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Work magic on your movies in Capture One 7

The great news is that you can now use Capture One to color correct or “grade” these files in an application that makes sense to you as a photographer and that you are already familiar with.

Better image quality in your movies

Additionally, using Capture One will open up the use for image quality tools not available in any current video editor. For example, bayer level noise reduction and significantly better highlight and shadow recovery.

The corrected images can then be compiled as a master clip in your chosen video editor.

Video cameras that are capable of recording in the Cinema DNG format simply capture individual frames as Cinema DNG files and store this as a sequence of images on the camera’s storage media. For example, a camera recording at 24 fps (frames per second) will write 24 Cinema DNG files for one second of footage.

Which cameras support Cinema DNG?

Cameras that support this format are abundant, as an example there are the products from Black Magic Design, including the relatively new Pocket Cinema Camera and the Magic Lantern adapted Canon DSLR’s.

Now you can use Capture One for producing the creative look you want for your movies and leave the editing tasks to your chosen movie editing application.

Working with Cinema DNG files

Capture One treats a Cinema DNG file exactly the same as a RAW image file with the ability to change or perhaps fix exposure, color and contrast. If you want to try out the workflow below, you can download some sample Cinema DNG files from here, courtesy of Black Magic Design.

Further sets of Cinema DNG files are available by changing the link to Shot_1, Shot_2 etc.

Try out the workflow

I started by creating a new Catalog (you could also use a Session workflow) and imported the Cinema DNG files. This gave me a sequence of 110 images, which will eventually go to form a clip of just over 4 seconds.

The unadjusted file in Capture One looks like this alongside a file with a few changes I made.

Using the tools in Capture One, I could increase the exposure, improve the shadow detail and I also change the density of the red jacket a little.

Note, I only needed to do this on one image for the sequence. After the first file is adjusted I used the Copy Adjustments icon in the toolbar (upward facing arrow) to copy my adjustments to the clipboard.

and then selected the rest of the images in the sequence and clicked on the Apply Adjustments icon, the downward facing arrow in the previous image.

I now have a complete sequence of corrected images.

To bring them into my chosen video editor I then need to export them as a 16bit TIFF file. I used the following settings for my process recipe.

This of course gives me a folder of one 16 Bit TIFF file for every processed Cinema DNG file. Now, I need to get these into my chosen video editor as a single clip.

You could use a simple package like Quicktime Pro 7 or your chosen video editing package. I haven’t had much time to experiment with Quicktime Pro7 but it is likely that the best quality will be achieved by using a full editing package like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere.

Quicktime Pro 7 was superseded by Quicktime Pro X but the newer version is unable to compile a sequence of images into a video file. There go with Quicktime Pro 7 that can be downloaded from here. You will need to buy a licence for Quicktime Pro, from Apple.

Unfortunately it is not possible to compile a sequence of images in Quicktime Pro X, which is the replacement version of Quicktime Pro 7.

Alternatively, search for many freeware applications that are available on Mac and Windows for the compilation of single images to a video sequence.

Open Quicktime Pro 7 and choose File>Open Image Sequence.

…you will then asked to set the frame rate. In this case, the footage was shot at 24fps.

Then your clip will then open as a compiled movie. Export this in the movie format or compression of your choice to then bring into your editor.

The same thing can be achieved by importing the image sequence into Final Cut Pro X or Adobe Premiere for example.

For Adobe Premiere some handy RGB Sequence presets can be installed by downloading the Black Magic Camera Utility 1.4.1 from http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support

I also experimented with using a Split Tone Preset to create this look in Capture One.

Here are the final two sequences edited together.

http://youtu.be/PutIaZ1mcSw

I am somewhat of a ‘newbie’ when it comes to processes like this but I believe it opens up interesting options for working with your movie files in a familiar application for color as well as other corrections.

Best regards

David

Eight major reasons to choose Capture One as your RAW converter

I’m often asked at events why a customer should choose Capture One as their application of choice for working with their images. In this blog post I will give you the major reasons.

Traditionally, our customers have chosen to use Capture One due to the quality of RAW conversion. Capture One 7 can deliver great out-of-the-box results in terms of pleasing natural looking colours, fine detail and low noise. Since the introduction of version 7, Capture One has taken a quantum leap in this aspect and even more features have been added allowing you to achieve even better results from you RAW files.

Capture One 7 also offer a wealth of professional tools to enable you to capture tethered, use Live View as you are used to on your DSLR, all in a completely customizable interface.

I was inspired to write this post by Doug Peterson from one of our US Partners,
Digital Transitions, as he had posted something similar on a photographic forum.

