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Monitor calibration made easy

NOTE: This article discusses an outdated version of Capture One.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

Today’s monitors have improved a lot during the last few years. Many of the new ones provide nearly 100% of the Adobe RGB (1998) workspace and have a pretty reasonable default calibration.

On a Mac system, where color management have always been an important part of the Mac experience, it may even look acceptable. However, as soon as you really need to rely on what you see on the monitor, you will need to create a monitor ICC profile for it and make sure that your operating system is using it correctly.

Today, ICC Color Management is an integrated part of the operating systems on both Mac and PC’s, and all serious image applications are using ICC Color Management when displaying images on a monitor.

The easy way with EIZO

With the release of Capture One Pro 9.3, we have completed a long on-going collaboration with EIZO. This has resulted in a one-click solution for calibrating the high-end EIZO monitors with integrated calibration sensors.

This feature is a great solution for all of those who do not want to be an expert in monitoring profiling and just want a proven, trustworthy solution setting up for a target of gamma 2.2, 5000K White Point and a brightness of 120 candele/m2.

If you would like to try out this solution, you need to open Preferences, open Color Tab and push the One-click calibrate button. As long as you have a supporting monitor tab, sit back and watch the magic happen.

Profiling a monitor

For those who like to be hands-on or are interested in getting to know the work that lies behind profiling a monitor, we have provided you with an explanation. Profiling a monitor basically consist of 3 steps:

Calibrating the monitor
Measuring the color and tonal response
Creating a monitor ICC profile

To profile a monitor, you will need a specialized monitor calibration solution which includes an application and a color measuring device, typical connected via USB. There are at least a couple of solutions available on the market.

First part of the Profiling process is about bringing the monitor as close as possible to a standardized setup. To describe such a setup we typically specify 3 parameters:

Gamma response = 2.2
White Point = 5000K
Brightness = 120 candela/m2

Gamma Response

The gamma number refers to the mathematical gamma function and it is used to describe the un-linear response of the monitor, which originates from the days with CRT tube monitors.

Historically, Mac computers were using Gamma 1.8 and Window computers 2.2. Mac chose the gamma 1.8 as it was easier for them to match images on a monitor and a printer when using gamma 1.8. In those days, the ICC color manage system was not invented.

With today’s ICC Color Management workflow you will get equally good results whether you use gamma 1.8 or 2.2. However, as the most often used workspaces for images (The Adobe RGB (1998) and the sRGB workspace) use gamma 2.2, it has become the default standard to use gamma 2.2 for the monitor setup.

White Point

Any color displayed on a monitor is created by a mix of the monitor’s pure primary colors: The pure Red, pure Green and pure Blue. The White Point basically describes the balance of Red, Green and Blue light when a white color is displayed in the monitor.

A White Point of 5000K, which is practically the same as D50, gives a neutral daylight white. For critical viewing of prints it is recommended to use a 5000K light source. A number of print viewing booths with 5000K light sources are available, as well as general lighting solutions for room illumination at 5000K.

A modern quality monitor has no problem using a White Point of 5000K while still being able to be bright enough. It has not been like that always. Earlier monitors were very bluish by default, and when you tried to set it up for 5000K it would often be too dark, which forced you to make a compromise and use D6500 instead.

Brightness

The Brightness of the monitor is the last parameter to setup. There is an ISO standard that specifies a brightness of 160 candela/m2 for critical inspections of color prints. So, ideally you could set your monitor for a brightness of 160 candela/m2 and having a viewing booth matching that brightness level but running a monitor at this brightness may reduce its live time. A very good compromise is then 120 candela/m2. Most viewing booths can easily be dimmed to match that brightness level and it is fairly bright for critical color judging.

Calibrating a Monitor

As the first step of profiling a monitor, you need to set it up as close as possible to the target values. Depending on the calibration solution and your monitor, this first part can be done either pure manually or automatic. These two methods will be further explained in the up-coming sections.

