DNG Profiles:Editor
From Adobe Labs
DNG Profile Editor Tutorials and Documentation
This page is maintained by the Camera Raw engineering team.
Last updated: July 28, 2008
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Overview
This page contains tutorials and documentation to help photographers get started with using the DNG Profile Editor.
The DNG Profile Editor is a software program designed and implemented by Adobe. Its purpose is to enable photographers to edit camera profiles and it is being offered as a free download to the photographic community. Please note that while we welcome all photographers to try the DNG Profile Editor, this tool is intended for advanced users.
The Recipe Editor Window inside the DNG Profile Editor
Here is a quick conceptual overview of how the DNG Profile Editor works. First, you choose an existing base profile, which serves as a starting point for your adjustments. Next, you use the DNG Profile Editor’s tools to create color and tone adjustments. Your changes are stored in documents called profile recipes, which you can save to disk and re-open at a later time to resume your work. When you are satisfied with your recipe, you export a camera profile from the DNG Profile Editor. This profile can then be loaded into Camera Raw or Lightroom (or any DNG-compatible raw conversion software) to process your images.
Contents
Tutorial 1: Getting Started
- Launch the DNG Profile Editor.
- Choose File -> Open DNG Image…. Select a DNG raw file from the dialog box and click Open.
- (Optional) If the image is not already white-balanced, you can perform a click-WB using a context click (i.e., right-click or control-click) on a neutral area of the image. The white balance of the image (i.e., temperature and tint values) is displayed in the image window’s title bar.
- Create a new color adjustment (i.e., color control point) by clicking on an area of the image. The adjustment appears in the Color List Box on the right side of the Color Tables pane, as well as on the Color Wheel (see illustration below).
- Adjust the selected color via the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders. You will see the image preview update in real-time. You will also see an arrow in the Color Wheel drawn to indicate how the color is being modified.
- Repeat the previous two steps as many times as desired. In the Color List Box, use the checkbox on the left of an adjustment to enable/disable that adjustment. Use the dash button on the right side of an adjustment to delete that adjustment.
- Hint: color control points are easiest to use in two ways: (1) to change specific colors and (2) to lock down specific colors to prevent them from changing. Example: consider a portrait of a man wearing a red sweater. Let’s say you want to tweak the sweater’s deep saturated reds without affecting the skin tones. This is easy to accomplish in two steps (which may be performed in either order, with identical results):
- Click on the man’s face (i.e., a skin-tone area) to create a color control point. Do not make any adjustments to this control point. This effectively “locks down” this color and prevents it from changing.
- Click on the red sweater to add a second color control point. Use the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders to make the desired adjustments (see example below). Note that your adjustments affect the sweater but not the skin tones.
- Choose File -> Save Recipe. This saves your work so that you can refine your color adjustments later if needed. Note that this step does not create a camera profile. It just saves your list of color adjustments to a document (i.e., recipe). Creating the actual profile itself will be done in the next step.
- Choose File -> Export profile…. This exports a camera profile to disk. You can install this profile into the CameraProfiles directory and it will then be ready for use in Camera Raw and Lightroom (note that quitting and restarting Photoshop / Lightroom is required to load the new profile).
Tutorial 2: Share Color Adjustments Across Multiple Profiles
This tutorial describes how to share color adjustments across multiple profiles. This is useful, say, for defining a visual style (e.g., a portrait-optimized profile) that can be shared across two or more cameras. You will need DNG images from two different camera models (a Canon EOS 5D and a Nikon D200 are used as examples below).
- Launch the DNG Profile Editor.
- Choose File -> Open Recipe… and select the recipe (which has a .dcpr extension) that you saved from the previous tutorial.
- Choose File -> Open DNG Image… and open a DNG image for a Canon EOS 5D.
- Similarly, open a Nikon D200 image. Note that you can open multiple DNG images simultaneously.
- The color adjustments in your recipe are being applied to both image previews. You can now use this recipe to export two profiles, one for the Canon EOS 5D and one for the Nikon D200, as follows.
