Latest Posts

How to use the Resource Hub

NOTE: This article discusses an older version of Capture One Pro. To learn more about our latest version, click here.

What’s New

The first tab is “What’s New.” Use it to stay up-to-date with the latest photo editing software updates, Styles, webinars and other Capture One news.

Tutorials

Click on the “Tutorials” tab to access the Learning Hub, packed with blogs, tutorials and webinars covering different topics and learning levels. Explore the possibilities and discover new tricks and tips or use the search filter to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Key tip – you can filter your search to find tutorials catered to your specific photography style, whether that’s weddings, portraits or landscapes.

capture one raw photo editor blogpost tutorials screen resource hub
Find a huge selection of Learning Hub tutorials under the “Tutorials” tab

capture one raw photo editor resource hub blogpost learning hub with filter criteria in right hand column
The Learning Hub. Filter by criteria in the column on the right-hand side.

We are constantly adding new resources to the Learning Hub to keep up-to-date with our latest releases and in response to your requests.

Webinars

Join our Capture One expert David Grover as he breaks down different aspects of the RAW editing process and offers tip and tricks for creating amazing photos with Capture One.  Under the “Webinars” tab, you can access recorded webinars or sign up for a live webinar.  Each live webinar has two time slots and is uploaded later if you miss the live event.

capture one raw photo editor blogpost screenshot upcoming webinars on resource hub
The Webinar tab

Support

Need help? Click on the “Support” tab to get in touch with our Support Team or access helpful resources such as the User Guide, Learning Hub, FAQ and Forum.

Shop Now

Browse the “Shop Now” tab to get exciting offers on Capture One software upgrades, Styles and more.

I can’t see the Resource Hub

Go to Preferences > General > Resource Hub and selected “Show on start-up.”

What would you like to see on the Capture One Resource Hub?

Don’t have Capture One? Download a 30-day trial.

Sign up for the webinar

Capture One raw photo editor blogpost Martha superman underwater portraits slider image woman under water wearing floaty gown

How to create the perfect underwater portrait

NOTE: This article discusses an outdated version of Capture One. To learn more about our latest version, click here.

Nailing the perfect underwater portrait is a huge challenge, because water affects skin tone and your SOOC  (Straight Out Of Camera) pictures will be a bit blue and sometimes green. Capture One Pro’s photo editing software helps me achieve the ideal skin tone and the high-performance RAW processing engine helps me work more efficiently, even with the most difficult files.

In this blog post, I will share my workflow for editing underwater images. When I shoot an underwater session, I usually work with continuous lights and use a camera with high fps (frame per second). I use the camera in Burst mode, so I have more likelihood of getting the best pictures – but on the flipside, this means I have to deal with so many pictures in post-processing and the image editing process.

Luckily, Capture One Pro’s asset management system is an ideal solution for faster processing. I love working with Sessions, which makes it easy to arrange my files, categorize them into the best images, then second-grade pictures and selected photo stocks for composite processing in Photoshop. In the past, I was very bad at organizing my RAW files and edited files in Photoshop, but now that I work with Sessions in Capture One Pro, I have all my files in the same folder which makes my workflow much more efficient.

Color Correction:

The first thing I do with underwater pictures is color correction and contrast correction. I always look for neutral colors, beautiful skin tones and beautiful contrast. It’s important to note that these pictures use water as a medium, and water contains not only particles but also from the pool and water itself. Shooting with a strobe light could help me to gain better contrast, but another problem is that when I am working with talent with no diving experience, they can only hold their breath for a couple of seconds.

In this picture, my talent is a pregnant mom. As a pregnant person can hold their breath for a shorter time, I took this picture with natural light.

I then make color corrections with the Kelvin and Tint Adjustment in Capture One Pro. I usually set it at around 8000-9000 Kelvin and 30 Tint. Each picture will be different because the color of the pool gives different results.

Capture One raw photo editor blogpost Martha suherman underwater portraits woman under water wearing floaty gown screenshot color editor

Color Editor:

I love to check all colors one by one, especially the most dominant color. In this picture, the red is the main color. It contains some magenta and I love the colors to be “thicker”, so I have to adjust it in Capture One Pro’s Color Editor using the Color Picker Tool. I simply click on the magenta area and slide down the lightness and make a slight Hue adjustment. I then adjust the saturation of the blue, making it desaturated and a lower lightness.

Capture One raw photo editor blogpost Martha suherman underwater portraits woman under water wearing floaty gown capture one interface color editing

Capture One raw photo editor blogpost Martha suherman underwater portraits woman under water wearing floaty gown capture one screenshot color editing

Capture One raw photo editor blogpost Martha suherman underwater portraits woman under water wearing floaty gown capture one interface color editing

Exposure:

It’s common to have less contrast on underwater pictures, so I always add some contrast in Capture One Pro to make it look nicer. I also adjust the shadow and highlight areas to get balance exposure.

Capture One raw photo editor blogpost Martha suherman underwater portraits woman under water with red flowing fabric screenshot capture one interface: highlight shadow

 

Copy & Paste:

When I’m working with a large number of images, the shortcuts in Capture One Pro make it easy to apply the same set of adjustments across multiple photos – speeding up my workflow in a big way and saving me tons of time. Everything on the menu is adjustable, meaning you can create the best possible set-up and to amplify your image editing process.

Working with PSD files

As a Capture One user, I can also work in Photoshop – all I need to do is right-click and choose “Edit With”, then I can choose the editing software and file format. The new PSD file will appear below the RAW files and will automatically update after editing in Photoshop. Usually, I add more fabrics to make it look more glamourous. When I’m finished, I just save it and the PSD files in Capture One Pro will automatically update.

Capture One raw photo editor blogpost Martha superman underwater portraits slider image woman under water with red flowing fabric screenshot capture one interface: edit with - using psd files

Color Balance:

After I’m finished the composite process in Adobe Photoshop, I just need to do color grading on the Color Balance menu. I usually work with mid tones and then highlight, and the last one is shadow.  Color Grading in Capture One Pro is awesome because it has far more natural and authentic colors compared to other RAW editing software I have worked with.

Capture One raw photo editor blogpost Martha superman underwater portraits slider image woman under water with red flowing fabric screenshot capture one interface: color balance

Speed up your workflow by saving adjustments as Styles

After you are finished color grading, you can save the settings as a User Style and give it a title. You can then apply your saved Style to future pictures, and adjust them down the line. Or, use Capture One Styles – which are developed by leading photographers and come in different packs with a range of looks–  as inspiration or a starting point for your photo editing. There’s freedom to experiment and play – you can easily tinker with your saved Styles or the Capture One Styles.

Capture One raw photo editor blogpost Martha suherman underwater portraits woman under water with red flowing fabric screenshot capture one interface: saving a style

If you dont already have Capture One, you can download a 30 day trial and try it out.

Sign up for the webinar

wave with foam and pink purple sky

Reach new depths with Capture One and Fujifilm GFX100

NOTE: This article discusses an outdated version of Capture One. To learn more about our latest version, click here.

Over April, I was tasked with capturing the ocean over five days using the new Fujifilm GFX100. While the shoot itself had its challenges – the ocean is not a controlled environment and believe me, I struggled to keep the camera dry against the elements – Capture One Pro was working solidly in the background.

Now that Capture One Pro 12.1  supports the Fujifilm GFX100, I was excited to edit my RAW files from the new camera in Capture One’s photo editing software. I also shot JPEG to be able to send files directly from the camera to Fujifilm.

sunset over sea in background with outline of male standing with surboard

Switching from Lightroom

I’ll admit, I’m far from a Capture One expert. I only recently converted to the RAW editor since incorporating Fujifilm medium format cameras into my workflow. One of the main features I love compared to using Lightroom is working with Layers, which enable you to precisely select the area you want to capture.  The dynamic range the GFX100 camera can capture while documenting the Ocean is incredible, while Capture One Pro allows me to edit the bright whites of the whitewater to the deep dark water and produce a life-sized print with amazing clarity and detail.

wave image screenshot of image in capture one showing workflow

A customizable interface makes it easy to adjust

It’s always a little daunting to learn a new program, especially if you are very proficient in Lightroom. However, the customization tools in Capture One Pro meant I could quickly organize a workflow that suits me.

The first thing I did when starting out with Capture One Pro was import five of my favorite images and changed the workflow to “Migration.” Once in the migration workflow, I organized the tools that I use 99% of the time, making the interface very familiar and very easy to navigate.

Russell Ord editing wave image in capture one showing layers use

Learning resources are a huge help

I am impatient at the best of times, and one of the main challenges when I first started using Capture One was using the tools, layers and program in general to its maximum potential. To speed the learning process up, I relied on the resources in the Capture One Pro learning hub (free of charge) and watched short clips on “how to” with each tool. Now, I am in the process of educating myself with Capture One Webinars, which is an endless channel of information to speed up the learning process.