Manual setup

On your monitor there will be a menu system where you should be able to select the target values:

Gamma 2.2
White point D50 /5000K
A brightness level

When you start the monitor profiling application you will have to specify the target values for the monitor. The profiling application will now be able to measure the monitor setup and guide you to optimize it in order to get it closer to your target values if the monitor menu system allows you to do so.

Calibration colorimeter on EIZO monitor

Now that the monitor is correctly set, it is time for measuring how it performs.

Typically, this requires at least measuring the monitor’s primary colors the pure Red, pure Green and pure Blue and the linearity of the monitor. These measurements are then used for generating the monitor ICC profile.

In this manual calibration case the ICC profile will contain a linearization tables for the Red, Green and the Blue Channel that will be used by the graphic display card to insure the correct white point and a perfect linearity.

If you double-click on a monitor ICC profile on a Mac it will be opened in the Color Sync Utility application. Here you can inspect the “Vcgt” tag, which contains the lookup tables for the graphical card. In this case we can see that the Red and Blue lookup table are a little different as these curves compensate for a non-perfect White Point setup at the monitor and for some un-linearity.

Automatic setup

In some high-end monitors the profiling application will be able to communicate directly with the monitor via USB connection. If this is the case, the profiling application is able to set the monitor for the target values in closed loop calibration.

For some monitors it is even possible to load the measured linearization tables into the monitor’s hardware where they can be using a 10 bit resolution. If so, the ICC profile will still have lookup tables for the Red, Green and Blue channel but they will all be perfect linear as any un-linearity compensation has been moved into the monitor hardware.

This way of calibrating a monitor is, of course, the preferred solution, as lookup tables in the graphic card only works in 8 bit and can cause visual banding in very smooth tone transitions if the needed corrections are too big.

At the end of the profiling process, a monitor ICC is generated. As I work with laptops and with different external monitors (studio, office, home), I name the ICC profile by a model name/location and a data. This way it is easy for me to identify the different ICC profiles if I want to inspect it in, for instance, ColorSync Utility.

Just Viewer Booth

Quality control

Now you should have a perfect calibrated monitor and the monitor ICC profile has been setup for the ICC Color management system on your operating system. But something may have gone wrong, so you are recommended to do some kind of validation of your new profile.

For years, I have been using the same reference file that I almost know by heart how is supposed to look, and I have reference prints of that file that I can bring up in my viewing booth next to the monitor. Over the years, I have tried many different monitor profiling solutions and many times I have ended up with something not looking right.

How often do you need to profile you monitor?

High-end monitors do not change much over time. Working with a rather new monitor, I only profile every 12 months. It is important that you make sure that you do not start to calibrate the monitor before it has warmed up. Depending on the manufacture, this can be done as fast as in 7 minutes.

My experience also tells me that my monitor is in fact very stable. However, if I profile it with different applications and/or color measuring devices I will get more or less different results, so it is also very important to use the same tools every time.

All the best,

Niels

Using Wacom Tablet with Capture One Pro

It is almost three years ago since I wrote on this blog about using a Wacom tablet with Capture One Pro (Work faster by customizing your Wacom tablet in Capture One Pro 7), so I thought it was about time for an update!

I began using a tablet after struggling with the worst mouse design of the century, the infamous Apple ‘Hockey Puck’ mouse.

Whilst looking sleek, it was an ergonomical disaster and soon led to RSI in hand wrist and arm. At the time, I was creating cutting paths for about 7-8 hours per day, so maybe I’m being hard on the mouse, but something had to change. So I found the Wacom tablet.

Since then, I have never looked back and I use my Wacom all day every day for every single application. I do not even have a mouse anymore or feel the need to get one.

Why Wacom?

So, apart from comfort, why else use a Wacom tablet? If you haven’t tried one before, my advice is to certainly give it a go. It may take a short time to adjust, but once you have, you won’t regret it!

