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Dehancer Photo plugin
Quick Guide, 2022-04-28
Contents
Contents 2
Installation, configuration, and first launch 3
Recommended Color Settings 4
Recommended RAW development settings 9
Dehancer Plugin Settings 11
Interface and keyboard shortcuts 12
Photo processing workflow 14
Film Profiles, Push/Pull 16
Source corrections 17
Expand 18
Print Medium 19
Print Settings 20
CMY Color Head 22
Film Grain 24
Halation 26
Bloom 29
Vignette 31
Application path and user data location 32
3
Installation, configuration, and first launch
The installation, initial configuration and activation of the plug-in is described
in the Quick Setup Guides, which are included with the installation package,
separately for each host application and OS.
4
Recommended Color Settings
Dehancer plugin for Adobe Photoshop / Lightroom Classic / Capture One
currently supports source images in sRGB IEC61966-2.1 color space
(other color spaces will be supported as well in the future).
It is important that the same color management is consistent throughout
the entire processing and viewing pipeline.
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Display Setup
1. Set your display to its native sRGB color gamut mode if possible.
2. Use the appropriate calibration profile built especially for your display
in sRGB, Gamma 2.2 (color temperature is insignificant).
Tip: On Mac you can also use the Internet and Web (sRGB) reference
mode preset included with your new MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max
and Pro Display XDR.
Adobe Photoshop
In Photoshop, go to Edit → Color Settings… and set the parameters as shown
below:
– Set the working space to sRGB IEC61966-2.1
– In the Color Management Policies section, select Convert to Working RGB
mode, and turn on the checkboxes indicated. Now, when you open the photo,
the color space mismatch will be checked and a conversion to sRGB will be
suggested.
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Adobe Camera Raw
Go to Photoshop → Preferences → Camera Raw… and adjust the settings
as shown here:
– Select the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 color space
– Set the color depth to 16 bit
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Adobe Lightroom Classic
Check the settings in Lightroom Classic → Preferences → External Editing
– Use TIFF format
– Select the sRGB workspace
– Set the color depth to 16 bit
Use the same settings when exporting from Lightroom if you plan to process it
later in Photoshop.
8
Capture One Pro
In the dialogue that follows the Edit With… command, select the appropriate
options:
– Format: TIFF 16 bit
– ICC Profile: sRGB Color Space Profile
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Recommended RAW development settings
RAW files for further editing in Dehancer can be processed with almost any
software available on the market today.
Photoshop / Lightroom (ACR – Adobe Camera Raw)
We have observed that color rendering in ACR / Lightroom leaves much
to be desired, but an acceptable result can be obtained with the following
settings:
Profile: Adobe Standard
Exposure: –1
Contrast: –40
Blacks: +60
Curve: Linear
Sharpening = 0
Noise Reduction = 0
Color Space: sRGB IEC61966-2.1
Bit Depth: 16 bit
If you are shooting with an iPhone and using Apple ProRaw DNG, try setting
the Amount value for the Apple ProRaw profile to zero. Thus you will reduce
the automatic Apple algorithms that are not always reliable (but still, sometimes
acceptable). Meanwhile, we recommend setting the Sharpening value
in the Detail tab to zero in order to prevent oversharpening.
Tip: In Photoshop any RAW photo can be opened with the Open As Object
option. The smart object will be created and Dehancer plugin will be
applied as a Smart Filter, which allows you to easily access both
the RAW settings and the plugin’s parameters at any time.
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Capture One Pro and other RAW converters
While processing photos in Capture One Pro and other RAW converters,
we recommend to:
• Correct the most severe deviations in exposure and white balance
• Use the Linear contrast curve if possible, avoiding clipping in shadows and
highlights
• Disable noise reduction and sharpening
• Avoid any local enhancements which might cause visible halos
• Export files as sRGB TIFF 16 bit
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Dehancer Plugin Settings
Hit the gear icon in the plugin toolbar or press the [S] key to open Dehancer
plugin Settings.
Update Film Profiles
Use this button to launch the Profile Update widget.
All the new or missing Film Profiles will be immediately downloaded
and installed for shared usage with Ps / LrC / C1 plugins.
Activate Dehancer / License Info
This button launches the Activation widget that allows to check your License
status and to activate the plugin.
