Removing Color Moiré with Capture One 6

May 10, 2012 3 Comments

Capture One Pro 6 includes a powerful tool for fixing color moiré. It can be used both globally on an image and in a local adjustments layer.

Many cameras will, once in a while, show color moiré if high frequency patterns are part of the image.

Most DSLR and Micro Four Thirds cameras use antialiasing filters to avoid or minimize the appearance of moiré. However, many new cameras use lower strength antialiasing filters, or have no antialiasing filter at all in order to prioritize sharpness.

When using these cameras with the kit lens, typically you would hardly ever experience problems with moiré because these lenses are not sharp enough to provoke moiré on high frequency patterns.

But, if you use high quality primes to achieve really sharp images, you also run the risk of getting moiré.

The image on the left is shot with a mirrorless camera using a sharp prime lens. The high frequency pattern on the balcony fence shows strong color moiré. The image on the right is after fixing the color moiré in Capture One Pro 6.

When you suspect a moiré problem in one of your images, you need to zoom to 100% in Capture One’s viewer to verify that there is a real moiré problem – sometimes it is only the low-resolution preview that shows moiré.

Once you have located a real color moiré problem, like in the example below, select the Detail Tool Tab where the Moiré Tool is located.

Color moiré can be removed globally from an image but when you remove color moiré, you risk color bleeding in other parts of the image that you may not pay attention to. Therefore, it is better to apply the color moiré correction in a Local Adjustments Layer.

Step by step guide to remove color moiré:

1. Add a new Local Adjustments Layer

2. Inverse the mask. This is only an intermediate state. By inverting the mask, we work on the whole image which is necessary when setting up the parameters for the Moiré Tool.

3. Set the pattern size to maximum to make sure that the color moiré filter covers a whole period of false colors.

4. Now drag the amount slider until the color moiré disappears. You should use as low a value as possible to remove the moiré.

5. Reduce the pattern size to the minimum size that still fully removes the moiré. Now we have found the minimum values required to remove the moiré. This is important, as it will minimize the risk of unwanted color bleeding.

6. We only want to use the values locally, so invert the mask again.

7. Select a suitable bush size and brush away the color moiré.

Filed under Capture One Tips & Tricks Tagged with , , , , ,

Photography through the lens cap

April 1, 2012 8 Comments

A Phase One IQ back on a medium format camera has an extremely large dynamic range allowing you to open up really deep shadows while still retaining the highlight details.

This extraordinary dynamic range makes for really extraordinary photos!

No matter how skilled we are, we all make mistakes and so did I the other day. I was shooting with my favorite lens which is marked with the “focusing sweet spot” (See my tip about finding the focussing sweet spot here) and I forgot to remove the lens cap. I noticed it after the first shot, and removed the cap. When I got home, I imported all the images, including the shot with the lens cap still on, to Capture One.

Out of pure curiosity, I tried to see if anything was actually captured in the image with the lens cap. To my big surprise, the extreme IQ180 back had actually captured some information. Naturally, the colors did not look anything like the normal visual spectrum but I still managed to get a quite interesting image with colors that remind me of IR photography. Some heavy noise reductions were needed but then I got this image:

The left image is the original capture shoot with the lens cap still on. To the right is the same image after opening up the shadows in Capture One Pro 6.

Filed under Capture One Tips & Tricks Tagged with , , , , , ,

Open up the deep shadows with Capture One’s Levels Tool

March 28, 2012 4 Comments

Capture One comes with several tools for dealing with high dynamic range images, such as the High Dynamic Range tool, the Local Adjustments Layers tool and traditional tools like the Levels and Curves tool.

Despite having these different tools, opening up shadow details while retaining highlights and mid tones can sometimes be quite a challenge when you go for an overall natural and pleasing look.

For some images, the “Mid tone” slider in the Levels tool is the right tool to use.

The “Mid tone” slider works mainly on the mid tones for minor changes, but it increasingly prioritizes the darker tones in larger adjustments.

The left image is without any adjustments. The image is exposed to ensure that the clouds do not clip. As a result, the castle ruin, cliffs and the coast are underexposed and almost without details.  The image to the right has been adjusted in Capture One.  The “Mid tone” slider in the Levels tool has been used to open up the deepest shadows, and this has been combined with some highlight recovery and color edits on the blue sky.

