Color tool

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The Color tool is a modeless dialog box that controls color correction. Color correction is an attribute of the Panorama Factory project. That is, you do not color correct individual images. Rather, the same color correction settings apply to all images in the project. This approach is taken to ensure that all images within a panorama are color corrected in a consistent fashion.

While the Color tool is active, The Panorama Factory displays a preview rectangle on the current image. The Panorama Factory interactively updates the color within the preview rectangle as you make changes on the color panel. if you pause for a few seconds, The Panorama Factory updates the color of all images on the screen.

NOTE: The Color tool is available only when it is enabled on the Project properties dialog.  It is enabled automatically when you are working with 44-bit images.  See Use 45-bit pixels and Enable color tool on the Project properties dialog box to learn about 45-bit pixels.

When you place the cursor over the various parts of the preview rectangle it changes to show you what editing actions are possible:

This cursor	Means this
	Indicates that the cursor is over one of the sides or corners of the preview rectangle. Dragging changes the size of the rectangle.
	Indicates that the cursor is not over any part of the preview rectangle. Dragging draws a new preview rectangle.

You can also perform color correction operations using one or more thumbnail images. If you select thumbnail images, The Panorama Factory interactively updates their color.

White level, Color, Balance
Controls the brightness and color balance of the highlights of the image.

White level — Increasing this value brightens the highlights. Decreasing this value dims the highlights.

Color — Controls the direction of the color shift of the white point. If your whites are too blue, for example, you make them whiter by moving this value toward yellow, blue’s complementary color.

Balance — Controls the degree of color shift in the white point. Once you have selected the color shift direction, changing this value increases or decreases the amount of the white point shift.

You can use the color wheel to the right of the White level, color and balance controls to simultaneously change color and balance.

Midrange, Color, Balance
Controls the brightness and color balance of the midrange of the image.

Midrange — Increasing this value brightens the midrange. Decreasing this value dims the midrange.

Color — Controls the direction of the color shift of the midrange. If your image has a general bluish cast, for example, you compensate by moving this value toward yellow, blue’s complementary color.

Balance — Controls the degree of color shift in the midrange. Once you have selected the color shift direction, changing this value increases or decreases the amount of the midrange shift.

You can use the color wheel to the right of the Midrange level, color and balance controls to simultaneously change color and balance.

Black level, Color, Balance
Controls the brightness and color balance of the shadows of the image.

Black level — Increasing this value brightens the shadows. Decreasing this value dims the shadows.

Color — Controls the direction of the color shift of the black point. If your shadows have a general bluish cast, for example, you compensate by moving this value toward yellow, blue’s complementary color.

Balance — Controls the degree of color shift of the black point. Once you have selected the color shift direction, changing this value increases or decreases the amount of the black point shift.

You can use the color wheel to the right of the Black level, color and balance controls to simultaneously change color and balance.

Saturation
Controls the color saturation within the image. Increasing this value makes the colors more saturated and decreasing it makes them less saturated.

NOTE: Color correction is slower when the Saturation control is non-zero. You may wish to leave this at zero until you make final color corrections when you are satisfied with all other aspects of your Panorama Factory project.

Negative
Selecting this checkbox causes The Panorama Factory to invert the colors within the image. You use this checkbox when your original images are photographic negatives.

Monochrome
Selecting this checkbox removes all color from the image, making it a “black and white” image.

Load settings from profile:
Select a profile from this dropdown list to load all settings that apply to the current tool dialog box.

Save settings to a profile...
Select this button to activate the Save settings to a profile dialog box.   You can save the current settings to an existing profile or create a new profile to hold the settings.

To learn more, see the Profile organizer dialog box and the Save settings to a profile dialog box in Chapter 14, “Dialog boxes.”