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Work smarter, not harder!

Why do we edit pictures?

There is a lot of different answers to that question. For me personally, it’s mainly to give the image the “feel” that I want it to have, and to ensure the overall image quality. My editing process consists mainly of adjusting color, contrast and details. I don’t do larger multiple composition work, clone in or out larger areas or do heavy skin and body retouching.

This workflow means that I don’t need the extensive possibilities offered through Photoshop, and instead can use Capture One Pro 9 as a one-stop software for all my editing, sorting, rating and IPTC needs. For me this means I get a highly efficient workflow that allows me to do a lot of work in a short amount of time – not only on assignments where time is of the essence, but also everyday in the office. A focused workflow enables me to be very effective and thereby adopt a “work smarter not harder” mentality.

I find Capture One Pro 9, combined with the highest image quality, to be the strongest asset to me as a photographer.

The new engine in Capture One Pro 9, specifically the changes to the Contrast Tool, is something I’m very happy to see. The Contrast Tool doesn’t allow adjustments to become too contrasty too fast, which older versions had a habit of doing. This is further helped by the High Dynamic Range Shadow and Highlight Tool, as well as the Clarity Tool, which allows me to control contrast very well.

Image without and with shadow/highlight 20/20

Another feature that I really like in Capture One Pro 9 is the Film Grain tool. This tool gives the images, especially when printed in large scale, a film-like look instead of the “perfect” digital files and thereby adds that last bit of detail and feel.

Without and with Tabular Grain 50/50 – 100 % zoom

The Local Adjustment Tool also got an upgrade in Capture One Pro 9, which is very useful for both detailed work and broader adjustments using, for example, the Gradient Mask tool.

Without and with Local Adjustments with the Gradient Mask too

With all these great new improvements to Capture One Pro 9, I was excited to be invited to test the Beta version well before the release. While testing the beta version of Capture One Pro 9, I did a photo essay of a dirt bike rider named Ronni, here in my home city of Copenhagen.

I wanted to have a heavy contrast/rough style to the edited images, something that matched the location and sport while at the same time allowing me to test the new engine of Capture One Pro 9 and it’s improvements, specifically those improvements for contrast.

With this goal in mind, I set out to sort and edit the photos. Below you can see a step-by-step run through of my workflow:

The original RAW, directly from the camera.

The first thing I need to secure, when I start to edit my pictures, is a good base. Therefore I start by establishing the starting point for dynamic range and colors using the Levels tool. I use the RGB Levels tool to secure dynamic range, followed by the three separate channel Levels tool windows to reach my desired colors for the shadows, midtones and highlights (this is more important for color images, but also has some effect on B&W images).

Correcting Levels for desired details and colors in the whole dynamic range in the Levels tool

After the base dynamic range and color is secured, I switch to black and white mode using the Black & White tool. Here we can edit each color channel separately for greater effect, and even use the Color Editor tool for even more possibilities.

Using the Black & White tool and color editor to control how the colors transform into black and white

Now that the image is monochrome, we need to add contrast to achieve the desired feel of the image. For this series I wanted to have a dark and moody effect, so I added a lot of contrast, balancing on the dark tones, but without getting all black. When I reached the right contrast, I then used the HDR Shadow slider to balance the dark areas, and the HDR Highlight Slider, along with the Brightness slider to tone down to sky. All of this greatly achieved the dark moody look I was after.

Correcting the exposure, contrast, brightness and dynamic range in the photo for the desired effect + tool corrections

To guide the viewer towards the centre of the frame, where the action is, I here added some vignette to the frame, using the Vignetting tool.

Adding vignette + tool corrections

At this stage it’s time to add detail. To do this I used the Clarity tool to bring a bit more details forward, and the Noise Reduction tool for a clean file, which I can then add beautiful Film Grain to. It might seem a bit odd to first use Noise Reduction and then add back noise; but in my mind there is a clear difference between the digital noise, and the beautiful film noise from Capture One Pro 9. The Film Grain also helps to further strengthen the dark and moody look I was going for.