The latest models also act like a large trackpad, so if you want a break from pen holding, you can simply activate the touch sensitivity and use it like you would use a laptop trackpad. The pen also responds to pressure, which can be linked with some functionality in Capture One Pro and as well as to other applications.

The model I am using for this post is the Intuos Pro (http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-tablets/intuos-pro-medium). They come in a number of sizes, but I have always found the smaller size adequate for my needs, plus it’s also easy to travel with. It really does come everywhere with me.

Wacom were kind enough to send me a new one so I could compare to my much older model I’ve been using. If the financial stretch to a Pro model is too much, the Intuos line (http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-tablets/intuos-photo) should definitely not be seen as a poor substitute.

Customisation

Since my last look at the Wacom driver, I can certainly see that things have moved on in terms of customisation possibilities. There’s almost a mind boggling array of customisable functions and it’s going to take me some time to dig into what will work the best.

Let’s have a look at the Pen first….

Pen

Changes to Pen and Tablet functionality are all carried out in the System Preferences (I am told the possibilities are the same with Windows). Here are the Pen options:

The feature circled in orange is important! It allows you to create custom configurations for individual apps. So, click that to begin creating a setup just for Capture One Pro.

I change very little on the Pen configuration, except for the switch which you can operate with your thumb. The lower part (set to Pan/Scroll) I can click and hold which allows me to scroll up and down through the thumbnail view, or indeed any other scrollable window in Capture One or any other application..

The upper part I’ve set to Right Click, which means I can access many of the sub menus of Capture One Pro directly from the Pen.

If you’ve read my older blog post about Wacom, you might remember a function called the Radial Menu which can also be accessed by a Pen button click. This brings up an OSD-like menu wherever the cursor currently is:

This menu can be customised to respond to Capture One Pro’s shortcut keys, and if you’re new to Capture One Pro and can’t remember all the shortcuts yet, this is a great way of adding some of the frequently used functions.

To configure it, you need to change to the Functions section, On Screen Controls Tab and then the Radial Menu:

For each ‘wedge’ of the Radial menu you can assign a function. In this case, I have set Keystrokes that correspond to certain Capture One actions, like creating a New Variant.

I will admit that I’ve moved away from using this, as I became more and more used to using shortcut keys and being able to remember them! However, this is a GREAT option if you can’t remember shortcuts or simply don’t like using them.

If you want to use this option, just change the top Pen switch to Radial Menu, or use one of the Express Keys (See below) if you prefer.

I think that, potentially, a great action to add here would be options for Local Adjustments like Fill Mask and Invert Mask. I plan to try this out right away.

If neither of those options appeal to you, simply take a look at the available ones from the list, there’s a lot!

The Tablet

The tablet itself also has customisable Express Keys and the Touch Ring, which is a touch sensitive wheel that can also be customised. It’s commonly used for changing brush parameters or zooming.

Once again, I will be completely honest and say that I don’t use these keys as much as I use the keyboard. Ergonomically, I have my left hand on the Keyboard where I can access, CTRL, SHIFT, CMD, ALT etc., and the Pen in my right.

(Don’t worry if you are left handed, as you can flip the tablet, and set to being left handed in the preferences)

However, instead of using the Express Keys as modifier keys, they are useful for accessing some Wacom specific functions. One of them, I’ve actually just discovered while writing this post.

The Express Keys are configured just like the Pen toggle switch. Each key is shown graphically, with a drop down menu of options.

I leave the first Express Key set to the default, which just turns the touch sensitivity on and off.

Display Toggle

If you work across two monitors, like me, the surface area of your Wacom will be divided between them. In the Mapping tab, a graphical representation shows you how the tablet is divided. Generally, I leave it like this, but if you are working on two displays that vary greatly in size, you can find that you don’t have enough tablet for the screen in terms of accuracy.

