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Fixing Chromatic Aberration in Macro Images

The Lens Tool in Capture One 7 has the ability to apply automatic lens correction for a large number of cameras and lens combinations, and will automatically adjust for a number of lens artifacts like distortion, light falloff and chromatic aberration.

In order to do lens correction for a specific lens, Phase One has to measure the lens and extracted data that describes how the different lens parameters behave. These measurements are done at typical focus distances and describe very well the performance of the lens at focusing distances from normal close-ups to infinity.

However, when using a lens for macro photography the focusing distances can be quite far from those used when the lens was measured for analysis. Sometimes you can achieve better results by doing a manual chromatic aberration analysis on the individual image in the Lens Tool.

If we zoom into this macro image and look at the slightly out of focus high contrast edge, we see a strong blue color caused by the chromatic aberration in the lens.

Because this is a macro image, the automatic lens corrections does not efficiently remove the chromatic aberration.

In the Lens Tool you have the option to perform an individual Chromatic Aberration analysis on the selected image. Click on the orange arrow to the right of the tool and you will access a dropdown menu with the option “Analyze”.

Click “Analyze” and after a few seconds a new Chromatic Aberration correction will be calculated based on the selected image. We now see that the previous strong blue color on the edge of the flower has been corrected. If you click on the orange arrow, you will see a check mark next to the file name. This check mark now indicates that the chromatic aberration reduction is based on data retrieved from this specific image.

So, for this macro image, it’s possible to achieve a much better chromatic aberration correction by making an analysis on the image instead of using the “Default” correction for the lens.

All the best,

Niels

How to Optimise Your Workspace

Using Workspaces in Capture One Pro 7 is an easy way to customise and optimise the interface and the way you work with images. Capture One Pro 7 includes some default workspaces optimised for how most professional photographers work, but you can still make your own workspaces to:

– Make your favourite tools more accessible, where you want them.

– Change the layout and content of the toolbar

– Make different workspaces for different tasks (Importing, Editing, Shooting, Focus Checking)

By streamlining the interface, functions and options can be found quickly and easily. Different tasks will also require focus on different parts of the software. For example, whilst selecting images from a shoot or moving images in your catalog, it is not necessary to have the tools on display, thereby creating more screen real estate for image viewing.

Switching Workspaces

Switching between Workspaces is easily done in the Window > Workspaces menu found in the toolbar. It’s also here you can save and delete your custom Workspaces.

Building and Saving a Workspace

The simplified workspace in Capture One Pro 7 looks like this:

Many elements of the Workspace can be changed. A few examples:

– Contents of the toolbar

– Adding / Removing tools from a Tool Tab

– Changing the position of tools in a Tool Tab

– Adding / Removing Tool Tabs or Creating Custom Tools Tabs

– Creating floating windows

– Position of the browser and tools

Example

In the following example we can make some changes to the Toolbar and the Tool Tabs.

Toolbar
Right-click on the toolbar and choose Customize Toolbar.

This will bring up the following menu:

Then simply drag and drop the required icons from the available selection into the toolbar.

Tool Tabs

To add a Tool Tab, right click on the Tool Tab Area and choose Add Tool Tab. A list of Tool Tabs that have not yet been added will be shown in the menu.

Choose one of the available ones and it will be added to the Tool Tab area.

Cmd-click drag to change the order of the Tool Tabs.

To add a tool to the currently open Tool Tab, right-click on the Tool Tab itself and choose Add Tool. If you don’t want a tool docked with the other tools, either drag it from the rest of the tools to the placement you want, or you use the menu Window > Create Floating Tool and create a floating version of whichever tool you want.

Play around with the options in the View menu to find the workspace setup that suits you. When you are happy with your new Workspace, choose Window>Workspace>Save Workspace.

All the best,

Niels

Discover the Shortcuts of the Adjustments Layers Tool

By using the Adjustments Layers Tool in Capture One Pro 7 you can do image adjustments in up to 10 separate adjustments layers.

An adjustment in an adjustments layer will only be applied to the image, where an adjustments mask has been created. You create and adjust a mask for an adjustments layer by using the cursor tools named: Draw Mask, Erase Mask and Gradient Mask.

You can use simple shortcuts to change between the different mask cursor tools and to show the mask in a layer.

The image to the left is without any adjustments. The image to the right has been optimized in Capture One Pro 7 primarily by using the Adjustment Layers Tool. Three adjustments layers have been used:

One layer to brighten up the cliffs to the left, a second layer to bring more contrast in the waterfall and to emphasize the sunbeam through the mist and a third layer to brighten the surface of the river. Finally the overall white balance has also been tweaked.

Once you have selected one of the mask cursor tools you can use the keyboard shortcuts to switch between them:

(b) for Draw Mask
(e) for Erase Mask
(g) for Gradient Mask

To control how you want to see your masks, you can choose the options below in the dropdown menu for the mask cursor tools:

Always Display Mask (m)
Only Display Mask when Drawing
Never Display Mask (m)

Once you have selected an adjustment layer in the layer list you can change between “Always Display Mask” and “Never Display Mask by simply using the keyboard shortcut (m).

The shortcuts explained here are using plain letters, no Cmd or Ctrl combinations.

All the best,

Niels

Choosing the Right f-stop for Night Shots with Long Exposure

By using long exposure times for exposing water in movement, its possible to achieve a very nice silky effect. Typically an exposure time of 15-60 sec is enough to turn a moving water surface into a flat silky looking surface. Depending on the conditions you may need to expose up to a couple of minutes.

To achieve this long exposure time for a night shot, simply by selecting a smaller aperture like f22 and f32, may not be the best solution. Lens diffraction at these apertures has a significant negative influence on the contrast and the sharpness of the final image.

Lower f-stop

You will achieve a much sharper image, if you use a lower f-stop in the range f8 f11. To ensure the right exposure time, try using high quality Neutral Density (ND) filters instead.

The image above shows a zoom into the central part of the image without any image adjustments added. The same image is shot at both f=8 and f=22. It is obvious using f=22 decrease the sharpness and the local contrast significantly. You can hardly read the Gulf logo.

Tripod and manuel focus

Sometimes, it’s a good idea to make an aperture sweep to learn more about the behavior of a specific lens. It’s necessary to use a very sturdy tripod and manual focus in order to not be influenced by variations in the autofocus system.

The 4 images above are 200% zooms into to central part of an image. With this zoom level we can see how the lens diffraction effect gradually decreases the sharpness of the image. At f11 we still have great sharpness, but at f16 an obvious loss of sharpness appears. At f22 we really lose a significant amount of sharpness and local contrast.

Lets take a look at the surface of the water and observe the effect of using long exposure time for the shoot.

In this case, the 15 sec exposure gives the wanted silky look of the water surface. For the best result, I should use a neutral density filter giving a 15 sec exposure at f8 or f11. The image is shot with a wide-angle lens, so there’s be no problem with depth of field when I use f8 or even f5.6.

Clarity Tool

If I don’t have my ND filters with me, and I still want the silky water look from the f22 shot, I use the Clarity tool in Capture One 7. This will help me improve the lost local and also improve quite a bit on the loss of sharpness.

A 100% zoom into the central part of the image. The Clarity tool from Capture One 7 has been used in the image to the right. I use Clarity=40 and Structure=20 for this image. These settings bring back the loss of local contrast and improve the perceived sharpness of the image.

With the Clarity tool we have been able to dramatically improve the loss of quality due to lens diffraction at f22. A better solution to achieve the 15sec exposure time would be to use a high quality ND filter and an aperture between f8 and f11.

All the best,

Niels