Capture One

Latest Posts

Fewer clicks, better results!

The Auto Levels feature in Capture One 8.2 now has some new options, allowing you to optimize your images more efficiently and with more control.

Auto Levels now has two different modes: linked RGB channel optimization and individual channel optimization.

The new individual channel mode can, for instance, be very efficient for optimizing landscape images of mountains in the winter and spring time, where the combination of UV, snow, blue sky and distant haze can introduce a color cast.

The left image has been optimized using Auto Level set for linked RGB Channel Mode. The right image has been optimized using Auto Level set for individual Channel Mode. The individual channel mode removes the color cast both in the highlights (the snow) and in the shadows giving a much more pleasing image.

A Level tool for each color channel:

Let’s take a look at the image from the comparison above. In order to show you the optical challenges I will start creating three floating Levels tools. This allows me to see all the individual channels at the same time.

Adding an extra floating Levels tool from the Window menu

The 3 Levels tool stacked together each showing one color channel

When placing a tool underneath another floating tool, it will automatically stick to the first one. Now with the three individual histograms open at the same time, it is obvious to see that the black offset is not the same for the three channels. Distant haze and the high amount of scatter light hitting the lens cause this.

Individual channel mode:

When the histograms look like this, it makes sense to optimize the Levels for each individual color histogram. This can of course be done manually by dragging the end points but the new Auto Levels mode makes it possible to automate this task. To change the Auto Level mode from the default linked RGB Mode to the individual Red, Green, and Blue Channels mode, go the Preferences under the Exposure tab.

Changing Auto Levels mode in the Preferences menu

It’s possible to go directly to the Preferences menu from the Levels tool via the tool context menu indicated by the three dots. See screenshot above.

In the Preferences for the Levels tool it is now also possible to set the Auto Level Clipping thresholds. These thresholds determine how far into the histogram the shadow and highlight slider moves when using the Auto button in the tool.

The result of using the Auto button for the Levels tool when in individual channel mode. Notice how each color histogram has been optimized. The Exposure Warning is turned on and shows just a bit of highlight warning for areas reading more than 250. The red circle shows the Auto button for the Levels tool.

The default values are set for clipping only 0.1% of the histograms, which works well for most images. Setting higher values for the thresholds will lead to more clipping but will also result in an image with more contrast.

In this example the Auto Level Clipping thresholds have been set to 5%. With the Exposure Warning turned on we see that a much larger portion of the image now exceeds the warning levels.

Comparing the two different channel modes:

Now let’s go back to the comparison image where the Auto Levels feature has been applied using the two different modes. When using RGB channel mode we see that the RGB levels histogram gets clamped leaving the individual color histograms untouched.

In Red, Green, and Blue Channel mode the individual histograms get clamped, which leads to a fully expanded RGB histogram. Again it is easy to see the benefit of using the individual channel mode in this case as it leads to a more clean green color of the trees, removes the blue cast of the distant trees and cleans up the color cast in the snow.

RGB channel mode Red, Green, and Blue channel mode

Picking a Shadow or Highlight point works differently depending on the Channel Mode:

When the channel mode is set for the default RGB channel, the Shadow and Highlight picker will set the corresponding sliders as well as any target value in the RGB histogram. This will ensure that the White Balance of the image is maintained, which is extremely important for many images

In Red, Green, and Blue Channel mode the Shadow and Highlight picker as well as target values will work in the individual histograms.

All the best,

Niels

Automation in Capture One – a lesson in rocket surgery

Naming tokens have been a feature of Capture One for years. In 8.1 naming functionality was extended to include more tokens and in 8.2 we have expanded the functionality even further to generate file paths using the tokens. We call this Dynamic Locations.

Dynamic Locations enable you to filter output files automatically into relevant folders, based on the token you have chosen, e.g. color tag or rating. This enables you to organize your images faster and with consistency, reduce user input and increase efficiency.

The “Token”

But what is a token? At its core the idea of tokens has one function: Automation. It extracts some property, stores it and then inserts it in place of the token. For example, renaming an image with the [folder name token] would take the name of the folder the image resides in (parent directory) and use it as part of the name of the image.

E.g. Batch rename tool using the parent folder as a source for naming.

By using the token instead of typing, much of the mundane and often complex ideas surrounding file management and naming is taken care of. It reduces user error and improves efficiency.