Therefore, I’ve just set the second Express Keys to Display Toggle:

This means that clicking this button will remap the tablet to either one of the monitors or both of them. So if I would like to concentrate on my main monitor only, I just toggle through using that key. I have to say that I’m so glad I found this feature.

Precision Mode

This can be really handy when doing some intricate masking work in Local Adjustments. Basically, it remaps the tablet area to a very small part of the screen, so you can work very smoothly.

The Touch Ring

If you’ve ever used a classic iPod (showing my age here), you’ll know exactly how the touch ring works. It’s a touch sensitive dial that can be used for things such as zooming or adjusting the brush size and hardness:

Sometimes I use this, but sometimes I can either just Right Click whilst using the brush (easy to do on the Pen as you have seen) to bring up the Brush parameters, or even hold CTRL on the keyboard.

So at this time, I haven’t found a time saving use for the Touch Ring, but I will keep investigating.

On Screen Controls

On Screen Controls are similar to the Radial menu but going one level deeper for the amount of shortcuts you can add with more customisation possibilities:

By clicking the plus button (indicated) you can create a list of key assignments in a similar way to the Radial Menu.

They show as a HUD style grid on screen:

Again, this could be a useful way to convert shortcut keys into visual buttons, if you have a hard time remembering them.

Using Pen Pressure

Depending on the model, Wacom tablets are sensitive to the amount of pressure you place on the pad. You can link that pressure sensitivity to the size of your brush in Capture One Pro’s brush settings panel:

Personally, I am not skilled enough to make this work well, and find it faster to just bring up the settings panel to finesse brush size as I work. Also, with the addition of Flow control (The importance of Flow control) it doesn’t make sense to link Pen Pressure to Opacity right now.

But try it and see what you think.

Conclusion

So far, I have only scratched the surface of what’s possible in broader terms with a Wacom tablet.

If you decide to take the plunge and start using a Wacom as a result of this post, then please let me know in the comments how it went.

What have you found that makes your workflow easier?

If you’re already a Wacom user, what can you tell us about your shortcuts and settings?

As I work more with this new tablet and driver, no doubt that I will settle on a configuration. When I do, I will follow up with my final setup!

All the best,

David Grover

Pick your battles: 4 things worth fighting for on any shoot

Preparing for a commercial shoot, no matter what the size, is a stressful endeavor. Countless decisions need to be made in the weeks leading up to shoot day and most often these aren’t your decisions alone to make. Creative directors who have been working for months to concept the project, producers who have hawk like eyes on the budget, and account managers who are looking out for their client are just a few of the voices who will have an opinion — and rightfully so.

If there is one thing that experience has taught me, it’s that even the best intentioned ideas need to adapt to the practical realities of their capture. Believe me I’ve seen it all: From not having new cars painted when delivered from the factory (we ended up using Plasti Dip), to no fly zones due to military training; both planned and unplanned challenges are part of any production.

So, knowing which battles to pick when it comes to these conversations can be the difference between successfully executing your creative vision and feeling like a robot who is just pushing a shutter button. Here are the four things I’m never willing to budge on — and a few images from a recent production for the US based fabric manufacture Eastman to illustrate.

1) Location

As an outdoor/lifestyle photographer, to me, location is everything. REAL is king, and while it is possible to fake heat, rain, snow, and epic vistas, they always fall short on the authenticity meter. The mood of the shoot, and therefore the images we create, are directly related to a location. So I will fight to the death for the best location.

For the project with Eastman, we wanted to capture compelling photography while telling a visual narrative about the different conditions that their new fabrics were designed for. Practically, that meant the heat of the desert to the cool chill of mountain summits. For the ‘hot’ desert part of our story, I was inspired by the photographs you often see of Antelope Canyon in Arizona, where the dust stirred up by hundreds of people in the narrow canyon create beams of light that tell such a rich story in a single image. I wanted those beams, but in a more dramatic place. Tall, smooth walls of sandstone.

I think our team found an awesome spot for my creative vision, and the producers were happy that we could get everyone in and out safely, with minimal hiking, AND within the budget.

2) Talent

You can be in the most beautiful place in the world, but if you don’t have the right models you aren’t going to get the shot you need. Whether you are just using friends that you’ve worked with before, or having a casting agent supply models for the project, it’s incredibly important that you as the director/photographer talk with talent beforehand. Be honest about your expectations, locations, and direction ahead of time.

Then when it comes time to make a decision on who you will be using on the project, you can be specific about the talent you want to shoot and why. “He looks good” doesn’t hold up in a discussion about casting. “When I talked to him on Skype he shared his experiences in hiking in exposed environments, can do backflips on command, and has great energy” goes much further. This was the case with ‘Zuma’ our male talent in these desert photos. I loved his look, but it was his comfort in the dusty, dirty, exposed landscapes that made these locations really come to life.

3) Gear

No matter what the client asks for, use the camera equipment that YOU want. You are a race car driver, and the gear is your car. The equipment you pick will have as much effect on the look and feel of the imagery as the location.

Because I knew these images were going to be used as giant billboards, I wanted to capture everything in the highest and sharpest resolution possible. Additionally, I knew we were going to be operating in narrow canyons, river bottoms, and mountain ridges – places where the exposure and vastness was an essential element in the photograph. I wanted to be close to the action but still see the epic landscape.

For these reasons I shot the entire campaign on the new Phase One Schneider Kreuznach 35mm LS f/3.5 Blue Ring lens. I was blown away by the corner-to-corner sharpness when paired with the XF IQ3 100MP camera system, even when shot wide open. Shooting tight, but knowing that I’d still have the context of landscape, helped us move fast and efficiently, because the client knew they could crop in on an image if needed.

I normally don’t think of shooting medium format as faster, but it’s a big reason why we were able to shoot this entire campaign in a matter of a days – not weeks.

4) The Post Process

Once you’ve wrapped a production, the work is only halfway done. From stills to motion, the realization of your creative vision comes together in the post production process. This entire project was edited in Capture One Pro 9, which is the best tool I’ve found for pulling every ounce of color and resolution from your files.

Because we shot this campaign practically, meaning that what you see was how it was on location, it was important for us to remain rooted in reality, but push what the naked eye could see.

At the end of the day, the RAW file is just a foundation for you to build your story from — so don’t let the fact the that shooting is done, stop you from having your creative voice be heard.

There’s always a fine line between fighting for your creative vision and being a micromanager. It’s your job as the photographer to lead your team through the creative process of a production and be specific about what you want. However, it’s also important to remember that you are a team.

While there will always be several things out of my control, these four elements are always worth fighting for.

Creating fairytales with the XF 100MP

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

At a recent workshop, organized by fellow photographer, Dennis Møller I had the pleasure of creating with and demonstrating the Phase One XF 100MP.

The workshop took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, and ran across two days filled with shared knowledge and connecting with those who have a passion for capturing moments. On the first day we focused predominantly on shooting and storytelling. I shared my inspirations, how I prepared for the shoot ahead, how I set up scenes and later, demonstrated how I used the Phase One system in my shooting process. On the second day I focused on retouching and image composition. I shared various tips and the techniques I employ using Capture One Pro, followed by Pratik Naik of Solstice Retouch leading us through high end image processing.

Preparing a fairytale

For much of my work, a lot of time goes into the preparation of the shoot. This involves pulling together clothes, the right models, and getting a sense of the story I’d like to convey. The clothes were sourced by myself and sent to us from Fairytas, a talented designer based in the Netherlands. The models were Anna and Mathilde from Management Agency with hair and makeup by Maria Leonhard Bødker. Many of the details were overseen by Dennis Møller, who ensured a smooth running couple of days.

My inspiration for this shoot came from fairytales and old renaissance paintings leading me to envision a tale between two sisters. Our location of choice was The Kings Gardens. A walk there the day before revealed floral heavy bushes and a castle in the background, a more fitting place I couldn’t imagine.

