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.

Shadows Tone, Midtones Tone, Highlights Tone

In a general analogue sense, toning refers to giving a paper print or film positive additional tints that are not originally characteristic of a particular media combination. This technique is widely used in movie production to give a special character or atmosphere when the original film properties are insufficient. Unlike the digital world, where you can ‘fill’ the entire picture with a single hue, analog media is more varied. In addition to the natural variations across the tonal range, a print can be intentionally colored with different tints in the shadows, midtones, or highlights.

Toning can be achieved using a variety of methods, including special exposure and processing mode, additional treatment with various chemicals, and split printing through color filters with masking. In Dehancer, the toning control is a natural evolution of the CMY Color Head tool. Therefore, it’s based on split printing through color filters, with the only difference that masking is performed automatically. You can control the color temperature separately within three equally quantised ranges – in shadows, midtones, and highlights.

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’.

💡 Prefer the Color Head tool for creative adjustments, while leaving the Input Temperature and Tint compensation for strong WB deviations of a source material.

💡 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.