Capture One RAW conversion

You may have read in earlier blog posts about the new conversion engine in Capture One 7. Even before version 7 was released, customers chose to use Capture One, as they knew it would deliver the best image quality from their RAW files. To stay ahead of the competition the processing engine was completely revised and still delivers what our customers need: Ultimate image quality out-of-the-box.

The question of “Good Color” can often be subjective, but we believe that enough of our customers are convinced to be able to state this confidently. Especially when it comes to skin tones and saturated colors and highlight transitions.

Noise Reduction

Currently Capture One supports over 300 different camera models. Each camera supported has had a specific ICC profile built for it and is also carefully tested to determine the best noise reduction parameters for the full range of ISO settings. Even though the settings in the Noise Reduction Tool are set to 50 and 50 for all cameras, the ‘under-the-hood’ reduction differs for each camera and ISO setting.

At the respective settings of 50, we have made the best compromise between preserving detail and reducing noise. If you prefer a different look you can adjust accordingly.

We also try to remove as much noise as possible and not just ‘shape’ the noise. If you prefer a natural film grain look then you can add this in the Noise Reduction Advanced Tool (Capture One Pro only).

Professional Tools

A lot of our customers only use Capture One for tethering – i.e. capturing directly to Capture One. Capture One 7 has a number of tethering features that make it an obvious choice.

Plug and Play. Simply connect your DSLR and start capturing.

Live View. If your discipline is capturing still life and advertising shots, then being able to compose with Live View is a real time saver. The quality is extremely high with a fast frame rate. Additionally you can adjust the focus of the lens electronically with three degrees of coarseness. This aids composition and really ensures the focus point is exactly where you want it.

The Overlay function allows you to impose another image on top of the Viewer window. This could be a layout to ensure you are fitting within the requirements of the shoot, for example a magazine cover.

Capture Pilot is our iOS application that allows you to view and rate images, plus remote control your camera from your Apple iDevice. If you don’t have access to an Apple product you can also use any web enabled device, but with slighty less functionality.

Other professional tools include the Focus Mask, which reduces time on initial edits. If you are used to focus peaking on video cameras then the result is similar. The mask shows on the Viewer and Thumbnails indicating the sharpest areas of the image.

To check focus in general, use the fixed focus window to keep an eye on sharpness. This is especially useful in Portrait and high volume product photography. Read more on tethered photography here

Adjustment Tools

Capture One 7 has a number of feature rich adjustment tools to give you the creative look you desire. There are too many to mention in a simple blog post! I will use the Color Editor Tool as an example.

This tool allows you to really nail down particular colors (even down to the saturation of that color) and make finite adjustments. There is the possibility to make up to thirty different corrections and also save these as an ICC profile or Preset for future use.

It is our opinion that far more precise color edits can be made with this method of first selecting a color and then applying changes to that color, represented with a color circle, as opposed to using arbitrary sliders used in other applications.

Tools for Production

We understand that outputting final images to a number of different formats and sizing is often necessary. For example, a high resolution TIFF and a lower resolution JPEG for web/email. In Capture One 7 you can setup a number of “Recipes”, which can be enabled with a single click and then “start a process action”. This prevents you from having to enter an output dialog box multiple times to produce multiple file formats. Actions can also be set for MetaData, Adjustments and Water Marking.

Asset Management

Capture One 7 introduced Asset Management for the first time. While the concept of Catalogs is not new, we wanted to create a catalog system that had broad appeal and removed some of the limitations of other solutions available. For example, you can work with multiple Catalogs and more than one at the same time. Therefore you can choose to store your work in one or several Catalogs with no limitations.

With Catalogs we introduced the world to the concept of adjustable previews, enabling users to edit and work with their images, without having direct access to their raw files. This has proved to be an extremely valuable feature, making it possible to edit on the go while leaving the raw files on the hard drive or NAS in the studio.

We used our experience with Media Pro to make search and filtering fast and efficient with a simple interface, while implementing several organisational tools to make your Catalog efficient and well structured for easy cataloguing and retrieval. We can also import your catalogs from other applications to help you get started with Capture One.

Customization

Capture One 7 comes with a number of default workspaces, which you can choose as your starting point. Moving on from here you can change the location of the Tools and Thumbnails, decide what tools appear in which tool tab, create floating tools and more. You really can design an interface that works for you.

Also, think about designing workspaces for specific tasks to help increase production.

As well as customizing the interface, all of the shortcut key actions can be changed to your own preferences, helping you optimize your workflow.