- Click the Canon EOS 5D image window so that it’s selected. Then choose File -> Export Canon EOS 5D profile….
- Click the Nikon D200 image window so that it’s selected. Then choose File -> Export Nikon D200 profile….
- You now have two profiles based on the same color adjustments. As with the previous tutorial, these profiles are ready to be installed and used with both Camera Raw and Lightroom.
Tutorial 3: Using Base Profiles
This tutorial explains how to use an existing camera profile as a starting point. This feature is very handy if you have an existing profile that you like in most respects, but just want to make small tweaks to it. It is important to understand that all color adjustments made in the DNG Profile Editor are defined relative to a base profile.
The key step is to use the Base Profile menu in the Color Tables pane to define a starting point for your tweaks. Details follows:
- Launch the DNG Profile Editor.
- Choose File -> Open DNG Image…. Select a DNG raw file from the dialog box and click Open.
- Select Choose External Profile… from the Base Profile popup menu. In the Open dialog box, select a DNG camera profile (e.g., one of the new Adobe Standard profiles) and click Open. The chosen profile is now listed in the Base Profile popup menu.
- All color and tone adjustments will now be defined relative to your selected base profile. Follow the steps described in Tutorial 1 to perform color adjustments.
- When done, choose File -> Export profile… to save your modified profile.
Tutorial 4: Infrared-Modified Cameras and Unusual Lighting
Infrared-modified cameras and extreme lighting conditions can cause an image’s white balance to fall below Camera Raw and Lightroom’s temperature limit of 2000 K. This tutorial explains how to use the White Balance Calibration feature to bring the white balance values into the standard range for these special cases.
- Launch the DNG Profile Editor.
- Choose File -> Open DNG Image…. Select a DNG raw file from the dialog box and click Open. This should be an image whose white balance temperature value is being clipped to 2000 K.
- Select the Color Matrices tab in the recipe editor window.
- Adjust the White Balance Calibration sliders until the color temperature and tint values (shown in the image window’s title bar) fall into the standard range. For infrared images, you will usually need to drag the Temperature slider to the left. An example is shown in the illustration above (note that the exact values required will depend on your camera).
- Follow the steps in Tutorial 1 to save your recipe and export your profile.
Tutorial 5: Automatic Adjustments Using a ColorChecker
This tutorial explains how to use a 24-patch ColorChecker Chart to create an initial set of color adjustments automatically. This is useful for getting different cameras to produce a similar color response under fixed lighting conditions.
This feature can be used instead of the calibration scripts you may have used with earlier versions of Camera Raw.
You will need a ColorChecker Chart (24 patches).
- Photograph the ColorChecker Chart, taking care to illuminant the chart evenly and to minimize color casts.
- Launch the DNG Profile Editor.
- Choose File -> Open DNG Image…. Select the DNG raw file of the ColorChecker from the dialog box and click Open.
- Select the Chart tab in the recipe editor window.
- Use the mouse to position the four colored circles in the image at the centers of the four corner patches of the chart. The colors of the circles should correspond to the colors of the patches.
- Leave the popup menu set at Both color tables. (The next tutorial explains how to use this setting for more advanced applications.)
- Click the Create Color Table… button. The DNG Profile Editor automatically builds a set of 18 color adjustments (one for each color patch in the first three rows of the chart). You can accept these adjustments as-is or use them as a starting point for further tweaks.
- Follow the steps in Tutorial 1 to save your recipe and export your profile.
Tutorial 6: Dual-Illuminant Automatic Adjustments Using a ColorChecker
Most digital camera sensors respond differently under different illuminants (e.g., switching from daylight to tungsten). DNG camera profiles address these differences by allowing color adjustments to be specified separately for two different illuminants (usually Illuminants A and D65).
This tutorial is similar to the previous one but also explains how to take advantage of the dual-illuminant feature of DNG camera profiles. The result is a single profile that performs well under a wide range of illuminants instead of a single fixed illuminant.
You will need a ColorChecker Chart (24 patches).
- Photograph the ColorChecker Chart under a 6500 K illuminant (e.g., D65 simulator), taking care to illuminant the chart evenly and to minimize color casts.
