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ColorNeg Manual for Mac (700 KB PDF).

1. Color Adjust Shadow Auto Color s Lightness Color Adjust Shadow J Auto Color Lightness Color Adjust Y Shadow 0 z Gamma S Gamma gt Gamma Gamma Gamma Gamma FilmData FilmData _ FilmData FilmData FilmData FilmData cc cc Mal cc al cc cc cc 3 1G 3 1C 3 1G 3 1G 31C 3 1C 4 2B 4 2B Y 4 2B JY 4 2B 4 2B 4 2B a S Oo _ R Oo R p M Zero Zero YG Zero FG tere 4 Zero Zero Initial gt 0 Initial gt O B C initial B initial 0 Initial O initial gt Green Green 0 Blue Gamma Green a a 0 8408 0 8408 10128 1 617 lt 0 8408 Note that some dialog elements change for the different scrollbar controls The ScrollBar control in the Macintosh version is not yet a live control That is it is necessary to release the thumb button to see the results of scrolling the image remains the same as long as you are dragging the thumb button We hope to add live scrolling in the future Auto Color Auto Color is used when there are no suitable gray patches in the preview image or clicking does not seem to give a satisfactory result Check the Auto Color option and use the scrollbar Over the range of the scroll the image will go through the settings most likely to produce a good color balance Finer control of the scrollbar can be had by using the PageUp PageDown or Up Down Arrow keys Onc
2. Settine the Color Balin einen erie leas acai eee ease eee eRe 36 Color Management and Color Ne ativessccet ccivscsact oietiractneliik alana ealaeineeiies 3I Color Management and Setting Gamma C uu ec ccccccccseceeceeeceeeeececeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 37 Getting the Gamma C Value for a Different Profile occ cccccccccccceceeeeeeeeeeeeees 38 Gamma tron Mamac rS Data osen N N 39 Getting Started After you have installed ColorNeg described just below there are four requirements for getting a good start 1 A good well exposed and properly processed negative You can often get acceptable results from problem negatives but wait until you have a little experience 2 A good 16 bit channel linear scan Easy to do with some scanners very tricky to do with others If you can t get ColorNeg to work satisfactorily with good negatives this is almost certainly the reason Proper scans are the key to success and Scanning the Negative below tells how to find that key 3 A good gray area in the image as a color reference Although ColorNeg often makes a good first estimate of the color balance an area of anything from a dark gray road through a middle gray side walk to the known white of clothing is more certain Later on ColorNeg has several methods to aid in color balance of problem images 4 Even if your results are satisfactory Mac users in particular need to look at the section Color Management and Setting Gamma C in the manual
3. 501 x 1 25 or 552 by 626 Check Resample Image and select bilinear resampling which usually works best for graphs Uncheck constrain proportions Leave the width as is 552 in the example change the height from 501 to 626 and OK At least until familiar with this operation it is advisable to check the result to be sure 1 0 unit on the log exposure axis now matches the size of 1 0 unit on the density scale Two widely separated points on the straight line portion of a characteristic curve are chosen as illustrated by the red dots Coordinates for the points can be read by carefully placing the cursor on the line and reading X and Y from the Photoshop Info window The X and Y readings of the two points have been printed on the graph above and the gamma calculation made as shown the difference between the X readings divided by the difference between the Y readings taken as a positive number This is done separately for the three colors R G and B Alternatively the plot can be printed and measured with a ruler In any case the slope 40 required is the positive measured distance between the two points on the Log Exposure axis divided by the positive measured distance between the two points on the density axis 41
4. as described above If you then OK out of ColorNeg the resulting positive image grayscale should be fairly close to the known grayscale It may be necessary to scale the image according to the brightest cell for best agreement To do this activate the Levels tool Image Adjust Levels There are three eye dropper buttons at the lower right Double click the rightmost highlight dropper button and the Color Picker dialog box will appear Color Picker Select target highlight color p i Cancel C Custom MxH i0 OL 100 Os lo 1 Oa fo B 100 Ob 0 R 255 C 0 G 255 M 0 B 255 Y 10 K 0 x R A R FFFFFF l Only Web Colors R G and B show the value of 255 above Enter the value of the pixel corresponding to the lightest step of the grayscale 242 for the Dunthorn grayscale for each of these and click OK The mouse cursor appears as a dropper Use it to select areas in the lightest square of the grayscale image Pick several points and stop when the Levels histogram seems to bounce about the least Now OK the Levels dialog Probably a message box will inquire whether you wish to save the new target colors as defaults Answer No This adjustment is effectively an overall lightness adjustment and the pixel values in the steps of the grayscale will now match the target values fairly closely if the calibration is a good one The most frequent difficulty with grayscale negatives
5. be different in the shadows mid tones and highlights and none of the color balance methods will fix this For example when the bright tones of an image look OK the dark areas are magenta Particularly if you are having serious problems color balancing several negatives from the same film there is a good chance that the film is not properly characterized This can 90 be because the selected type of film is not correct but it can happen even if the type of film 1s definitely known and the processing differed from the manufacturer s spec the film was stored poorly or any of the numerous other problems that can occur in film handling In such cases especially if there are several similar negatives it is worth trying to characterize the film using the method described for the Film Type ScrollBar If the best results from that are still unsatisfactory take those best results and with the and set the color balance for the lighter areas of the image as best they can be Then use the methods described for the Shadow ScrollBar to bring the shadow areas into color balance Finally remember that you can t make a silk purse from a sow s ear There are negatives with problems serious enough that they never will produce a good image Setting the Color Balance For images with color integrity such as a negative properly inverted using ColorNeg it is normally very easy to do a precise color balance within Photoshop in those cases where the balance
6. blackpoint will affect both overall saturation and color integrity ColorNeg is designed to minimize the effect of blackpoint selection on color integrity limiting its effects to the darkest shadows insofar as possible There are three choices for blackpoint Tail Min and no blackpoint Tail bases the blackpoint on the shadows cutoff point initially S and Min adjusts the blackpoint to the shadows to that resulting from the highlight cutoff point initially H We believe the best setting is Tail 16 Selection Control Panel Use Selection J In Out Edages in Histogram Gamma C 2200 First the Selection Control Panel also has two orphaned rarely used items in addition to selections Scans of negatives can have light leaks around the edges and such light leaks can seriously distort the ColorNeg s analysis of the image For this reason a 10 border around the edges of the negative is routinely ignored in the analysis In cases where this is undesirable check Edges in Histogram and the edges will be included The Gamma C value is the normal system gamma in which gamma adjusted images are stored using Photoshop It is normally the default value of 2 2 but for some Macintosh systems it should be 1 8 See Color Management and Setting Gamma C to see if you need to change this It is not intended for individual image adjustment purposes Feathered Selections ColorNeg allows the use of feathered selections Color negative fil
7. color negatives with problems which result from poor processing or other sources tools for perfectionists who want the best possible results and tools to help speed the processing and matching the results from negatives that are similar To correctly invert a color negative four considerations are necessary First a good and proper scan of the negative is absolutely necessary for good results This is the most likely source of trouble if ColorNeg consistently does not work well on good test negatives While ColorNeg cannot help directly with scanning see Scanning the Negative and the scanner page on our web site http www c f systems com Scanners html to learn how or if you are having problems Second the film must be properly characterized ColorNeg provides several way of doing that This often is as easy as selecting the type of film from a list see Film Selection System which works well for well processed negatives of a known film type Negatives of unknown type often can be quickly and satisfactorily characterized by trying the several built in generic film types as explained in Legacy Films or by using the Film Type ScrollBar control as explained in Film Type Scrolling Negatives of a known type that have not been processed properly can sometimes be brought to proper characterization as explained under the Gamma ScrollBar control For the ultimate in characterization see the Calibration Feature Using calibration the film may be dir
8. com Scanners html which has detailed instructions for obtaining linear 16 Bits Channel scans from several different scanners and scanner software systems These instructions were contributed by ColorNeg users Even if your scanner software is not listed comparing these case studies with what you are experiencing may give a clue that bridges the gap We welcome contributions to the scanner page which we will add with or without attribution as requested Starting ColorNeg Once you have a properly scanned negative in an active Photoshop window the rest is simple From the Photoshop Filter menu Filter C F Systems ColorNeg The C F Systems entry should be near the bottom of the Filter menu If ColorNeg is missing or appears 1n the menu but is grayed out please read Scanning the Negative just above There will be a short delay as ColorNeg builds tables describing the color negative then a dialog will appear that looks like the one pictured on the first page of this manual Select the maker of your film from the narrower pop up list at the bottom of the dialog and then select the type of film from the pop up at bottom left At this point the image should be nearly correct sometimes it is satisfactory as is To explore the next simple level of ColorNeg capability you will see to the right of the scrollbar control a checklist of ScrollBar options Lightness should already be checked Use the scrollbar to set the approximate lightness you de
9. different primary RGB colors are not additive so a filter pack may be 10R 5G A filter pack of equal density in all three primary colors appears gray For example 10R 10G 10B appears gray has a neutral density of 0 1 Since neutral density is equivalent to a simple exposure change by convention such combinations are subtracted out before reporting CC filter packs Thus a filter pack 10R 15G 5B would have 5R 5G 5B subtracted from it and be reported simply as 5R 10G In this way filter packs never contain CC filters of more than two of the three primary RGB colors The filter pack is thus a good measure of what is happening to the color balance of an image independent of overall lightness Those of you familiar with using CC filters or dialed in equivalents for printing color with an enlarger and print paper will find that the CC filter pack reported by ColorNeg is not a printing filter pack for the negative When a 5R CC filter is listed the image will appear more red not more cyan Those of you familiar with the factor of 2 difference between viewing filters and printing filters will find that has gone missing also Originally we did plan to report CC filters as the filter pack applied to the negative for printing but the result was very confusing at best even to a person quite familiar with that usage For digital imaging it really is better to report the CC filter pack in terms of changes to the resulting positive image as we are doing i
