Tech note. ColorPerfect and Apple Silicon

[Tom Kershaw]

A brief note to mention that I've found the ColorPerfect (Photoshop / PhotoLine) plug-in is not compatible with Apple Silicon based Macintosh computers. I sent an e-mail to the software author yesterday afternoon but have not yet received a response. However, I notice the date of the last update to CP is given as 'November 24th, 2019' on www.colorperfect.com - so do start to wonder about how active development is.

 

[albireo]

It would be a shame if support ceased.

Colorperfect is the best kept secret in hybrid photography. Far better than NLP but sadly unknown to most due to inexistent social media marketing.

 

[Alan9940]

I've used the ColorPerfect plugin for many years and it's indispensable to my workflow. Thanks for the heads up! Yet, another reason to keep my Intel iMac and MacBook Pro humming along.

 

[DimAnd]

A brief note to mention that I've found the ColorPerfect (Photoshop / PhotoLine) plug-in is not compatible with Apple Silicon based Macintosh computers. I sent an e-mail to the software author yesterday afternoon but have not yet received a response. However, I notice the date of the last update to CP is given as 'November 24th, 2019' on www.colorperfect.com - so do start to wonder about how active development is.

Hi Tom, there is a workaround that Christophe (ColorPerfect) has advised me to do and it works. I used it frequently on my MacBook Pro M1. Here's how to do this:

With the latest PS CC, locate PS in Finder when it's not running, CMD+i on the App and tick the Run Using Rosetta 2 check box, that makes the latest PS CC run like the ones before that and ColorPerfect can be used without restriction.

It is also possible to make a copy of the PS executable next to the original, give that some sensible name, and configure only that for Intel x64 compatibility, one can have the two in Dock and use what's desired etc.

Christophe had also said that he was planning to release an updated plug-in version - hopefully this will come soon. It's a great tool once you figure out how to use it.

Cheers

 

[Tom Kershaw]

Hi Tom, there is a workaround that Christophe (ColorPerfect) has advised me to do and it works.

Thanks. I've just tried this with PhotoLine - the application I use - and it works there as well.

Christophe had also said that he was planning to release an updated plug-in version - hopefully this will come soon. It's a great tool once you figure out how to use it.

Hopefully, as to the best of my knowledge there isn't really a good alternative.

 

[albireo]

Christophe had also said that he was planning to release an updated plug-in version - hopefully this will come soon. It's a great tool once you figure out how to use it.

Cheers

Great news, thanks for letting us know!

 

[Kodachromeguy]

I was not familiar with ColorPerfect and have read the link above. But I still don't understand. With a color negative film, do you scan it with the scanner software of choice (like Silverfast), then open the file in Photoshop? How does ColorPerfect do something for color integrity? What is color integrity? Thanks!

 

[koraks]

With a color negative film, do you scan it with the scanner software of choice (like Silverfast), then open the file in Photoshop?

And then run the plugin to have it invert the image and color correct it. In the process, the user is presented with a number of options to modify the outcome to their taste.

How does ColorPerfect do something for color integrity?

It makes the process of inversion and particularly color correction easier.

What is color integrity?

A million dollar question I interpret "color integrity" here as being used rather informally as "the colors resemble what I remember the scene looked like when I photographed it."

 

[Kodachromeguy]

And then run the plugin to have it invert the image and color correct it. In the process, the user is presented with a number of options to modify the outcome to their taste.

But now I see a dilemma. When I scan C-41 film with Silverfast, it inverts the file. I see a color positive, which I save as a 16-bit Tiff file. Is ColorPerfect best used with DSLR scanning?

 

[Tom Kershaw]

It makes the process of inversion and particularly color correction easier.

My understanding is that performing inversion / colour correction operations in Photoshop / PhotoLine is not equivalent in function or outcome to the processing done by ColorPerfect.

This is hinted at here. https://www.colorperfect.com/misconception/of/common/RGB/curve/adjustments/in/digital/image/editing/

Background documentation here. - however there is very little to link the frontend software to the concept, which leaves the process seeming like somewhat of a "black box".