- Photograph the ColorChecker Chart again, but this time under a 2850 K illuminant (e.g., standard tungsten bulb), taking care to illuminant the chart evenly and to minimize color casts.
- Launch the DNG Profile Editor.
- Choose File -> Open DNG Image…. Select the DNG raw file of the 6500 K-lit ColorChecker from the dialog box and click Open.
- Similarly, open the DNG image of the 2850 K-lit ColorChecker.
- Select the Chart tab in the recipe editor window.
- Click the 6500 K-lit ColorChecker image window to select it. Use the mouse to position the four colored circles in the image at the centers of the four corner patches of the chart. The colors of the circles should correspond to the colors of the patches.
- Set the popup menu in the Chart pane to 6500 K and click the Create Color Table… button.
- Repeat the previous two steps for the 2850 K image. Make sure to click the 2850 K image to select it and then select 2850 K from the popup menu before clicking the Create Color Table… button.
- The DNG Profile Editor automatically builds two sets of 18 color adjustments each (one set for illuminant A (2850 K), one set for D65 (6500 K). You can accept these adjustments as-is or use them as a starting point for further tweaks.
- Follow the steps in Tutorial 1 to save your recipe and export your profile. When using your exported profile, Camera Raw and Lightroom will automatically interpolate between the two sets of color adjustments based on the white balance of your image.
- Profile RecipeA profile recipe is a document (with a .dcpr extension) that describes color, tone curve, and metadata adjustments to a camera profile. In other words, the recipe contains the “ingredients” used to build a profile. The DNG Profile Editor allows you to open, edit, and save profile recipes. Once you are satisfied with your recipe, you can “bake” the final profile itself by choosing Export from the File menu.
Within the DNG Profile Editor, there is always exactly 1 recipe open at a time. Thus opening a profile recipe from disk automatically closes the previous one.
- DNG Camera ProfileA DNG camera profile is a file (with a .dcp extension) that describes the colorimetric interpretation of digital raw image data. Note that profiles are usually camera-specific and may be embedded in DNG raw files. See the DNG 1.2 specification for details.
- Recipe Editor WindowMost profile adjustments take place in the Color Tables pane of the Recipe Editor Window. This pane contains the Color Wheel and the Color List Box:
- Image WindowImages opened and previewed in the DNG Profile Editor are read-only. The DNG Profile Editor is not an image editor; it does not write any data or save any changes to images themselves. Any preview changes observed in the DNG Profile Editor (e.g., white balance adjustments, color table adjustments, tone curve adjustments) are for preview purposes only and are not saved to the image.
Color Tables Pane
Use this pane to edit a profile’s color tables. Most of your profile-editing work will likely occur in this pane.
How to use:
- Base Profile popup menuUse an existing profile as a starting point for color and tone adjustments. The key concept is that all adjustments in the current recipe will be defined relative to this base profile. As you open DNG images, profiles embedded in those images will be added to the Base Profile menu, making it easy for you to flip between profiles and determine which one you prefer to start working from. You can also select an external (i.e., non-embedded) profile from disk (e.g., one of the new Adobe Standard profiles) by choosing the last option, Choose External Profile…
- Color Table popup menuChoose which color table to edit. In most cases, the choice of illuminant will either be 2850 K or 6500 K. This affects the color adjustments shown in the Color List Box and on the Color Wheel.
- Color List BoxThe Color List Box shows all color adjustments in the current recipe for the illuminant selected in the Color Table popup menu.
Notes:
- Select an existing color adjustment by clicking on it in the Color List Box. It will become highlighted, and the Color Wheel and Hue/Saturation/Lightness sliders will update to reflect the new selection.
- The small box to the left of each adjustment (see illustration above) is an enable/disable checkbox. Use it to toggle individual color adjustments. Useful for preview purposes.
- The small dash to the right of each adjustment (see illustration above) is a delete button. Use it to delete a color adjustment from the recipe.
- The long color rectangle is divided into two halves. The left half shows the original (i.e., “source”) color. The right half shows the modified (i.e., “destination”) color.
