Preface and Introduction
Preface
The title of this book says it all. Capture One Pro 10: Mastering Raw Development, Image Processing, and Asset Management is based on my many years of practical experience as a photographer and imaging specialist and, most important, on seven years of hands-on experience earning a living with Capture One.
Don’t worry—I’m not going to list the program’s features and explain them to death, and my book is neither an alternative to the user manual and online help provided by Phase One nor simply a collection of tutorials. And why is this so? Because Capture One is an evolving digital product with tools and functions that are constantly being refined, reevaluated, and replaced.
With the release of version 8, Phase One switched to a “rolling release” development model. This means that significant changes take place not only with each release of a new version, but also during a version’s lifetime, so a collection of step-by-step tutorials in book form would quickly become outdated. The web is a much better medium for regular updates on technicalities and details, and the Phase One blog (http://blog.phaseone.com) does a great job of keeping users up to speed. My approach with this book is to provide you with the necessary foundation for you to learn to “think Capture One,” so to speak.
Who This Book Is For and Why You Should Read It
Capture One is an image-processing package that has developed over the course of many years, so it can take a while to come to grips with how it all fits together and learn to make the most of its fantastic features. It took me about a year to get up to speed; I know people who have been working with the program since version 4 who still have trouble with some of its basic concepts and occasionally end up frustrated because Capture One doesn’t behave the way they expect.
And that’s exactly where this book comes in. Within its pages, you will find a wealth of tips, examples, and explanations that will help you dramatically reduce your learning curve. I want you to understand Capture One, not just learn how to use it. This book is no substitute for learning, practice, or working on your own images, and even when I mention a specific tool or the position of a particular button, what I’m really talking about is the thought processes behind them. How can you best approach the task at hand? How does tool “X” work and when is the best time to use it as part of your own personal workflow?
This book is also aimed at photographers who want to switch programs, and especially those on the lookout for an alternative to Apple’s now defunct Aperture. If you belong to this group, you will already be familiar with concepts such as nondestructive processing and the creation of image copies. However, even though Capture One is broadly comparable to Aperture or Lightroom and offers robust import functionality for existing libraries, each program still works very differently. This book emphasizes these differences in many places and offers solutions to make the switch as painless as possible.
The concepts you’ll encounter will help you get to know Capture One and speed up the process of delving into its inner workings. You won’t have to guess how processes work, experiment with countless settings, or send endless support questions to get the most out of this somewhat stubborn software because I’ve spent the last seven years doing that for you!
In short: This book isn’t an instruction manual, but rather a teaching aid and a tool to help you use Capture One Pro 10, and future releases, effectively. I hope you will find it interesting and enlightening—please let me know if it is.
March 2017
Sascha Erni
Twitter: @nggalai
Acknowledgments
A big thank you goes to my U.S. editors, Ted Waitt and Jocelyn Howell, and everyone at Rocky Nook for their patience during the preparation of this revised version. Because of my day job as a journalist and photographer, the original book was a long time in the making, not to mention the time it took to update it to Capture One 10 with this edition. I’m sure other publishers wouldn’t have been so flexible and understanding.
I would also like to thank Phase One, and especially Tobias Kreusler, Gitte Maj Nielsen, James Johnson, and David Grover. Their friendliness and our close cooperation allowed me to get the early look at the beta versions of versions of Capture One Pro, which was essential in getting this book off the ground.
Last but not least, a huge thank you (and an apology) goes to everyone who had to live with me during the research, writing, and revision phases. You know who you are, even if you don’t know how much you helped!
Side notes like this appear at regular intervals. They are designed to help you decide whether a section is of particular interest and quickly locate sections you want to refer back to.
How the Book Is Structured
Capture One Pro 10 consists of 15 chapters and an appendix. You can read it from end to end if you like, but it’s also designed to let you dive in and get help where you need it most. Cross-references guide you to related sections that go into more detail on the topic being discussed.
To get you started and give you an idea of what’s in store, here’s a summary of the material addressed in the individual chapters.
Chapter 1: Software: How Does Capture One Work?
This chapter is all about the basics. How does Capture One work? What are the fundamental concepts on which it’s based? What exactly is Capture One, and when are you better off using other programs like Photoshop or PhotoLine? What do you have to watch out for when using the various versions, and how is the user interface put together?
Chapter 2: Hardware
This chapter addresses the question of optimizing your hardware to get the most out of Capture One, from graphics cards to Wacom pen tablets. It also talks about using Capture One in a network and what to watch out for if you use it on multiple devices—for example, on your laptop when you’re out and about as well as on your desktop computer at home.
Chapter 3: The Workflow Pipeline
Chapters 1 and 2 explain the terms you need to know and give you the knowledge you need to get started. Chapter 3 is where you really get going. The “workflow pipeline” is a concept that I’ll use to guide you through the book and the software. Many of the chapters start with a flowchart that shows the stage in the process that you and your images have reached. This chapter explains how your images “flow” through a raw converter and how the various tools involved interact.
Chapter 4: The Library Tool Tab
Capture One uses tabs to group tools, and chapters 4 through 15 discuss the individual tools in each available tab. This chapter explains the difference between a catalog and a session, and introduces the Filters tool and Smart Albums. It also tells you all you need to know about asset management in Capture One. In addition, this chapter includes tips for readers making the switch from Aperture or Adobe Lightroom.
Chapter 5: The Color Tool Tab
Capture One handles color differently than Aperture and Lightroom, and this is one of the reasons it is so popular among studio photographers. This chapter discusses the basic concepts the program uses when dealing with color and introduces the White Point, Color Editor, and Color Balance tools that play such an important role in the overall workflow. We’ll also take a look at the various histograms and what they mean, and we’ll take an excursion into the world of black-and-white photography.
Chapter 6: The Exposure Tool Tab
Alongside the color question, the second major element of every raw converter is how it handles individual tonal values. This chapter explains how to correct exposure errors simply and effectively and how to use image flaws creatively. We’ll look at the difference between Curves and Levels, try out the High Dynamic Range tool, and, as a prelude to chapter 9, we’ll take a first look at how to compose great-looking images.
Chapter 7: The Lens Correction Tab
This chapter is all about correcting lens errors such as barrel and pincushion distortion, chromatic aberrations, and purple fringing. You’ll also learn how to use Lens Cast Calibration (LCC) profiles to eliminate the effects of a dusty sensor.
Chapter 8: The Composition Tool Tab
Ideally, you will always compose great images that you can use straight out of the camera. However, you’ll often find that an adjustment or two is required—for example, when a wide-angle lens has produced too much distortion, a client needs a different aspect ratio, or the horizon isn’t quite straight. Chapter 8 covers all this and more.
Chapter 9: The Details Tools Tab
“Correct” sharpening is a topic of hot debate among photographers, and no two people have quite the same opinion about it. We’ll take a look at sharpening the Capture One way and explain how the Sharpening and Noise Reduction tools interact. You’ll also learn what the Clarity and Structure sliders do and delve into the magic of the Film Grain tool, which can do far more than just create analog-style looks.
Chapter 10: The Local Adjustments Tool Tab
Many of Capture One’s tools can be used “locally,” in only parts of an image rather than the whole file. Like with Photoshop adjustments, this creates an additional layer on which the corresponding adjustment is made in real time. This chapter looks at the benefits and the limitations of local adjustments and explains why the Clone and Heal controls in the Local Repair tool will probably get you firing up Photoshop less often than you used to.
Chapter 11: The Adjustments Tool Tab
Although its name is similar to the Local Adjustments tool tab, Style and Preset Management might be more appropriate. This chapter discusses how to create and save styles and presets and explains how to copy adjustments to other images and apply complete looks to batches of photos.
Chapter 12: The Metadata Tool Tab
Metadata plays a significant role in the digital age. It is hard to imagine life without tags that tell us where and when a photo was captured, what it shows, who is in it, and how highly it is rated. This chapter introduces the types of metadata used by Capture One and shows how to use the information how you want to. We’ll discuss the potential pitfalls involved in swapping metadata between programs, and I’ll give you tips on how to build up your own system of tags. The aim here is to use the Capture One Pro catalog to sort and order your image archives once and for all.
Chapter 13: The Output and Batch Tool Tabs
This chapter covers two tabs. The Output tool tab is used to create copies of images for sharing online or with other applications, while the Batch tool tab lists the copies you’ve made. Here, you’ll learn how to work with multiple “output recipes” to create copies of different versions of an image. I’ll also explain where to look for errors if your output doesn’t end up looking the way you expect, and I’ll introduce you to the most handy addition to Capture One in recent years, Recipe Proofing in conjunction with output sharpening.
Chapter 14: Tethered Shooting
Capture One is designed from the ground up for use in Tethered Shooting mode, and this is the main reason the program exists in the first place. Catalogs, the Clone tool, and other details all came later. The best way to learn about tethered shooting is to plug in your camera and try it for yourself. This is why chapter 14 deals largely with the theory of preparing your camera and computer for a tethered session and leaves the practice to you. It also looks at saving and renaming image files and explains the role played by the Capture Pilot app for iOS devices.
Chapter 15: Using Capture One with Third-Party Software
“No man is an island.” Poet John Donne’s assessment of the human condition is also true for most image-processing applications, which are of no use without additional database and digital asset management (DAM) software and often require the use of other programs or plug-ins. This chapter explores this aspect of the image creation process and explains how to reimport your images into the Capture One Library once you are done with your external processing steps.
As mentioned in the preface, software evolves too fast for a book like this to be completely up to date, so in addition to a comprehensive index, the appendix includes a list of links to online material and suggestions for further reading to help you stay up to speed.