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Composition Overlay with Capture One Pro 7

Capture One Pro 7 comes with an Overlay Tool that allows you to display another image on top of the image that you are editing or are capturing. This feature is designed as a guide to help you compose your image according to specific composition requirements.

The tool can be a big help if:

You get a fixed layout for your image from an art director
You want to recreate an image with the exact position of specific objects
You want to compose your final image in Photoshop using several exposures with different lighting

The image above is a screen capture from Capture One Pro 7 from when I was creating an image for a New Year greeting card. Using an overlay file showing the text for the card made it much easier to compose the image to fit with the text.

The final image composition is shown to the left. On the right you see the text background as a PSD file.

You find the Overlay Tool in Capture One Pro 7’s Composition Tool Tab. As it is the operating system that handles the overlay files there is difference between Mac and PC. You have the following options for overlays formats:

	Mac	PC	Comments
PSD	+	–	Support transparency
PDF	+	–	Support transparency
PNG	+	+	Support transparency
TIF	+	+
JPG	+	+
RAW	+	(+)	Pc has only support for selected Raw files

Especially the formats that supports transparency can be very useful. An overlay file with text made on a transparent background will simply show the text on top of the image that you are working with.

The Overlay Tool in the Composition Tool Tab

To load an overlay file, you can either click the “browser button” to open a file browser for selecting the overlay file or simply drag a supported overlay file into the white square in the Overlay Tool. After you have selected the overlay file select “Show” and use the sliders or the hand to position the overlay correctly on top of the image.

It is also easy to reestablish a previous image composition, as you can use an existing raw file as an overlay file.

If you are making multiple exposures of a scene for later assembly in Photoshop, remember that you can always use a previous exposure as an overlay file. With the Opacity slider you can then easily blend the new exposure and the previous exposure used as an overlay to validate your work.

I wish you all a Happy New Year and look forward to welcoming you back in 2013!

All the best,

Niels

Improved High ISO Performance with Capture One Pro 7

Capture One Pro 7 has introduced a new processing engine giving you quality improvements in a number of different areas – especially for high ISO noise reduction.

The new method for noise reduction brings:

Greatly improved noise reduction for high ISO images
Optimized noise settings for all supported cameras to create the best compromise between detail and noise reduction at all ISO levels
New noise reduction strategy which separates meaningful detail from the noise allowing more sharpening and less noise
New default values for noise reduction sliders

The image for this post was shot with a Canon 40D. The scene was only lit by candlelight and it was necessary to use ISO 3200 to achieve a good shutter speed even when using a 50mm lens at f 1.8.

JPG out of the camera Capture One Pro 6 Capture One Pro 7

The image to the left is the JPG straight out of the camera. You will notice plenty of color noise in the background and a general lack of sharpness. The center image was processed in Capture One Pro 6. Here, the color noise is well under control but the luminance noise still cause problems. The image to the right has been processed with the default noise reduction settings in Capture One Pro 7. Now, we get a sharp image where both the color noise and luminance noise is well under control.

JPG out of the camera Capture One Pro 6 Capture One Pro 7

Here we see another zoom from the same image. Again, it is obvious to see the improvements from the JPG to the version processed in Capture One Pro 6 as well as the difference from Capture One Pro 6 to Capture One Pro 7. Notice how sharp and crisp the reflection in the Christmas bulb appears in the image processed in Capture One Pro 7. Also notice how well the deep and dark color tones have been cleaned up while all the color tones have been preserved. You can click on the image to see it in full resolution.

New defaults for noise sliders in Capture One 7

As the noise reduction engine has been completely reengineered for Capture One Pro 7, we have also changed the behavior of the noise reduction sliders.

In the Noise Reduction Tool, the Luminance slider and the Color slider now have default values at 50. In the Noise Reduction Advanced Tool, the slider previously known as the “Surface slider” has been replaced by the “Details slider” which also defaults at 50.

Even though the noise reduction sliders by default are set to 50, Capture One Pro 7 will, under the hood, make sure that these values give you a good compromise between preserving detail and removing noise at all ISO levels.

