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Working with Styles

Capture One Styles and Presets are easy ways to give your images the look you want or get to a good starting point for your editing with just one click.

With hundreds of premade Styles available and the ability to make and save your Styles, you can edit different types of photos within all genres to easily get a consistent look and save hours as you create the perfect image.

In this guide, we’ll take you through what Styles are, how to use them, the difference between Styles and Presets, and some tips to get you started, save time, and take your photography to the next level.

What exactly is a Style?

A Style in Capture One is a set of pre-made adjustments that you can apply to one or more images with a single click. A Style can include as many adjustments as you like, thus enabling photographers to create an extensive bank of ready-to-use adjustments for any workflow.

What is the difference between a Style and a Preset?

As mentioned, a Style is a saved set of adjustments using multiple tools. People who are familiar with other editing software might know this as a preset. Presets also exist in Capture One. However, in Capture One, a Preset is a pre-made adjustment to a single tool. You can access Presets instantly directly from the tool itself. If you, for example, make a Film Grain Preset, it will be available from the Film Grain tool as well as the Styles and Presets tool.

Using the Style FL-01 from the Film Styles pack the image goes from dull to wow in just one click.

What are Smart Styles?

If you are using Capture One Pro 23 or later versions of Capture One Pro, you will have access to so-called Smart Styles.

Smart Styles uses Smart Adjustments like Smart Exposure, Smart White Balance, and any other adjustments and combines them into a one-click editing solution to give your images a consistent look.

Smart Styles and Smart Adjustments give photos shot under different lighting conditions a similar look by automatically adjusting Exposure and White Balance – reducing editing time massively.

The tools are specifically designed for event, wedding, and portrait photography as it uses faces and skin tone as guidance to determine which adjustments to make to your photos. This means that if you have a shoot outside and the weather changes or if you move inside, you can use the same Style to get a consistent look even if the lighting conditions are different in each picture.

How do you make a Smart Style?

In Capture One Pro, you can also make your own Smart Styles. Here’s how to do it:

Edit a photo to your liking using the adjustments you want to include in your Smart Style
Navigate to the Smart Adjustments tool
Pick Exposure and/or White Balance to decide what to include in the Style
Select Save Style…
Make sure other adjustments you want to include in your Smart Style is ticked

Start by editing your reference image how you like it using the exposure and white balance adjustments
Select the image in the Browser
In the Styles and Presets tool, navigate to … and then select Save Custom Style – the dialog where you can select which adjustments to include in the Style is presented.
At the top of this dialog, you will see Smart Adjustments, whereby you can choose either Exposure or White Balance – along with any other desired adjustments.
By checking at least one Smart Adjustment and then selecting Save, you have successfully created a Style that will intelligently apply White Balance and/or Exposure corrections to each image it is applied to

Explore all our Styles packs here

When should I use Styles?

Even though Styles can give an immediate wow effect when you apply them to your images, they aren’t a magic solution to editing. Instead, they boost the creative process, putting you ahead.

With that being said, every photographer is different and has their way of working, so there is no wrong way of using Styles. Below are a few ways to use Styles in your workflow.

Adjusting a large batch of images

Large batches of images can be a time-consuming task to edit. Styles can help photographers go a long way in this type of workflow. Wedding and event photographers, who often have hundreds of images to edit, can benefit greatly from using Styles to get a consistent look without spending hours on end.

How to apply a Style when importing or shooting tethered

You can apply Styles automatically when importing or shooting tethered into Capture One, providing instant adjustments from the beginning of the workflow. Any Style applied this way can be removed to get back to the plain RAW file. Reset the full image or reset parts of the Style you don’t like.

You can select any Style from the Adjustments tool with the Importer window.

When shooting tethered, you can apply any Style in the Next Capture Adjustments within the Capture tool tab. This will instantly apply the Style to any image shot into Capture One. This is an excellent way to get an idea of what you want the look of the specific shoot to be, as you can quickly browse different Styles and find one that suits your images. As always, you can further adjust or remove if wanted the Style later.

Use Styles for creative brainstorming

Even the best photographer can sometimes feel lost when it comes to the initial stages of editing an image. By having a selection of Styles ready, you can quickly get inspired to find the desired direction with your image. This is especially useful for Black and White photos, where individual channel luminosities significantly affect the final image or images that need a subtle color grade.

Capture One Style Packs

Capture One offers a range of pre-made Style packs made in-house or by experienced photographers from different fields. In addition to the built-in Styles included in every version of Capture One, you can explore and buy more Style packs in our Styles store.

How to install a Style Pack

You can install Capture One Style Packs in three different ways.

After unpacking the downloaded file, choose one of the following methods:
Double-click the Styles Pack directly.
Open Capture One Pro and drag-drop the Styles Pack into the application window.
From within the Styles and Presets tool, click the ••• icon (upper right), select Import Styles…, browse your Styles Pack and click Open.
The Styles Packs will now be available within Custom Styles in the Styles and Presets tool.

To learn more about using Styles in Capture One, watch this tutorial

New to Capture One? Try it for free here

Unlock the Power of Sessions

Join David Grover as we follow up on our January Livestream regarding catalog management and strategies – this time diving into Sessions. Catalogs are great for larger image collections, but Sessions are beneficial for single tasks or short-term projects. We will explore the differences between Catalogs and Sessions, how to set them up for success, and strategies for different tasks.

