Re: Need help with color correction/compositing..

I'll mention that in terms of color correcting a shot you can do a lot with the Multiply blend mode.

If you create, for example, an orange to white ramp (Generate > Ramp), place it at the top of your timeline, set it to multiply and tweak the opacity and ramp settings you have basically added a graduated warming filter to your footage. If you change it to a blue to white ramp then you have a graduated cooling filter. Change it to blue to orange and you have... well... a graduated warming/cooling filter!

The possibilities are endless, but you should probably restrict this to simple adjustments as they can be some of the most effective, here are some examples of real world graduated filters in action:

http://i.pbase.com/g6/10/650910/2/83368547.XQNEmVXe.jpg

http://betelgeuse.umeqs.maine.edu/chris/favorites/Nubble_Light.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/252/515230626_8e3a34b034.jpg?v=0

http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000CCMXY2.01-A3UZCU9A1C4NCZ._AA280_S...

Your results in AE may not be as dramatic as most of the above examples unless you have HDR images. If your sky is clipped, for example, then trying to emulate a graduated ND filter in AE will most likely just make your sky look darker and not bring out the stunning details (since those details were clipped into oblivion). But you can still make subtle adjustments and color ramps.

This works especially well in 32bpc linear mode, but comes at the cost of render time.

Darby Edelen
Lead Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA