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Color correct the imported images
If you are working from scanned images (negatives, slides or prints), you probably should make an rough attempt to color correct the images after importing them. It may be that you don’t need to, particularly if your scanner or digital camera has done a good job.
If you are working from scanned negatives, there is a standard procedure you can follow to get a good initial color correction:
- Select "Negative" on the Color tool or with the
toolbar button.
- Activate the Histogram panel.
- Double click one of the imported images to enlarge it and
locate one of its black inter-frame regions.
- Draw the preview rectangle so that it is entirely within the
inter-frame region.
- Press the Set black button on the histogram panel.
This procedure should give you recognizable images. You can use other Color tool values to improve the images now if you wish, but you can also wait until later.
Note that using the Set black button does a good job of filtering out the orange mask.
If you want to take a first stab at color balancing the midrange, try these steps:
- Adjust the Midrange level value on the Color tool to get a
pleasing overall brightness.
- Use the Show imported images
command to return to the imported thumbnails
pane.
- Select all of the imported thumbnails.
- Press the Set gray button on the histogram panel.
Note that using the Set gray button performs a passable job of overall color correction. This is because it balances so that on average the images are gray. This works because color perception is relative to overall illumination. Of course you may find a different overall color correction to be more esthetically pleasing, but this should provide a good starting point.
This might be another good time to save the project.
Revised: October 12, 1999