If you’re interested in managing your photos on a project-by-project basis, then Sessions are for you. They are a powerful tool for tethered capture and unique projects outside the studio.

Live beauty shoot with Dariane Sanche

Interested in learning more about quick remote collaboration with Capture One Live? Join David Grover and photographer Dariane Sanche for a Live beauty shoot.

In this Livestream, we’ll show you how to share shoots with clients and get previews over to your team lightning fast – no matter what device they’re viewing from or where they are in the world. Learn how to collaborate quickly and save time finding and rating the best shots with your client.

During the session, we’ll share a Live link with you so you can follow along in real-time as Dariane and David work.

RAW Talent with Raymond Alva

Portrait and documentary photographer Raymond Alva, or Rap – short for Rapberry – as he’s been known since the 4th grade, wants to challenge people to look at each other in new ways; to create understanding between different groups.

In this month’s RAW Talent, the recent graduate gives us a look at how he is taking the plunge into the world of professional photography after his studies and using his education and personal interests to explore hidden stories within street culture, fashion, and music.

How did you get into photography?

I first got introduced to stills back in 2014 at a summer camp I went to. Some older campers I knew had cameras and I was immediately interested in what they were doing. About a year later, I got my first camera from my parents for my birthday, and I’ve been shooting ever since.

You studied photography at California Baptist University. How was that? And how did it help you find your voice?

My time at CBU was incredible, to say the least. My professors there showed me time after time that photography and art can be so much more than just a pretty picture. A still image can bring life to dark areas, it can bring hope to the weary, and it can even remind us of where we come from.

Program Lead Christopher Kern has built a platform and space for students to come and truly develop their craft into something far greater and more meaningful than thought of before.

In the video: Follow along as Raymond edits the cover for R&B artist Shua’s single ‘Fix Myself To Death’: “We wanted the photos to have a similar feeling to film. We achieved this by flattening the curves and adding a slight s curve. Open up the shadows while still darkening and brightening the mid-tones. The world is not a perfectly clean place, and the texture in photos will reflect that.”

What are three things that have defined photography for you?

Photography can be a lot of things, but these three aspects came to mind first: exploration, texture, and access.

Your craft will not go anywhere without your own personal exploration and the challenges that you make for yourself. Texture can evoke so much emotion in a frame. The world is not a perfectly clean place, and the texture in photos will reflect that.

Photography can be a great tool when wanting to get close to people, places, or stories that are not usually accessible in everyday life. I meet so many people who have interesting backstories and lives. Their stories inspire me and make me grateful for this experience as a whole.

Now, about your work, you spend your time between gigs as an assistant, “digiteching”, and doing personal projects. How does your approach to commissioned work differ from the one in your personal projects?

Commissioned work is really fun because oftentimes, I’m working with someone else to achieve a creative goal. It’s a collaboration. With personal work, it’s usually just me and my camera in the field. If I have an itch to try something new or document a certain subject, it’s totally up to me and I don’t have to run it by anyone else. There are pros and cons to both for sure.

You focus a lot on street culture, music, and fashion. Through your photos, you almost offer a sneak peek at what it’s like being part of these different subcultures. How do you achieve that look and feel?

I honestly just started shooting the things that were most important to me. I’ve skated pretty much my whole life, and a couple of years ago, I realized that I had never actually documented that culture. This turned into me dedicating my senior thesis to the topic, and I began to invest myself even more in the culture.

Besides skateboarding, both fashion and music play a huge role in my life. Because of this, they naturally became subjects in my work, and their worlds started to naturally blend into mine.

What is the most interesting part of using photography as means of creative expression?

I’d say the fact that it’s enabled me to speak on topics or ideas that people might overlook. Anyone can pick up a camera and shoot a well-exposed image, but it’s the voice of the artist and what they’re saying that really makes the art of photography special.

One of the hopes I have with my work is that people would be challenged to look at each other differently. We are all a lot more similar than we think. We all mess up, we all struggle, and we all feel lost and misrepresented at times. I hope my work acts as a bridge to show that it’s ok to be different, but also, if we actually talked to each other, we would see that we are all going through very similar struggles in life.

On a different note, how did Capture One come into your workflow?

Capture One has been great for a couple reasons. First off, it’s a great tool when culling through a large amount of photos. Previews load quickly and Smart Folders make the whole process a lot more pain free.

Tethering is also a huge part of my workflow (like most photographers in the industry). It allows me to be confident in what I’m shooting. A 16+ inch screen is a lot nicer than a 3-inch screen on my camera. It has also enabled me to send quick proofs over to clients who may not be on set but still want to be involved. Overall, it raises my own experience as well as the client’s.

What are the aspects of Capture One you enjoy the most? And could you share a couple of your go-to tricks and tips with our audience?

The multi-photo viewer and the texture panel, for sure. When I’m teching on set for another photographer, I always cull some of my favorite selects from the last look we shot and showcase them on all the monitors. That way, the client can feel confident as well as be inspired for the next look. I always have people asking me what software I’m using to do this, and luckily enough, I can do it all in Capture One. I also love the texture tool and all the options it has. Soft and harsh grain are usually always my go-to, but each one has its own feeling and use.

Explore more of Raymond’s work on his Instagram