Prefs Tab
The Prefs tab contains some options for defining the behavior of ColorWasher.
On Start Up
The default "Previous Settings" of the On Start Up control will load the settings that were used to correct the previous image when running ColorWasher. The "Default Settings" will set all controls back to default values with activated automatic contrast and exposure correction. "Original Image" will start ColorWasher with no correction applied to the image. The "Logged Settings" option will automatically open the settings that were applied the last time to the same image. It only works if you previously had the Log Settings check box activated and if you are using Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro (see below for more information). The "Auto 1" to "Auto 4" settings will simulate a push of the appropriate Auto button when ColorWasher starts up.
On Reset
The behavior of the Reset button can be defined by the On Reset combo box. If it is set to "Default Settings" and click the Reset button, it will deactivate a lot of other controls, but activate the default setting for the Auto Contrast and Exposure Fix combo boxes. That means you won't see the original image when hitting Reset, but a contrast and exposure corrected version. To additionally deactivate these three controls please hold down the Shift key and click on Reset.
If On Reset is set to "Original Image" all corrections will be deactivated and the uncorrected image will be displayed in the preview. If "Preview Settings" is activated on the Prefs tab, clicking Reset will load the settings that were used for correcting the previous image. If you select "Own Defaults", you will be prompted to select a preset file that was already saved with the Save button. So if you want the Reset button to revert back all controls to your preferred setting, you have to save a preset file of that setting at first. See below for more information on saving a preset file.
If you press the Reset button after setting On Reset to "Logged Settings", ColorWasher will look into the logfiles sub folder inside the ColorWasher folder and see if a preset was saved with the name of the current image. This preset may have been automatically saved by ColorWasher, because the Log settings check box was activated and you already applied a correction to this image (or an image with the same file name). If ColorWasher can find a preset file, it will immediately open it. If ColorWasher doesn't find one, nothing will happen.
Apply B/W
The Apply B/W combo box on the Prefs tab determines the behavior of the B/W button. If you set it to "Before Correction" and activate the B/W button, the B/W conversion will be done before the correction is applied. That way you can create colored B/W effects with the help of the Color tab features. The "After Correction" option makes the B/W button behave as usual and allows you to create B/W variations of your image.
Language
The Language combo box lets you switch between various localizations of the ColorWasher dialog. You can choose to have it in English, German, Netherlandish, French, Spanish and Portuguese. When running ColorWasher for the first time, it will automatically set this option to the language of your Windows installation.
Drag Output
Activating the Drag Output check box updates the preview while you are moving it with the right mouse button or with the Alt key and the left mouse button. The dragging will be less fluid than with deactivated Drag Output, because ColorWasher has to recalculate the preview for every move you make. It is not recommended to use this feature with slower computers.
Histo Zoom
Activating the Histo Zoom check box in the Prefs tab cuts off peaks for some images when displaying a histogram in the Histo tab sheet. This avoids a flat histogram display where only a few high spikes are visible. That's also how Photoshop displays histograms. This options is activated by default.
Log Settings
With activated Log Settings check box ColorWasher automatically saves preset files in the logfiles sub folder of the ColorWasher folder when you press the OK button to apply a correction to an image. In Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro the presets are named with the file name of the image. In other applications a random number is used, because these applications don't supply the file name of the image to plugins like ColorWasher. If you apply ColorWasher a second time to the same image and have Log Settings activated, the previous preset file will be overwritten.
At least with Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro this feature allows you to easily find the settings that you applied to certain images by looking into the logfiles sub folder. For other applications you can only look at the file date and guess which preset files was used for which image.
In connection with the Logged Settings option of the On Start Up combo box (see above), you can use the Log Settings check box to automatically make ColorWasher start up with the settings that were applied the last time to the same image. So if you need to correct the same image again, you will automatically be presented with the same settings that you used the last time.
In case you don't want to start up ColorWasher with the logged settings or forgot to activate that option, you can also open the logged settings by right clicking on the Reset button and choosing "Logged Settings" from the context menu.