Processing GPU
If there are multiple GPUs available in your system, you can manually select
the best-performing one. You can also try a different GPU in case of any specific
problems with the plugin.
Fast Preview
This setting allows progressive rendering of the preview for images that are
larger than the specified size limit. This makes Dehancer interface more
responsive when working with large images on low-performance computers.
→ Related articles:
F.A.Q.: Dehancer plugin and Profiles Update
F.A.Q.: How to buy and activate the License?
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Interface and keyboard shortcuts
Preview Preview Before/After [Space]
Profiles
Show/Hide Profiles [Q]
Presets
Show/Hide Presets [W]
Show/Hide Settings [S]
Show/Hide left panel
Reset all adjustments
[R]
to their defaults
Restore last used settings [L]
Undo last edit [Z]
Undo last edit [Shift+Z]
[Double click]
Zoom to fit / Zoom to 100%
on the image preview
Buy License
Visit Dehancer web store
Cancel
Close Dehancer plugin window
[Esc]
without applying any changes
OK
Apply Dehancer processing [Enter]
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Add selected Film Profile
to Favorites
Delete selected Preset [Backspace]
Create new Preset
[A]
with current settings
Export selected Preset to file
Import Preset from file
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Photo processing workflow
Dehancer is a versatile tool that allows a variety of approaches. However, based
on our experience, we can provide an all-purpose workflow for photo
processing.
1. Develop your RAW photo
Working with RAW is always the preferred option because it contains
lots of useful information and, most importantly, it is free of the excessive
processing that is typical of smartphone cameras in particular.
Detailed advice on processing RAW files is given in the Recommended RAW
development settings chapter of this manual.
2. Adjust Source Corrections
The original image may still have some issues, which can be conveniently
corrected immediately with the Source Corrections tool.
3. Choose a Film Profile and adjust the Push/Pull
Choose the Film Profile that best suits your scene. Note that you can switch
between Film Profiles with the up and down arrow hotkeys.
Also, remember that the Push/Pull option gives you the opportunity to further
adjust the profile appearance according to the film exposure.
4. Adjust the Expand settings
We recommend adjusting Expand immediately after a film profile selection.
Set the black and white points to ‘fit’ an image into a dynamic range
of your color space.
5. Configure Print options
Start by selecting Print Medium, then sequentially adjust Exposure, Contrast,
and other Print settings.
To improve the detail at the extremes of the tonal range, you can optionally
enable the Analogue Range Limiter.
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6. Revisit the Expand tool
Since the edits you made in the previous step can significantly affect the black
and white points, it is recommended that you readjust the Expand settings.
7. Adjust the CMY Color Head
After setting the tone of the image, you can make further adjustments to the
color balance. The CMY Color Head tool is perfect for this kind of fine-tuning.
8. Enable additional effects
Some salt and pepper will make the dish even better.
→ Related article:
How to manage image contrast and avoid clipping
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Film Profiles, Push/Pull
Film Profiles are heart and soul of Dehancer. Each film is accurately sampled
with all of its characteristics. If you are ready to bet on years of film experience –
then you can simply scroll and try film profiles in the list until you get the most
interesting or desired results.
Push/Pull (Ev)
All films behave differently depending on how much light they received during
exposure. In Dehancer film exposure is implemented with the Push/Pull (Ev)
parameter. In fact there are 3 different film exposures sampled to build each
film profile in Dehancer.
As a creative tool Push/Pull allows you to vary color-contrast look of a scene
within a selected film profile. Also, Push/Pull can be a good helper in clipping
control, since contrast greatly depends on film exposure. With negative films it
affects overall color and contrast. With positive films Push/Pull allows to set the
desired slide exposure, opening blocked shadows or protecting blown-out
highlights.
Tip: We optically print negative B&W fi lms on the famous
Slavich Bromportrait paper known for its noble warm tone. If you need
a pure black and white look, you may set the Saturation = 0
in the Print section at any time.
→ Related articles:
How we build film profiles
What is Push/Pull and how it works?
Modern motion picture color negative films
Complete list of Dehancer film profiles
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Source corrections
Source corrections are meant to quickly compensate for obvious technical
issues of a source material.
Temperature Comp., Tint Comp.
These settings technically work in a similar manner but in relation
to the temperature and tint of the source.
Defringe
Defringe helps to deal with the chromatic aberrations visible at the edges
that may interfere with some of the Dehancer effects, such as Halation
and Bloom.
Tip 1: Temperature and Tint compensation are better suited for strong
deviations of a source, while Color Head is designed mostly for creative
application and more subtle adjustments.
Tip 2: In some particular cases Defringe may lead to visible halos around
the edges in combination with the Bloom or Halation effects. Lowering
the Defringe amount and radius settings helps to deal with this issue.
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Expand
Expand tool provides a separate manual control for black and white points
in relation to the output color space.
All films naturally have different contrast, different black and white points.
At the sampling stage, we avoid digital correction to preserve the individual
features of the films, which ensures a fair and convincing simulation.
Thus, film profiles in Dehancer, without additional adjustment, usually lack
contrast, but at the same time they have a lot of headroom for creative
adjustments.
We recommend adjusting Expand immediately after a film profile
selection. Set the black and white points to ‘fit’ an image into a dynamic
range of your color space.
During a grading session you will probably revisit this tool several times.
Color Mode
The Color Mode option can be useful if you encounter unwanted color shift
or oversaturation. In the Luma mode Expand affects only the luminance
component of an image, but does not affect its color, so the changes in contrast
have no effect on the saturation.
Tip: If your source doesn’t have enough headroom for the Expand
adjustments try to enable the Analogue Range Limiter checkbox
in the Print toolset which gives more ‘relaxed’ extremes.
→ Related article:
How to manage image contrast and avoid clipping
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Print Medium
Optical printing is the last stage of the analogue production. As the result we get
a paper print for direct viewing or a positive film for screen projection. Both can
be scanned for digital delivery. Optical printing is the only analogue solution that
can be used for proper interpretation of the negative films.
Beyond the technical significance, any print medium has its own tint, photo
latitude and contrast curve that makes it a useful creative tool.
In the Print parameters group, you have a choice of the print mediums:
Linear
Only a ‘pure’ profile of a selected film is used, without the influence
of the characteristics of photographic paper.
Cineon Film Log
Selected film is ‘printed’ into Cineon film scan format. This parameter also
makes it possible to ‘print-out’ negatives outside Dehancer.
Kodak 2383 Print Film
Selected film is ‘printed’ onto Kodak Vision Color Print Film 2383.
Kodak Endura Glossy Paper
Selected film is ‘printed’ onto Kodak Endura Premier Glossy Paper.
Tip: It is convenient to follow the analogue pipeline when matching
the print medium with the film. Use the Linear profile with positive films,
Kodak 2383 for movie stocks and Kodak Endura paper for photographic
negative films. However, experiments are always welcome.
→ Related article:
Print Film Profiles in Dehancer
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Print Settings
Relying on our experience in optical printing and our research
into the psychophysiology, we have developed the dedicated print settings
that faithfully reproduce the analog processes:
Target White
Only available when Kodak 2383 Print Film is selected. Allows to adjust
the temperature of the printing light source in the 5500-6500 K range.
Exposure (Ev)
The Exposure tool is based on characteristic curves of optical prints.
With the analogue approach to the exposure correction it naturally affects
the image contrast too. This parameter is measured in the exposure value
steps (Ev).
Tonal Contrast
The Tonal Contrast tool inherits a nonlinear nature of analogue processes.
Increase the value to give more punch or apply negative correction to visually
‘soften’ an image. Notice that changing the contrast also visually affects
the exposure, which is also typical for analogue media.
Color Density
Traditional ‘digital’ saturation affects all hues equally and linearly.
On the contrary, the Color Density tool provides perceptual saturation control,
i.e. it affects aesthetically significant colors in a higher degree.
Color Density can be used to quickly solve many specific problems –
for example, to mitigate oversaturated accents or emphasise meaningful colors
without painstaking adjustment.
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Saturation
This is a more "traditional" saturation control based on altering the chroma
components in YCrCb space. This correction is available only in the reduction
way due to the fact that oversaturation usually degrades the aesthetics.
Analogue Range Limiter
By default, Print adjustments work within the boundaries of the ‘digital’ contrast
range. Black and white points are normalised to the digital brightness values
of 0 and 100, respectively.
To obtain a softer image and improve the detail at the extremes of the tonal
range, enable the Analogue Range Limiter which uses the uncorrected black
and white point values as they were measured on the reference prints.
Tip 1: Even though Tonal Contrast uses sophisticated nonlinear
compression, it may lead to some clipping at high values. If this happens,
revisit Expand to set a more ‘relaxed’ cutoff for black and white points
or enable the Analogue Range Limiter checkbox to get more headroom
for processing.
Tip 2: To get a saturated and expressive image, we recommend starting
with increasing the contrast and simultaneously slightly decreasing
the exposure. You can also adjust the Color Density to emphasise
your colors.
Tip 3: Some combinations of the print settings may produce colors falling
out of the gamut, with visible artefacts, especially when Color Density
is increased. In this case lower the contrast and saturation or try another
film or print media profile.
→ Related article:
How to manage image contrast and avoid clipping
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CMY Color Head
Subtractive CMY Color Head is based upon the analogue color correction tool
integrated in photo enlargers. The similar method is used in Printer Lights –
a special device for optical movie printing to a positive film. Both have the same
principle – changing the color of light used for print exposure.
In Dehancer the Color Head tool is represented with three complementary color
pairs (YMC-BGR or commonly used CMY-RGB), combining both analogue
devices into one digital tool:
Yellow — Blue
Magenta — Green
Cyan — Red
The effect of changing these parameters corresponds respectively
to their labels.
Gang
Dehancer uses the real-life measured color filters values. Thus, even with
the identical adjustments in all three axis, the color changes are visible. For your
convenience, we have provided the Gang checkbox, which allows changing
all three filters at once.
Preserve Exposure
During the analogue printing the exposure is affected by color filters.
Dehancer inherits this behaviour. When Preserve Exposure is set to 100%,
it automatically compensates any exposure changes, introduced
by the Color Head corrections.
Impact
This slider adjusts an overall impact of the effect, acting like ‘opacity’.
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Tip 1: Prefer the Color Head tool for creative adjustments, while leaving
the Input Temperature and Tint compensation for strong WB deviations
of a source material.
Tip 2: Setting the Preserve Exposure slider to zero results in exposure
changes during color correction – just the way it does with the analogue
printing process. This is an additional way to naturally change an image
density in Dehancer.
→ Related article:
CMY Color Head – analogue correction for digital images
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Film Grain
Real grain on film isn’t just overlaid on top of an image, but in fact the image
itself entirely consists of grain. Dehancer literally reconstructs the shot, using
the local color and brightness characteristics along with a complex physical
modelling of a film emulsion.
There are 2 film types and 2 processing modes available in Dehancer:
Film Type
1. Negative grain is more pronounced in the highlights and the image
has a slightly higher microcontrast, which is more typical for negative films.
2. Positive grain uses the ‘classic’ algorithm that reproduces a softer grain,
which is less pronounced in the highlights and is more typical for positive
films.
Processing Mode
1. Analogue is the original type of grain that requires more processing power
but results in lifelike simulation.
2. Digital (Experimental) is the high performance simplified grain
that may be useful for dithering tasks (for example, to eliminate
the posterisation), for low-resolution projects and draft rendering.
Size
This parameter determines a size of silver halide granules. A higher Size value
corresponds to a more photosensitive (and therefore more granular) emulsion.
Amount
Total amount of grain generated, corresponding to a ‘film’ optical density.
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Shadows, Midtones, Highlights
This parameter affects grain distribution between different zones of a tonal
range to match your scene texture and grading look by setting the grain amount
individually for shadows, midtones and highlights.
Film Resolution
Usually the smallest image detail on film does not exceed the grain size.
Dehancer Film Grain is considering this fact by design. Also it is possible
to manually adjust this effect to mimic a specific emulsion resolution
or to compensate for an excessive image softness.
Film Resolution parameter set to 100 keeps the initial sharpness of a source
media. Lowering the Resolution results in gradual loss of detail, while an image
becomes more blurred. Resolution set to 50 represents the detail balanced
with a current grain size and amount.
Chroma
Grain chromaticity may vary on different films. This parameter determines
the saturation of the dye granules in film emulsion.
Tip 1: On the real film, grain can be found in both the deepest shadows
and the lightest highlights. But it cannot be visible on pitch black or pure
white – technically there’s no detail in there. That is why Film Grain
naturally affects black and white points, lowering visible contrast when
enabled. Thus the Expand correction is recommended to regain
the contrast.
Tip 2: Sometimes, even at the minimum Size and Amount settings, grain
appears too obvious for some applications. To get even subtler and softer
grain lower the Shadows, Midtones and Highlights values and use
the Film Resolution to make-up the excessive sharpness. Also you can try
different grain types and processing modes.
→ Related article:
How does film grain work in Dehancer OFX plugin
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Halation
Halation is the film emulsion effect visible as the local red-orange halos around
the bright light sources, specular highlights and contrasting edges. Also, halation
may produce a well pronounced red glare in the midtones, mostly affecting
the skin tones.
Source Limiter
This setting defines the minimum light source brightness that is able to produce
halation. The default value = 0 means that even the weakest source is able
to produce halation. By increasing this value, you can cut the effect produced
by low intensity lights.
Background Gain
This parameter sets the range of the background tones on which halation
becomes visible. Default value allows halation to appear on most backgrounds.
Decreasing this value eliminates the effect over the lighter ones.
Smoothness
This integral parameter controls the distribution of the halation effect between
the large and small sources, visually smoothing smaller halation details.
Increasing the Smoothness value reduces the effect around the point sources in
favour of the larger areas. Setting the Smoothness to zero leads to the most
detailed halos.
Local Diffusion
This parameter defines how far the light spreads in an ‘emulsion’. The higher
the Local Diffusion value, the larger the geometric size (radius) of the halos.
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Global Diffusion
Global Diffusion controls the degree of the secondary glare produced
by scattered light. This is a more global effect that affects mostly low-contrast
midtones and also enhances the primary halation.
Amplify
It is important not to confuse this setting with the Impact as the Amplify affects
the sensitivity of an ‘emulsion’ to the scattered light, not the opacity
of the effect. Increasing the Amplify value makes the effect more pronounced
and shifts the halation toward yellow hues.
Hue
This parameter modifies the sensitivity of the green layer of an ‘emulsion’
to the scattered light. Use this setting to better match halation hues to a scene
in the wide range from cool reds to warm yellows.
Blue Comp.
Cool backgrounds usually dampen the halation. Blue Compensation allows
to counterbalance this effect.
Impact
This parameter can be conventionally referred to as ‘opacity’, since it controls
not the physical parameters of the emulation, but the overall transparency
of the superimposed effect.
Mask Mode
This checkbox enables a special preview mode which allows you to better
control the settings with the effect preview isolated from the source image.
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Halation + Defringe
In some cases chromatic aberrations interfere with the Halation effect.
Defringe tool helps to deal with this issue.
Halation + Bloom
Usually these effects coexist on film and mutually influence each other.
Therefore, it is generally best to use Halation and Bloom in tandem to get a
more accurate simulation.
Tip 1: Halation effect is most pronounced when Source Limiter
is at its lowest and Background Gain at its highest settings, with Amplify
set to maximum. It can be a good starting point – just gradually reduce
the effect until getting optimal results.
Tip 2: Increasing the Global Diffusion can be an instant solution
to naturally enhance any portraiture, filling the skin tones with a touch
of vivid warm glare.
Tip 3: If Halation appears too dim or invisible in Mask Mode,
try to temporarily increase the Amplify and Impact values.
→ Related article:
How does film grain work in Dehancer OFX plugin
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Bloom
Bloom emulates the combined effect of light dispersion on the boundaries
of contrasting image areas, which originates in the optical system,
and then amplified in the emulsion layers. Notice that bloom has little
in common with optical soft-effects as it appears only around the light sources.
Highlights
In general, this setting may be considered the ‘sensitivity’ of the effect
and determines the brightness threshold for bloom to appear. The higher
is the value, the wider the tonal range that produces blooming is.
Source Limiter
Source Limiter is used to cut-off the unwanted blooming from the lower end
of the tonal range defined by the Highlights setting.
Details
This setting controls the distribution of the bloom effect between large
and small light sources. Increasing the value makes the effect more detailed
and precise, up to the smallest point sources. Lowering the Details results
in a more global effect across a frame, affecting larger objects.
Diffusion
Diffusion controls the extent of the bloom effect relative to the boundary where
it appears. The bigger is the Diffusion value, the larger is the geometric size
of the glow radius.
Amplify
Amplify controls the overall effect strength by virtually ‘changing’ the brightness
of a light source and the diffusion properties of an emulsion. The higher
the value, the more obvious the whole effect becomes.
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Save Lights
Bloom affects not only the background but also increases brightness of a light
source itself. In digital pipeline this may lead to visible clipping. Save Lights
simply does what it’s supposed to do, protecting highlights from possible
clipping induced by the Bloom effect.
Saturation
Naturally Bloom inherits the hue and saturation of a light source. This setting
makes it possible to desaturate the effect at your taste..
Impact
This parameter can be conventionally referred to as ‘opacity’, since it controls
not the physical parameters of the emulation, but the overall transparency
of the superimposed effect.
Mask Mode
This checkbox enables a special preview mode which allows you to better
control the settings with the effect preview isolated from a source image.
Tip 1: Sometimes with extreme settings Bloom may produce excessive
halo-like artefacts. In this case try to increase the Save Lights, decrease
the Amplify value and disable the Defringe tool.
Tip 2: If Bloom appears too dim or invisible in Mask Mode,
try to temporarily increase the Amplify and Impact values.
→ Related article:
Bloom: what it is and how it works
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Vignette
In lens design vignetting is usually considered a flaw. However, it is also
a proven creative tool that allows for better focusing on a subject and adds extra
depth. Also, in digital processing vignette with positive exposure values can be
used to compensate for unwanted vignetting.
Exposure
Negative Exposure values result in dark vignette while positive values,
respectively, produce the light vignette.
Size
This setting defines a size of the vignetting circle.
Feather
Feather controls the amount of blur applied to the vignette circle.
Aspect Ratio
This parameter affects the proportions of the vignette, allowing to make
it elliptical (in both the X and Y directions).
Tip: Although the Vignette tool is located at the very bottom
of the Dehancer settings, we recommend to adjust it at the beginning
of color grading since it affects the exposure and usually increases contrast
between the edges and a frame center, thus requiring additional
adjustments of the exposure and contrast.
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Application path and user data location
Below you can find the main system paths of the installed application
components and user data locations, which you may need when contacting
support or maintaining the plug-in.
Installation (macOS)
Adobe Photoshop plugin:
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Plug-Ins/CC/Dehancer
Adobe Lightroom and Capture One plugin:
/Applications/Dehancer Lightroom Plugin/Dehancer Lightroom [Link]
User Data (macOS)
Shared folder:
/Users/{user}/Library/Application Support/[Link].film_shared
User Presets folder:
/Users/{user}/Library/Application Support/[Link].film_shared/presets
Adobe Photoshop plugin log:
/Users/{user}/Library/Application Support/[Link].film_shared/
dehancer_logs/photoshop_plugin.log
Adobe Lightroom and Capture One plugin log:
/Users/{user}/Library/Application Support/[Link].film_shared/
dehancer_logs/lightroom_plugin.log
Standalone application log:
/Users/{user}/Library/Application Support/[Link].film_shared/
dehancer_logs/dehancer_pro.log
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Installation (Windows)
Adobe Photoshop plugin:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CC\Dehancer
Adobe Lightroom and Capture One plugin:
C:\Program Files\Dehancer Lightroom Plugin\Dehancer [Link]
User Data (Windows)
Shared folder:
C:\Users\{user}\AppData\Local\dehancer\[Link].film_shared
User Presets folder:
C:\Users\{user}\AppData\Local\dehancer\[Link].film_shared/presets
Adobe Photoshop plugin log:
C:\Users\{user}\AppData\Local\dehancer\[Link].film_shared/
dehancer_logs/photoshop_plugin.log
Adobe Lightroom and Capture One plugin log:
C:\Users\{user}\AppData\Local\dehancer\[Link].film_shared/
dehancer_logs/lightroom_plugin.log