Adding details with clarity, noise reduction and film grain + tool corrections

For the final touch-up I use the Local Adjustment tool,for areas that needed special attention. I used it to get a darker sky, to add a bit more Clarity to areas that needed it, and then finally to darken a few highlighted areas, all without ruining other areas.

Putting the final touch to the photo with local adjustment to create the last dramatic effects + tool corrections

I’m very happy with the overall results of the series and am especially pleased with the new engine in Capture One Pro 9. Capture One Pro 9 gives me even more creative possibilities, in a fast and effective workflow, and still deliveries second-to-none image quality.

Best regards,

Esben Zøllner Olesen

www.esbenzollnerolesen.com

www.facebook.com/PhotoEZO

How to upgrade your Catalogs and Sessions to Capture One Pro 9

At the end of 2015 we released Capture One Pro 9 with new features, better quality and even more ways to work with your images. For those of you who already have existing Capture One 8 or earlier Catalogs or Sessions, you may be wondering how you bring those into Capture One Pro 9?

We are all very careful with our important images assets, so its only natural that we want to be cautious when moving from versions or from one application to another.

Fortunately, it is extremely easy to bring your older Catalogs and Sessions into version 9 and revert back if you want to as well.

We also don’t automatically ‘upgrade’ your legacy images (those worked on in earlier versions than Capture One 9) as some small differences in the look of the image may occur. It’s your choice, not ours, to change your images.

In this post I will cover upgrading to the latest processing engine too.

Here we have a Session (Catalogs are coming later in the post) that was created on in Capture One Pro 8…

To open this in Capture One Pro 9, simply choose File > Open in Capture One and point to that Session. The following dialog box will pop up:

Click Upgrade Session and it will open up straight away in Capture One Pro 9. Settings and Adjustments are preserved.

If we browse back to the Session folder we can see an automated backup has been created in the Session folder of the original Capture One Pro 8 .cosessiondb file, now named cosession.db.backup. A completely new, Capture One Pro 9 sessiondb has been created for use in Capture One Pro 9 only.

If you want to revert back to Capture One version 8, simply delete the newly created .cosessiondb file and delete the appended .backup naming on the cosessiondb.backup file.

For a Catalog, the Process is somewhat similar, but with a small variation for Mac and PC.

Again, here is a Catalog that was created in Capture One Pro 8…..

Using File > Open again in Capture One Pro 9, we see another similar dialog box…

As with the Session, a new Catalog database is created and the original database is kept safe and renamed. If you are using a Mac, right-click on the Catalog file and choose Show Package Contents.

If you are on a PC – you will note that the Catalog file is not packaged but a series of folders. Simply browse the folders and inside you will see the .backup Catalog as in the Mac system below…..

Once again, if you want to revert to the old Catalog, simply delete the new .cocatalogdb file and append the name of the .cocatalogdb.backup file.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, we do not automatically upgrade the process engine to the Capture One 9 process engine.

The process engine of the currently selected image is shown in the Base Characteristics tool…….

Note, the Engine says Capture One 8 and the Upgrade button to the right is visible.

To upgrade this image to the Capture One 9 Engine, simply click on the Upgrade button. To upgrade a batch of images, simply select them all first and then click Upgrade.

If you want to keep the image in both engines, simply Clone the image before upgrading. This is also a good way to compare the new engine to old!

An alternative course of action is to simply duplicate the Session or duplicate the Catalog and use that duplicate in Capture One 9.

But with either way you can freely experiment with Capture One 9 on older images as well as new.

Best regards,

David

Master your B&W conversion with the new Luma Curve

I participated in the Capture One Pro 9 beta testing program and got super excited about a few of its new features. Some of these updates will serve the productivity and quality demands of commercial photographers, but I am looking at them from the standpoint of discerning fine-art photographers and print makers.

In this post I’ll focus on some of the more interesting and powerful features specific to my way of working with digital black and white.

“This is what I measure my inkjet prints against”

My background is as a large format photographer working almost exclusively in black and white. I grew up with my hands in Pyro and Amidol, making contact prints from 8×10 negatives, and spent years working as a darkroom assistant before going on to be a professional printer for other photographers. Those Azo and Amidol prints remain the gold standard for me in the way they render visual clarity, midtone separation, and final print color. They are what I measure my inkjet prints against when printing for myself or for clients.