Token paths

“Token path” is a new workflow concept of Capture One 8.2. It has been developed as part of feedback from the Phase One Certified Professional program along with input from the ex-studio techs working in Technical support. It builds on the existing logic of naming tokens for file names, but instead builds file paths (folders) based on the extrapolated data.

For example, color tag in Paths makes a folder called Red for any red-tagged images whereas the color tag token in the name string would process files with the relevant color tag as part of the name – e.g Red_001.jpeg.

Using tokens effectively

The first step when trying out tokens for import or output is deciding the “root folder” on which to build the path. For importation in a typical session this is the “Capture” folder, and for output the “Ouput folder” Any tokens then used in the sub path field will build on this location.

Tip: Try and keep everything relative to the session to make the session compartmentalized and structured. It is important to remember any folder can be actioned as a Capture folder or Output folder. The token paths will then obviously use this as the starting point as the sub path.

E.g. the result of using the token in sub folder (above) will be Output/Red/image.jpg if you process a variant with a red tag.

Here are some use cases and examples of how tokens might help you take control of your workflow:

Import

One of the most tiresome import tasks is to organize volumes of images by some sort of metric. Date is the most obvious but there are others: file type or serial numbers from multiple cameras for example.

By using the date tokens in the import subfolder field, images are imported and then filed into folders based on the parent image exif date. A large travel story shot over a number of CF cards can then be quickly organized into folders named according to the day it was shot.

E.g. Set up for importing by date. I’ve set the Capture folder to the destination then used [YY][MM][DD] tokens in the subfolder path. This makes a single date folder inside Capture but I could get creative and make a more nested structure like [YY]/[DD]/[MM] and make Capture/2014/02/14/ for example.

E.g. The importer going to work on over 1500 Raw files shot over two weeks. As new exif dates are discovered, a folder is made and the relevant images piped into the folder.

Tethering

If you are on the case with your shoot prep and make the folders ahead of time you can use the folder name as part of next Capture naming. Then when I change folder, then naming follows. On a high paced set this kind of smart planning pays dividends.

E.g. An example extracting the name of the folder I’m shooting to into the file name.

Batch rename

Tokens can be used for batch renaming. With the new IPTC tokens this opens up huge renaming possibility.

E.g. Batch renaming files using tokens (e.g after deletions) is an easy way to restore numbering and chronology.

Processing/Export

Probably the biggest use-cases for the token paths is Processing. Replicating the input structure in output, division of rating by folder or making collections of images in folders named after some IPTC element (say photos of a location or persons name). A whole shoot, processed to hi res tiff and web-jpeg copies, sub divided into star rated folders? No problem! The file type and star rating token in the sub path will have this done in no time.

E.g. Sending a mix of tagged and star rated images to output, organizes the images into folders first by tag, then subdivided into rating.

Every recipe has the ability to define a “sub folder” and therefore use tokens. In the output tab there is an additional tool called output location. This sets the “output” folder (same as right clicking a folder in the library>set as output) that can also define a sub folder. Why two places? The two can be mixed! This allows you to define a static element, and then build a recipe-specfic element on top. See the advanced tips below.

Advanced use

Every token has its own variables. For example if I were to use the token: [orientation] in my processing subfolder field, and process a mixed batch of portrait and landscape images I can expect the output folder to contain two folders in output after processing (as the two variables of orientation are “Portrait” and “landscape”). The relevant images are then piped into each folder.

This idea becomes immensely powerful when you look at the kind of tokens available and the workflow data available: date, rating, document names, folder names, file types and metadata.

Like name tokens, path tokens can be combined or mixed with text elements Further nesting beyond 1 folder level can be done by using the applicable OS path delimiters – “ / “for mac and “ \ “for windows: eg. (mac) Output/[parentfolder]/[colortag]

E.g. The result above will be Output/Selects/Red/image.jpg for variants marked with a red tag

The output location tool also has a subfolder field which can be used in conjunction with recipes. This allows the user to build a static element and then each recipe builds on this.

E.g. In the above example, the output location extracts the Recipe name resulting in Output/Tiff final AND Output/Web jpeg 50 (as two recipes are enabled). The sub folder in process recipe is the same for both recipes – Selects/Colortag. This is then built in each output folder to give:

Output/Tiff final/Selects/red/image.tiff
Output/Web jpeg 50/Selects/red/image.jpeg

Final words

The matrix of what is possible is near infinite and can get pretty complex. Getting the best out of it means understanding the variables for each token and testing it in your workflow. Most of the workflow examples here are session based but the ideas are just as valid for catalogs. There’s no reason why it can’t be adapted to your preferred workflow.

