| Crushed Blacks | |
| Display Text | Crushed Blacks |
| Description | “Crushed Blacks” is when black levels are underexposed causing an overall loss of detail in the shadows/darker portions of the image. |
| Impact | Crushed blacks negatively impact the member experience, when there is any loss of detail. Creatively intended visuals may be lost. |
| Severity Assessment Guidance | |
| FYI | Blacks/shadows appear slightly underexposed. However, significant detail/texture/depth in the shadows is not completely lost. |
| Issue | Substantial portions of the image have minimal detail/texture/depth with black levels being visibly crushed on the waveform. |
| Blocker | N/A |
| Solutions | |
| How to Prevent |
Be aware of camera aperture settings to ensure proper exposure. Ensure base black levels and max luminance levels do not exceed allowable thresholds. Find a balance between lows and highs during color grading to preserve as much dynamic range and detail as possible across the image. |
| How to Fix | Confirm if creative intent or best possible. Otherwise review/ address possible levels issue or full/legal range conversion issue. |