In a previous blog post, I showed a trick about how the LCC tool can be used to deal with images with a large dynamic range. This LCC trick will often lead to fantastic results, but sometimes it causes a problematic halo effect around hard contrast edge as is the case with this picture.

On the image to the left, it is easy to see the halo effect on the castle ruin. The LCC has been used to open op the shadows, but because the images contains such a high contrast between the edges of the hill, the ruin and the bright sky, a strong halo appears. Therefore, another method to correct this image is required.

By using the “Mid tone” slider in the Levels Tool, I primarily brighten up the darkest part of the image. Naturally, using the “Mid tone” slider also brightens the mid tones and highlights. To counter this, I also apply some highlight recovery with the Highlight slider in the High Dynamic Range tool and some negative exposure compensation. The result is much better details in the shadows without the halo effect.

If I need still more details in the shadows, I try to use the curve tool too. The curve preset “Shadows -Brighter” is a good starting point as it is specially designed to open the deepest shadows in an image.

Finally, I add some saturation and set the highlight slider in the Levels tool to ensure that the final image utilizes the full data range.

Filed under Capture One Tips & Tricks Tagged with , , , , , ,

EIP file format – Enhanced Image Package

February 2, 2012 15 Comments

With Capture One, you have the unique option of moving your image folders including all necessary information to other computers.

If you only want to move a single file to another computer, you have a simpler possibility which is to use Capture One’s .EIP file format. The .EIP file format packs your original RAW file with all necessary settings files including LCC files and custom ICC profiles into one file.

The .EIP file format doesn’t change your RAW files; it simply uses standardized zipping technology to pack all needed components into one file:

The possibility of moving just a few selected images including all necessary components to another computer can be a great advantage in your workflow.  Many photographers use laptops for shooting tethered with their camera and they often do a few adjustments upfront directly at the laptop. When they have selected the images they want to continue working with, they move them to a desktop computer with a high quality monitor.

Even though Capture One can use the .EIP format directly during import or capture, I always keep my files in the manufacturer’s RAW format until I need to move them. Then I just pack the images into the .EIP file format.

From the file menu, you can select the “Pack as EIP” to pack your RAW file including all necessary settings files into one single .EIP file.

After moving the .EIP file to another computer, you can simply use Capture One and browse to the location of the .EIP file. Capture One will display it with the identical settings as on the laptop where it was originally generated. You can keep the image file in the .EIP format or, if you want to see the original file format of the camera, you can simply unpack the .EIP file with Capture One. During the unpacking, all the needed components are installed correctly in Capture One.

Filed under Capture One Tips & Tricks Tagged with , , ,

Custom ICC profiles on multiple computers

January 26, 2012 3 Comments

The Color Editor in Capture One Pro 6 allows you to set up your own custom-made camera ICC profiles enabling a faster and more efficient workflow.

Another advantage is the option to share these custom ICC profiles among several computers.

If a custom ICC profile is used in an image, the profile will be included in the settings files located within the image folder. Therefore, you can move the image folder to another computer that runs Capture One and still have all the necessary components available for viewing the image with the custom ICC profile.

If you want to include one of your custom ICC profiles on another computer running Capture One, you should simply locate the relevant profile and install it on the other computer.

How to import a custom ICC profile from an image to Capture One:

When viewing an image with a custom ICC profile on a different computer than where the image was first generated, you will see the image with the right colors because the custom ICC profile is part of the settings files in the image folder.  If you want to use the custom ICC profile on other images, you need to import the profile and install it. You find the camera ICC Profile selector in the Color Tool Tab’s Base Characteristics tool. In the bottom of this selector, you find the Import option as shown in the image below. Select the image with the custom ICC profile and chose Import.

On a Mac system the custom ICC profile will be placed in:

Users/UserX/Library/Colorsync

On a Windows system the profiles will be placed in:

Users/UserX/AppData/CaptureOne/Color Profiles

How to install a custom ICC profile on a computer:

If you want to use one of your custom ICC profile on a different computer, you need to copy it manually to the above locations depending on the system.

If Capture One is already running, you need to restart it in order to make the new profiles visible in the ICC selector within the Base Characteristics tool.

If you do not follow the standard naming conventions, the ICC profile will still be available, but you will need to select it under the option “Other” rather than under the camera name.

For more information on the naming convention see last week’s tip on Color Edits as ICC profiles

Learn more about Capture One

Try a free 30 days trial of Capture One

Filed under Capture One Tips & Tricks, Capture One Workflow Tagged with , , ,

Color Edits as ICC profiles.