10. image If you are working with Photoshop 7 you may even want to convert the positive to 8 Bit Channel first so that the magic wand and other aids are available in making the selection Once you have accurately made the selection save the selection in a new file Select Save Selection Make sure the Document pop up says New and give the selection a Name anything convenient When you OK this will save the selection in a separate image typically Untitled 1 Now you can revert if you haven t overrun the History list or reload the original negative image and Select Load Selection to put the selection over the negative In doing this remember to save the negative image first if there is any chance you might overrun the History list in making your selection CC Master Control Panel Carry Over CC Apply aoe Save Load 4 28 Apply These Wicc Light _ ero W Blackpoint initiat inset ColorNeg features the concept of CC color correction filter controls During ScrollBar operations or clicking gray patches the current CC filter equivalent of the chosen settings is shown to the right of the scrollbar Color correction filters or color density filters have been a part of color photography since the beginning and with very good reason They are equivalent to changes in the color of the lighting of a scene and thus represent the most physically natural adjustments of color In addition to monitoring
11. it is usually an indication of a marginal grayscale if the differences are large This control is largely intended for our own testing 34 Problems and Comments General Problems Getting a Good Inversion We must repeat that a good and proper scan of the negative is absolutely necessary for good results This is the most likely source of trouble 1f ColorNeg consistently does not work well on good test negatives of identified film type See the section on Scanning the Negative and the scanner page on our web site http www c f systems com Scanners html Color Balance Extreme Problems There will be will be a small number of images do not have gray patches suitable for preview click color balance and which also do not respond well to the Auto procedure In our experience this is nearly always because one color Red Green or Blue is missing from the highest highlights In those rare cases when color balance is way off use Color Adjust to scroll the color that seems to be missing That is if the image has a strong cyan blue green cast adjust Red for a strong magenta red blue cast adjust green and for a yellow cast adjust Blue Very likely you will be able to scroll to a reasonable color balance and normally a major adjustment of only one color will be required followed by a Lightness adjustment If the color balance seems to be still off a bit try the suggestion for Setting the Color Balance below in Photoshop Different Light
12. that is that the distance between 1 0 and 2 0 is the same for the horizontal and vertical axes For an image of a graph this can be done quite neatly by changing the image size in Photoshop using a different amount for width than for height Then the gamma can be determined from by calculating slope of the straight portion of the characteristic curve and taking its inverse To see this in detail examine the following characteristic taken from the Kodak web site 99 KODAK Bright Sun Film GA KODAK GOLD 100 Film GA CHARACTERISTIC CURVES Exposure Daylight Process C 41 Densitometry Status M DENSITY _ Gamma Red 6 176 2 804 5 17 7 7 040 w m 2 804 7 040 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 LOG EXPOSURE lux seconds This plot was downloaded as an image from the Kodak web site It was put into Photoshop and scaled so that one unit took the same number of pixels on each axis This was done by first carefully cropping the image so that precisely 4 units on each axis remained in the image that 1s we cropped at 3 0 and 1 0 on the LOG EXPOSURE axis and at 0 0 and 4 0 on the density axis Let us say that part of the image was 500 wide by 400 high To get the units to match we need to make that portion 500 x 500 so it is necessary to multiply the height by 500 400 1 25 to square the graph We revert to the entire original image let s say it 1s 552 wide by 501 high We rescale the image Image Image Size so that it is 552 by
13. this point you may remove the archive file zip Photoshop will automatically configure for ColorNeg the next time it 1s started If your installation is not the default you probably already know how to find the corresponding filters folder on your system This is all that has to be done for installation but you can benefit from distributing several of the remaining files as described in the next section Auxiliary File Locations If you have been a PC user of ColorNeg you will find that the main difference in the Mac version is the treatment of auxiliary files Programming for Photoshop on the Mac requires a precise and very odd mix of current and long past Mac practices and to be frank about it after unsuccessfully trying a dozen or so ways to bring up a file open or navigator dialog box to write a file to a user selected folder we gave up at least for the nonce Photoshop Mac apparently wants written files to go in a specific place and that place varies being different for Photoshop 7 CS CS2 and CS3 which were used in developing the software Photoshop 7 and Photoshop CS The location of auxiliary files for Photoshop 7 and Photoshop CS is very odd and very nearly the same To get there double click Applications in Finder then double click Adobe Photoshop x Where x is either 7 or CS Now locate the Adobe Photoshop x icon you might normally double click to start Photoshop but do not double click This icon may or may not have App afte
14. value of gamma as this takes place You may also see the CC values change as you adjust Gamma Please understand that such changes do not represent true CC filter pack changes as is the case with Lightness adjustments With the Gamma adjustment you are effectively changing the assumed characteristics of the film not its color balance Gamma adjustments made to built in film types as might be required for underdeveloped or overdeveloped films can be saved to a user film type but there are specific conditions which govern when this can be done In particular there must be an actual significant scrollbar adjustment of Gamma and the User film maker must be selected immediately afterward In this case the adjusted gammas are carried over to the User mode and can be Added to the User Film List either under the current film name or a new name can be entered and the results can be permanently saved to a file as described under Film Selection System User Films The results of this characterization can then be used for other color negatives which are believed to be similarly underdeveloped or overdeveloped When switching to the User maker in all other cases gamma values are changed to first User film characteristics The Gamma adjustment is also used to assist in making Apprx calibrations 13 Film Type The Film Type ScrollBar control is a tool which can be used to characterize the film type of a color negative Our tests show that if used with
15. 2 and higher a save load path box and the Set New Path and Save New Path buttons will also appear These path related items will not appear under Photoshop 7 or Photoshop CS fox Cancel Registered David Dunthorn ColorNeg Und Back Ahead f Revet gt Above Main Tails Select Calibrate CC Master ScrollBar _ Auto Color Lightness Color Adjust _ Shadow 3 Gamma FilmData cc Confirm Film File Load Cancel Film File Load 00G 0 08 Users MyUserName Documents ColorNeg Set New Path Save New Path Initial The Save button is intended to save the entire User film data under a specific file name with an extension of negpos Similarly the Load button will load and replace User film data 24 from a specific negpos file Before ColorNeg is registered this file will always be ColorNeg negpos After ColorNeg has been registered the name of the currently active User negpos file will be shown in the Main Control Panel area at the upper right of the ColorNeg dialog under the registration data During Load and Save the name as shown in the blue outlined box above becomes editable and so can be changed within limits The name must formed from letters and numbers and can be no longer than 12 characters exclusive of the negpos The section Auxiliary File Locations describes where the find the affected files for Photo
16. CeSysTEms ColorNeg Adobe Photoshop Plug In for Macintosh User s Manual for Release 1 01 September 2007 David Dunthorn www c f systems com ColorNeg 1 01 is an Adobe Photoshop plug in that correctly converts scanned color negative film images to digital positive images ColorNeg is distributed as a fully functional demo version on our web site http www c f systems com Plug ins html ColorNeg has built in data for about 115 types of film from Kodak Fuji Agfa Ferrania and Konica as well as simple devices that can be used with legacy and problem films For more critical work there is a comprehensive color balance system with CC color compensation filter readouts familiar to many photographers ColorNeg is now available for both PC and Macintosh Color Negative 1 01c C F Systems COK Cancel Registered David Dunthorn ColorNeg Und f Back Ahead f Revert Above Main O Tails Select Calibrate CC Master ScrollBar Auto Color Lightness Color Adjust Shadow cr gt J Gamma FilmData CC 3 1G 4 26 t Zero f Initial Green a SO eee 0 8408 Portra 160VC 3 User Bi Add Chg Delete Save Load Note Some screenshots in this manual have been adjusted to match those in the PC manual to make the numbers consistent with previously devised descriptions As used in this manual Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks o
17. Neg Ov Gamma C appears on the Select menu click Select in the Above box to see the menu Enter the correct value of Gamma C if it 1s not already correct and OK out of ColorNeg The changed value of Gamma C will be retained in future sessions though it is always wise to check the first new session to be sure If you use a different profile here is how to find the correct value for Gamma C Getting the Gamma C Value for a Different Profile If you are using a working profile other than the few common ones we have listed you can find the correct Gamma C value for your profile as follows In Photoshop with an image selected click Edit Color Settings to get the following Color Settings For more information on color settings search for setting up color N lt management in Help This term is searchable from any Creative Suite application Cancel j Settings Custom nee Working Spaces i Load RGB Adobe RGB 1998 r Sesame MYK U S Web Coated SOP v2 Hey Fewer Options Gray f Dot Gain 20 Spat l Dot Gain 20 i Ei Preview Do the pop up for Working Spaces RGB and you will see Custom AGB Load RGB Save RGB Monitor ROB WGA Display Colorsync RGB Generic RGE Profile Adobe RGB 1998 Apple RGE ColorM4atch ROB sRGB IEC61966 2 1 CIE RGB SRGE First select your working space from this list the list will likely will be somewhat diffe
18. These checkboxes govern exactly which correction will be applied when the Apply button is pressed The CC option will apply the color correction settings without altering the lightness of the image The Light option will apply just the Lightness setting of the reference negative without altering the color correction The Blackpoint option will apply just the Shadow settings of the reference negative These three options can be used in any combination If you did not do a special Shadow adjustment to the reference negative don t apply blackpoint Whether to use the Light option along with the CC option will depend largely on how the pictures were taken Itis a simple matter to change which options are checked and press Apply again to see how the image changes The changes you make to the CC Master changing names and CC data for any of the ten names will automatically be recorded for use on the next negative when you press the OK button to exit ColorNeg Note that the changes are not saved if you Cancel out of ColorNeg You can arrange to have adjustments automatically made to the next negative by checking the Carry Over box Whichever CC name is selected when you exit ColorNeg using OK will be automatically applied to the next negative using whichever options were last checked 20 For systematic photographers the CC Master settings from one batch of films may also be a good starting point for another batch Remember however that apply
19. This will get you on the right road to color management of your converted negatives Installation We have not provided an installation program but have taken the same approach as Adobe has in distributing RAW conversion plug in revisions You have downloaded a zip archive file Put the zip file on your desktop and double click to expand it as a folder with the same name This folder will contain this PDF manual addendum manual if any a ReadMe txt file four data files ColorNeg negpos negpos grayscale ColorNegPath txt ColorNegKey txt and the plug ins ColorNeg plugin etc All that really has to happen is the correct ColorNeg plugin file needs to be placed in the Photoshop filters folder Locate the proper plug in file archive for your Mac Photoshop combination Photoshop 7 CS or CS2 ColorNeg plugin CW zip Photoshop CS2 or CS3 PowerPC ColorNeg plugin XC PPC zip Photoshop CS3 and higher PowerPC or Intel ColorNeg plugin XC UNI zip Note that with some Mac Photoshop combinations you have a choice Put the proper ColorNeg plugin archive zip file in the Photoshop filters folder which typically can be found by bringing up Applications in Finder double clicking Adobe Photoshop x where Photoshop x specifies the version of Photoshop then double clicking Plug Ins and finally double clicking Filters Once the ColorNeg plugin archive zip file has been placed in the Filters folder double click it to extract the ColorNeg plugin At
20. Yellow or the additive primaries Red Green Blue The subtractive primaries each gang together two additive primaries so that Cyan simultaneously adjusts Blue and Green Magenta simultaneously adjusts Red and Blue and Yellow simultaneously adjusts Red and Green The All checkbox simultaneously adjusts Red Green and Blue so that when All is checked Color Adjustment is exactly the same as Lightness The use of Color Adjustment is exactly equivalent to applying CC filters to the image This effect can be seen in the two CC boxes to the right of the color selection checkboxes see the section CC Color Compensation Filter Readout for a full explanation Being equivalent to CC filter adjustment this control preserves the color integrity of the image Use this control to fine tune a color balance made by clicking the preview or using Auto Color or to find a correct color balance for the rare cases that the automatic methods cannot handle The two boxes at the lower right of the scrollbar behave as described above for Lightness The Problems and Comments section at the end of this manual describes an easy method for color balancing or checking the color balance of images that have color integrity Shadow The Shadow adjustment allows setting the blackness of the shadow areas while preserving the color integrity of the image as well as possible Adjusting the shadows also has an apparent effect on image contrast The shadows adjustment in the Photo
21. ancement lightening darkening etc be done by first converting the image to Lab mode and using the Curves tool to make the adjustments Lab mode also preserves color integrity insofar as possible but of course can do so only after color integrity has been established as we have here The curves tool can be used to minimize the loss of highlight and shadow detail Color Management and Color Negatives Any color management applied to color negative images prior to their being delivered to ColorNeg will certainly not improve results and in fact is very likely to create problems which may not be correctable The first order of business 1s to make sure the scanner and Photoshop deliver a clean unaltered 16 bit channel linear image for ColorNeg to use As to what color management should be done after ColorNeg it is a matter of what appears to work best for you We normally assign Adobe RGB by default This appears to be a casual unreasoned answer but that is not the case By the time the image gets into positive digital form it has gone through primary color separation via the three or more sensitized silver halide layers in the film is then expressed by the primary colors in the cyan magenta and yellow dyes of the film goes again through primary color separation according to the sensitivities of the scanner and will finally be expressed as a positive image using yet another set of primaries Added to this are the variations in film gamma c
22. another machine in the past it is still possible to use it If the working profile Gamma used to produce the Dunthorn grayscale is 2 2 and your working profile gamma 1s 1 8 use grayscale values of 7 25 47 70 96 123 151 179 209 239 If the working profile Gamma used to produce the Dunthorn grayscale is 1 8 and your working profile gamma is 2 2 use grayscale values of 22 54 82 108 133 156 179 201 223 244 If some other known grayscale is being used its values may be entered into a negpos grayscale file and used The values should be on the 0 to 255 pixel value scale and values near 0 or near 255 should be avoided If the end steps of the target grayscale are considered to be black 0 or white 255 omit those steps from the list in the file and also do not include them in the selection area when preparing the negative for calibration The number of grayscale steps is arbitrary but needs to be at least four The number of steps found in the file negpos grayscale will appear under Steps in the Calibration box on entry to ColorNeg Pressing the Known button will match the grayscale negative against the known grayscale values and will produce a set of gammas for R G and B that best fit the grayscale It will also adjust the shadow and highlight percentages to approximately match the blackpoint and 28 color balance determined as part of the matching These gammas can then be saved according to a selected film type name
23. anual and the Calibration Feature section explains how to calculate gamma values from grayscale images to more exactly characterize the film that you use The Add Chg button is used to add or change values in the film list When this button is pressed the current active ColorNeg gamma values will be entered into the film list replacing the current values if the film name is already on the list or making a new entry if the name is anew one Normally this is only done immediately after a calibration has been completed To create a new entry for the User maker simply edit the film name in the pop up edit box perform the calibration to generate the gamma values in place and then press Add Chg With ColorNeg it is not possible to type in gammas that you have calculated other than with calibration The easiest way is to use a text editor to operate directly on the negpos file Please note Both Add Chg and Delete affect only the list currently in use internally by ColorNeg This list will be ost when ColorNeg is exited Changes do not become permanent until the Save button is pressed The Delete button will delete the named entry from the film list if the name exists on the list The Save and Load buttons provide the means for saving and reloading the User film list When either the Save or Load button is pressed the preview image disappears and two large buttons appear asking you to Confirm the Save or Load or to Cancel it Under Photoshop CS
24. as well as the blackpoints and color balance are then calculated The three color gamma values will be listed to the lower right of the scrollbar Red Green and Blue from top to bottom as in the above illustration 1 e the Red gamma is 2 331 The number of steps in the grayscale Steps can be more freely set in doing an Apprx calibration than was the case for Known If Steps is set at 5 then for Apprx the five tallest peaks will be selected for each color Since we are working with gray steps the five or whatever number tallest peaks will generally correspond to one another across R G and B In fact it can be useful to see what happens to the gammas when different numbers of steps are taken into account and thus see how stable the calibration is In doing an Apprx calibration a key question 1s exactly what to use for the mean gamma set using the Gamma ScrollBar that controls the calculation There is no correct value to use We have noted that the data from Kodak characteristic curves seems have red gamma the highest and to favor a red gamma of about 1 75 Accordingly we normally try to end up with a maximum color gamma of 1 75 If the result seems too contrasty we lower the target from 1 75 and if too flat we raise the target from 1 75 In any event gammas much below one or approaching three or more should be suspect If you have trouble getting an Apprx calibration to work and are getting FAILURE messages in the sigma box it 1s w
25. aused by processing differences Even in the best scenario for different films and different scanners each of these steps will behave a little differently and the detailed characteristics for the steps are not generally available That the system works at all is due only to the fact that the designers of these system have over the years aimed at similar but not identical targets All in all this makes the choice between profiles such as Adobe RGB and sRGB a matter of preference rather than accuracy Color Management and Setting Gamma C Our recommended procedure is once you have scanned in your linear 16 bit channel negative image assign your preferred profile to the negative image Edit gt Assign Profile Assigning the profile does not alter the image but it gives Photoshop the correct instructions for rendering the preview image which ColorNeg produces and for interpreting the final result ColorNeg will correctly interpret the negative as linear 16 bit channel regardless of the assigned profile ColorNeg delivers a fully corrected image back to Photoshop and the Gamma C value is used to make sure it agrees with the working profile in use Typically the default value of 2 2 is what is wanted but particularly on the Mac this 1s not necessarily the case The default value is correct for the commonly used Adobe RGB 1998 and sRGB working profiles but the Apple RGB or ColorMatch RGB profiles will require Gamma C to be set as 1 8 in Color
26. barely adequate to use for an Apprx calibration with 5 Steps Selecting a good natural grayscale is not particularly easy and it can be quite difficult to get even the minimum four or five representative areas Experimentation with different gaussian blur pixel radii may be required Fortunately when calibrating to a natural grayscale it usually is evident from the result when it 1s not working well Gammas much below one or approaching three or more should be suspect In any case several images from the same film type should be tried and compared Channel Aeee E Channel fi i Channel Bue tt Input Levels f fi OO 2 als Input Levels m li OO k Jo Input Levels ae fi OO z a mee a al A natural grayscale will normally be inferior to a specially produced grayscale the steps will vary more from a true neutral It very likely will require some practice before you will be able to select acceptable surrogate grayscales from natural images but if you work at all with old negatives it is worth the effort Be sure to select fairly small uniformly colored areas The sigma number can be of considerable help in doing this Because there is more uncertainty in the grays sigma will normally be a little higher than for true grayscales and may range up toward ten or more even in some successful cases although sigmas that high typically signal a bad choice for at least one grayscale step Look at the Levels histograms for all three colors If t
27. button at the upper right of the dialog has several different faces that are selected using the checkboxes marked Above to the right of the upper scrollbar Calibrate CC Master os Stas CC Master YI Ocean is _ Carry Over Insert Apply Save C Load Apply These Mcc C Light M Blackpoint Limited Usage Registered H 1 0000 Use Selection 4 Trial Version David Dunthorn s 1 0000 in l Out Register ColorNeg Tail Start High Shad _ Edaes in pi und 0 950 0 100 Histogram Back C Ahead Back Ahead Tenn Blackpoint Gamma C 1 800 Revert f Revert A Tail ae Not Set Up Main Control Panel Registration ColorNeg first comes up showing the Main Control Panel which will look like the Panel on the far left The Register button will appear until a purchased key code has been entered Pressing the Register button brings up a dialog box Enter Registration Key Cancel After typing in the key code or see paragraph below for an alternate method and pressing OK you must also OK or Cancel out of ColorNeg to complete the registration The next time you call up ColorNeg the Main Control Panel will change to the second version shown above The two upper text boxes will contain the registration name and replacing the Register button will be a box that contains the name of the