Support

Finally, we have a number of ways to support and help you with Capture One, including an support department staffed with highly proficient technicians and photographers with years of experience between them, normally answering within hours and not days.

help.phaseone.com is a complete searchable manual for Capture One complemented by our YouTube channel (PhaseOneDK) which has over thirty videos on working with Capture One.

Our interactive Webinar program covers many aspects of working with Capture One.
Find out new dates here

Also, don’t forget this blog!

If you have yet to take Capture One Pro 7 for a spin, then download the 60 days free trial today

Best regards,

David

Create multiple looks on the same image in seconds

“We’re not sure exactly what we want. We were thinking maybe black & white or super saturated colour. Can we see a few different examples?”.

Have you ever heard these words from a client on (or after) a shoot? I have, more times then I can remember. I usually reply with a very relaxed ‘sure’ we can supply low res images in a variety of colour treatments.

How can we be so relaxed when the client is asking for what appears to be much more work? (They don’t like to pay for this stuff usually).

The answer lies in ‘VARIANTS’. This is Captures Ones magic sauce that makes multiple looks on the same image easier then cooking pot noodles. Just being able to see 2-3 examples of the same image side by side with different treatments is a very powerful production tool.

Check out this little tutorial below to see how you too can easily master Variants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVX1UPpUMoA&w=590&h=443

Thank you,

Adrian

Get picture-perfect portraits with Exposure Warnings

The default warning level is set to warn the user when highlight details exceed an RGB value of 250. If just one of the Red, Green or Blue channels exceeds the warning level setting, then this pixel will be painted with the warning color (set in Preferences).

Optimize different skin tones
Via the Capture One Preferences you can customize the warning levels. Set, for instance, the highlight warning level to a value of 230 and you can use the tool for optimizing portraits of people with light skin tones. Darker skin tone types need a little lower warning level.

With the highlight warning set to warn for over-exposed skin tones, it is very easy to optimize a selection of portraits via the Exposure or Levels Tool.

Above are three different versions of the same image. The left image shows the RAW file as it was taken, it is just slightly under-exposed.

The center image shows the Exposure Warning Tool set to warn of areas exceeding an RGB value of 230. The Exposure Tool has then been used to adjust the exposure of the image so the light reflections in the cheek just shows a small area exceeding the 230 setting.

The image on the right is the final adjusted version of the photo, now without the highlight warnings turned on.

Setting up Exposure Warnings levels
Start to setup the Exposure Warnings levels from the Preference menu.

Under the Exposure tab in the preference menu you can set the Exposure Warning level for highlights. For the cameras I normally shoot with I find that 230 works very well for the light, Nordic skin, tone types.

No universal warning level for all cameras
Different camera manufactures have quite different ideas about what a good tone curve is and how much of the cameras dynamic range should be reserved for a smooth roll-off into clipped highlights. Even though Capture One 7 uses the default Film Curve “Film Standard”, these curves are individually optimized for each camera model and take the dynamic range “roll-off zone” into account.

Some manufacturers retain their roll-off strategy between camera models but others change strategy quite often and will therefore need different optimized Film Curves. As such, there isn’t a universal warning level that works for all cameras. You will need to do a little experimentation with you own gear and lighting style to find the best warning level (setting).

Adjusting the portraits
Skin tones are typically more difficult to adjust than adjusting product shots and Landscape images. You can very easily make skin tones look unnatural.

I normally adjust color portraits mainly with the Exposure Tool and with a little highlight recovery in the High Dynamic Range tool. When doing so you adjust the tone curve very gently, which gives very nice tone transitions into the shadows and highlights.

For Landscape and Product images I often use the shadow slider in the Levels Tool. With color portrait images, however, this can lead to very unpleasant skin tone transitions into the deep shadows. When editing portraits it is better to use the contrast slider in the Exposure Tool.

Let’s go back to the example above.

With the highlight warning turned on I will increase the exposure, either by dragging the Exposure slider or the Brightness slider, until I see the Exposure Warning show up on the model.

To turn the Exposure Warning feature Off or On, click the icon with the warning triangle (!) seen at the upper right corner of the screen shot above, or the more convenient shortcut cmd+e/ctrl+e.

As a final step I will use the highlight slider in the High Dynamic Range Tool to minimize the areas exceeding the warning levels. This also helps to ensure that we do not lose details in the very bright dress.

Using the exposure warnings feature in Capture One 7, as described with special warning levels optimized for portraits, makes it very easy to adjust a large number of portraits to an even standard.

All the best,

Niels