Most of my personal work still revolves around film, drum scans, and platinum/palladium printing, but digital capture and inkjet printing are taking on a larger role, and I want the prints to be consistent from one format to another. Using Capture One, I incorporate techniques and aesthetics honed in the darkroom, and translate them to a purely digital environment. My blog describes these digital black and white techniques, and I offer in-person and remote lessons that are individually tailored to photographers wanting to get the best from their digital images.

How I use Capture One 9 for Digital Black and White

I use the Exposure and Contrast tools to get a good starting point for making a black and white conversion with Capture One Pro 9. From here, I might do some additional work with the Color Balance and Color Editor, while enabling black and white to fine-tune the conversion. Then I use a variety of Local Adjustment techniques and export a grayscale tiff to Photoshop for any final adjustments before sharpening and printing.

Download free 30-day trial of Capture One Pro 9

“Less of a need to use Photoshop”

As I work more with Capture One Pro 9 and some of the new tools introduced in the update, I’m finding less of a need to use Photoshop for those final adjustments, and I have been testing workflows for printing directly from Capture One. I described my basic workflow with Capture One in this earlier post on my bwmastery.com blog, and this post will go into a little detail about how I use some of the new features in Capture One 9 for working in black and white.

The new Luma Curves

One of the more specialized aspects of image editors like Photoshop is the ability to define the blending mode for an adjustment. For the majority of the adjustment layers in my contrast and color correcting work, I use a “normal”, “color”, or “luminosity” blending mode. The new Curves tool in Capture One 9 offers a similar ability using the Luma option. This might seem like just a nice feature, but here’s a quick example of the difference this can make in the editing process. One of the things that affects hue and saturation is contrast, or the light and darkness of a given color. In the previous version of the Curves tool, you could only adjust the RGB values as a whole, or on a channel by channel basis. You still have that option with Capture One Pro 9, but you also have the ability to change the lightness and darkness without changing the color or saturation.

“Can be a big deal”

Changing contrast and brightness without affecting saturation can be a big deal when working in black and white, because changing saturation can affect your black and white filtration settings—sometimes that is a good thing (it can accentuate dramatic effects), but sometimes it can end up hurting the picture instead.

In the illustration below with the two picture of the barn, one has an RGB Curve adjustment, and the other has a Luma Curve adjustment. The blue sky is made darker about equally with the yellow filtration of the black and white conversion, but the deeper shadows start to block up and you end up losing some of the nice details in the stuff leaning against the barn. You could compensate for this in Capture One 8 (as well as in version 9) by selecting that color in the Color Editor and then changing the hue, saturation, or lightness for the offending color, but the new Curves tool gives a better starting place for your black and white conversion, and finer control over your image.

Luma Curve with the same black and white filtration settings

RGB Curve with the same black and white filtration settings

The color read-outs show how different the Luma and RGB options can be with even just a small S-curve. The shadows can block up quickly with a little yellow filtration, and the Luma curve can be a good option for retaining detail, but not hurt the rest of the yellows, reds, and lighter blues through the midtones and highlights.

Curves, now available in Local Adjustments

Maybe the most exciting new feature of Capture One 9 is that it has integrated the Curves tool to work with Local Adjustments using editable masks. I believe this is the first RAW editor to have this capability, and if I were not already a dedicated Capture One user, this would have earned my loyalty.

I am a huge proponent of using curves adjustment layers and layer masks in Photoshop as a means of quickly and intuitively making tonal edits and then using the brush tool to gradually paint in the adjustment. This process is based around the use of curves adjustments and is central to my creative editing work. Until now, the lack of curves has been one of the drawbacks of Capture One’s Local Adjustment controls. I worked around this limitation by using the exposure and high dynamic range controls, but missed the ability to click the color picker, select a tone in the image, and move it lighter or darker by simply dragging it to another point on the curve or using the arrow keys to nudge it up and down. The combination of seeing the tones change in the image, and being able to define the input and output points of different tones, is a powerful editing tool.

Integrating curves into your Local Adjustment workflow

You might want to take a quick read of my few posts on intuitive localized contrast control on my site. This will give you a good understanding of why I think curves and masks are so important.