- Creating a new color adjustmentClicking on a color within an image will create a color control point with the same source and destination colors. In this default state, the selected color is effectively “locked down” and thus cannot be affected by other color control points.
- Color WheelThe black circle with the white outline shows the original (i.e., source) color of the selected color adjustment. A white arrow is drawn towards the new (i.e., destination) color. You can drag the tip of the white arrow to modify the destination point without affecting the source point. You can also drag the source point to move both the source and destination control points (i.e., the relative color adjustment remains the same). Image previews will be updated in real-time.
Unselected color adjustments are drawn as small black squares with gray borders. You may click on one of these black squares to select the corresponding color adjustment.
Note that you cannot modify the Lightness parameter using the Color Wheel. Instead, you must use the Lightness slider, described below.
Other shortcuts:
- Command/Control-click on the Color Wheel to create a new color control point.
- Option/Alt-click an existing color control point to delete it.
- Adjustment SlidersUse the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders to modify the currently-selected color adjustment. Image previews will be updated in real-time.
Tone Curve Pane
Use this pane to edit the profile’s tone curve.
How to use:
- Base Tone Curve popup menuA base tone curve is the default tone curve used by a profile to process images. Choose one of the following options:
- Base Profile: This profile will use the tone curve from the base profile selected in the Color Tables pane.
- Camera Raw Default: This profile will use the default Camera Raw tone curve. This option is useful if you wish to use the color adjustments (but not the tone curve adjustments) of an existing profile as a starting point.
- Linear: This profile will use a linear tone curve. This option is not recommended for most cases, since it will make images look dark and flat, but it may be useful to photographers who require linear results for post-processing (e.g., for some HDR applications).
- Tone Curve adjustmentThe tone curve controls are nearly identical to Camera Raw’s point curve. These controls define a tone curve adjustment relative to the base tone curve. By default, the curve is linear (i.e., plotted as a straight line), meaning that no adjustment is made to the base tone curve.
In the illustration below, the tone curve has been modified to boost midtone contrast.
- Show Base Tone CurveThis option is for visualization purposes only. When this checkbox is enabled, the DNG Profile Editor plots the base tone curve in red. As noted above, any user-specified tone curve adjustments (plotted in black) will be applied relative to the base tone curve (plotted in red). An example is shown below.
Color Matrices Pane
DNG camera profiles contain both color tables and color lookup matrices; this pane is used for editing the latter. Tweaking the color matrices is not necessary in most cases. Instead, we recommend editing the color tables (via the Color Tables pane, see above) because it offers selective color adjustments for finer control, compared to the global color adjustments that result from editing color matrices.
The two main reasons for editing the color matrices are (1) to apply camera calibration settings created using an earlier version of Camera Raw (CR 4.4.1 and earlier) or Lightroom (LR 1.4.1 and earlier) and (2) to handle infrared-modified cameras and extreme lighting conditions.
How to use:
- Primary Hue and Saturation SlidersThe Red Primary, Green Primary, and Blue Primary Hue and Saturation sliders function in the same way as the corresponding sliders in Camera Raw and Lightroom. They can be useful for broad (i.e., global) color adjustments. For instance, to increase saturation in all colors, try setting the three saturation sliders all to +5.
Important Note: If you use these six hue and saturation sliders (i.e., set them to non-zero values), be sure to set the corresponding sliders in Camera Raw and Lightroom to zero. Otherwise these color matrix adjustments will be applied twice!
- White Balance Calibration SlidersThe White Balance Calibration sliders affect the camera profile’s white balance interpretation. Specifically, they control how camera neutral values map to the temperature and tint values. They are intended to be used in situations where an image’s white balance would otherwise fall outside Camera Raw’s standard range (i.e., 2000 K to 50000 K temperature, –150 to +150 tint). This is useful, for example, when using infrared-modified cameras or photographing in extreme lighting conditions. See Tutorial 4 for more information.
Note that an image’s white balance is displayed in the image window’s title bar. The temperature and tint numbers will change as you adjust the White Balance Calibration sliders. This behavior is expected, since these sliders determine how camera neutral values map to temperature and tint values.