Want to know more about the Dynamic Locations? Check out this on-demand webinar.

Best regards,

James

How far can you go with Capture One 8.2?

Our Image Quality Professor, Niels V. Knudsen, took the shot below of his rental car some years ago while on vacation in the sunny American desert.

I will use this image (with intended room for improvements) to really illustrate just how easy and powerful the creative tools are in Capture One.

Powerful Adjustment Layers

With the update to Capture One 8.1, the maximum amount of Local Adjustment layers increased from 10 to 16. This is an example of how far you can actually go in Capture One, using Local Adjustments in an intelligent way.

In total I used 14 Local Adjustment layers for this image. I won’t go into details for every adjustment and provide specific examples, as not all of them are equally important. However, I’ve mentioned each adjustment in the text so you can follow along.

Healing the road

The first thing on the list of improvements was the road. I used three healing layers in total. One heal layer helped to remove some of the undesirable elements but all three helped to retain the detail and tones of the foreground.

Fixing the color temperature

Next I wanted to fix the White Balance between foreground and background, shadow and highlight. The area in shade was masked in and the white balance kelvin was increased by ~2500K. I then created another layer to clean up the image, removing the moon in the corner and any signs of dust with two healing layers. The image is well on its way to professional polish! See below.

I then went ahead and created a gradient layer for the sky, changing the exposure and color to a more pleasing tone. Still within Local Adjustments, I went to the Advanced Color Editor, picked the color of the sky and changed the hue, saturation and brightness just slightly. See screenshot below.

I also decreased the Exposure and increased Saturation for the masked area. In the next steps I added a little Brightness and Contrast to the car, along with adding some “dullness” to the mountains in form of less contrast, less saturation and more highlight recovery. This helps in increasing the focus on the car.

This next step was to increase the light, contrast and saturation to the horizon line that lies in shade, creating a bit more separation between the asphalt and the sunlit mountains. I also added two soft masks to darken the asphalt around the car, which helps the focus on the car even further by adding a custom Vignette effect.

In this step I added Contrast overall, a bit of High Dynamic Range adjustment, Clarity (both overall and Structure adjustment) and a bit more color change to the sky using the Advanced Color Editor. This helped to create the micro contrast that’s very important for images in this style.

The dust specs in the sky were removed. I went in and added a tiny bit of Negative Clarity, as well as Negative Structure to the car with a Local Adjustment layer. This was to distinguish the car’s detail from the asphalt and the mountains surrounding it. Again, this adds necessary focus to our subject.

Finally, with the new Color Balance Tool outside of the Local Adjustment Tool, it was very easy to give the image the overall toning I wanted. I added some turquoise to the Shadows and some orange in the Midtones as well as the Highlights. The complimentary tones do wonders to emphasis the composition of the image and it adds to the look I was trying to achieve.

As the crowning detail I added some text filled with gibberish and a homemade logo to a separate document and imposed it over the image with the Overlay tool to get an idea of how a final mock-up might look. I think it’s safe to say the image came a long way. I present to you the brand new Awesome SuperCar, brought to you by Capture One Pro 8!

The before-image for comparison:

Best regards,

Alexander Flemming

Color control like never before

In the previous tip about color grading and the new 3-way Color Balance tool, Color grading made easy, I covered the basic functionality of the new Color Balance tool along with a quick look “under the hood” of the new tool.

In this post I’ll go much deeper, exploring the far corners of the tool, it’s more advanced application, and the design choices made to provide the users with a quick yet precise way of “grading” his or her images.

Algorithm design

Let’s start by investigating how this tool is different from the traditional Levels and Curves Tools.

First, as I mentioned in Color grading made easy, no knowledge of complimentary color interactions is needed to use the new Color Balance tool. You simply select the specific color you desire and increase the saturation and/or luminance until you have achieved the precise tone you want.

For toning, Levels have usually been the preferred way to achieve the desired look. Let’s take a look into how the Color Balance tool is different:

Levels (and Curves): When adjusting the Blue channel, for example, and adding more blue to the shadows, one would increase the Shadow Output Level. Of course, this results in more blue, but it has the distinct side effect of lifting the overall luminance value of the shadows. Another side effect you’ll find is the Shadow output Level affecting more and more into the midtone values and eventually even the highlights. Avoiding this effect requires tedious curve point anchoring and adjustment.
Color Balance tool: The new Color Balance tool works all together differently. If the Shadow wheel is adjusted, the adjustment will never affect the highlight, and will only affect the lowest midtones values to create a pleasing roll-off. However, the real game-changer is the preservation of the deep shadows. This retains a much higher detail level in the shadows, as the luminance is not changed in the deep shadows.
The same principle applies, to some extent, to the Highlights. Here the tool retains the extreme highlight areas when using small corrections.
The Lightness sliders provide a quick way of adjusting the luminosity of the selected value. This adjustment is applied with a limited impact on saturation, which is a different approach from both the Levels and Curves tool. These sliders can act as both classic input and output adjustments, depending on which way they are adjusted. The Midtone Lightness slider is particular interesting as it provides an impressive, and otherwise non-existent, Midtone Output slider.

Illustration 1: This illustration on a black and white gradient shows the deeper shadows being preserved.

Integration with other tools and workflow

Retaining the deep shadows can of course be problematic if the “milky” look from the high Output levels is desired. In this case, after obtaining the desired color toning, increase the RGB Output Level and you have the same effect. However you will achieve much more individual control.

In general, the Color Balance tool is all about color and intensity, whereas Levels and Curves will also change contrast and luminance. Because of that difference, when using Levels or Cuves, a given image will need more adjustments than usual to obtain the same end-result and will likely be much harder to achieve.

Illustration 2 and 3: This shows the same image, with the same look. Left is done with Levels, Right is done with the Color Balance tool. Notice the Saturation and RGB levels.

With non-destructive editing in Capture One, there is no “right way” of adjusting a given image. However, there are workflows and tools that can greatly minimize the time required to achieve the desired result and toning of an image. As an example, here is how I usually achieve my “look” and tone for a given portrait:

Change the Base Characteristics: I start by changing the Film Curve to my liking. I usually prefer the “Extra Shadow” curve for most images.
Increase and adjust global contrast and exposure using the Exposure tool, High Dynamic Range, Clarity and Levels.
Use the Skintone Tool and Uniformity slider to dial in my desired Skintone
At this point I am ready to use the Color Balance tool. I like to use tones that are already present in the picture as inspiration for the toning. That could be clothing, eye-color, background, props etc.
When I am happy with the colors, I usually make a brief detour back to the exposure adjustments to fine-tune the image.

Improved editing speed using keyboard shortcuts

Since we’re talking about the time it takes to adjust an image, it’s worth noting that all the sliders on the Color Balance tool can be assigned to Modifier Keys.

With the right hardware, such as a Wacom tablet, or video grading wheels and trackballs, you can achieve the colors you want much faster.

I mentioned a few Modifier Keys in Color grading made easy. There is one more worth mentioning (Windows only), and that is the Alt-key coupled with mouse movement. Using this Key will dampen the mouse movement at ratio of approximately 3:1. This makes adjustments in the 3-way tool much more accurate, especially if you’re using a Wacom pen. Use the Wacom utility to assign and configure as you see fit.

With and Without the Color Balance tool

So what do images look like with and without the Color Balance adjustments? Let’s take a look at a few examples. Below each image set is paired with a black and white gradient showing the same toning applied. I’ve also included one gradient without any color adjustment for reference.

Illustration 4: With-Left. Without-Right: A red Shadow and a slightly green Midtone. Notice how the green Midtone also helps to correct for the red skin tone.

Illustration 5: With-Left. Without-Right: Blue Shadows, yellow Midtones and slight red Highlights. Notice that while the grading seems slight, it’s impact on depth and skintone is significant.

Illustration 6: With-Left. Without-Right A very subtle edit, blue Shadows and yellow Highlights. Again, though subtle, the little added warmth to JUST the highlights significantly improves the quality of the image.

With all these new possibilities, I’m happy to introduce you to my new favorite tool! The Color Balance tool makes toning easy and fast. Not only that, it also gives me more control over the final image for picture perfect results.

I hope you will enjoy the new Color Balance tool as much as I do.

Best wishes,

Christian Grüner