One thing I talked about in my Black and White Mastery Capture One webinar session from August 2015 is the importance of seeing what the adjustment is doing to the whole image before painting or masking in the adjustment. Most people will make a blind adjustment, begin to paint in the mask, and then go back and readjust the settings afterward. That can be needlessly time-consuming and might not reveal creative possibilities.

My approach is to create a new Local Adjustment, then immediately invert the mask (right-click on the name of the layer to get this option). Now, any adjustment will be visible across the entire image and you can see how different tonalities are affected in proportion to each other. Once you are happy with the adjustment, invert the mask again, select a brush with a low opacity and flow, and gradually paint in the adjustment. The goal for these local adjustments is to use as few layers as possible (but as many as needed), with different layers for different kinds of effects.

Being able to see the maximum effect of the adjustment also allows you to use the same layer for different parts of the image without fear that you might “take it too far” when painting in the adjustment. It allows you to see more possibilities that the picture itself might reveal, and turns image editing into process of creative discovery.

Joshua Tree National Park, 2012

This was made a few years ago after a long day of hiking and photographing. It was hand-held in fast-failing light. I chose this picture for this sequence to demonstrate how well Capture One can bring something like this back to life. These are meant to show an opposite approach to using the RGB curve over a Luma curve.

RAW file with no adjustments

Basic adjustments on the way towards the black and white conversion

This kind of color is too much for my taste, but the goal is a good range of tones for the black and white conversion. I look at this this step as though I’m making sausage.

Default color to black and white filtration

The default filtration settings don’t take advantage of the red in the rocks and doesn’t separate the reds and blues in the sky.

A slight yellow/red filtration with a Luma Curve

Same yellow/red filtration with a RGB Curve

This step is to test whether the contrast increase with a curve is better done with the new Luma option or the standard RGB option. You can create a cloned variant in this step to see which setting works best for your particular image. In this case, the Luma option didn’t handle the separation in the rocks as nicely as the RGB option did. As the barn pictures showed, each case might be different so it is a good idea to do a quick test first. If you don’t want to test both ways you could just use the Luma curve, and then increase saturation of different colors in the Color Editor afterwards (or the single slider in the Exposure tool).

Curves in Local Adjustments

The following few screenshots illustrate the workflow I detailed above. I don’t detail every setting and brush stroke for each step, but give a few examples of the different ways the Curves can be used working with Local Adjustments.

Create a new Local Adjustment, name it, and then right-click (or control+click) for the “Invert Mask” option

Then choose an appropriately sized brush with low “Opacity” and “Flow” settings.

The inverted mask is visible with the overlay color

You can see the mask is inverted by pressing “m” on the keyboard.

Making the adjustment to the Curve to see the effect on the whole image.

Now you can add a control point to the Curve by clicking on the Curve or using a tool to click within the image for the tone(s) you want to edit. Then you can use the arrow keys to see the read-out of the input and output points. Once you are done you can reinvent the mask and paint in the adjustment.

Example of a contrast boost using only a Curve and an inverted mask to see how it affects the structure of the whole picture before. Then reinvert and gradually build up contrast.

Use a similar method for increasing contrast, and using any of the other options available in Local Adjustments. Be aware that any changes to the Curve will be applied after any other adjustments you might make.

Example of the kind of intuitive localized contrast control gradually with several adjustments

Example of painting in the adjustment for additional contrast. Be sure to paint without the mask visible so you can gauge the degree that the adjustment is coming through. Doing this work gradually allows you to understand the structure of your image and lets you visually balance the composition using tonal adjustments.

You can also use an new Local Adjustment with an inverted mask on the top of the stack for any final adjustments before exporting or printing. I use the Curve similar to a Levels adjustment after doing any local contrast control. You can also use the same layer for any modification during soft proofing for different kinds of process recipes.

Download free 30-day trial of Capture One Pro 9

Best regards,

Richard Boutwell
B&W Mastery

How far can you go with Capture One Pro 9?