January 19, 2012 8 Comments

A unique feature for Capture One Pro 6 is the ability to create custom camera ICC profiles.

In Capture One Pro 6, you can make advanced color corrections on RAW or JPEG images.  As with any tool in Capture One, you can save your corrections from the Color Editor tool as a Preset for easy reuse the next time you have a similar image in need of color corrections. But any color correction done in the Color Editor can also be saved as a camera ICC profile.

This is very convenient as the created ICC profiles can be selected directly in the Base Characteristics tool or in the Capture tool tab in the Next Capture Adjustments tool when you shoot tethered.

If you, for instance, are photographing food, you often want the food to look nice and more colorful than it really does. Use the Color Editor to tweak the colors and save the result as an ICC profile. The next time you shoot food tethered, just select the desired food ICC profile to correct the colors as you shoot.

The left image shows the colors from the default ICC profile for the camera. The soft cool light doesn’t give the apple a very appealing color. The right image was shot using the special ICC profile made for this particular lighting condition.

How to create a custom ICC profile for your camera

I open the Color Editor and start in the Basic tab to add some global saturation. The saturation slider in the Basic tab is safer to use as it is specifically designed to prevent oversaturation of the colors. Then I move on to the Advanced tab where I use the color correction picker to select the color of the green apple and push the saturation, hue and lightness until I get a fresh looking green color. When satisfied I save my corrections as a Color Editor Preset. This step is not essential, but it is easier if I need to iterate my color edits.

To create an ICC profile I simply click on the Action menu for the Color Editor tool and chose “Save as ICC profile” as shown below.


ICC profile naming

When creating a new ICC profile it is important to use the right naming convention to ensure that the profile will show up in the drop down menu for the used camera.

By default Capture One suggest a name consisting of

1)     Unique camera model name

2)     “-“

3)     “color corrected” (This is the only part which can be changed)

The application uses the unique camera model name and the “-“ to match the ICC profile with the right camera model.

The last part of the name should be changed to a meaningful description of the profile.

In the example above, I save my Color Edits made on an image from a Canon EOS 5D camera changing the name to a meaningful one:

Next time I shoot tethered I can select this ICC profile directly in the Capture Tool tab in the Next Capture Adjustments tool. By doing this, I ensure that every new shot will show the colors exactly as I want them.

Learn more about Capture One

Try a free 30 days trial of Capture One

Filed under Capture One Tips & Tricks, Capture One Workflow Tagged with , , , ,

Search and Filtering in Capture One

December 1, 2011 9 Comments

The Search and Filtering functionality in Capture One 6 is an often overlooked feature. Learn how to use it, and you will find it to be a very powerful tool that can help you improve your everyday workflow.

You can search among your images in any selected Image Folder or Album; or you can search among all the images in all the folders associated with a Session.

Searching a selected Image Folder can be done with a simple free text search or by setting up multiple specific search criteria. A free text search will match the search text with the context of more than 50 search criteria within Metadata and file names.

To show the result of search criteria applied to all the images in a Session, Capture One 6 uses Smart Albums. Smart Albums are dynamically updated and will therefore always show the latest search results.

The dynamic nature of Smart Albums make them very useful for workflow related search and filtering. By default, a new Session includes a Smart Album named “Five Star Images”. This Smart Album will always show all 5-star rated images in a Session. Immediate after rating a new image with 5 stars, it will also be visible in the “Five Star Images” Smart Album.

Searching within a folder: To enter the search setup dialogue box, click the search magnifier icon, above the thumbnail browser as shown above (if Capture One’s thumbnail browser is placed to the right of your screen, you may need to click again on the magnifier in the small search dialogue to get the larger search box)

Selecting images:

In my workflow, I use the Smart Albums in the process of selecting which images from a shoot I would like to work with.

First, I create a new Session for my shoot. When using the Search and Filtering options, I can search among all the images in this Session except those in the Trash Folder.

Then, I set up an extra Smart Album for holding my 4 and 5 star rated images.

The image above shows the search criteria for finding all images rated with 4 or 5 stars (using one of the preset criteria). To extend the search to all images in the Session, press the “Create Smart Album” button.

When browsing through my image folders, I use the keyboard shortcuts to rate the images with stars. I only rate the images with 3, 4 or 5 stars, and I am not extremely methodical when rating, as I will complete the rating in at least 2 steps.  In the first round of rating, it is not too important if I initially rate a 5-star image with only 4 stars or the other way around.