An ‘almost therapeutic’ technical process

For the images created I alternated between three lenses; The 55mm, 80mm, and the 110mm. All three performed admirably and I was able to shoot quickly, capturing the images I wanted in a limited time frame. I was impressed with the focus and the ease in being able to set custom settings as well as change them during a fast paced shoot. There was a sense of peace in knowing that, due to the camera’s impressive dynamic range, I could recollect much of the information back, in case the image was over or under exposed in certain areas. This allowed me to focus on, well, the focus!

There was more time between shots due to a conservative rate with frames per second. I found myself really working on staying present in the moment and focusing on the scenes that slipped past in front of the camera. The students also got an opportunity to use the camera, and for many, it was the first time using the system and having medium format images to work on later in post.

The files really come into their own when adjusting colors in Capture One Pro. As an artist who enjoys building up colors in images, this process was almost therapeutic for me. Phase one renders color tones beautifully and I thoroughly enjoyed working up layers and layers of slight adjustments to create a color palette filled with depth and unique richness in Capture One Pro.

Retouching with Pratik Naik

Switching gears and talking about the post production and technical, I got to show the students what I do on a regular basis. The benefit of starting out with these medium format files; they got to also compare them with their own cameras. The true depth of the colors and sharpness was a really beautiful moment when they came to that realization collectively. People always wonder if it’s that much better, and it became apparent.

We started out in Capture One Pro and explored more in-depth color work like the influence of the color editor and the intriguing skin tone tab. Using the robust layering structure to bring out the potential of each image really set a great base for getting into the retouching element. Being able to retouch for the sake of bringing out the best parts of the image instead of using Photoshop to fix mistakes was a great feeling.

An honest test jury

The primary reason for choosing Denmark as destination is that the Danes are very advanced with their education. They are incredible photographers and they have the technical knowledge to back it up. With the Phase One camera system, could they appreciate the reality of what it has to offer, or was it an over-hyped product that isn’t worth the cost? Danish photographers are very honest with their response and we wanted to see if the camera beats their critical and honest thoughts.

We were fortunate to be able to use the system on location. Through the day, students used their own and the Phase One system. They obviously got to experience how to use it and the different style in shooting required. They also got to compare the full potential of each image when we went back to the studio to process them. On the camera end, there are huge improvements on the auto-focus speed from the previous model.

My favorite aspects of the XF 100MP

The XF body is also exceptionally intuitive and continues to improve with firmware upgrades. Aside from the hardware, here are my favorite aspects of the camera: The first element is the sheer real estate value of each image. Being able to crop and re-compose in post in a manner that far exceeded any SLR image was tremendous. Especially when you have clients who want a variation that is way more focused in than anticipated on set, you are able to re-adjust and still make large and clear prints. This comes in very handy on any commercial set.

Next, taking a look at just how sharp these images are, illustrated below. The clarity is diamond-like in quality, and you immediately notice that this isn’t something that can be done by adding a sharpening filter. Finally, the color output of these 16-bit images is my utmost favorite quality.

When you combine the clarity with an excellent variation of colors provided, the term “life-like” immediately comes across. Even within the skin and clothing, you see nuances of color that really make a difference. If you’re shooting clothing, it sells it. If you’re documenting environments, reality-level shades of green are recorded.

When you go back to any SLR file after looking at these images, you suddenly realize what is missing. And that is a dangerous thing because it will leave you with a desire to own one. The good news is you can rent them as well and include that into any expense on a client job should the budget be there.

Below you’ll find the images which we created that day, along with 100% crops to get an idea of the details in each image.

Essential steps in Capture One Pro

No Capture One Pro; No happy fairytale ending. As the screen shots illustrate, Capture One Pro 9 has played a major role in helping me fulfill the visual fairytale. Get an overview and gain an insight into my editing process here: