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Riding Thrones

Intro

About three years ago I was watching the first episode of Game of Thrones. I still remember how it hit me when I saw that first location – what they call the Haunted Forest. My mind just said “WOW”! The landscapes and the look of the world of Westeros were amazing to see. I was immediately inspired and I knew I wanted to shoot there as well. There was only one problem – Westeros is a fictional place that doesn’t exist in real life. But I knew that those scenes where filmed somewhere in the real world.

After a little research, I found out that a lot of the scenes were filmed in a relatively small area of Northern Ireland. So, there it was – I’d found the real-world Westeros. I don’t know why, but from my first thoughts about what I’d like to shoot there, I saw a BMX rider. I asked Senad Grosic, an Austrian BMX rider, and friend, if he would be up for such a project. I’ve never gotten a faster reply, and that’s how the journey started.

Prologue

I spent a year doing my homework, researching locations that could work for shooting. But scouting locations via Google Earth and Game of Thrones Wikis is totally different from seeing them with your own eyes. I had to experience this version of Westeros myself.

To be honest, I hate nothing more than being unprepared for a shoot. I decided to fly to Northern Ireland to scout all of the potential locations, and to determine what time of year would make the most sense to shoot. I ended up in one of the heaviest snow storms that Northern Ireland has ever seen. But I loved it! I felt like I was finally in Westeros and even the weather was like in the series – winter is coming…

Back home I made a master plan for the main shoot. Who would be on my team, when would we shoot, what would we shoot? A couple of weeks later, the blueprint for Riding Thrones was ready – and so was I. I simply couldn’t wait to get started.

The Adventure Begins

Locations

Over a period 10 days, the goal was to capture a variety of shots of Senad doing tricks at and around the Game of Thrones locations. We had two bases. The first was close to Bushmills, a small town close to the coast. From here we could create images featuring the landscapes of the Iron Islands, Dorne, Winterfell, the King’s Road and Dragonstone. For those of you who are not so familiar with Game of Thrones, this is more about the rough coasts of Westeros.

The second base was close to Tollymore Forest Park, where we tried to capture images with a darker mood. In Game of Thrones, this was the Haunted Forest north of the wall and Wolf’s Creek where the Stark kids find the dire wolf puppies.

Obstacles

Due to the fact that Game of Thrones is widely famous all over the world, it’s no wonder that pretty much every filming location is flooded with tourists during the daytime. That made it difficult to get shots of just Senad, his bike, and the landscape. We ended up shooting lots of sunrises and sunsets to go around this. During this time of year, those are either very early or very late.

The crowds and the sunlight weren’t the only challenge. Sometimes things got truly bizarre! During a shoot a bus showed up at the Dark Hedges, the location of the King’s Road, and thirty people with black coats and swords stepped out. They began an epic role-play at the scenic location and I have to admit – that was pretty fun to watch!

The Hero Shot

Because of these obstacles, getting the shots was sometimes a struggle. Luckily, most of the time it was great and we had a lot of fun. The shot that got me and Senad the most stoked was the King’s Road shot that we did after sunset. We already had a pretty good image from the sunrise, but my idea was to get an image of Senad in the rain using a flash. It was forecast to rain the whole day, but everybody who knows Northern Ireland knows that you simply cannot rely on weather forecasts. The weather just does its own thing up there.

We figured that we didn’t have anything to lose and decided to give it a try anyway. I set up the camera and the flash and Senad started to warm up when a light rain began. So there it was – the last puzzle piece missing to get the image I had planned. I told Senad to go for it, because rain or shine, you never know how long it’ll last.

Sunrise

Flash Issues

We had some problems getting the flash to work as the distance between me and the flash reached the range limit of the triggers. Because of that, the flash only fired every 6^th or 7^th try and we simply couldn’t figure out why. It was a frustrating situation for both of us. When the flash worked, I got the wrong moment and vice versa. I was close to giving up, but I knew that we only needed one shot where everything came together. Then, suddenly, boom! There it was. The moment couldn’t have been better, and there was the flash in the background. Looking back, I think that was a key moment of the whole trip. Pure relief and happiness!

With flash

Rounding up

In those 10 days of shooting, every day was different. We had easy shots and we had those where you really need to work for it, carrying all of our equipment down a 100-meter cliff. We met awesome people along the way who not only helped us but became friends as well.

When I look back, it was for sure one of my favorite shoots. It all worked out so well, and so close to how I dreamed of it when I had my first thoughts about Riding Thrones all those years ago. Now I’m looking forward to the last season of Game of Thrones more than ever, to go back to Westeros one last time!

Winter is coming…

Aftermath

Even when the trip was over and all the shots were made. There was still one part missing – the postproduction of the final images. Normally I’m not a super big fan of this part of the process, but this time I knew it would be a lot of fun. The combination of the Phase One IQ3 100MP camera system and Capture One is one hell of a couple! The camera system captures so many pixels and has an extreme dynamic range. You can retrieve huge amounts of details in the image that looked like lost in the highlights or in the shadows.

In my opinion, the most powerful tool in Capture One is the Color Editor. You can control the colors so precisely that you really get the right color you are looking for at the end. I also made a custom workspace for my workflow, so that I can go through my steps of editing without needing to switch tabs or search for the right tools.

