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Workspace: Personal

Nearly everyone has their own take on the “perfect” workspace and so far, I am sure this blog series has demonstrated that.

My changes to the default workspace are simple, but enough for me to be able to navigate in a way that I think is more logical.

Here are my recommended steps:

  • Remove the Capture tool tab as I rarely shoot tethered (simply right-click on the Tab and choose Remove XXX tab)
  • I always adjust Exposure and White balance first, so I move the Exposure tool tab in before the Color tool tab. If you hover over the Tool Tabs, a tool tip shows you need to press the modifier key to move them.  For the Mac, it’s a Cmd and drag.
  • In the Exposure tool tab, I add the White Balance tool by right-clicking on the tab and choosing Add Tool.
  • Next, I rearrange the order of tools in the Exposure tool tab to what you see in the screen grab.

Other than that, I am pretty much on the default. I quite often hide the Viewer Labels (View>Hide Viewer Labels) as I find them distracting. The Labels are the metadata indicators at the bottom of the image in the viewer.

Finally, I tend to have Proof View turned on (circled in the screen shot) as I like a little more space around the image for viewing.

David's Default Workspace

Download my Workspace

Mac:

Download my workspace for Mac here.

To install it, follow these simple steps:

  • Close Capture One Pro (if open)
  • Open Finder
  • Open the ‘Go to Folder…’ dialog (CMD + Shift + G)
  • Insert path: ~/Library/Application Support/Capture One/
  • Click ‘Go’
    • If you previously have created a custom workspace, go to ‘Workspaces’ folder.
    • If not, create a new folder and name it ‘Workspaces’.
  • Copy workspace file (.plist) to this folder
  • Start Capture One Pro
  • Select the new workspace from Window -> Workspace…
Windows:

Download my workspace for Windows here.

To install it, follow these simple steps:

  • Close Capture One Pro (if open)
  • Open Explorer
  • Go to /*user*/AppData/Local/CaptureOne/
    • If you previously have created a custom workspace, go to ‘Workspaces’ folder.
    • If not, create a new folder and name it ‘Workspaces’.
  • Copy workspace file (.xml) to this folder
  • Start Capture One Pro
  • Select the new workspace from Window -> Workspace…

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Workspace: Wedding

My wedding workflow is all about fine-tuning individual images and copying adjustments across many images. Capture One Pro offers the full range of tools in the default workspace, which can be overwhelming. Removing unwanted tools from the workspace helps ease the eye and strengthen focus. Re-designing the interface and assigning custom keyboard shortcuts also have their benefits.

Tools

  1.  The first thing I would remove for a wedding workspace is the Capture Tab. You don’t shoot tethered, so why have it take up space? Right Click > Remove Capture Tab.
  2.  Remove histogram from Exposure tab. It’s already present in Color Tab, and I don’t need it both places. In fact, clean up by removing all tools you don’t expect to use. For e.g. LCC Tool.
  3.  Move White Balance from Color Tab to Exposure Tab. I use that along with the other exposure tools all the time in wedding editing.
  4.  Create a custom tool tab; right click a tool tab > Add Tool Tab > Custom Tool Tab. Fill this up with three Color Balance Tools, allowing you to have Shadow, Midtone and Highlight open at the same time. Remove the original Color Balance Tool from Color Tab.

Keyboard shortcuts

My single most used custom keyboard shortcut is for the viewer:

Cmd + 1: Toggle Proof Margin – I often like to have some space around my image. I have changed this to 70 pixels in the Preferences.

The rest are memorized default shortcuts, mostly for cursor tools and copy/apply. 

Interface

Hiding viewer labels and the viewer toolbar quickly cleans up the workspace. In fact, I also hide the general Toolbar as well as Browser Toolbar (remember to memorize keyboard shortcuts, otherwise this might be tricky). The browser is to the right. All of this is done from ‘View’.

I also change the viewer background to white. Having to evaluate exposure on many shots for a bright white dress needs a good reference when editing, and a pure white background with a proof margin simply works wonders. All this leaves me with a clean, effective workspace with plenty of room for the image in focus and relevant tools at hand.

Read more about a full wedding workflow in this blogpost.

Download my Workspace

Mac:

Download my workspace for Mac here.

Installation guide for Mac:

  • Close Capture One Pro (if open)
  • Open Finder
  • Open the ‘Go to Folder…’ dialog (CMD + Shift + G)
  • Insert path: ~/Library/Application Support/Capture One/
  • Click ‘Go’
    • If you previously have created a custom workspace, go to ‘Workspaces’ folder.
    • If not, create a new folder and name it ‘Workspaces’.
  • Copy workspace file (.plist) to this folder
  • Start Capture One Pro
  • Select the new workspace from Window -> Workspace…
Windows: 

Download my workspace for Windows here.