By default, the Single Pixel and Fine Grain sliders will show a value that depends on the camera model and the ISO level.

New default values for sliders in Capture One Pro 7

Creating your own default values for your camera

The Luminance slider and the Details slider now work together. The Luminance slider is used to adjust how much Luminance noise reduction you add to your image overall. With the Details slider, you can then change the balance for a selected level of Luminance noise reduction to retain more micro detail at the cost of showing more noise.

If you generally like a different compromise between noise and image detail than the default settings, you can save a new set of defaults for your camera. These new defaults will then be used at all ISO levels.

To create your own default noise settings, you need to save a default for both the Noise Reduction Tool and the Noise Reduction Advanced Tool.

Are you using the new processing engine for noise reduction?

Remember, if you are looking at images that have previously been processed in Capture One Pro 6, you will still be using the old processing engine by default and you will not experience all the new noise reduction improvements. To use the new noise settings for such an image you can create a new variant. The new variant will by default be using Capture One Pro 7’s new processing engine as well as the new noise reduction.

Happy Holidays to all of you!

All the best,

Niels

Exporting Original Files from Catalogs in Capture One Pro 7

In some situations you may wish to export a raw image file that have been adjusted from a Catalog.

This could be to:
– Import the image into another Catalog database
– To continue working on the file on another computer
– To send the raw file to another person for further adjustments

When working within a Catalog in Capture One Pro 7, adjustments for each image are stored within the Catalog database and not in image sidecar files. To get the original image file with it’s adjustments, you therefore need to use the Export Originals option.

A raw file with adjustments can then be imported normally via the Import Images menu.

Step 1: Exporting the raw file with adjustments

When you have finished your adjustments on one or more images in Capture One Pro 7, choose File>Export>Originals.

The following Export dialogue will then appear:

Simply choose a location under Store Files and make sure the Include Adjustments box is checked.

When the export has completed, the raw file will be exported alongside an additional folder called CaptureOne. The Settings70 folder contains all the necessary information for Capture One to apply the adjustments made to the file before the export.

Step 2: Importing the raw file with adjustments

When you are ready to import the image again, open the Import Dialogue, choose the location of your exported originals and make sure the Include Existing Adjustments box is checked as shown below.

When the import process has completed, the raw file will show in Capture One Pro with the adjustments.

Remember, you can also do this with batches of multiple images to speed up your workflow.

All the best,

Niels

Capture One Pro 7’s Improved Local Adjustments Tool

The Local Adjustments tool in Capture One Pro 7 has been improved on a number of parameters giving you better corrections and more precise control.

These improvements cover:

Additional adjustment layers (a total of 10)
Greatly improved brush drawing speed
Brush opacity setting
Support for tablet pen pressure
Gradient masks
Auto masks
A new layout for simulating the brush size and hardness of the cursor tool

The image to the left is without any adjustments. Even though the sun strikes the yellow leaf, it is a kind of diffused sunlight and the scene looks quite flat. The image on the right was edited in Capture One Pro 7 using the improved Local Adjustments Tool. The tool was used to emphasize the stroke of sunlight, to draw attention to the contrast between the yellow leaf and the surrounding brown leaves.

New brush cursor tool

The new brush now has two rings for easier indication of the size and hardness. The inner ring indicates where the brush is at 50% of its maximum intensity. The outer ring indicates where the brush intensity is less than 2%. In the example above, you will notice that all three strokes have been done with the same size brush and only the hardness of has been changed. You will also notice that the inner ring is the same size for all 3.

Capture One Pro 7 now also comes with an extra control option that makes switching between working in an adjustments layer in the Adjustments Tool Tab and working in the background layer in any of the other Tool Tabs easier.

In the screen dump above we see that the “Adjust Selected Layer” option is selected for the Exposure Tool in the Local Adjustments Tool Tab. We also see a small brush icon next to the tool label, which indicates that this option is turned on. All tools in the Local Adjustments Tool Tab will have this option turned on by default, and all tools in other tool tabs will have this turned off by default.

This way you can easily switch from the Local Adjustments Tool Tab to any other tool tab and ensure that the adjustments you do there only affects the background layer.

All the best,

Niels