness & Contrast options, is there a way of enhancing selective parts of a frame? For example, I have a clip where people are seated in the foreground and the exposure is adequate. The people in the background are in the upper half of the frame under-exposed.

If I increase the whole frame with brightness/contrast, the bottom half "whites out" a little more than desired

Thanks

[asik1]

Have you tried ColorFast FX? it has build in mask

[Phil]

Nice suggestion. I've just had a go at Colourfast and found the Secondary adjustments useful whereby I used the Shadows options to enhance the darker areas.

On a trial run with the mask option, I got the shape ok but everything inside it was an inverted colour. The checkbox for invert seemed to then invert colour for the outside of the mask. So how do I influence colour within the mask. (looked at the help box but couldn't figure it out)

[asik1]

I'm sorry I need to master it myself,
Take a look at this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoM1Dnv36uQ
(the interface is different but all is there)

OK, I think I got it.
1- the mask work only for the secondary
2) By selecting MASK shape you define the area to be or not to be affected (invert)
3) than select NONE and tweak the secondary control as needed.

[Phil]

Yeah, got it. The "Show Mask" drop down menu is key. By selecting Highlights in this menu, I see all the areas concerned in the whole frame. By selecting, "None" you must ensure the checkbox for "Enable" is ticked to order to influence the masked area in the secondary controls.

This is a useful FX