28. care Film Type scrolling can estimate the characteristics gammas of a color negative with quite reasonable accuracy This control works by scrolling continuously through characteristics which represent the range of known film types The preview image must be carefully observed during this scrolling and gray patches in the preview image frequently clicked to keep the image in the best color balance possible Look for the point in scrolling where the whole image seems to be most natural in color In particular any color cast should be similar in the shadows mid tones and highlights Preferably there should be no color cast at all in any of these After a suitable Film Type has been scrolled if the image seems too flat or too contrasty that can be tweaked using the Gamma ScrollBar control In general it is not wise to have the average gamma go above 2 0 or below 1 0 when doing this Selecting the Film Type control automatically changes the maker to User The results of the Film Type scrolling can be Added to the User Film List either under the current film name or a new name can be entered The results can be permanently saved to a file as described under Film Selection System User Films The results of this characterization can then be used for other color negatives which are believed to be of the same type 14 Panel Controls ColorNeg has some very powerful features that are initially hidden from view The panel just under the OK and Cancel
29. ch with the film manufacturer s data The FilmData ScrollBar operation is an alternate way of doing this My Films The sheer number of choices makes selecting a film more annoying than it should be To aid against this we have added an item to the Maker list called MyFilms and a control button at the bottom right of the dialog called MyFilms or MyFilms When you have selected a Maker for instance Kodak and a Film for instance GA200 you can press the MyFilms button and the GA200 will be added to your MyFilms list for up to 20 film types These selected films types will appear in the pop up Film list when the Maker is set to MyFilms While you are in MyFilms you can press the MyFilms button to remove a film from the MyFilms list Films will remain in the master built in list whether or not they are in the MyFilms list Removing a film from the MyFilms list will not remove it from the master list Films from the User list below cannot be added to MyFilms Manage User films by editing and saving the negpos file As an aside here we really hated to call this MyFilms because the MyWhatever concept has been so abused and so inappropriately set up on PCs in general starting with Microsoft After reviewing the possible alternatives however we came to believe that this really is one of the few appropriate uses of the My Whatever concept User Films Dedicated users of ColorNeg who want to get the best possible results eventually wi
30. checked If it does not already exist the path will not be changed and will revert back to what it was previously If the target folder that you want to use does not exist you may use Finder to create it first and then enter the path to that folder The CC Master settings are saved as tab delimited text files Except for the chosen names the data in these files will not in general be comprehensible to the user CC Master names are always written as the entire group of ten and Load expects to find ten records This somewhat complicates the reuse of saved CC Master names but of course the user is free to use a text editor to cobble together a negcc file with a group of ten records selected from different saved files We suggest that any such put together file be read into and written back out of ColorNeg to be compared with the original and be sure it is being interpreted correctly Film Selection System A Ektapress Plus 1600 Ektapress Plus 1600 Push 1 Ektapress Plus 1600 Push 2 Elite Color 200 Elite Color 400 Farbwelt 100 Farbwelt 200 Farbwelt 400 Farbwelt 800 Gold 800 Zoom Gold GA 100 Gold GB 200 High Definition 200 Film 3992 HD2 High Definition 400 Film Kodacolor Il MAX GC 400 MAX Versatility MAX Versatility Plus v Portra 160NC Portra 160VC Portra 400NC Portra 400VC Portra 800 Portra 800 Push 1 Portra 800 Push 2 Pro 100T Royal Gold 25 Royal Gold 100 Royal Gold 200 Agfa Royal Gold 400 Ferrania Royal G
31. con S riene aa a e a E ES 17 How to Make Selections on a Negative 00ccccceccceeeeeeseeseeeeesseeseeeeeeeeeeeeeees 18 CO Master Commo ane basaari arna Na eevee au eee aes 18 A Brief CC Color Correction Filter Tutorial cccccccccccccccceeeeeeeeesseeeeeeeeees 18 The CC Reference Problem and the Zero and Initial Buttons 0000e 19 Matchine a Series of Similar Tima e Srna EE E EEE OEE 20 Elia SC LCCUIOM 5 VS EN earnen E E E E E TEE E E EESE 22 Eeoae T IMS enana 23 MEIS an A N E N EN EAN 23 EEE a A a a E A I A E A A A A oad he 23 Calibration F Gatun creams a eiatii ssa ceas Medetaes aan seiebhi si iacnes Medea eaaeledin 25 KAONA CANDAN OM poi a essen clare threat nel A slain salen ol 28 Approximate Call DEA OM ies siris as hk set T A T i aueawsdeue es 31 Naural Grayscale Calibra Olssen eaa aa aea 32 Siema andthe Best CaAHDratiolsirern a EE eaten A 33 Caliprau on AY F076 come tne see tetris snap A ee eee 34 Problems and OMENS chaz cas ndectedesdaucceg nse cete suave con nit vaveodss cespedee fave E a 35 General Problems Getting a Good Inversion cccccccccccccccceceecceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 35 Color Balance Extreme Problems 2 iiccnax 2t2 05essacsoanswlecaineetataiemecaammieanaeieiaianietpienners 35 Different Lighting in Different Parts of an Image 0 0 ceccccssesseessesttteeeeeeeeeeeees 35 Color Balance Differs in the Shadows and Highlights cccccccccccceceeeeeeeeeeeeees 35
32. current User negpos file ColorNeg to start with In loading or saving files see Film Selection and CC Master sections editing the name in this box allows the loading and saving of files besides the default ColorNeg negpos and ColorNeg negcc We were unable to get copy paste to work for the registration key code on the Mac Asa workaround for those who find hand entering the long key too tedious and error prone we have provided the ColorNegKey txt file which should be in the same folder ColorNeg puts its negpos and negcc files as explained under Installation Edit this file as a text file pasting in your registration key as its first line making sure nothing besides the registration key is on that line Then when ColorNeg puts up its dialog box asking for the registration key simply press the OK button It is not necessary to leave the ColorNegKey txt file in place after this has been done and we recommend that you do not 15 Undo in the main panel will allow you to cycle back and ahead through the previous twenty steps Understanding exactly what step means requires some experience using Undo Tails Control Panel H 1 0000 S 1 0000 Tail Start High Shad 0 950 0 100 Blackpoint M Tail Min When ColorNeg starts it ordinarily makes its first guess at Lightness and Shadow settings according the percentage of pixels at the allowed to saturate in the highlights H and the percentage of pixels allowed to go completely b
33. e the color is set select the Lightness option again for fine tuning Two different methods based upon gray balances internal to the image are used one in the lower half of the scrollbar and another in the upper half Scrolling through these settings is often very uneven with long scrolls through very similar settings followed by a fairly rapid change of settings Occasionally there even will be a range where the color balance is extremely far off This is normal and the behavior will typically be somewhat different for each negative The actual amount of color change is tracked in the CC boxes in terms of a CC filter pack see the section CC Color Correction Filters for a full explanation In our experience 1f the film is properly identified or calibrated Auto Color will locate a near ideal color balance in the vast majority of cases but be aware that like any short cut there will be rare instances where it does not work For such cases you will need to use Color Adjustment which is also useful for critical fine tuning of Auto Color results See Problems and Comments at the end of this manual for dealing with particularly difficult cases Lightness Lightness is the most fundamental control in ColorNeg controlling the overall lightness or darkness of the image ColorNeg makes an initial guess at image lightness This guess can be controlled somewhat see Tails Control Panel or set precisely for a series of similar negatives see CC Master Con
34. ectly characterized with the aid of a grayscale with known gray values see Known Calibration a grayscale for which the gray values are not known see Approximate Calibration or even with a grayscale composed of gray elements within a normal scene see Natural Grayscale Calibration Third the image lightness must be properly set As described in Lightness this is done automatically by ColorNeg but because the density range of a color negative is so much greater than of the target digital image the automatic setting can usually be improved The setting for automatic lightness can be adjusted see Tails Control Panel Fourth although ColorNeg makes an initial guess at proper color balance 1f a color cast remains in the image the color balance must be adjusted Frequently this is as simple as clicking a gray patch within the preview image see Color Balance by Preview Image Click For images in which there is no convenient gray patch the Auto Color ScrollBar control systematically takes you through a range of settings that should produce good color balance for your negative Finally Color Adjustment explains how to use the ScrollBar control to directly adjust the color balance monitoring the result with the CC filter pack readout ColorNeg also has a comprehensive CC color conversion filter system including both readouts in terms of CC filter packs and the ability to save color correction and shadow settings for use on series of similar n
35. egatives See CC Master Control Panel for complete details including A Brief CC Color Correction Filter Tutorial for those who are unfamiliar with this an extremely useful concept that has largely gone missing from digital imaging The Problems and Comments section deals with what to do with negatives that do not respond to normal treatment with sections on Color Balance Extreme Problems Different Lighting Color Balance Differs in the Shadows and Highlights Setting the Color Balance in Photoshop proper Color Management and Color Negatives Color Management and Setting Gamma C Getting the Gamma C Value for a Different Profile and calculating Gamma from Manufacturer s Data By default ColorNeg applies an S curve to highlights and shadows Normally this does an excellent job of preventing blocked shadows and blown highlights Like all tricks however it can sometimes cause problems If you are having a problem with highlight or shadow blocking or other problems in those areas the section on the Tails Control Panel explains how the highlights and shadow curves are controlled ColorNeg allows different treatment of the inversion inside and outside a feathered selection See Selection Control Panel for details and Feathered Selections and How to Make Selections on a Negative for hints on how to effectively use this feature Also placed in the otherwise empty Selection Control Panel are the option for including the image edges in the histograms
36. en from a natural grayscale in regular negatives where various elements of the image have been selected to function as a grayscale Although it certainly is not required we recommend making a Dunthorn grayscale for this purpose using the method described in http www c f systems com DunthornCalibration html or in http www c f systems com AlternateGrayscale html We do not suggest that calibration is easy even with the tools provided here It will require using the tools enough to become familiar with them and it will require attention to detail to determine whether the results of a calibration are valid or not We do suggest that these skills can be readily learned and are well worth the effort To calibrate there must always be a selection If there is no selection or if the image is monochrome the calibration box will indicate Not Set Up as shown above and will not function Selections may be used either for doing calibrations as described here or for making different adjustments inside and outside the selected area as described in the Selection Control Panel section above but not for both purposes at the same time The selection should be the portions of the image to be used as a grayscale In many cases the selected portion will actually be an image of a grayscale For best results or at least less confusing results the negative image should not be closely cropped The complete image surrounding the grayscale should be used bu
