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To Luma or not to Luma?

In Capture One Pro 9 there is common ground between the improved Contrast slider and the new addition of the Luma Curve mode. So when you should you use the slider?, and what about a Curve? or even when should RGB Curves come into play?

As with many functions in Capture One Pro 9, the choice is yours but ultimately it’s about giving you precision and power and not having software make the decision for you.

Let’s take a look at this following example. It shows quite clearly that using a Luma Curve in this case gives a better end result with more control over the final result.

Straight out of camera, the image looks like this but there is plenty of data in it to extract all the contrast and depth that I want.

If we were to treat this as a color image first of all, one of the first things I would like to do is to boost the contrast in the sky to make the clouds more visible.

I would like to treat the sky as a separate element of the image, as the buildings won’t require the same treatment I feel. Fortunately masking that will be a pinch as I can transform a color selection into a mask, which is new in Capture One Pro 9.

My color selection of the sky I have tried to keep as tight as possible by narrowing my selection down. I will end up with some of the right hand side of the building being selected but I don’t anticipate that will cause me much trouble. It’s a bit flat anyway, so it would benefit from any additional contrast added to the sky.

Immediately, this selection can be transformed into a Local Adjustment mask, with the end goal of being able to edit the sky with the additional benefit of using the contrast slider of a curve.

Now we have ‘Layer 1’ in the Local Adjustments tool, which is a pretty decent mask of the sky, with some of the right hand side of the building.

With the mask activated (and shown in red) you can see the result.

To add some contrast in the sky, we have a choice of

Using the Contrast Slider
Using an RGB Curve
Using a Luma Curve.

They will all give a slightly different result. Here is the Contrast slider, at a value of 30 points.

Here is an S curve applied in RGB.

Here is an S curve applied in Luma

So you can see that there is quite a different result from using the 3 different methods. The strongest shift in hue and saturation is when using an RGB curve (as we would expect) and the least change of hue and saturation is when using a Luma Curve – also what we expect!

The benefit of using the Luma Curve in this instance is that we can apply the contrast we want and individually control our preferred level of Saturation. In this case I might as well add a few points of Saturation to get the level I like.

You will see in each of the examples that the contrast has also increased on the right hand side of the tower, which I said earlier, I probably wouldn’t mind and my suspicions were correct.

To finish off the image in color, I made another local mask on the middle of the tower to darken it off more and add some contrast. I also did some selective dodging and burning.

Finally, for a Black and White version I modified the sliders somewhat in the Black and White tool and added a little grain.

Best regards,

David Grover

5 easy steps to save your low contrast images

Whether it is a grey and rainy day or a day with lots of scattering light that makes an image appear with low contrast, you can easily fix the problem with the histogram and the Levels sliders in the Levels tool.

Pictures with low contrast hardly ever look interesting. Even if an image was shot in very low contrast, you should still try to use a full range of tones in the image.

Image straight out of the camera and the image after being optimized in Capture One Pro 9.

After loading the image in Capture One Pro 9, it is obvious that the image looks very dull lacking both contrast and colors. When I took the image, my brain had compensated for the very low contrast light conditions, so I remembered the scene having more colors and contrast even though the weather was really rough.

The histogram in the Levels tool explains why the image appears so flat. All the values in the image are gathered in the middle of the histogram without any really dark or bright tones.

Step 1: Fine-tune the White Balance

I notice that the red, green and blue histograms aren’t really on top of each other indicating that it is a good idea to adjust the White Balance in the image. I use the white balance picker in the splashing water as this diffuses the light and gives a good general balance for the whole image.

I don’t use the picker on the clouds as this will lead to a wrong White Balance for the image. Distant clouds always get a bluish tone, which I like to preserve in most landscape images.

Step 2: Optimizing the histogram

Now I simply drag the shadow and highlight slider in in the Levels tool so they are placed where the main mass of the histogram starts and ends. You could also use the A button in the tool for Automatic optimization for the histogram.

Optimized histogram in the Levels tool

Now the image looks much better. But I would like to do a few more things to enhance it even more.

Step 3: Adding more details in the splash

To get more detail in the white splashing water I will do a combination of some corrections in the High Dynamic Range tool combined with some Clarity and Saturation adjustments. By first using the highlight slider in the High Dynamic Range tool I bring more details into the splash, which I can amplify by adding some Clarity and Structure in the Clarity tool.

Saturation, Highlight and Shadow compensation in the High Dynamic Range tool and Clarity has been added. Now it is much easier to see the patterns in the white splashing water, which is better separated from the now more bluish sky.

Step 4: Darker skies

Finally, I would like to add more drama to the sky. I will do this very simply by applying some Vignetting to the image. Besides adding drama, it also helps drawing the viewer’s attention towards the breaking wave in the center of the image.

When adding Vignetting I compensate with a little extra brightness and contrast to ensure the same overall brightness of the image.

Final image after being adjusted in Capture One Pro 9

Step 5: Watch the noise in the image

When you stretch the data as much as I have done in this example, it is a good idea to take a look at the file in 100% zoom rate to see if you need to fine-tune the noise settings. On a normally exposed image Capture One Pro 9 will automatically make sure that the noise settings are set correctly but in a case like this you may have to add a little extra Color Noise or Luminance Noise Reduction.

All the best,

Niels

Documenting the daily life within a Haitian hospital

Photographer Jens Honoré recently had the opportunity to visit the Saint Damien Pediatric Hospital in Haiti, invited to photograph the daily life within the hospital.

