Photography and video production are all about capturing moments and telling stories through visuals. To make these visuals more appealing, color grading and post-processing are essential. They can transform a good photo or video into a stunning piece of art. One of the tools that have gained popularity in recent years is Dehancer.

Dehancer is a plugin for Adobe Photoshop that helps photographers and video editors enhance their images and videos. It provides a range of tools and features for color grading, exposure correction, and other post-processing tasks. In this article, we will take a closer look at Dehancer and see how it can help you take your photography and video production to the next level.

What is Dehancer?

Dehancer is a software plugin that is designed to work with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, Affinity, Capture One, DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro & Final Cut Pro. It offers a range of features that can help you enhance your images and videos. These features include exposure correction, contrast adjustment, saturation control, and color balance. Dehancer can also simulate film print emulation, halation, and Bloom effects.

Dehancer was developed by a team of professional photographers and video editors who were looking for a tool that could help them achieve the look and feel of traditional film prints. They wanted a tool that could help them create the same color tones, contrast, and saturation that were characteristic of classic film prints.

Is Dehancer worth it?

Dehancer is available to buy from their website. The pricing varies depending on the type of product you choose. You can also get a free trial of Dehancer to test out its features and capabilities. Also you can use my code: HAMMAD10 to get 10% off any Dehancer product purchase.

When it comes to value, Dehancer is definitely worth it. It offers a range of features that can help you enhance your images and videos. The film print emulation, halation, and Bloom effects are particularly useful for creating a vintage or retro look. The software is easy to use and provides a range of presets that can help you get started quickly. The user interface is also user-friendly and intuitive, making it easy to navigate.

Main features of Dehancer and what it does

Dehancer offers a range of features that can help you enhance your images and videos. Here are some of the main features and what they do:

• Color grading: Dehancer provides color grading tools such as color wheels, curves, and presets that allow users to adjust the color balance and tone of their images with great precision.

• Film emulation: Dehancer's film emulation tools allow users to simulate the look of different film stocks, from classic films like Kodak Tri-X and Ilford HP5 to modern films like Fuji Pro 400H and Kodak Vision3.

• Noise reduction: Dehancer's advanced noise reduction algorithms allow users to reduce noise in their images while preserving detail and sharpness.

• Sharpening and clarity: Dehancer includes tools for sharpening, clarity, and contrast adjustments, allowing users to enhance the details and texture in their images.

• Special effects: Dehancer offers unique special effects like colored grain, halation, and bloom, which allow users to create more authentic film looks.

• Batch processing: Dehancer's batch processing feature allows users to apply edits to multiple images at once, making it easy to process large numbers of photos quickly.

Getting and using Dehancer

To use Dehancer, you will need to download and install the plugin on your computer. You can do this by visiting the Dehancer website and following the instructions provided. Once you have installed the plugin, you can access it from within Adobe Photoshop or whichever software you are using.

• To use Dehancer with Lightroom, you'll need to install the Dehancer plugin for Lightroom. Here's how:

• Download and install the Dehancer plugin: Go to the Dehancer website and download the Dehancer plugin for Lightroom.

• Install the plugin: Follow the installation instructions provided by Dehancer to install the plugin on your computer.

• Launch Lightroom: Open Lightroom and select the photo you want to edit.

• Launch Dehancer: From Lightroom's menu, go to File > Plugin Extras > Dehancer to launch the Dehancer plugin.

• Apply edits: Use the editing options available in Dehancer to adjust the color grading, noise reduction, film emulation, and special effects in your photo.

• Save your changes: Once you're happy with your edits, save your changes and the edited image will be added to your Lightroom catalog.

To use Dehancer in Photoshop, you will need to open an image or video in the software and then select the Dehancer plugin from the filters menu. From there, you can access a range of features and tools that can help you enhance your images and videos.

Film print emulation, Defringe, halation, and Bloom in Dehancer

Dehancer also offers some unique features that can help you achieve a particular look or style. Here are some of the most popular features:

• Film print emulation: Dehancer can simulate the look of traditional film prints by replicating the color tones, contrast, and saturation of classic films.

• Defringe: This tool can help you remove color fringing or chromatic aberration that can occur in high-contrast images.

• Halation: This effect creates a soft glow around bright areas in an image, simulating the effect of light diffusing through film. 

• Bloom: This effect adds a dreamy or hazy look to an image by creating a soft glow around highlights.

• These features can help you create a unique and artistic look for your images and videos.

Before vs After

I took this photo in Sydney. The photo on the left is the basic image with no editing, whereas, the photo on the right has been edited in Dehancer for Lightroom with the “Kodak Ektar 25 (Exp. 1996) + Kodak Endura paper” preset with slight adjustments to exposure compensation, addition of bloom and a slight vignette reduction.

I don’t know about you, but the film emulation really makes the image look “vintage” and gives a nostalgic vibe to it. The halation, highlight bloom and film grain make a noticeable impact on the image as well. All this really makes you feel like you are looking back in time to the 90’s (greatest era in my opinion).

If you like the look of the Dehancer filters, they also offer LUT’s and effects for your videos, so you’re not only limited to Photo editing. If you want to know what the difference between a LUT and a Preset is, then look at this blog post.

Conclusion

Dehancer is a powerful tool that can help photographers and video editors enhance their images and videos. It offers a range of features and tools that can help you correct exposure, adjust contrast, control color saturation, and balance colors. It also provides unique features such as film print emulation, halation, and Bloom effects that can help you achieve a particular style or look.

If you are a photographer or video editor looking for a tool that can help you enhance your work, Dehancer is definitely worth considering. With its easy-to-use interface and range of features, it can help you take your photography and video production to the next level.

And if you would like a Free Preset, then check out this blog post.

Video Review

For a more visual look at how to install and use the Dehancer plugin with Adobe Lightroom, check out my YouTube video to get an idea about the types of film stock emulations available in the software, the way they look on images and how they affect the overall photo, and how to “create” your own look using the editing tools provided with the software.