37. f Adobe Systems Inc Contents Clickable CFSE CLIN SS CAI ES ha cesta ccc ian E I os Geena ate Da E aes estes plc a ae os Paced E E E TE 3 AS ed VU OA 32 cio tate seated E dies ams cece diae T 3 PMA YP Le MOC ALI OMS on n A ge sound ene oe 4 Photoshop and Photoshop Co wnt echoes eee 4 Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop CS3 cccccsesecceceeececdaseeeeseaecececcaseseceecesenenaees 4 Scanning the NG Oat VC eyelash sheila ets beeen alae as aavinl ons oath asin aneeiaeraesaasononGes 5 PCa Pee OLONE 3518 it siatreett betas saga T E A edu S taal aastaitane A a easted 5 Descriptive Table of Contents ColorNeg s Capabilities cccccccccccceceeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees J ATT CUA CUI Merens E T cin ieaa ta nso 9 EES IN OCC Gasca se esc ie A E 8 Preview Image Clicking for Color Balance serores enoei 10 CC Color Compensation Filter Readout snc Mei es 10 ETON Bar C ONIONS lt 4 eian lem desbassan lar meneunen 11 AUO COON ansa D 11 ETAn o PE A AT AT E E MER YES E E eT 11 Color Adusien enana R RO 12 DAG OW nsona E A A EE A 12 EOT e cess EE a ec E E AA A A dS adie alge E en enna nated oa dad orca E E T EN 13 FOET pernos T A E E E 14 Panel CONTOS eani A Tr nT eT 15 Main Control Panel Registration 0 0 0 0 cccccccccccceeecceeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 15 TAIS CONTO Panel eraren a ds eeacaceaenmeeaweacscaasaceaacenasseceameeaoeeanceees 16 Selection OMEPOls PANG irena E aah nat oe Meee aan argu aalis 17 Feathered Sele
38. f the Color Picker and click the highlight dropper cursor on the same area you picked for the gray previously again The calibrated image has been color balanced If you are not satisfied with the result pick another apparently gray area and try again In doing this you may wish to add a little to the Color Picker numbers to lighten an image or subtract a little to darken an image but we do not recommend doing any major changes in tone depth When you exit out of Levels it may ask 1f you want to save the settings you have selected with the Color Picker You do not as they will only lead to confusion later Perhaps you have noticed that here we exclude white from the grays that can be picked while inside ColorNeg we allow white This is because in the positive image the white areas will tend either to have gone into saturation or to be S curved as ColorNeg does In ColorNeg we work directly on the color negative and because it has a greater dynamic range the image data normally continues to be valid well above where the positive image has gone into saturation 36 Once the image has reached this stage and not before we recommend using our GamSat plug in for any major color or contrast enhancing that is to be done Such enhancements move the image away from color integrity but GamSat will preserve color integrity insofar as is possible If GamSat is not able to make the desired changes we suggest that any major adjustments of contrast enh
39. ge box at the bottom will be blank The calibration can be either against a grayscale with Known exact target values or it can be an Apprx calibration in which the target values are not known Known Calibration For a known grayscale the target values must be in a file named negpos grayscale and that file must be in the same folder as the negpos file currently in use Each time a negpos is opened or Loaded an attempt 1s made to load negpos grayscale from the same folder Thus it is possible to use several different negpos grayscale files in different folders If no negpos grayscale file is found ColorNeg reverts to built in values for the Dunthorn grayscale The negpos grayscale file provided with ColorNeg contains the values for the Dunthorn grayscale in comma delimited text format 13 38 64 89 115 140 166 191 217 242 There is a technical detail about the Dunthorn grayscale that becomes more important when using a Macintosh The Dunthorn grayscale should be produced using a profile with a Gamma that matches the Gamma C used by ColorNeg in its analysis On a PC and on most Macs operating in Photoshop the working profile Gamma is 2 2 but some native Mac working profiles have a Gamma of 1 8 Please see Color Management and Setting Gamma C to be sure you know your working profile s Gamma and that Gamma C 1s set to that value If the Dunthorn grayscale was printed using a different working profile for instance 1f it was printed on
40. gence in connection with the ColorNeg software even if C F Systems has been advised of the possibility of such damages In no event will C F Systems liability in connection with the ColorNeg software regardless of the form of action exceed the purchase price of the software C F Systems retains all right title and interest in and to the ColorNeg software This software and manual are Copyright 2004 2007 by C F Systems All rights reserved You may make copies of this software for personal use or for use within your own single business location not to exceed three 3 copies total You are prohibited from making copies for distribution in any other form Preview Image Clicking for Color Balance When you click a point in the preview image in ColorNeg the image is adjusted to make the clicked point gray colorless while keeping the image lightness approximately the same This is the preferred tool for setting a color balance of an image that is for removing any color casts If there is a good gray area mid tone light dark or even white and if the image has color integrity this is sufficient to remove any color cast from the image Three things must be recognized in using this tool First color negatives can be quite grainy and images of real gray objects may be uneven so take several clicks to be certain that the gray patch reading is stable Second while ColorNeg has a primary goal of producing images with color integrity there is
41. he method used by ColorNeg for the gamma scroll If an Apprx calibration is done using two different gammas say 1 75 and 2 25 again it normally is not correct to assume that if the sigma reported for 2 25 is less than the sigma for 33 1 75 then the 2 25 calibration is better The design of Apprx is such that it cannot validly compare the two You will also find slight variation between two calibrations that ought to be identical For example 1f you do a Known calibration to a grayscale and then do an Apprx calibration without changing the gamma the results should be identical Similarly if you do a calibration of either type and then repeat the calibration with Use S checked leaving the Shadow s as the calibration set them the results should be identical In either of these cases there will actually be small changes in the values so that they are not exactly identical This has to do with such factors as the granularity of the histograms 1s normal and is not of consequence Calibration Modes The calibration area has a Mode box This selects exactly how differences are weighed in matching the calibration Mode 1 is the normal mode in which the gamma corrected pixel values are used In Mode 3 the linear pixel intensities are used and Mode 2 is halfway in between Here gamma corrected refers to the system gamma called Gamma C in ColorNeg Normally the difference in the results of the three weighting systems will be small and
42. here is a step that seems out of place with the rest identify it remove it from the selection and try again As we stated in our calibration web page it is not strictly necessary that the grayscale be gray only that it be even toned and not very deficient in any of the three colors Gray is best but alternatives may be useful in trying to produce natural gray scales For instance if there are flesh tones from a single individual that show sufficient differences in shading and are even toned it can be possible to form a Gray scale and calibrate on those In doing this however remember that ColorNeg will be trying to make the tonal scale gray and it will be necessary to color balance back to flesh tones using the highlights color sliders afterwards Sigma and the Best Calibration In technical terms which you need not understand these calibrations involve non linear least squares fitting of function combinations that are ill behaved due to cross talk As explained in our calibration web page the behavior of blackpoint and gamma is confounded Due to this it can be difficult to know whether a gamma of 2 25 1s significantly better than a gamma of 1 75 in setting a calibration However the three color gammas will track one another that is a calibration producing a red gamma of 2 25 will also require higher green and blue gammas than the calibration giving a red gamma of 1 75 In fact the three gammas will normally track closely with t
43. in the root folder then edit that file to contain the path to where you really want the files As delivered the ColorNegPath txt file contains the path Users MyUserName Documents so 1f you substitute your actual user name for MyUserName ColorNeg will put its files in your Documents folder The path must be a valid path that means that if you want to use a new folder you must first create the new folder yourself probably using Finder before it will work Now go the target folder in your chosen path and transfer 1n ColorNeg negpos negpos grayscale and ColorNegKey txt ColorNeg will always read and write its files to and from this folder It 1s possible to change this path from within ColorNeg whenever you load or save a file as described below under User Films and CC Master Control Panel Scanning the Negative To gain familiarity with the system start by scanning a properly exposed well processed negative This first step in using ColorNeg depends entirely upon which scanner software you are using and unfortunately can range from very simple to very confusing Please understand that this step 1s the key to getting ColorNeg to work properly The working file must be 16 Bits Channel RGB and must be in Linear mode It simply is not mathematically possible to accurately invert an 8 Bits Channel negative image so ColorNeg will not allow this and in fact is grayed out in the menu for 8 Bits Channel images Of course it is possible to fool the sy
44. ing a CC Master does not affect the film type setting Make sure that the proper film type has been selected before applying a CC Master CC Master settings naturally become obsolete as one batch of film is finished and we move on to another Thus the ten CC Master name slots provided should be enough for most operations Nonetheless the Save and Load buttons provide the means for saving and reloading CC Master settings When either the Save or Load button is pressed the preview image disappears and two large buttons appear asking you to Confirm the Save or Load or to Cancel it Under Photoshop CS2 and higher a save load path box and the Set New Path and Save New Path buttons will also appear These path related items will not appear under Photoshop 7 or Photoshop CS oK Cancel David Dunthorn ColorNeg Confirm CC File Load Cancel CC File Load Users MyUserName Documents Color Neg Set New Path Save New Path 0 Initial gt The Save button is intended to save the CC Master setting as a negcc file under a specific file name Similarly the Load button will load and replace the CC Master settings from a specific negcc file Before ColorNeg is registered the file to be saved or loaded will always be ColorNeg negcc After ColorNeg has been registered the name of the currently active negpos User film data file normally will be shown in the Main Control Panel area at the upper right of
45. ing in Different Parts of an Image Normal color balance depends directly on lighting so 1f the primary source of light is different in parts of an image the parts may require different color balance ColorNeg can deal directly with this when there are only two parts with different lighting see Selection Control Panel including Feathered Selections and How to Make Selections on a Negative In the rare cases where there are more than two principal light sources these same sections can be of help but see Setting the Color Balance below for an explanation of how to do the color balance within Photoshop itself where multiple selections can be handled It is important to realize that in images with more than one principal light source it may be undesirable to completely color balance all the parts of the image as this may not be what the eye would see For instance an image that is partly in sunlight and partly in shade with a large influence of blue sky might actually look worse if the two parts of the image were each fully color balanced ColorNeg makes it easy to move partway to a full color balance using the CC filter pack readout but working with multiple parts of the image in Photoshop will not have this capability Color Balance Differs in the Shadows and Highlights For a negative that has been properly characterized color balance 1s normally an easy task The principal symptom of a poorly characterized negative is that the color balance will
46. is in the light end of the grayscale which becomes the black end of the positive grayscale If this happens exclude the darkest cell or cells in the selection for calibration and in ColorNeg change the number of steps to the number of steps remaining after the exclusion This will automatically ignore the correct darkest cells in doing a Known calibration After each successful calibration trial a number will appear in the box at the bottom of the calibration area and a value will appear in the Min P box 29 oka f Cancel Calibration l known f Apprx Mode Steps 1 j 10 Suse s Min P 4 0000 1 00728 Calibrate CC Master Auto Color Lightness Color Adjust O Shadow Gamma a Sea FilmData a CC 3 16 4 26 a Zero Initial This number is a surrogate for the standard deviation of the grayscale match and we will call it sigma In general you should target smaller numbers here preferably less than one We really do not have enough data on this to generalize but as a very rough guideline you should start to be more suspicious as this number gets much larger than one The three color gamma values will be listed to the lower right of the scrollbar Red Green and Blue from top to bottom as in the above illustration 1 e the Red gamma is 2 331 You should also be suspicious if any gamma is much less than one or is approaching three or more See below for more c
47. lack in the shadows S The default for these percentages is 1 but may be adjusted to any reasonable percentage If your images are routinely too dark try a higher value for H Too light a lower value ColorNeg does not actually allow the H of pixels to go into saturation or S to go into complete blackness but applies an S Curve so that the image gracefully goes into saturation just as would be the case with a negative printed on photographic print paper The Tail Start figures show the point in image lightness at which the S curves begin to be applied Typically values of 0 90 or 0 95 and 0 05 or 0 10 are used for this the fractional start points being based on the image as adjusted for system gamma That is at the default values shown above the shadow curve will start at 0 1 x 255 25 and the highlights curve will start at 0 95 x 255 242 in the final positive image The tail curves work with no problems for most images but can sometimes misbehave If you experience poor behavior in the highlights or deep shadows adjusting the tail start values can help Setting High to 1 0 or Shad to 0 0 will completely turn off the tail and allow you to tell for sure if it is causing a problem The need for blackpoint adjustment arises from imperfections and non ideal behavior of photographic materials and equipment As such a blackpoint setting is normally required but the correct setting for blackpoint is not easily defined The choice of
48. ll find that Auto Color is less useful in working with selections but clicking a gray patch in the work area will still work Still it is best to get a good color balance before starting on the selections After you start using selections the CC filter pack will reflect the color balance inside or outside the selection whichever is the active mode In addition if you save or insert CC filter packs while using selections only the filter packs for the active mode will be saved Note that it is possible to save filter packs for both inside and outside the selection by switching from In to Out and using different names when saving the two filter packs NOTE Once you start to use selections there is no going back You will no longer be able to work on the entire image without restarting ColorNeg Undo will not go back past the start of 17 using selections either Additionally calibration uses selections in an entirely different way Any time you call up ColorNeg with an image that has selections you can try to run a calibration or work with selections as explained above but you will not be able to do both How to Make Selections on a Negative The above selection feature sounds all well and good but how do you make meaningful selections working with a dark negative that is hard to read in the first place It is a lot easier and more accurate to first use ColorNeg to create a preliminary positive and then make the selections using the positive
49. ll want to calibrate according to their actual film usage or will want to track down manufacturer s data for old films which are not on the built in list In either case such data can be added to ColorNeg under the User maker When the User maker is chosen four buttons at the lower right of the dialog become available to allow you to control this special film list Note that it 1s not possible to alter the settings for the built in films only the list of films under the User maker can be changed or added to User film data is kept in a text file with a negpos This file may be located anywhere the user wishes and there may be more than one such file A file ColorNeg negpos is supplied that contains a few films calibrated for C F Systems home processing to serve as examples These samples may or may not work well for similar films depending upon whether the processing was also similar home processing The file is a standard tab delimited text file and 29 may be altered and edited using any text editor capable of saving the file in pure text format For example two lines in ColorNeg negpos are 1 719 1 129 1 202 Ektacolor 35mm 1 600 1 090 0 978 EktacolorS Which are the red green and blue gammas followed by the name that is to appear in the Film List pop up The items are separated by tabs The method of calculating gamma values for other films using manufacturer s data is described in Gamma from Manufacturer s Data at the end of this m
50. m has a very wide exposure latitude and usually contains more highlight detail and more shadow detail than can be accurately produced in a normal digitial positive image Feathered selections can often be used to bring out this detail in a way that the eye still sees as normal To use this feature select an area or areas that are brightly lighted as when sunlight falls directly on part of a scene while the remainder is in shadow Feather the selection suitably for a smooth transition choosing the right amount of feathering varies with every image and comes with experience Then in ColorNeg work on the entire image adjusting lightness adjusting the color balance etc until the most prominent part of the image looks good Then click either In or Out under Use Selection to work on the area in the selection or outside the selection Start with whichever part you paid least attention to as you worked on the entire image When you have that part adjusted to your liking change from In to Out or vice versa and adjust the other part so that the balance between In and Out is smooth It may take going back and forth a few times When viewing a real scene the eye naturally accommodates as you gaze at bright and dark areas and the brain blends it so the result of working on selections like this can appear quite natural Feathered selections are also very useful in dealing with an image where two parts of the image are under different lighting conditions You wi
51. no way to absolutely guarantee this If your image has different color casts in the shadows mid tones and highlights it does not have color integrity which usually means that film is incorrectly characterized See the Second condition in the Descriptive Table of Contents to learn how to deal with this problem Third with natural objects what you think is gray may not quite be gray Itis always better to try several different gray objects to see how the image changes CC Color Compensation Filter Readout CC 4 26 ero Initial ColorNeg introduces the concept of CC color correction filter controls During ScrollBar operations or clicking gray patches the CC filter equivalent of the current settings is shown to the right of the scrollbar The CC filter pack is an important concept in color photography that has been largely lost in the digital imaging world For those unfamiliar with CC filters their use in ColorNeg is explained in detail in the section on the CC Master Control Panel 10 ScrollBar Controls In Getting Started we briefly used ScrollBar controls The complete set of six is as follows ScrollBar ScrollBar ScrollBar Auto Color Lightness J Color Adjust Shadow ScrollBar ScrollBar ScrollBar Auto Color Lightness Color Adjust Shadow J Auto Color Lightness J Color Adjust Shadow Auto Color gt Lightness
52. ocessing In such cases the CC filter pack can be identical for all negatives in the series ColorNeg makes it easy to match such a series Start with a typical negative and make any adjustments necessary to have it come out as you want it Then press the Zero button to make the current filter pack the current CC reference as described above Click the CC Master button in the Above checklist to show the CC Master control The pop up showing Ocean above is a list of ten names Select one of the existing names to hold your CC data You can leave the selected name or enter a new one There is a twelve character limit on the length of the name Initially all the names start with Z so new names you add will be at the top of the list Press the Insert button and the current CC reference will be saved under that name Note again that prior to pressing Insert you need to press the Zero button to make the current CC reference the same as the current preview image The Insert action also records your current Shadow settings as part of the CC record stored under the chosen name Once a CC Master has been saved it can be applied to other negatives by selecting the name in the CC Master pop up and pressing the Apply button This will apply the color correction to the current negative so that it will match the positive version of the reference negative and the CC readout will report how much the negative has been changed from its initial setting The Apply
53. old 1000 Fuji Supra 100 v Kodak Supra 400 Konica Supra 800 Legacy Supra 800 Push 1 User ow My Films Portra 160VC g Kodak H4 MyFilms Portra 160V C 14 User 4 Add Chg Delete Save Load ColorNeg has a built in selection for around 115 types of color negative film from Agfa Fuji Kodak Ferrania and Konica Minolta derived from the manufacturer s published film data First choose the maker from the pop up on the right and then choose the specific film type from the list on the left If you later exit ColorNeg using OK not Cancel the film selection will still be effective the next time you use ColorNeg 22 Legacy Films There is a Legacy maker listed in addition to the five actual manufacturers Legacy is simply a list of eleven generalized film types typical of color negative films Vintage 1 through Vintage B These selections can be used to try and find a suitable match for any color negative film that is not included on the list In doing this try each of the selections and then click a gray patch or use AutoColor to get the best color balance Pick the Vintage that gives the best overall color shadow mid tone and highlight after doing this Ifthe same film selection also performs well on several other negatives of the same type you have a useful match Searching the Legacy list can also be very useful in trying to find a reasonable solution for films that have been poorly stored or processed and are not a good mat
54. omments related to this number If a message appears in the box rather than a number it means that the calibration attempt has been rejected by the system and it will be necessary to re examine what you have done and try again The Min P number is the minimum spacing allowed between peaks Normally the program determines this but if you enter a value in the Min P box it will be used as the minimum permitted spacing between peaks for the next calibration calculation The spacing is based on a 0 255 scale and is applied to gamma corrected values even though the negative image is entered in linear form That is if you look at the histogram of the selected portion of the positive image of the grayscale produced by ColorNeg Min P refers to the minimum spacing of grayscale peaks you see on that histogram Note A Min P value of 3 0 means that no two peaks are closer than 3 of 255 apart However it does not mean that any two peaks are anywhere near that close together they usually are spaced much further apart Min P is primarily intended to keep a jagged histogram peak from being counted as two peaks 30 Approximate Calibration It is usually possible to do a good calibration even when the target values for the grayscale steps are unknown first tying down the calibration by fixing one of the color gammas For Apprx calibration first use the Gamma ScrollBar Control to set the mean gamma and then press the Apprx button The three color gammas
55. onsider the following image Working in this mode it is usually best to first use ColorNeg to create a preliminary positive and make the selections using the positive image as a guide Try to select areas which are evenly toned and have tones which range up the tonal scale The Info window helps in showing the pixel values of areas to be selected Make sure the different areas selected have distinctly different values for all three colors if one color shows nearly the same pixel values in two different selected areas it will have one less peak in its histogram than the other colors Note that the magic wand selection tool is specifically intended to select patches of an even tone and thus can be very helpful in selecting suitable areas If you look carefully at the above picture you will find that five areas have been selected The selections have to be applied to the negative of course To do this save the selection Select Save Selection Make sure the Document pop up says New and give the selection a Name anything convenient When you OK this will save the selection in a separate image typically Untitled 1 Now you can revert or reload the original negative image and Select Load Selection to put the selection over the negative After making gaussian blur and highlight slider adjustments as explained above the Levels histograms for these selections 1s as follows 32 mere This set of peaks is adequate but only
56. orth trying a few different values for the mean gamma If you started with 1 75 or 2 0 try 1 0 or even lower If the message persists it very likely indicates an unsatisfactory histogram The number in the sigma box will normally be less for an Apprx calibration versus a Known calibration of the same grayscale and does not mean that the Apprx calibration is better The reason for this will be obvious to anyone who understands the concept of degrees of freedom but too involved to explain here otherwise Again the calibration becomes more suspect as this number gets much larger than one See Sigma and the Best Calibration below for more general comments on sigma If a message appears in the box rather than a number it means that the calibration attempt has been rejected by the system and it will be necessary to re examine what you have done and try again l Natural Grayscale Calibration As more fully explained on the Dunthorn Calibration web page it is often possible to calibrate an image of a natural scene which does not contain a grayscale image as such This is particularly useful for old negatives where it is impossible to make new grayscale calibration images The idea is to select a number of areas in a negative which are fairly even in tone and which are known or believed to be nearly neutral in color Objects such as white shirts blacktop roads white houses sand tree bark branches etc can be used to form a natural grayscale C
57. perature can sometimes be compensated as explained above under Gamma The Legacy settings and Film Type scrolling may help deal with more significant variations but Calibration is often the best idea when time and circumstances permit Calibration Feature As you can guess from the length of this section dealing with it calibration requires dedication and attention to detail to do correctly Calibration is not necessary to the successful use of ColorNeg but when properly mastered it can make a significant difference in the quality of your work Note that for consistency some of the illustrations in this section have been retained from the PC manual for ColorNeg Calibration is operated mainly through a single box that appears in the Control Panel area at the upper right corner of the dialog when Calibration is checked in the Above box Calibration Known Apprx Mode Steps D 10 Use S 9 27 Min P Mot Set Up 25 The calibrations performed follow and automate the methods described in Dunthorn Calibration as explained on our web page http www c f systems com DunthornCalibration html This web page explains why grayscale calibration is both necessary and sufficient for three color RGB or CMY systems like color negatives Calibration is possible using negatives of a known grayscale where the target values of each grayscale step are known or negatives of an unknown grayscale or ev
58. produced in ColorNeg itself seems off or where it is necessary to separately color balance several different areas in an image The technique is based on the same principles as the method used when clicking on the preview image in ColorNeg In most cases there will be a gray patch somewhere in the image that will be satisfactory and it can be easier to find such patches in Photoshop than in the ColorNeg preview Our page http www c f systems com RoutineBalance html includes a target with shades of flesh tones and sky colors to use in color balancing in place of the gray but it is trickier to use than grays from the image itself When gray patches can be found with the image loaded into Photoshop use the Image Adjust Levels command and double click the highlights dropper to bring up the Color Picker window Look for an area in the image that should be gray anything from almost white but with no pixel above about 245 250 to quite dark gray Yes for an image with color integrity the highlights adjustment is appropriate for dark gray as well as true highlights White or gray clothing asphalt concrete tree bark are often good targets if really gray Put the cursor over that area or click on it Watch the pixel numbers that appear in the color picker and be sure they are fairly consistent Now pick the middle value of R G or B in the color picker window and type that same number in for the other two colors so they are all the same OK out o
59. r the Adobe Photoshop x Although it does not appear so this icon is really a folder Single click with the right mouse button or control click on a single button mouse to bring up a menu of options Click on the option Show Package Contents This will open a new Finder window with a folder Contents and possibly other items Double click Contents That will disclose several other folders For Photoshop 7 The folder you want is MacOS while for Photoshop CS the folder you want is MacOsClassic That is the folder where the auxiliary files go so double click it and transfer in ColorNeg negpos negpos grayscale and ColorNegKey txt ColorNegPath txt is not used for these versions of Photoshop ColorNeg will always read and write its files to and from this folder so this is where you will always find them You can create aliases and place them in other folders for easier access if you often work with these files Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop CS3 These versions of Photoshop do not write to a peculiar folder but neither do they make it easy to control where files go They pick the root folder instead of the hidden folders described for Photoshop 7 and CS You can just let ColorNeg put its files in the root folder if you wish but as the root folder is not really a good place to put files we provide a clumsy workaround The root folder is the one with a path that 1s a single slash often shown in Finder as Macintosh HD Put the file ColorNegPath txt
60. recognize that ColorNeg curves the deep shadow regions just as color printing paper does so that actual pure black shadows will be considerably less than indicated 1 0128 of pixels in the above example and shadow detail is retained See Tails Control Panel and CC Master Control Panel for details on this and the several methods of shadow control Gamma Gamma adjustments are equivalent to the middle gray slider in the Photoshop Levels tool In that form gamma adjustment is the single control most responsible for the loss of color integrity in digital images Thus it is with some reluctance that we include a gamma control here however the Gamma adjustment done by ColorNeg is more accurate than the one in Photoshop Levels Short of calibration a ganged gamma adjustment 1s the best correction for negatives known to be over or under developed resulting from time temperature or developer strength errors the most common processing problem If you believe that your negative may have been poorly processed use the Gamma control to adjust the image to have a more natural look but do not go beyond this If your intent is to enhance the image to be either more flat or more bold than it would naturally be we suggest that you use our GamSat plug in instead as this will preserve color integrity as much as possible while doing this Gamma gang adjusts Red Green and Blue simultaneously and as shown in the illustration above will display a single mean
61. rent than the one shown here Then select the pop up again Your working space profile should have a check mark as Adobe RGB 1998 does in the above Now select Custom RGB at the top of the pop up and the following will appear Custom RGB Name Adobe RGB 1998 o Gamma 2 20 90 This will show the Gamma for your working space This Gamma is the Gamma C value to be set in side ColorNeg Gamma C appears on the Select menu so click Select in the Above box to see the menu Enter the correct value of Gamma C if it is not already correct and OK out of ColorNeg The changed value of Gamma C will be retained in future sessions though it 1s always wise to check the first new session to be sure For working with B amp W explore the gray working space pop up in a manner similar to the above Again for whatever working profile you use set Gamma C to the same sometimes approximate gamma Alternatively you can select a working profile that actually has a gamma for use with ColorNeg and the use Edit Convert to Profile to put the image into your working non gamma profile Gamma from Manufacturer s Data If you have or can obtain manufacturer s data for films beyond those built into ColorNeg you can find the gammas for the films and produce negpos files for use with ColorNeg Look for the characteristic curve for the film which should be a plot of density versus logio exposure Be sure that the units spacing is the same on both axes
62. shop 7 and Photoshop CS For Photoshop CS2 and higher the path where the files will be found appears in an editable box as shown above This path may be changed To use a path that you have changed just for the current ColorNeg session including the current Save Load operation press Set New Path To record the path that you have changed in ColorNegPath txt and so cause it to be used in future ColorNeg sessions press Save New Path In either case the changed path is first checked If it does not already exist the path will not be changed and will revert back to what it was previously If the target folder that you want to use does not exist you may use Finder to create it first and then enter the path with that folder Confirm will save to or load from the currently named file If ColorNeg is not yet registered the file will always be ColorNeg negpos When the Confirm button is pressed the edited name will be used for the load or save as long as that name is a legal file name The length of the name is limited to the display name length of 12 characters and will be trimmed if longer The built in values are derived from manufacturer s data for each film and as such they will apply well to film that has been stored properly and processed properly according to manufacturer s specifications and properly scanned For color negative film in particular this is not always a safe assumption Variations due to processing time developer strength or tem
63. shop Levels tool behaves very poorly with regard to color integrity so it is important to make any necessary shadow adjustments in ColorNeg ColorNeg makes an initial guess at shadow darkness and this guess can be controlled somewhat see Tails Control Panel Further Shadow adjustments are not routinely required When they are needed use the Shadow control typically with the All checkbox checked which simultaneously adjusts Red Green and Blue In cases where the deep shadows have an undesirable color cast after the overall image color has been set a shadow adjustment of one of the primary colors may be required These colors can be selected using the checkboxes for the subtractive primaries Cyan Magenta Yellow or the additive primaries Red Green Blue The subtractive primaries each gang together two 12 additive primaries so that Cyan simultaneously adjusts Blue and Green Magenta simultaneously adjusts Red and Blue and Yellow simultaneously adjusts Red and Green When using the Shadow control you will see two boxes at the lower right of the scrollbar in the above example they contain Blue and 1 0128 The Shadows adjustment effectively drives some portion of the image to pure black In the example more Blue pixels have been driven to black than Green or Red pixels and 1 0128 of the Blue pixels been driven to black When you use the Shadows control this 1s a measure of what is happening to the shadow areas of your image However