After a week in the editing room I was finally done. When I look at the final images today, I know that this trip to Westeros was something special and something that I will never forget.

If you don’t already own Capture One, download a 30-day trial and try it out yourself!

Power of a Print

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

In a time where almost everyone can call themselves photographers, it’s always about finding ways to stand out as a professional. A very tangible way to stand out is delivering your best work in print.

Enabling you to do this, we have together with L.Type prepared a great offer to all first time L.Type customers, to get the highest quality print. Below L.Type, ambassador Jonathan Glynn-Smith shares why he turned to print again, and we’ve made a step by step guide to get your captures ready for print with Capture One.

Jonathan Glynn-Smith – The Importance of Printing

I’ve been a photographer and director for over twenty years. Like many photographers, I used to have printed portfolios to show to clients, and then with the advent of digital moved to the web and my iPad to show off my work. I just stopped printing regularly.

Ever since I discovered L.Type, printing has become integral to my work again. There is so much that a finished print can show that simply doesn’t come across on a screen. All the subtle details of light and shade and color work together to bring the captured moment to life. The image has a sense of being in the paper not on it.

I became so used to seeing my images on screen that I had forgotten the joy of holding a print in my hand. A print is something you can examine closely, revealing details that you missed as you composed the image. A print is something you can share – whether passing it across a table or putting it up on a wall. Most of all, a print brings images to life, adding texture and emotion that a screen can never capture. Now, whenever I shoot a project, I aim to share at least part of it with the client in print.

Jonathan Glynn-Smith on the importance of printing

We all have thousands of images trapped in computer storage or the Cloud. Recovering them to print can be time-consuming, but I find that if you build it into your workflow then setting aside images for print is easy. I’ve used Capture One for years to manage all my workflow, and its Export Recipes allow me to process my favorite images for printing as I work – and then to print them all easily when I am ready.

For me, the most critical aspect is that with an L.Type you can hold a print that does justice to the image in both color and black and white.

Optimizing the process in Capture One

Watch the tutorial or follow the steps written below

Exporting an image for print that will print perfectly in terms of cropping, sharpness and quality can often be a troublesome experience. Process Recipes in Capture One offer a repeatable consistent way to prepare your images for print.

In this blog post I will show how to create a Process Recipe designed to export a final image to send to a printing service, in this case L-Type.com.  However, the principles can be applied to any other print service.

Creating a new Process Recipe

Process Recipes are built in the Process Recipes tool found in the Output tool tab.

To create my new Process Recipe, I click on the ‘plus’ icon and give the Recipe a sensible name. In this case, my Recipe is going to create an A3 Print, to the L.Type specification.

In the Process Recipe tool, I have to fill in the parameters for the output I want. In this case the format that L.Type requires is either TIF or JPEG. As I am a quality junky, I will go with TIF to be on the safe side. I’m using 8-bit TIF because 16-bit just makes for much larger files with no quality benefit for prints. The ICC profile can be left at Adobe RGB (1998) for optimal colors.

L.Type prints use a unique high-resolution process, and as I am going to export to a particular size in millimetres, it’s really important I get the correct Resolution value which is 400 px/in.

Finally, I want to set my Scale to Dimensions and use 369mm x 246mm which is the exact size L.Type will output a print at for the print size, A3 with a 25.5mm border, I will choose when ordering. Why am I so picky about setting this exact size? For one it will allow me to crop accurately but more importantly it means L.Type will not have to resize my image before printing.

You might be thinking, well surely, I just send them the biggest file I can squeeze out my camera and it will look great! But the hard fact is that reducing an overly large image to a smaller size might have a negative impact on quality and sharpness in the same way as having to increase an image in size can. You want to be in control of this process. This way, I ensure the best quality I can, to send to print.

Cropping to Output Size

There is nothing worse than sending an image to print and having something cropped out of your control. In this case, L.Type never crop your images, but that may mean uneven borders instead. In reality that’s your own fault, so be prepared and send exactly the right dimensions as described above! If my image was already cropped, then I might need to tweak the crop to fit into the aspect ratio of my freshly created Recipe. Fortunately, there is a super simple way to do that in Capture One.

Long pressing on the Crop cursor tool means I can choose Output in the drop-down menu.

When I go to crop my image or adjust the current crop it will snap exactly to my dimensions in the currently selected Process Recipe. In this case, 369mm x 246mm.

Output Sharpening for Print

With the crop, size and aspect ratio in place, I want to control the sharpening. This is a crucial step when exporting to print.

In the Adjustments tab, I choose Output Sharpening for Print in the Sharpening dropdown menu.

I control the sharpening amount by setting Viewing Distance to approximately 40cms, as these images are going to be viewed in a portfolio at an arm’s length. L.Type’s print resolution is specifically intended for close viewing, but if you are printing larger prints with another service, you might well want a longer viewing distance.

Capture One will then calculate the amount of sharpening required, based on my scaling and viewing distance. Sharpening is very much a personal preference or subject dependant, but I have found the default amount of 80 to work well on a variety of subjects. If I feel the image quality is less than perfect, perhaps slightly missed focus or some motion blur, I might back it off a little to 60.

Proofing the Recipe

To take the guesswork out of exports, there is a very neat feature that will simulate the selected Recipe in the viewer. Recipe Proofing will simulate the scaling and output sharpening for this Recipe.

First of all, I need to zoom my image to 100%, and then click on the spectacles icon in the toolbar.

Immediately the image will be resized and sharpened. Don’t be alarmed if the image looks a little over sharpened if you are going to print! But if you are really concerned or want to nail your own personal preference, you can always send 2-3 prints to your chosen service to see what works best for you. As I said earlier, the default of 80 at a viewing distance of 40cm has been working well for me.

Output Location

Last but not least, Process Recipes can also have unique export locations.

By default, the output location is decided in the Output Location Tool as indicated in the Root Folder of the File tab. However, I want my Process Recipe to have a unique location.

Therefore, I change the Root Folder to a Dropbox folder which is already linked to my L.Type account. This way, Capture One exports directly to Dropbox, so I can simply order prints on L.Type.com or easily on their iOS app.

This avoids any additional upload or file management steps.

Exporting

To export my image, I click on the Process button in the Process Summary tool.

Tip – Don’t forget you can process multiple images at once and even use more than one Process Recipe simultaneously. Simply check the box next to your Process Recipes to activate them.

Conclusions

The steps outlined above can be applied to any kind of output, whether that is for print or screen. Remember, having your own set of Process Recipes leads to consistent and repeatable output. Not only that, you will save time with Capture One doing the heavy lifting.

The Quality of L.Type Prints

L.Type exclusively produce the world’s only 400ppi true continuous tone prints. Having designed their own printers, they apply the 21st century digital technology to expose traditional silver halide (”C-Type”) paper to a previously unachievable level of accuracy. Featuring their patented technology, L.Type can reveal all the detail that a human eye can see at arm’s length.

Hope this has inspired you to get some of your favorite captures printed. Now it’s time to act.

Elevate your RAW files using Styles

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

Join commercial and editorial retoucher Pratik Naik as he shares his Styles workflow in this tutorial.

Styles can be something that takes your work to new frontiers of color. Pratik wants to not only show you the new Latitude Styles, but also how they can be used in a realistic workflow to elevate some of your new and old files in a short period of time. You’ll see a preview of the Latitude Styles, and also how to modify them to match your taste and vision. Find out more about Styles here.

Remember that you can download a free Capture One trial here.

A big reason why I love Capture One is because of color. I love color and what I can do with it. It renders files with vibrant and rich tones, which is further exemplified by the tools it has for me to tinker with them. For instance, being able to use the Color Editor for creative tweaking or the Color Balance tool is so much fun for color grading.

Now, as a retoucher I communicate directly with my client when we need to produce a color grade. Often, they provide it for me. What talking about these tools does is it gives clients the opportunity to learn more about the possibilities of how they can modify their raw files in order to get specific looks. Even for something as simple as travel photos, it’s fun seeing the flexibility in the files!

Recently, Capture One introduced a new Style series titled Latitude, which includes two packs, Latitude | Deep Forest and Latitude| Sunbound. These styles are named after landscapes but I wanted to see how they would do with fashion images. Also, I wanted to show you a really useful workflow on how I like to work with Styles.

Before getting into it, a special thanks goes to Ausra Babiedaite, for her amazing work!

Now let’s get started! For instance, we have this raw file here without any adjustments.

I really like the look oat DF-07 – Schwarzwald from the Deep Forest set, it produces these rich deep mono-tone inspired tones.

However, let’s say that the impact isn’t up to your taste and you want to tone it down a notch, you can right click on the style, and add it to a layer. After which, you can tweak it in a few ways!

1. The first is the ability to adjust the opacity of the layer. Once they updated Capture One with this feature, I was all over it! I loved the ability to modify opacity.

2. You can also take a look under the engine and see exactly what settings were used to create the look and tweak accordingly. For instance, I see the curve has been modified to deepen the midtones and shadows while still adding some fade. I can tweak it so I can remove the fade.

3. Let’s go to the Color Editor. Here, you can see there was a lot of thought put in. I could easily tweak the hue/saturation/lightness of theses parameters to see what happens!

Just like that, using styles can be both a good starting point, and something you can create something that speaks to you with! With a couple of those tweaks, here is where I ended up with, along with a little bit of retouching to go along with it.

If you would like to learn more about working with Styles, here are some relevant links for you:

Visit our User Guide to learn more about Styles and Presets in details.

Live View

Live View in Capture One enables you to see what your camera is seeing.

This makes it easy to fine-tune composition and sharpness for still-life related photography.

Shooting a magazine cover or packaging? Add a an overlay to instantly visualize the composition with the intended design.

Learn how to:

✓ Enter Live View
✓ Use the Overlay tool
✓ Use use Live View for still-life shoots

Cameras from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Leica, Sigma and Phase One are compatible. For a full list check this page.

For detailed, technical information about capturing tethered, please visit our support article here.

Length: 2:40 minutes

Download a 30-day trial of Capture One.