The Saint Damien Pediatric Hospital is a non-profit hospital, founded in 1989 by NPH (USA) and is supported through public donations of the NPH USA’s St. Damien Pediatric Hospital Fund.

Jens Honoré writes…

When carrying out an assignment like this and photographing the emotional state present within a hospital, it can be quite a delicate challenge especially for someone outside of the community. It requires one to be very discreet, respectful, sensitive to the patient as well as sensitive to the overall tone and atmosphere surrounding that patient.

My approach was quite simple, to keep the images as simple as possible and for my presence to be as informal as possible. No lights or any other tools were used, no assistant or guide, just me, my camera and the subject. I knew that I needed a system that could work under challenging light conditions but I wanted a system that would deliver the absolute highest quality files. Although discretion is high on the priority list for a project like this, and Medium Format is perhaps not known for it’s discrete size, the choice to use Medium Format was made for a number of reasons.

First and foremost in my decision to use medium format was the image quality offered by the XF Camera System. Some of the best optics, high resolution and the shallow depth of field possible in medium format were big on my list to ensure I could deliver an end result I could be proud of. There is also the feel of medium format. The photojournalist reportage style of a project like this is quite common. It’s of course not a bad thing, but it wasn’t what I had envisioned for these images. I wanted something that would set these images apart from the typical delivery and I thought that the different aspects of medium format would work well to achieve that.

XF IQ3 50MP, SK110mm, ISO800

I wanted the resulting images to reflect as much the subject as the atmosphere. Hospitals are not exactly associated with joy and celebration, but neither are they entirely bleak and somber. The atmosphere of the hospital is what the patient makes it and I wanted to capture a depth in the images that hopefully reflected that atmosphere. It’s that depth that I felt required something different from DSLR, something I knew from experience only a medium camera system could deliver. The XF Camera System proved to be the right choice when I weighed all that I wanted to deliver for this project. It had all the features I needed in order to produce the photographs exactly how I envisioned them.

Although the end result may not depict an overtly happy tone, I believe I delivered the images in a manner that reflects the subjects themselves. I’m sure everyone can agree that a sick or suffering child is something no one would ever want to see; yet it’s an unfortunate and unforgiving part of life. There is melancholy to the images that one can’t avoid; this is the unfortunate truth surrounding illness, especially in children. However, due to the generosity and hard work of the people at Saint Damien Pediatric Hospital, and the NPH USA organization, there is hope, there is care and there is love.

I’d like to thank the good people at Saint Damien Pediatric Hospital in Haiti for allowing me to photograph and for all their patience and care towards the children of Haiti in need of their care.

Learn more about St Damien Pediatric Hospital here

XF IQ3 50MP, SK110mm, ISO400

From DSLR to Medium Format

Let’s start with one thing. Medium Format. The feel the look, it’s hard to describe in words, but you can see the difference immediately. With medium format, you’re drawn into the image in a way that is very different, having a completely different tactile feel to the image.

The decision to move to medium format was made back in 2015 on a shoot Zurich with another Phase One owner, Roger Fichmann. I was shooting with two of the best DSLR cameras on the market, with the highest resolution and they were both great but when I saw the depth of field and the incredible quality in the Phase One System, I was sold.

I made the decision to order the XF IQ2 60MP Camera System as it would cover my shooting style well, and got it just in time for three big shoots I had lined up in Thailand.

Getting started

Being new to the Phase One XF Camera System (only having tested it a bit from home), and not very well versed in the field of medium format photography, I was nervous that it would be bit of a mouthful tackling three shoots in five days. To my relief, however, everything worked right out of the box. The system was simple to set up and I was able start shooting right away. Getting started with this medium format beast was proving quite the easy transition.

For the planned shoots I would both on location and in the studio. Though I wasn’t very familiar with tethered shooting, I decided to give it a try. Looking back now I can honestly say for my style of shooting I would never shoot without it again. Having the ability to instantly adjust and focus-check through Capture One and be sure you’re spot on just makes everything so much easier.

On the set

I like my models to move a lot and constantly change poses, that being the case I never shoot on a tripod. Sure this may not be for everybody, but despite the handling difference of Medium Format I still got incredible detail and superb results even sooting as low as 1/60th and 1/80th. The Autofocus of the XF Camera System was fast and incredibly accurate, so despite the extensive resolution I need not worry.

I shot mostly with the Schneider Kreuznach 75-150mm and yes, it is a BEAST, but for me it seemed comfortable and well balanced. All the lenses I have used with the XF system are incredible and extremely sharp, so sharp that the detail can be rather unforgiving so it is important that all effort is met to have your models looking their best!

Conclusion

The XF Camera System, for me, delivered on all levels and made my transition from DSLR an easy one. The XF Camera System is intuitive, a real workhorse in the field, reliable and accurate. Not to mention the stunning detail. Sure there are some tradeoffs to DSLR, size being one of them, but at the end of the day the image quality, reliability and ease of use are what counts.

I have a major project in the tropical rainforests of the Philippines that will last a month, mixing studio and location shoots, and I have no hesitation that this system will perform under all the challenges. Like I said, for me the image quality is the highest priority and the images produced are insanely detailed, the colors suberb, and as the team all said when they saw their images on the big monitor, the final result is “WOW!”

Best regards,

William Barrington-Binns