Capture One

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Add Punch to Your Portraits

It’s amazing what you can accomplish with an idea, a few talented people, and some incredible tools.

I wanted to create a vintage-inspired image of a boxer and was able to enlist the phenomenal talents of make-up artist Jen Brown (http://www.jenbrownmakeup.com) and my mustachioed friend Stephe.

For this shoot I was working with a P30+ and Phase one 645 DF+ and we built a small corner of a boxing ring in my studio that we lit with three Profoto acute heads.

I selected this image out of the bunch we shot, because of the aggressive cinematic feeling of the crop, his expression and the way the smoke behaved behind him. Right from the start we would then have a well-exposed slightly dramatic photo that we could push even further to achieve the dramatic results I was looking for.

Creative use of adjustment layers

Immediately I can tell there are things I’d like to emphasize and some distracting elements I’d like to tone down. Most of those adjustments will be made using the Local Adjustment Tools and the masks.

Creating a new layer and selecting the Gradient Mask Tool, I click, drag, and pull a mask for the bottom fourth of the frame.

By pulling the Exposure Slider to the left I bring the exposure down in the area occupied by the mask, reducing the glow of his bright red shorts.

Next I use the Brush Mask Tool to draw a mask over the ropes of the ring – as they are a bit too bright and distracting.

I prefer making this adjustment in Capture One Pro 7, as I can take full advantage of the wide dynamic range offered by the RAW files generated by the P30+.

The strategy I like to employ when I need to work quickly is to check the “Auto Mask” check box in the Brush Settings.

Capture One Pro 7 will actually help refine your mask when this setting is applied. Then you can go back and fine-tune even more with the Erase Mask Tool.

This additive/reductive technique is especially useful in allowing me to create more emphasis on his face.

I draw another a Gradient Mask from the top of the image, just like I did before with the bottom the image, only this time I move the Exposure Slider to the right as his head is a bit darker than his torso and I’d like to increase the exposure.

This makes too much of the image brighter. To maintain the dramatic effect of the image, I erase parts of the Gradient Mask.

This makes the adjustment more believable and draws more attention to the fighter’s face.

I also want to bring up the clarity a bit to emphasize the tremendous amount of detail that we have in this image, so I will make another layer and paint a mask over the top two thirds of the image, leaving the ropes and his torso unaffected by the Clarity Tool.

Before using the Clarity Tool

After using the Clarity Tool

Now that our overall image is looking fairly good, I am going to create a Variant so I can give the coloring of the image a final touch to manipulate the mood and emphasize the fantastic FX work of Jen Brown. Learn more on using Variants

I locate the Styles and Presets Tool, and apply a Color – Cross Blue to the entire image, then back off the saturation until the skin tones, although now cool in color, they are still looking natural and the red of his cuts really stands out.

His bruises also look darker and deeper as well.

With a little wood, a few lengths of rope and some fake blood, excellent colleagues and Capture One, I was able to achieve the exact image I had envisioned. I hope you have found techniques I have shared useful to you in your own work.

Best,

Ross

How to remove spots on your images

The Spot Removal Tool in Capture One Pro 7 removes two different kinds of ‘spots’ you may see on your images. There are dust spots that are present on the camera sensor itself and spots or blemishes on the image subject – for example skin blemishes.

Capture One Pro 7 is able to remove both of these with the Spot Removal Tool. By default it can be found in the Details tool tab.

You can select between spot or dust removal.

Multiple spot removal points can be placed on the image and they can be a range of different sizes and not limited to just Spot or Dust removal.

Example – Spot Removal

This image has a number of spots around the nose and mouth, which we can clearly see if we enlarge a little.

One possibility would be to export the image to Photoshop and use the clone or healing brush to remove the spots. However, that involves an extra step, which will take additional time.

To remove spots in Capture One Pro 7, first select the ‘Remove Spot’ Cursor Tool. It can be selected in the Spot Removal Tool itself or from the Cursor Toolbar.

The ‘Type’ menu selects between removing a ‘Spot’ (Blemish on the image itself) or ‘Dust’ (Dust on the camera’s sensor). The algorithms we use to detect and remove the dust are quite different for each type, so it is important you choose the correct one. You can choose this before clicking on the spot to remove or afterwards, so don’t worry if you initially choose the wrong option.

Adjust the radius of the spot removal tool, by dragging the ‘Radius’ slider to the left or right. Try to aim for a spot removal tool size a little larger than the spot itself.

If you need to change the parameters, like the type and size once you have placed the spot, you can do so in the Spot Removal Tool. Additionally you can also adjust the radius by hovering near the edge of the spot.

Once a number of removal points have been placed on an image the Spot Removal Tool will look like this.

In the ‘Spot’ pull down menu you can select individual removal points and adjust them further. Click on the minus icon to delete a point.

Finally, you can also right-click with the Remove Spot cursor for fast access to the parameters.

Here is a comparison of the same image with and without spot removal.

Here is the image with the Spot removal points shown.

The procedure is exactly the same for removing Dust spots from the camera sensor itself.

Best regards,

David

I don’t give a JPEG!

You’ve finessed your images to the point of delicious visual perfection……..
Now what?

Now you need to process them. And as you’ll see, I actually sometimes give a JPEG.

This seldom talked about part of the workflow can save you a ton of time with just a few minutes planning. But there are so many options……..

6bit or 8bit? TIFF or JPEG?

The client wants low-res JPEG’s and full-res TIFF’s in different folder. Sure thing, easy.

All the images need to be exactly 23.5cm in length on the short edge? EASY PEASY!

Where are my processed images? Capture One Pro 7 has a built-in sniffer dog ready to track your images down with one click of a button.

This final stage in our workflow series shows you how do all these things and make great coffee along the way (maybe I lied about the coffee)

Enjoy the last part of my workflow tutorial!

Warmest wishes,

Adrian

Ch-ch-changes by Adrian Weinbrecht

So what’s next? You’ve got your raw images loaded into Capture One Pro 7, now what?

Now it’s time to set up your workspace, choose your tools and get creative! Capture One Pro 7 gives you a huge range of tools and choices, but which tools do you really need to use every day?

In this Workflow Tutorial Part II I will go through how I set up the various computers I have running Capture One Pro 7. Believe it or not the tools I use most, can be contained in one tool tab. Life is better when it’s simple.

Capture One Pro 7 makes great photography easier.

Please feel free to post any questions or comments you might have.

Check out “Data Love Part I” here and see how I set up a session, name, import and rate it in Capture One Pro 7

Thanks for watching.

Warmest wishes

Adrian Weinbrecht