Installation guide for Windows:

  • Close Capture One Pro (if open)
  • Open Explorer
  • Go to /*user*/AppData/Local/CaptureOne/
    • If you previously have created a custom workspace, go to ‘Workspaces’ folder.
    • If not, create a new folder and name it ‘Workspaces’.
  • Copy workspace file (.xml) to this folder
  • Start Capture One Pro
  • Select the new workspace from Window -> Workspace…

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Workspace: Portrait

I have always photographed a lot of people, and usually tethered to the computer. My workflow revolves around setting up quickly for tethered shooting, and then afterwards rating and color grading.

By default, Capture One Pro is set up so the most commonly used tools are visible. When you get deeper into Capture One Pro, you’ll start to realize that there are some tools you never use, or at least very rarely use. Those unused tools are then simply clutter in the interface.

Capture One Pro is highly customizable when it comes to the user-interface. And when it comes to editing your images, there are usually several ways to approach the same result. When you know which tools you use most, all others can potentially be removed.

I have customized my own workspace, as you can see in the screenshot below. The keen eye will notice that the top tool bar has been modified quite a bit. I have also added another Tool Tab, using the Quick Tool Tab icon for easy recognition

Top Toolbar

I added the Focus Mask, Copy/Apply Adjustments, and Preferences, and reorganized to suit my needs. I am a big fan of the Focus Mask, which is a deeply integrated part of my rating workflow.

The double arrow Copy/Apply Adjustments makes the Copy/Apply even faster, as it does both operations at the same time. Using the Shift-key will apply all copied settings immediately.

The Preferences tool is there to allow easy accessible adjustments of the threshold for the Focus Mask. Noise and pixel-count varies with different cameras and different ISO-sensitivities, and that affects the Focus Mask, if not adjusted for with the Threshold.

Quick Tool Tab

I added a new Tool Tab to contain my most frequently used tools. Let’s go over why I added those particular tools, one by one:

Output Histogram: I use the Histogram to check general exposure and to keep highlights in the skin under control. When grading the image, the exposure can also be helpful to ensure a balanced adjustment. Sometimes I find myself lost after hours of looking at pictures and trying to find a nice look for each of them. In Capture One Pro there are many histograms, but this Histogram shows the final result.

White Balance: I use the White Balance tool as a first and basic grading tool. I push the images in the general direction I want.

Exposure: I use the four sliders to dial the rough tonal look of the image. Recently I have started using Brightness more. The underlying algorithm was changed in version 9, and gives a very nice creamy look when combined with matching underexposure.

High Dynamic Range: Sometimes the Exposure tool-changes can add a little too much shadow or highlight to the images. With this tool, I can recover what was lost, which basically limits my contrast changes to the wide midtones.

Clarity: I use the Clarity tool for one of two things in an image containing skin. Either a smoothing effect or as a micro-contrast enhancer. When smoothing, I use negative values, which gives the skin a much smoother look requiring less retouch afterward. However, the loss of contrast can be too much. On beauty shots, I tend to use positive values. That causes the skin to have more local contrast and enhances the lines of the face. It does inherently make the skin a bit rougher, so techniques such as Dodge and Burn are needed to complete the look.

Color Editor: If I have localized colors I want to change, I use the Color Editor. Depending on what tab you are working in, it provides very fine and precise control over a given color.

Setting up the general appearance

I always set my background to medium grey or even a tad lighter when adjusting images. While a black background makes the interface a bit easier on the eyes for long durations, you tend to edit low key images to dark, if the Viewer is also very dark, and vice versa of course.

I also change my Selection and Mask Color away from the default. My selection square (Selected Variant Color) in the Browser is a nice Phase One blue-ish. I like shooting high-key images, and thus the white selection border can be quite confusing, as you can have trouble seeing it.

I’ve changed the Mask Color away from a usual skin-tone (like red or yellow) to a contrasting color to more easily see where I am drawing a mask. This especially useful around lips or reddish skin.

Session Templates

Lastly, I want to show what I do in the studio when starting a new session for a particular shoot. I have always used Sessions, as it fits nicely with my job-to-job workflow. Typically, I just put the Session and its images on the backup when delivered, and then forget about them.

Capture One Pro can use templates for easy setup of things like Next Capture Naming. I use a template that, among other things, configures my Session to use the Session Name and a 4-digit counter. I find repetitive work demoralizing, so using the Session Templates helps me focus on being creative on set, and not stuck with tedious, repetitive tasks.

When you want to save a Template, simply configure a Session as you want it, and then go File > Save as Template.

When creating a new Session, just select the Template from the dropdown.

Rating

Lastly I want to give an insight into my rating-workflow. I usually have hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of pictures after a day’s shoot. There are of course the usual dividers such as different looks, clothing, light setups and such; but choosing a single image out 50-80 pictures is a daunting task.

I use multiple iterations of rating, and iteration has a different theme, so that fewer and fewer images are left to choose from. I use the Filters tool to only show me the images I want.

Initial rating between 1 and 2 stars: For the first iteration, my only concern is the model’s facial expression. I spend no more than half a second looking at each, and if I don’t like it within that half a second, it gets a 1 star rating. If I do like it, it gets a 2-star rating.

Rating for 3 stars: This iteration is always camera focus. I use the Focus Mask to establish if the image in sharp enough for the client, and that focus is in the right place. If it is, it gets a 3-star rating, the un-sharp images are left untouched.

Rating for 4 stars: For this iteration, I take a deeper look at the image. I look at things like pose, composition, lighting etc. The ones that are good enough get 4 stars, other are left untouched. At this point I usually send a Web Contact sheet to the client, asking them to choose what pictures they want. I can have peace of mind knowing that whatever they choose is sharp and works in terms of pose and light.

Rating for 5 stars: For this iteration, I enter the selects from the client into Capture One Pro. There is no need to manually find the images one by one in the Browser, as Capture One Pro has a tool for auto-selection from a text list. You can find that in Edit > Select By > Filename List.

This flow does take a bit of time; however, you have a rating history and can easily select more images for the client from the 3 star rated images without having to redo your rating. It also makes it easy to find images you might have overlooked in your first iteration, as those will have no star rating.

I hope this blog inspires you on ways to customize Capture One Pro specifically to your needs.

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Workspace: Landscape

Like any successful craftsman, your workbench needs to be large enough to accommodate the job. Your tools must be organized, within reach, and its organization should make sense to you – no matter what suggestions others make. Photography is a craft and Capture One Pro provides you the ability to customize your workspace to fit your needs specifically, allowing you to focus on the craft of creativity.

For me and my workflow, screen space and editing time are finite commodities. Capture One Pro allows me to quickly obtain as much space as possible and work quickly without distractions or redundancies. All necessary to get the job done the right way.

Flexibility

First and foremost, Capture One Pro gives me the ability to remove the clutter. By default, you get access to EVERY tool, and that can be overwhelming. With the flexibility to remove the tools I’ll never use, I keep a clean workspace that provides me an efficient workflow. For example, in my workflow there’s absolutely no need for the entire Camera Tool tab. Tethering is indeed a major strength of Capture One, but when shooting landscapes, I run without a wire and import from the CF card after the shoot.

Efficiency

With the tools removed that aren’t relevant to my workflow, I have more space to customize the locations of the tools I do use. This provides me the ability to build an efficient workflow with as few mouse clicks or hand swaps (taking a hand off the keyboard in favor of the mouse) as possible. For example, adding the Color Balance tool to its own Tool Tab three times, gives me the ability to balance all three channels quickly and easily. Also, small changes like adding the Levels Tool twice –  once for RGB and once for Luma – helps to balance the two quickly without flicking back/forth.

Accuracy

The flexibility to adjust the Capture One Pro workspace gives me the freedom to build an efficient workflow tailored to my needs. The last trick Capture One Pro has to offer my “workbench” is the ability to change the color/look of the software and viewer. When I hide the tools and browser (2 quick shortcuts) I’m left with a large viewer that I can define the color of. Having images on a black background may look cool, but it’s a terrible reference for accurate color and density. Changing the background color of the viewer to white ensures my images are well balanced and any color variations stand out clearly.

Download my Mac Workspace

Mac:

Download the workspace for Mac here.

It only works on Mac, as workspace files are platform dependent. To install it, follow these simple steps:

  • Close Capture One Pro (if open)
  • Open Finder
  • Open the ‘Go to Folder…’ dialog (CMD + Shift + G)
  • Insert path: ~/Library/Application Support/Capture One/
  • Click ‘Go’
    • If you previously have created a custom workspace, go to ‘Workspaces’ folder.
    • If not, create a new folder and name it ‘Workspaces’.
  • Copy workspace file (.plist) to this folder
  • Start Capture One Pro
  • Select the new workspace from Window -> Workspace…
Windows:

Download the workspace for Windows here.

To install it, follow these simple steps:

  • Close Capture One Pro (if open)
  • Open Explorer
  • Go to /*user*/AppData/Local/CaptureOne/
    • If you previously have created a custom workspace, go to ‘Workspaces’ folder.
    • If not, create a new folder and name it ‘Workspaces’.
  • Copy workspace file (.xml) to this folder
  • Start Capture One Pro
  • Select the new workspace from Window -> Workspace…

That’s it for now. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Best regards,

Drew Altdoerffer

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