Shooting the sea

It’s very hard to express in words what it’s like to swim out to sea to photograph the ocean in the golden morning light. All your senses are extremely heightened, a small splash in the dark echoes loud, the cold water sends shivers down your spine as it runs down the back of your wetsuit. This is what I like to call the feeling of photography, the feeling of peace and a sense of freedom.

For years, I thought it was the camera that gave me these strong emotions. Then I realized that the camera was simply the tool I used on the journey and that it was the beauty of the Ocean all along that pulled me in. But with the right camera and photo editing tools, I can accurately bring that beauty and feeling to life via photography and share it with others.

If you don’t already have Capture One, you can download a 30-day trial and try it out.

 

Sign up for the webinar

Bringing the ocean depths to life

NOTE: This article discusses an outdated version of Capture One. To learn more about our latest version, click here.

Diving into the unknown

When I dive into the dark abyss, I never know what I will see, who I will meet and what new knowledge I will bring to the surface with my photography and photo editing. There is a vast, incredible world underwater – one that words alone can’t convey.

My name is Alexander Semenov and I lead the scientific diving team at the White Sea biological station of Moscow State University and search, shoot and collect live material for field practice. For the past 15 years, I have dived almost every day for months in a row. 12 years ago, I began practicing underwater photography to share the fantastic world that I get to see with my own eyes as a marine biologist.

Every dive for new photos is an adventure – one that cannot be compared with studio shooting or wildlife photography on land. My work is further complicated by the fact that I shoot subjects which only grow to a maximum of a few centimeters, or do not grow at all. They can be completely transparent, blend into the environment or disappear in the blink of an eye. As a marine biologist, however, I also know what to look for.

capture one raw image editor blogpost alexander semenov hyperia galba inside cyaneax transparent prawm like creature poking out from bright pink and purple coral

By capturing mesmerizing creatures in their natural habit, I bridge the huge gulf which has grown between science and photography.  In past centuries, naturalists would blend art and science, sketching plants and animals in close detail at different stages of their lives. Back then, observations formed the basis of science. Now, scientific methods are so complex and advanced that the practice of simply observing nature has fallen by the wayside. Many scientists do not devote enough time to this important and fundamental process. I find this strange, given that we live in an amazing era where you can get a detailed representation of nature at the touch of a button – something which would have taken naturalists days and weeks in the past.

Of course – it’s not nearly that simple. Especially when it comes to shooting underwater.

Risks and other challenges

 

capture one raw image editor alexander semenov underside of jellyfish with splayed multicolored tentacles

Underwater photography comes with its own unique set of challenges. You need to be quite an experienced diver, so you can hang in the water column without any movement, do your best not to breathe and focus your camera on the pixel-size black eyes above the tentacles of the transparent 1-centimeter jellyfish.  It’s hard work, but a lot of fun!

Because you’re concentrating so hard on achieving the perfect shot, your reflexes need to be strong to keep you safe underwater. Otherwise, you could plunge 40 meters or rise to the surface and risk barotrauma before you even realize what is happening. Or forget about air. Or forget about your body.

Secondly, underwater cameras, no matter how advanced they are, are constantly going crazy – almost all the automatic functions of the camera don’t work correctly. I only shoot in manual mode, with manual control of flash power and with manual focus. Although autofocus copes quite well with large objects, I am in the habit of shooting manual which saves me time and ultimately allows me to take more shots.

capture one raw image editor alexander semenov red algae gibsmithia bulbous fentacles on plant bedded in coral

Timing is another challenge. Dives usually take from 40 to 70 minutes. In that time, you need to reach the desired depth, adjust the camera and set the light, find your objects, shoot them from all sides with all possible light schemes, and then safely pop up with all the necessary safety stops. On average, you have 20-30 minutes of actual shooting per dive. Meanwhile, preparation and the journey to the dive site can easily take 2-4 hours. With luck, this is enough to get some truly great shots.

You can’t always count on visibility, either. In some seas, it reaches 50 meters and in others, you can’t see beyond your outstretched arm. Your shot could also be affected by suspended matter, which rises from the waves, wind, heavy rain or near the mouths of rivers, and water temperature – which in the Arctic seas can reach -2 degrees Celsius and your hands stop being able to feel buttons within half an hour.

capture one raw image editor alexander semenov nudibranchia coryphella polaris and coryphella nobilis green stalk with orange and transluscant tentacled creature almost flower like

With so many challenges, it all seems incredibly difficult at first. But once you get used to it, you feel at home.  Personally, I needed about 400 dives to feel confident (now I have more than 1500 dives under my belt.) Some might be comfortable after 100.