Every new upgrade to Capture One brings new tools and versatility that leaves you in a bit of a tight spot as a photographer. It’s a good spot to be in for sure, a Champagne problem if you will. You’ve spent years editing images that you’re proud of, but with the new tools you start to notice how much better they can be, and how easily you can make that happen.

Realizing the true potential

With the release of Capture One 9 I started digging through some old images. There were some that I loved in the moment, but when it came to editing, I just couldn’t quite make it happen. I’ve revisited them from time to time but with Capture One Pro 9 I was finally able to pull out the potential I knew was there.

Back in 2012, I was fortunate enough to be lending a hand on a PODAS workshop in Iceland. Working on a PODAS is a fulltime job. Assisting all the participants to ensure they get the perfect shot leaves little time for you to do the same. I was able to get a few frames in here/there though, and one beautiful sunrise left me focusing on the beauty of the scene rather than properly setting up my shot. As a result, I missed the light and was left with a few flat but in-focus images. I knew the scene was there, but pulling it out and editing it to fit what was in my mind at the time was a challenge. Opening that file up in Capture One Pro 9 however, was a huge game-changer.

With the addition of Local Curves Adjustment and the ability to create an accurate and detailed mask from the Advanced Color Editor tool gave me just what I needed to bring the image back to what I knew it could be.

The image I captured was pretty flat and by all accounts, a failure. I had nailed the focus but had missed that fleeting opportunity to capture the light as it skipped across the sea in front of me. By the time I was on the ball to press the shutter, it was all gone and I only had my memory of the moment to reference.

Trying to retouch it in Capture One 7 was too much work and the image was shelved. Luckily, the shot stayed in my mind and when Capture One Pro 9 came about, I blew off the dust and gave it a go… 10 minutes into editing it and I was beside myself with how easily I could get it to where I knew it should be.

I started with the basic adjustment workflow I give to all my images. I started with a minimal contrast ICC profile and further flattened the image by applying a Linear Response curve. I always like to start editing with a flat, dull and boring RAW file so that I can build it up step by step until I’m satisfied with the results. I find that this method gives me better reference for all the detail that is present in the capture, so that I can ensure I bring it out to it’s full potential, or make the decision to lose it in a clear and responsible manner.

The beauty of Capture One Pro 9

The beauty of Capture One Pro 9 is the control. The speed improvements help, but it’s the control for Local Adjustments that really make it stand apart from Capture One Pro 8.

I started simply, separating my foreground and background.

A Gradient Mask on the mountains, and a Local Curve Adjustment to that mask, did the trick. See below.

From there I knew I had to separate the foreground. There was some rich red/brown seaweed on the rocks but because of the flat light, it just blended together with the rocks.

The whole foreground was dull, blue and boring. No problem! I grabbed the red/brown of the seaweed using the Advanced tab of the Color Editor Tool.

I could easily refine the selected color, using “View Selected Color Range” to ensure only the necessary red/brown hue/saturation was within the selection. I made a slight color adjustment to try and pull that red/brown closer to the vibrant tone I remember and then used the “Create Masked Layer from Selection” to get an accurate mask generated. This is crucial as it let’s me fine tune the color in one adjustment, and then accentuate the contrast of that selection in the next step.

With the mask generated, being significantly more detailed than even the steadiest hand and unlimited time could generate, I could quickly get to work knocking some serious contrast into the selected seaweed. I also took the liberty of warming up the selection with a Local White Balance adjustment. A few simple steps and I had 90% of the image exactly where I wanted it.

The real beauty of the mask creation from a selected Color Range is the speed at which you can mask coupled with the subtlety the mask will provide. You’re selecting the color, not the area and that is incredibly beneficial. If there is a part of the image where the color gently tappers off or feathers into another color, your mask will do the same.

Look, for example, at the difference in the Rocks of the example image. The rocks have some slight reflection of the red/brown hue from the seaweed. When I select the color and mask it, the surface of the rocks too is ever so slightly masked. This ensures that the selection I change will uniformly change across the image. This is something that would be impossible to do manually, a heavy dense mask on some sections but a subtle and nearly transparent mask on other surfaces. The mask created from a selected Color Range provides accurate, consistent and simplified masking options and that all translates perfectly into the image.

Best regards,

Drew