64. sire for the image If the color balance needs to be adjusted the easiest and 5 often most effective method is to find a patch in the preview image that should be gray colorless and click on it Gray can be anywhere from quite dark to white If possible click several gray patches and see what happens to the image choosing the best result With a good correctly exposed properly processed negative of identified film type that is all that 1s required for satisfactory results with most images For best results please check Color Management and Gamma C to ensure you are correctly set up for your preferred color management ColorNeg also has many features designed to give you a high degree of control over the appearance and quality of your color negative images while retaining the color integrity of the image For instance there are images which do not have well defined gray patches in them so the Auto Color and Color Adjust ScrollBar options described below take care of them and provide for more critical color balance in general The remainder of this manual explains ColorNeg features and how to use them We recommend using the Descriptive Table of Contents as an easy way to understand what ColorNeg does and to locate what you need Descriptive Table of Contents ColorNeg s Capabilities Clickable Besides inverting normal color negatives quickly easily and correctly ColorNeg provides tools to deal with color negatives of unknown type
65. stem by converting an 8 Bits Channel image linear or not to 16 Bits Channel and then running ColorNeg but do not expect satisfactory results if you do this Read CFS 244 Negative to Positive on our web site if you want a full mathematical explanation Scanners which scan at 12 Bits Channel or more and produce a 16 Bits Channel file should be adequate In some scanner software there is no mention of Linear scans but it still can be achieved by changing gamma from 2 2 to 1 0 somewhere in the scanner software The negative can be scanned as a negative but usually more satisfactory results are gained by treating it as though it were a positive slide A 16 bit linear scan is required in either case and it is always a good idea to turn off anything which claims to manage or improve the color What may be good for a positive is usually disastrous when applied to a negative Scratch correction and overall exposure control are normally OK What you want to end up with in Photoshop is a negative image which may have the same color cast as the negative usually orange and may be quite dark Though primarily intended for color ColorNeg also works with 16 Bit grayscale negatives With some scanners Minolta for example getting a 16 bit channel linear scan is simply a matter of checking obvious preference boxes If you have difficulty or are not sure you are getting a proper scan please look at the scanner page on our web site http www c f systems
66. t The CC Reference Problem and the Zero and Initial Buttons cc 3 16 4 26 tera initial Our plug ins for positive images were first to have a display of the CC filter pack This is because the CC filter pack is by nature a comparison rather than an absolute measure With positive images it is obvious that the comparison should be with the starting image as reference With color negatives it is not at all obvious what should be used as the comparison reference and in fact different references may be appropriate under different circumstances When ColorNeg first comes up the CC reference is set to the initial guess at color balance so that the filter pack normally starts at zero In some cases this will be sufficient However it is often helpful to change the reference point for easier CC comparisons At any time the reference may be set to the current image colors by pressing the Zero button This will cause the CC readout to become zero and further CC comparisons will refer to the current state of the image To get an overall view of color changes it 1s also possible at any time to go back to using the initial state of the image as reference by pressing the Initial button 19 Matching a Series of Similar Images Carry Over Apply inset save J boad Apply These Mcc O Light M Blackpoint Often a series of color negatives has been taken under very similar lighting conditions using the same film and pr
67. t with a selection made that includes only the grayscale eA 160VC Test Strip 3 tif 12 5 RGB 16 meme meee BB e e SF SE CS This image should be a linear 16 bit scan as required for ColorNeg in general Normally the histogram from such a selection will not show sharp peaks especially in a high resolution image For proper calibration it normally is necessary to sharpen the peaks using Filter Blur Gaussian Blur Yes that s right Use blur to increase the sharpness of histogram peaks We have found that a radius of 7 10 pixels normally will produce nicely sharpened peaks but that will vary with the scanner resolution being used The resulting histograms in the Image Adjustments Levels tool may look like this 26 Channel FRETE Channel Green Channel eine Input Levels fo T ag 255 Input Levels fo T ag 255 Input Levels fo an 255 If the histograms are hard to evaluate as is the case here the peaks may be expanded for examination Using the levels tool slide the highlights slider white at right in the above histograms until it almost hits the area with histogram data OK out of the Levels tool and then call up the Levels tool again with a result similar to channel Haet i e Channel Blue Input Levels fo 1 00 255 Input Levels fo 1 00 255 Input Levels fo 1 00 255 U ALA I Here we can see that each of the three colors has ten quite distinct peaks corresponding to the ten s
68. teps of the grayscale in the negative For calibration to work best the peaks must be reasonably distinct and separate as in the above Even though calibration often will work with peaks that are partly merged into one another and that are more uneven spires than the above for good consistent results target producing histograms as distinct as the above Do not expect good results from a poor gray scale pattern Poor patterns may result from incorrect exposure uneven lighting with shadows or reflections on the grayscale poor processing etc The radius chosen for Gaussian Blur will have an effect on this but it is not a cure all If too large a radius is chosen adjacent steps will start to blend in with one another also blur blending itself becomes a questionable process when more than a small amount of blending is required Channel eysi Once you have examined the peaks be sure you undo the Levels adjustment that allowed you to see the peaks better yourself before using the ColorNeg plug in When you start ColorNeg to do a calibration the image initially displayed may or may not be poorly expressed because the selected areas are initially analyzed by the same method normally used for complete scenes Look again at the calibration box Calibration Known E Apprx Mode Steps 27 When ColorNeg is entered with a color image having a selection it is properly set up to attempt a calibration and the messa
69. that control ColorNeg and a place where the effective system gamma can be changed if necessary see Color Management and Setting Gamma C Introduction This manual is not necessary to start using ColorNeg although you will need to read the ReadMe txt file or the Getting Started section to learn how to get the linear 16 bit channel scan that is so necessary for correctly inverting color negatives But ColorNeg is a very powerful system and this manual explains how to use its many features when you become more familiar with it We especially recommend reviewing the Descriptive Table of Contents which both explains ColorNeg and helps locate the information you want The demo version of ColorNeg embeds a gridwork in the images it produces In general this gridwork is not obtrusive enough to prevent evaluating the results and in fact we expect that some less critical users may find the results usable as is To unlock the demo version and eliminate the gridwork a key code may be purchased via a secure link from our web site http www c f systems com Plug ins html As we convert our ColorPos and GamSat plug ins for the Macintosh the same key code will unlock those plug ins as well Legal Notice This software is provided as is without any warranty or condition whether expressed implied or statutory In no event will C F Systems be liable for any lost profits or other consequential incidental or special damages however arising including negli
70. the ColorNeg dialog under the registration data However during CC Master Load and Save operations when the large buttons appear the Main Panel is shown for registered plug ins and this name is replaced by the name of the currently active CC Master file if this name differs from the currently active User negpos file The name as shown in the blue outlined box above becomes editable and so can be changed within limits The name must formed from letters and numbers and can be no longer than 12 characters exclusive of the negcc Confirm will save to or load from the currently named file be ColorNeg negcc if ColorNeg is not yet registered When the Confirm button is pressed the edited name will be used for the load or save as long as that name is a legal file name The length of the name is limited to the display name length of 12 characters and will be trimmed if longer The section Auxiliary File Locations describes where the find the affected files for Photoshop 7 and Photoshop CS For Photoshop CS2 and higher the path where the files will 21 be found appears in an editable box as shown above This path may be changed To use a path that you have changed just for the current ColorNeg session including the current Save Load operation press Set New Path To record the path that you have changed in ColorNegPath txt and so cause it to be used in future ColorNeg sessions press Save New Path In either case the changed path is first
71. the application of color corrections to a single image the concept of CC filters can be used to match the color correction treatment of similar negatives As many photographers already know images from the same roll or emulsion of film that are taken under similar lighting conditions will normally require the same color corrections A Brief CC Color Correction Filter Tutorial The concept of CC filters has been missing from digital photography not because they were no longer believed necessary or useful but apparently because there was a lack of understanding of how to program the equivalent of CC filters Thus CC filters may be an unfamiliar concept to some but we strongly believe that digital photographers will benefit greatly from understanding and using CC filter equivalents in assessing their images 18 A 10R CC filter is of a light red color and passes all red light while having a density of 0 1 to both blue light and green light Physically this means the 10R adjusts the lighting by passing 100 of red light while passing only about 80 of green light and 80 of blue light The filter has a red color and by convention the 0 1 density 1s multiplied by 100 in naming the filter 10R CC filters densities of the same color are additive so that two sandwiched 10R filters are equivalent to 20R In traditional color photography color adjustments are made using combinations of CC filters for example 10R 5B called a filter pack CC filters of
72. trol Panel but it is a mistake to think that it can ever be set it and forget it except for photographers who exert a very precise control over their shooting This is because color negatives are capable of recording a much wider dynamic density range 11 than can be expressed with either print or computer display and it is always a matter of selecting a smaller range of tones for the final result from within the wide range recorded on the film Lightness which is equivalent to exposure in traditional printing makes that selection Being equivalent to exposure this control preserves the color integrity of the image When using Lightness you will see two boxes at the lower right of the scrollbar in the illustration above these contain Green and 0 8408 Lightness the exposure adjustment effectively drives some portion of the image to saturation In the example more Red pixels have been driven to saturation than either Green or Blue and 0 8408 of the Red pixels been driven to saturation However recognize that ColorNeg curves the saturated regions just as color printing paper does so that actual saturated blown highlights will represent considerably less than 0 8408 of pixels and highlight detail will be retained See Tails Control Panel Color Adjustment Color Adjustment is the Lightness control applied individually to the primary colors which can be selected using the checkboxes for the subtractive primaries Cyan Magenta

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