Be careful not to confuse the White Balance Calibration sliders in the DNG Profile Editor with the White Balance sliders in Camera Raw and Lightroom. See this FAQ entry.
Options Pane
Use this pane to specify profile metadata.
How to use:
- Profile NameThis is the internal profile name that shows up in the profile menu inside of Camera Raw and Lightroom. The internal profile name does not have to be the same as the external filename of the profile, though it is good practice to make them similar. If this field is left empty, the DNG Profile Editor will automatically set the internal name of the profile to be equal to the external filename, thereby ensuring consistency.
- CopyrightA copyright string to be saved with the profile.
- Embed PolicyDefines the profile’s embed policy (relevant to DNG images only). Four options are available:
- Allow Copying: The profile is embeddable and copyable into installations that encounter this profile, so long as the profile is only used to process DNG files.
- Embed If Used: The profile can be embedded in a DNG for portable processing, but cannot be used to process other files that the profile is not embedded in.
- Embed Never: Can only be used if installed on the machine processing the file. Note that this only applies to stand-alone (i.e., external) profiles. Profiles that are already embedded inside a DNG file are allowed to remain embedded in that DNG, even if the DNG is resaved.
- No Restrictions: There are no restrictions on profile use or embedding.
Note that some of the embed policy options may be disabled (i.e., grayed out). The general rule is that you may choose an embed policy that is at least as restrictive as the embed policy of the base profile (which is selected from the Color Tables pane). For example, if the base profile’s embed policy is Allow Copying then you may choose Allow Copying, Embed If Used, or Embed Never from the Embed Policy popup menu; No Restrictions is disabled because it is less restrictive than the base profile’s embed policy of Allow Copying.
Chart Pane
Use this pane to perform automatic color adjustments with the aid of a ColorChecker Chart. See Tutorial 5 and Tutorial 6 for more information.
Note that images opened and previewed in the DNG Profile Editor are read-only. The DNG Profile Editor is not an image editor; it does not write any data or save any changes to images themselves. Any preview changes observed in the DNG Profile Editor (e.g., white balance adjustments, color table adjustments, tone curve adjustments) are for preview purposes only and are not saved to the image.
How to use:
- When the Color Tables pane is active, click on a color within an image to create a new color adjustment. If the chosen color is close to an existing color adjustment, the existing adjustment will be selected instead of creating a new adjustment. Use the Color Tables pane to modify your selected color.
- When the Tone Curve pane is active, click on an area of the image to create a new tone curve control point. If the chosen area is close to an existing tone curve control point, the existing point will be selected instead of creating a new point.
- Context-click (i.e., right-click or control-click) on a neutral area of the image to set the image’s white balance. The white balance of the image is displayed in the image window’s title bar.
- Command/Control-click to zoom in.
- Option/Alt-click to zoom out.
File menu
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How to use:
- Open DNG Image…Open a DNG image file for editing. You can open multiple DNG images simultaneously. Color and tone adjustments will be previewed on all open images.
- Close DNG Image / Close All DNG ImagesClose the current DNG image window(s).
- Open Recipe…Open an existing profile recipe from disk. Only one recipe can be open at a time; opening a recipe from disk automatically closes the previous one.
- Save Recipe / Save Recipe As…Saves the current profile recipe to disk.
- Revert RecipeRevert the current profile recipe to the version saved on disk (if any).
- Export…Exports a DNG camera profile from the current profile recipe. The exported profile can then be installed and used in Camera Raw, Lightroom, and any raw converter that supports DNG 1.2. Profiles are camera-specific, so the Export option in the File menu will list the camera model (e.g., Canon EOS 5D) corresponding to the current open DNG image.
If you have two or more DNG images open from different camera models, then you have a choice as to which camera model you wish to export the profile for. Example: suppose you have 2 images open, one for a Canon EOS 5D and one for a Nikon D200. To export a profile for the 5D, click on the 5D image window (i.e., so that it is active), go to the File menu, and select Export Canon EOS 5D profile…. To export a profile for the D200, click on the D200 image window (i.e., so that it is active), go to the File menu, and select Export Nikon D200 profile….