C F Systems Innovations in Sight and Sound - Photoshop tips page

C F Systems - Innovators in Applied Mathematics relating to Sight and Sound - Photoshop tips page

www.c-f-systems.com

 

[Tom Kershaw]

But now I see a dilemma. When I scan C-41 film with Silverfast, it inverts the file. I see a color positive, which I save as a 16-bit Tiff file. Is ColorPerfect best used with DSLR scanning?

I use ColorPerfect with Nikon Coolscan 9000 sourced linear tiff files originating from Vuescan.

 

[brbo]

But now I see a dilemma. When I scan C-41 film with Silverfast, it inverts the file. I see a color positive, which I save as a 16-bit Tiff file. Is ColorPerfect best used with DSLR scanning?

You must scan to raw. If your scanning software doesn't have the option to save to raw (Silverfast does - it's called 48bit HDR color or something similar) you must scan negatives as slide film with no adjustments. The resulting file will be gamma encoded, but ColorPerfect has an option to work with such files.

 

[albireo]

I use ColorPerfect with Nikon Coolscan 9000 sourced linear tiff files originating from Vuescan.

Same here. I almost always prefer Colorperfect's inversions to Vuescan's inversions.

 

[koraks]

But now I see a dilemma. When I scan C-41 film with Silverfast, it inverts the file. I see a color positive, which I save as a 16-bit Tiff file. Is ColorPerfect best used with DSLR scanning?

There's not really a dilemma here. If you want to enjoy the results and ease of use ColorPerfect brings, just scan your C41 film in E6 mode and save it as 16 bit tiff. At that point it doesn't matter (much) if the TIFF came from a scanner or a DSLR. See also @brbo's response.

My understanding is that performing inversion / colour correction operations in Photoshop / PhotoLine is not equivalent in function or outcome to the processing done by ColorPerfect.

Having briefly read the explanation, I'm skeptical and I don't think that ColorPerfect does any magic that's beyond what you can manually do in Photoshop. Much of the "this is better than Photoshop" argumentation tracks down to the assumption that people will only do adjustments of the overall RGB curve, and not of the separate R, G and B curves. In color correction, of course you manipulate the three curves separately! That's ultimately what ColorPerfect also does - or rather, it is one way of performing the permutations on RGB data that will lead to the exact same outcome.

What the explanation on the website does argue successfully (although without explicitly presenting that conclusion, sadly), is that there are multiple systems for modifying color (which always ends up being RGB coded in how it's digitally stored) and that for certain adjustments, an approach using curves might not be the easiest/most straightforward route. However, I would counter that argument by pointing out the myriad ways available in tools like Photoshop and GIMP to manipulate color. So even if the argument of the ColorPerfect author is that manipulating the separate R, G and B curves results in unnatural hue shifts (which I find an odd 'problem' to highlight if you're color correcting something, i.e. deliberately modifying hues!), the argument would still only hold true if one erroneously assumes that R, G and B curve adjustments would be the only tool at the user's disposal.

What ColorPerfect does, is make things easier. What it doesn't do, is anything unique that cannot be done manually in Photoshop. However, doing things an easier way is in my book an excellent value proposition and ample reason to adopt a technology! In the end, that's indeed what counts, and indeed I think it very effectively explains the success of ColorPerfect. It makes adjustments accessible without having to become familiar with the 'nuts and bolts' of color theory and digital manipulation systems; it's more intuitive than doing it full manual.

PS: Sadly the illustrative applet that is supposed to make the author's argument clear doesn't work, since it's based on Flash technology that was phased out a couple of years ago. Perhaps that would have shed some more light onto the subject.

 

[albireo]

Having briefly read the explanation, I'm skeptical and I don't think that ColorPerfect does any magic that's beyond what you can manually do in Photoshop.

No magic claimed. Just different math.

However, doing things an easier way is in my book an excellent value proposition and ample reason to adopt a technology! In the end, that's indeed what counts, and indeed I think it very effectively explains the success of ColorPerfect

Agreed. Just wanted to add that Colorperfect is only one of many such tools, and by far not the most successful. The already mentioned NLP is another similar tool, grain2pixel another, and so on..