“You could never recreate these conditions in an aquarium”

So why put up with all these challenges? The animals are beautiful and unusual, and photos are great, but so what?

capture one raw image editor behind the scenes of a shoot/expedition diver with head and shoulders above surface of ice covered sea behind the scenes of a shoot/expedition diver with head and shoulders above surface of ice covered sea

The answer is simple: you simply can’t get this kind of information any other way. Underwater photos in their natural habitat is unique subject material with great value to science and education.  You could never recreate these conditions in an aquarium, and the animal would never behave naturally in a laboratory.

Some creatures can’t be placed in an aquarium at all: many of them are so gentle that one careless touch turns them into a shapeless blob of mucus, while others are so huge you couldn’t fit them anywhere – like the Lion’s mane jellyfish, which reaches 2.3m in diameter of the dome and grows tentacles up to 37 meters long, or the 42-meter long siphonophore.

The only way to truly study these animals is to go underwater with photo and video equipment. And the better your camera is and your images are, the more accurate the results.

With only a few unique photos, you already have enough material to publish an article in a high-ranking scientific journal and add something to collective global knowledge.

This is incredibly valuable content, and it’s totally worth jumping into the icy water at the edge of the world to create it.

Capture One Pro helps me pull every last detail from the ocean depths

Capturing the perfect shot is only half the battle. Processing and editing RAW files of underwater subjects can be a real challenge. You have to pull the creatures out of darkness, clean debris, bring back colors and contrast absorbed by seawater, adjust the white balance and above all – preserve the natural look.

screenshot capture one raw image editor clean up of underwater image

To achieve this, you need a good display and powerful photo editing software. I use a monitor from the EIZO CG series – it’s amazing how much the quality of editing and printing have changed after the transition to their displays. Capture One Pro can calibrate EIZO monitors at the touch of a button.

Capture One Pro is my choice of image editing software, of course. When I was starting out in photography, Capture One seemed daunting so I used Apple Aperture’s more basic functions. I then tried to switch to Lightroom, but gave up after the trial version. After that, I finally decided to master Capture One Pro – and I’ve never looked back. I’ve even convinced a few dozen photographers to make the switch to Capture One Pro.

Thanks to some internal software magic, Capture One Pro’s RAW conversion engine is much better than Adobe Camera RAW or any other RAW editor. I find basic tools like exposure correction, contrast and saturation give far more natural results in Capture One Pro.

Working with color in Capture One Pro is top level and very intuitive, while the ability to work with layers – where you can change as many parameters as you want – is just fantastic. I learned about Capture One Pro’s layers not too long ago and now I don’t know how to work without them. Want to bring out every detail along the tiniest of tentacles from the murky depths but darken the background at the same time? Make a messy red a beautiful red?  Recover colors from a completely dead green picture and make it look like a beautiful photo – easy!  Well, not necessarily always easy – but everything is possible in Capture One Pro.

screenshot capture one raw image editor jellyfish photograph being edited to mazimise detail

With the right tools, you can create amazing photos. Overall, my workflow in Capture One Pro is extremely fast and productive, and I’m really pleased with the results that I’m able to achieve now that Capture One Pro is my photo editing software. From time to time, I come across old archives of my photos from before I used Capture One and I always itch to rework my entire library in the new software. (If only I didn’t have the archives from the last 2 years, which I haven’t had time to process yet)

The most natural colors for scientific precision

 

capture one raw image editor alexander semenov 3 brightly colored molluscs collaged together with a varied array of tentacles against black background

The possibilities of Capture One Pro are so advanced that you can do absolutely anything – create any mood, shift the shadows and experiment as much as you want. This is great for advertising, landscape or fashion photography, but in scientific experiments the colors need to be as natural as possible.

Capture One Pro lets me edit photos in a way that preserves the natural colors, but the creatures look so juicy they could easily be used as fashion models in advertising (this happens to my photos sometimes!).

The underwater world is amazing in its diversity and there is so much hidden in its depths that scientists and photographers could spend their lives trying to capture it. The most important thing is to show them in the right way.

If you don’t already have Capture One, you can download a 30-day trial and try it out.

Sign up for the webinar