Edit menu
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How to use:
- Copy Color Adjustments…The DNG Profile Editor supports separate color adjustments for two illuminants (usually illuminants A (approximately 2850 K) and D65 (approximately 6500 K)). This option allows you to copy the color adjustments made for one illuminant to the other. Note that if you use this option, all color adjustments for the other illuminant will be replaced (i.e., overwritten) by the ones from the source illuminant.
- Reset White Balance For Current ImageReverts the white balance for the current image to its state when it was first opened in the DNG Profile Editor.
- Clear Color AdjustmentsDeletes all color adjustments for both illuminants (i.e., clears the Color List Box in the Color Tables pane). This operation does not affect tone curve adjustments, color matrix adjustments, or profile metadata changes.
- Clear All AdjustmentsSimilar to Clear Color Adjustments but resets everything (including color adjustments, tone curve, color matrices, and profile metadata) to their default values.
View menu
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How to use:
- Zoom In / Zoom OutZoom the current image in and out.
- Fit On Screen / Fit in View / Actual PixelsAdditional zooming features for the current image.
- Edit Color TablesSelects the Color Tables pane in the recipe window.
- Edit Tone CurveSelects the Tone Curve pane in the recipe window.
- Edit Color MatricesSelects the Color Matrices pane in the recipe window.
- Edit OptionsSelect the Options pane in the recipe window.
- Edit ChartSelects the Chart pane in the recipe window.
Options menu
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How to use:
- Edit Both Color Tables SimultaneouslyWhen this option is enabled, the DNG Profile Editor will allow you to perform color adjustments simultaneously to both color tables (i.e., for both the 2850 K and 6500 K tables). This setup is recommended for new users because it’s easier to get started.
When this option is disabled, you can perform color adjustments separately to each color table without affecting the other color table (i.e., one can make separate adjustments for each illuminant). This is useful for optimizing colors for different lighting conditions.
Note that this option only affects adjustments made in the Color Tables pane.
- Preview Color Table AdjustmentsToggles on/off preview of all color adjustments made in the Color Tables pane.
- Preview Tone Curve AdjustmentsToggles on/off preview of all curve adjustments made in the Tone Curve pane.
- Show All Adjustments On Color WheelToggles on/off the display of inactive (i.e., unselected) control points on the Color Wheel.
By default this option is enabled. In this mode, the selected color adjustment is drawn in the Color Wheel as a large black circle; other color adjustments are drawn as small black squares. Disabling this option hides the small black squares, which is useful for preventing visual clutter in the Color Wheel when you have many color adjustments.
- Show ClippingToggles on/off the display of highlight and shadow clipping for all open images. Similar to the highlight and shadow clipping display in Camera Raw.
- Show Affected ColorsToggles on/off a visualization showing which colors are affected by the selected color adjustment in the Color Tables pane. This visualization applies to all open images. The affected color region is also highlighted on the Color Wheel.
- Apply Camera Raw AdjustmentsToggles on/off Camera Raw rendering adjustments. This option only affects how image previews are rendered in the DNG Profile Editor.
When this option is disabled, Camera Raw settings (e.g., Fill Light, HSL adjustments, etc.) will be ignored when rendering the image preview in the DNG Profile Editor. Otherwise, these settings will be applied to the rendered image previews.
It is recommended that this option be disabled in order to maximize the generality of the camera profile you are building. At first, this may seem counterintuitive. Remember, however, that the purpose of the DNG Profile Editor is to edit camera profiles that will serve as a useful starting point for further image adjustments in the raw converter; it is not intended to be a general editor for making image-specific adjustments. Consequently, image-specific adjustments should be disabled in the DNG Profile Editor for the purposes of building profiles.
- Fast RedrawWhen enabled, the DNG Profile Editor uses a low-resolution interactive image refresh (e.g., when dragging sliders in the Recipe Editor Window). This is useful when using slower machines or when working with multiple images simultaneously.
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