 

[Tom Kershaw]

No magic claimed. Just different maths.

- and the question of whether it is possible to apply "ColorPerfect maths" within Photoshop (or similar).

 

[koraks]

- and the question of whether it is possible to apply "ColorPerfect maths" within Photoshop (or similar).

Yes, well, I would contend it is. But it's probably easier to use ColorPerfect!

 

[_T_]

I occasionally run into difficult frames to invert when shot under household led bulbs I’m guessing due to low cri. End up doing a lot of work making masks.

Any idea if colorperfect would be able to improve the situation?

In a similar vein: how does it do with mixed lighting situations?

 

[koraks]

how does it do with mixed lighting situations?

AFAIK it works on the entire image and will try to reach an 'optimum' color balance (with user input/adjustment) for the entire image all at once. The tricky bit with mixed lighting is that you end up with many areas of the same image all requiring different adjustments, and these adjustments furthermore need to bleed into each other naturally. That is, if you want everything to look (sort of) natural. I think stacked adjustment layers with manually painted masks are the most straightforward way to do that. I don't think tools like ColorPerfect will help all that much, although it will help you to achieve a decent compromise color balance as a starting point for further adjustments.

 

[Adam W]

Hi Tom, there is a workaround that Christophe (ColorPerfect) has advised me to do and it works. I used it frequently on my MacBook Pro M1. Here's how to do this:


Christophe had also said that he was planning to release an updated plug-in version - hopefully this will come soon. It's a great tool once you figure out how to use it.

Cheers

I have the same problem with my new M3 MacBook Air. The above didn't work for me, and when I emailed Christophe, he simply gave me the same advice. He said hopefully he'll release an update in 2024. I'm not sure why I'll do in the meantime.

Adam

 

[Adam W]

Well, I tried it a bunch of times and it finally worked. Go figure!

 

[Tom Kershaw]

He said hopefully he'll release an update in 2024. I'm not sure why I'll do in the meantime.

It would be good to see some active development of the ColorPerfect software. Otherwise it risks becoming another one of those useful applications that are no longer fully compatible / functional with modern systems.

 

[albireo]

It would be good to see some active development of the ColorPerfect software. Otherwise it risks becoming another one of those useful applications that are no longer fully compatible / functional with modern systems.

I agree. I use it daily. Such a great bit of software with unique features. I would gladly keep supporting it with my wallet in the future.

 

[Adam W]

For those interested, here's what I figured out:
If I launch Photoshop from within Lightroom, the plug-in doesn’t load. If I launch Photoshop first, the plug-in loads, and then I can, from within Lightroom, hit Command-E to send the file to edit in Photoshop.

This is on an M3 MacBook Air with MacOS Sonoma 14.5 and with Photoshop 2024 (running in Rosetta 2) and Lightroom Classic 13.4 (all are the latest versions.)

 

[250swb]

For those interested, here's what I figured out:
If I launch Photoshop from within Lightroom, the plug-in doesn’t load. If I launch Photoshop first, the plug-in loads, and then I can, from within Lightroom, hit Command-E to send the file to edit in Photoshop.

This is on an M3 MacBook Air with MacOS Sonoma 14.5 and with Photoshop 2024 (running in Rosetta 2) and Lightroom Classic 13.4 (all are the latest versions.)

I had an occasion when Color Perfect stopped working and it was to do with another application opening an older version of Photoshop unbeknownst to me, otherwise if I opened Photoshop first or independently Color Perfect loaded properly into the latest versions plugins/filters tab. So it may be worth checking which version it is of Photoshop that Lightroom is opening?

As for the plaudits for Color Perfect I'll add that I've tried a few other inversion methods and CP always wins. In the six or seven years I've had it in Photoshop I haven't once learned anything about it, only pressed 'OK' and it does the rest. Whatever it comes up with is easily editable in a similar way that making a good scan isn't about perfecting the image in the scanning software but creating a lower contrast image perfect for editing. As such if it is a bit flat or the colour is muted after CP then that is better than it being too contrasty or vivid. I have however found the colour accuracy from CP is very, very good. And I use it with B&W negatives as well.