Next, I select the Smart Album containing all my 4 and 5 star rated images. Now, I have isolated the best images from the shoot and it becomes much easier to reevaluate the images in a second round of selection to really nail down the best 5 star images.

When I am done rating, all the images I want to work with are placed in the default Smart Album called “Five Star Images”.

In the Library Tool under Session Albums, you can see the list of Smart Albums and normal Albums created for the Session. Note that the icon for a Smart Album differs from the normal Album icon by the addition of a small cog-wheel in the lower right corner of the icon.

Separate Variants:

Smart Albums can also be used to separate variants. This can be a big advantage if you want to show a client images from a shoot in a series with the same look or style applied. I use it quite often to separate Black and White image variants from the Color variants.

Here I have generated 2 variants of the same image; one of them converted into Black and White.  In order to separate the color version from the Black and White version, I have color tagged the Black and White version with Purple

An easy way to do this is by associating a specific color tag to those variants I want as Black and White images. I typically use the last color in the color tag list (Purple) as it is easy to select from the drop-down list and it still allows me to use Yellow and Green for tagging my final selects.

Here I have selected the Smart Album named BW. This Album is set up to find all Purple tagged images. As you can see only the BW variants are visible in this Smart Album.

Using color tags to separate the BW variants is just one way of doing it.  Another method could be to add the keyword “BW” to the Black and White variants and set up a Smart Album containing all images with “BW” in the Keywords. This solution requires a little more work, but will free up the color tags for further selection possibilities.

Filed under Capture One Tips & Tricks, Capture One Workflow Tagged with , , , , , ,

Optimize your workflow with Albums

November 24, 2011 3 Comments

One of the key organizing elements in a Capture One 6 Session is an Album. It looks like a normal image folder, but it is just a virtual folder with internal references to the real location of the images.

  • You can create as many Albums in a Session as you wish.
  • You add images to an Album simply by drag and drop.
  • An Album can contain images from different locations.
  • Images in an Album can come from any folder location both inside as well as outside the Session folder.
  • When deleting an image in an Album, you only remove it from the Album.  You do not delete it from the original folder.

If you move an image containing multiple variants to an Album, the Album will also show the variants. Variants of an image will always stay together.

An image in an Album will always reflect the current corrections made on the image at the original location. There is only one original, and changing an image in an Album will also change the appearance of the image at the original location.

I typically use Albums to create small collections of images sharing a common theme, which could be something as simple as my Black and White images. I love Black and White so in each new Session, I always create an Album for Black and White images even though I may have gone out shooting without having Black and White shots in mind. I keep all my originals in the Import folders inside my Session folder. When I go through my Import folders, I immediately add files to my Black and White Album when I see images which will work great as Black and White. By adding the files to an Album rather than moving them to a new folder, I still have all my originals in one location, which I like. Browsing through the Import folder again, I continue to have all the images there, and I can make another selection, which I can add to a different Album.

By using Albums, I am able to keep one Album with images for Black and White work and another Album for working on images in full colors. I just need to create Variants: one Variant holding the Black and White version and one Variant holding the color version.

To add an Album you can right click on any Session Album, Favorite or folder and select the “New Album” from the dropdown menu.  You can also add an Album by selecting the Library Tool action menu icon.  The Session above already contains 4 Albums as indicated by the blue circle.

Filed under Capture One Tips & Tricks, Capture One Workflow Tagged with , , , ,

Sessions – A great way to organize your work

November 17, 2011 10 Comments

Creating a Session in Capture One 6 is an efficient way to organize your image files into folders and virtual albums.

  • Create a new Session for every new event, trip or job. This will help you keep all relevant images, image corrections and processed images within one physical folder.
  • A Session can easily be moved to another computer or another physical disc drive. As all necessary files are saved inside the Session folder by default, you can work on the Session from any computer. This can be a great advantage, as you may have started working on the Session on your laptop while on a trip. Once you get home, you can simply move the Session folder to your stationary computer and continue your work.
  • You can easily switch from one Session to another and when you return to the first Session, you will see all images and all selects the same way as when you left the Session.
  • You can search and filter all images in the Session Favorite folders.

If you use Sessions to organize your work, Capture One will place all your image folders inside the Session folder by default. This will ensure that the Session can be moved to a backup device or another computer later.

The image above shows the Library tool in Capture One. The current Session is named “2011-10 Demo”.  The Session folders provide quick references to the default Session folders. To see the physical location of a Session folder, right click on the Session folder and select the “Show in Library”. In the above example, you can see how all the Session folders are placed inside the Session folder “2011-10 Demo”. The small icons indicate the function of the individual Session folder.

Besides the Session folders, you can also find a .col50 folder. This is the Session folder containing the information about image selections and Albums. If you double click on a .Col50 folder in the file system, Capture One will open the associated Session. You can rename a Session by simply renaming the .col50 folder directly in the file system, but if you do, first you must make sure that Capture One is not open.

You can create and add as many folders to your Session as you like. You can also add folders to your Session from any location outside the Session folder, but doing so you lose the possibility of moving the Session to another physical location later. If you know that you will never need to move your Session, there are no problems.

If you are shooting tethered, you should choose a tethered Session, as this option automatically gives you a Capture folder and sets the capture naming to equal the Session name by default.

In the Library tool, you click on the “+” icon to create a new Session. The current Session named “2011-10 Demo” is a tethered Session and includes a Capture folder. Both tethered and untethered Sessions will always include an Output folder for the processed images, a Selects folder for holding specially selected images and a Trash folder for all the trashed images.

If you chose an untethered Session, you won’t get an Image folder until you manually create one or use the Importer tool to import images. The Importer will automatically provide options for creating Import folders inside the Session folder.

After completing an import, you will notice that the Import folder has been added to the Session Favorite List. It is important to note that only images placed in folders that are visible in the Session Favorites List can be searched when using the search and filtering function.

I have imported 3 CF cards into this session and the importer has automatically added the Import folders to the Session Favorites. I named the import folders by date and an index number.

You can always use the browser in the Library tool to select an Image folder, but the Image folder won’t be searchable until you add it to the Favorites list.

To add a folder to the Session Favorites, just right click on the folder and select “Add to Favorites” in the drop down menu.

Filed under Capture One Tips & Tricks, Capture One Workflow Tagged with , , , ,

Black and White: Working with Styles and Presets

October 27, 2011 1 Comment

In order to achieve a specific look when doing Black and White work, you often need to combine a number of tools even though your original image is well exposed. Capture One Pro 6 comes with a number of specific Black and White Styles that can inspire you to create different Black and White looks. You can use the Black and White Tool Tab to get a nice overview of the Styles as well as the other relevant tools for creating beautiful Black and White images.

Capture One Pro 6 also includes a number of Black and White Presets showcasing how you can create very specific looks by using different combinations of the tool. These include Presets that utilize the Color Sensitivity sliders and Presets that include Split Toning. When preset stacking is allowed, you can combine Presets for Split Toning with Presets for Color Balance.

Use the built in Styles and Presets to be inspired; optimize them according to your personal taste and save them for future use.

 

Styles for Black and White:

The Styles and Presets can be found in the Black and White Tool Tab. This gives you easy access to both the built in Styles and to your own Styles via the User Styles.

In the example above, the Style “B&W – Old Look 1” has been used. This style uses the Black and White Tool to convert the color image to a black and white image and to add the brown/yellowish toning. Besides changing the color, this Style also increases the Contrast, adds a strong Vignetting and adds some negative Clarity. Also note that if you select multiple images, you can apply the Style to all the selected images at once.

3 different built in Black and White Styles. From left to right: B&W-Old look 1, B&W-Old look 2 and B&W-landscape 1.

 

Presets for Black and White:

The Black and White Tool has 2 tabs, one dealing with the conversion of colors into grey tones, and one dealing with color toning of the converted black and white image.

In the Presets dropdown menu, you will find Presets for both color conversion and toning. You can set up the tool to allow stacking of presets which allows you to combine presets. For instance, you can select “Color – Landscape 1” for the color conversion and select ”Split Toning – Blue Brown 2” for the toning like in the picture below.

The same image with 3 different Black and White Presets applied. From left to right: “Split Toning – BlueBrown 2”, “Split Toning – BlueRed 2” and “Split Toning – YellowBlue 2”.

The Presets named “Toning” rather than “Split toning” refer to a number of Presets where the Hue for the shadow and highlight toning have the same values.

These images have the same Color Sensitivity conversion but different Black and White (Toning) Presets applied. The upper left image has no Toning applied.

Filed under Capture One Tips & Tricks Tagged with , , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 760 other followers

%d bloggers like this: