Catalogs – Working with Managed or Referenced Image Files

In last week’s tip, I talked about the different ways of storing images in Capture One Pro 7 with either Sessions or Catalogs and the advantages of both.

This week, I will concentrate fully on Catalogs and the two different methods of storing images. These are:

  • Fully Managed Image Files (inside Catalog)
  • Referenced Image Files (current location)

Managed files are images that are stored inside the Catalog file. Referenced image files are those which exist outside of the Catalog file.

When you create a new and empty Catalog in Capture One Pro 7, regardless of whether you choose to have Managed or Referenced images, a Catalog file must be created.

Choosing ‘New Catalog’ in the file menu of Capture One Pro 7 will open this dialogue:

Here, you can choose a name for the Catalog and where it should be stored. By default, it is placed in the ‘Pictures’ folder on a Mac and in the ‘My Pictures’ folder on a PC, but you can specify any location.

The Catalog file is essentially the database for your image collection. It tracks the location of images and holds information about them – for example, metadata and adjustment settings. If you use Fully Managed Image Files then they will also be stored in this Catalog file. Once created it will appear like this:

Opening a Catalog in Capture One Pro 7 is easy – just double-click on it. You can also have several Catalogs open at once, if you wish.

Once you have set up your Catalog, you can now decide whether to use Fully Managed or Referenced images, or perhaps even a combination of both.

Importing into the Catalog.

For your Catalog to recognize an image, it must be imported into it, via the Import dialog. This ensures the database is kept up-to-date and Capture One Pro 7 knows how to locate the files. It is within the Import dialog that you can choose to have Managed or Referenced image files.

In the ‘Import To’ section of the Import dialogue, choosing ‘Inside Catalog’ will copy and place the images directly inside the Catalog file. These are Fully Managed Image Files.

Choosing ‘Current Location’ will leave the image files where they are. These are Referenced Image Files.

The ‘Choose Folder’ option is useful for importing images from a memory card and copying them to another chosen storage area. These would also be Referenced Image Files as they exist outside the Catalog file.

Fully Managed Image Files

A Catalog with Fully Managed Image Files is very simple to organize and maintain as you don’t have to think about where to place or store the images. The Catalog takes care of that!

Even though the original files are stored insidethe Catalog file, they are not inaccessible or completely hidden from view. In the Mac OSX Finder, right-click on the Catalog file and choose ‘Show Package Contents’.

The following secondary window will appear:

This shows that your original files are stored safely in the folder marked ‘Originals’ and organized by year / month and date imported into Capture One Pro 7.

However!  Making any changes into this structure will render the Catalog unreadable or damaged.

A Catalog with Fully Managed Image Files is very easy to backup, as it is simply one file to duplicate and sharing is also quite simple! If multiple users have access to the Catalog then simple mechanisms are in place to prevent damage.

As opening a Catalog in Capture One Pro 7 is like opening a document, you could have different Catalogs for different clients, or even types of photography. Remember though, that any search and filtering would be limited to the currently open Catalog.

Referenced Image Files

If you prefer to store your image files outside of the Catalog file, on any other storage device, then your images will be Referenced Image Files. This way you can also retain an existing folder structure.

Therefore, the images will not be copied and moved inside the Catalog file but remain in their existing location, or another location if you chose to do so in the Import Window.

Using this method means you have no limitation on your storage as you can place the image on very large external devices (for example a RAID or other kind of server) or even across multiple storage devices.

Remember also that the Catalog file and images don’t have to be on the same location. Therefore the Catalog file can be placed on your laptop while the images are on your external storage.

The Catalog file holds a large high-quality Preview of every image in your database so you can still browse your entire Catalog even when you don’t have access to the external storage.

You can even make image adjustments, edit metadata, and change the virtual organization!

Using the Folders area in the Library tool

The location of referenced images is shown in the Folders area of the Library Tool and can be managed here. By default, only the root of the storage and final folder location are shown. To see the complete hierarchy, right click in the Folders area and choose, ‘Show Folders Hierarchy’. This will reveal the complete path from the storage to the imported folder.

Here, you can also add a Folder to the system, by clicking on the ‘+’ icon for the Catalog to recognize. This is not a facility to add images to the catalog (the Import dialogue must always be used for that) but for making a new empty folder to move images too.

Images can easily be dragged and dropped between folders, but make sure you do this within Capture One Pro 7 to keep the Catalog database aware of the changes.

Combining Managed and Referenced Image Files

Your Catalog can also contain a combination of managed and referenced files. If your Catalog is comprised of referenced image files but you would like to go ‘on the road’ with the full raw data then simply drag and drop any images onto the Catalog icon in the Folders area. In the example below, it will move the file from the external storage to the catalog file itself.

Images can also be moved in the same way from the Catalog back to a storage location.

This is another good reason why you might want to add a new folder in the Folders area. For example you can shoot tethered on location into the Catalog file itself and then move these images to your external storage when you are back in the studio or office.

All the best,

Niels

Other Resources

Phase One’s YouTube Channel has plenty of videos on the subject of Catalogs.

Offline Browsing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IgzqVLtuoE

Catalogs In-depth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1uj5ytvklo

Working with Referenced Images
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfJHSizFcyE

Take control of your image organization with Sessions or Catalogs

When working in Capture One Pro 7 you now have 2 different methods of organizing your images and image adjustments:

  1. Sessions
  2. Catalogs

In previous generations of Capture One, you have only had the option of using Sessions, but with the introduction of Capture One Pro 7, you now also have the possibility of using Catalogs for organizing your images.

Why the two different methods?

Capture One originally started out as a RAW studio capture and workflow solution where you would always shoot tethered. The Sessions approach to organizing your work is specifically designed to meet the needs of such a workflow.

If you create a new session for each new job, Capture One will automatically create a folder structure to hold all the items for that shoot including RAW files, image adjustments, previews as well as an output folder for the processed images. At the end of a shoot, the Session folder will contain everything and can easily be moved from the computer in the studio to another computer for further editing or more permanent archiving.

Catalogs are the new organizing alternative in Capture One Pro 7. Catalogs have been designed to meet the needs of photography professionals and enthusiasts who shoot a lot of different images and want to easily search among a large number of images.  Catalogs also provide effective tools for organizing images into Projects and Albums based on themes, projects, specific customers etc. or for easier showcasing of for instance, a portfolio.

Catalogs in Capture One Pro 7 are very flexible and they even come with a great feature enabling you to display and edit files saved on file servers or external hard drives that may not be accessible at all times. This unique feature allows you to travel with a large Catalog, view the images and perform adjustments even though the images are archived on a hard drive at your home or your studio.

Below, you will find an overview of the advantages and challenges of using the different methods of organizing your images in Capture One Pro 7.

1)  You create a new Session for each new job / project

Advantages:

  • All inclusive folder structure for easy archiving.
  • All inclusive folder structure that can easily be moved to other computers including all adjustments and previews.
  • Automatic Capture Folder for collecting tethered captures.
  • Automatic Output Folder for the processed images.
  • The Trash Folder and Selects Folder allow you to easily nail down the important images.
  • No risk of mixing images from different shoots or clients.
  • Full search capability among images in a Session.
  • Easily move single images to another computer including adjustments by using the .EIP format.

Limitations:

  • No search capability between images in different Sessions
2) You use the Default Session and just browse to where ever you have placed your raw files

Advantages:

  • You can place your images in whatever file structure that works for you.
  • You can always move your image folders to other locations and they will still contain all adjustments and previews for Capture One.
  • You don’t need to know all the details of how a Session works.

Limitations:

  • No full search capability as only the images in the Session Folders or Session Favorite Folders can be searched and filtered.
  • Capture One generates subfolders in all the folders you are using to hold the adjustments and the previews. This can be confusing when looking through the file system.
  • Processed images will always be added to the default Session Output Folder.
  • You don’t really take advantage of the Sessions concept.
  • Your Session Trash Folder and Output Folder may contain images from different clients.
3) You use Catalogs to organize your images

Advantages:

  • No restrictions on where to place your raw files.
  • Raw files can even be placed on slow network drives with minimum impact on performance as previews and settings are kept inside the Catalog.
  • The Catalog database automatically keeps track of the location of all the images in the Catalog.
  • Full search capability among all the images in a Catalog.
  • Powerful organization possibilities let you organize your images into Projects, Groups and Albums.
  • Use Smart Albums when organizing images according to specific criteria.  These albums are always updated as a result of a filtering process.
  • View and edit files even though they are physically located on an inaccessible or offline device.
  • If placed on a shared drive, a Catalog can be viewed by several people on different computers and only be changed by one person at the same time.
  • The folder for processed images can be placed anywhere.

Limitations:

  • All images have to be imported in order for the Catalog to register the images, the physical location and to generate preview files.
  • Deleting images is not as straightforward as in a Session. If you delete an image in an album, you just remove the reference to that image in that album. Remember that the same image can be referenced in multiple albums.
  • Moving a few images to another computer including their settings requires an Export of the originals which will copy the files to an Export Folder including the settings and previews. This folder can then be moved to the other computer.

In future tips on the blog, I will dig deeper into each of the 3 methods of organizing images.

All the best,

Niels

Learn more about Capture One Pro 7

Download the free 60 days trial

New processing engine for a huge step up in image quality

Capture One Pro 7 comes with a whole new processing engine that will improve the image quality of your captures compared to using Capture One 6 on a number of parameters:

  • More precise definition of fine detail
  • Highly improved recovery of detail and color near data clipping in the highlights
  • Much stronger ability to recover both deep shadow detail and highlight detail within the same image
  • Highly improved noise reduction especially for high ISO images
  • New Clarity tool for boosting landscape images or enhancing skin tones in portraits
  • More precise and flexible Local Adjustments tool.

Capture One Pro 7 has the ability to render all those images you have already worked on in Capture One 6 exactly as they were processed in Capture One 6 but you can also have them upgraded and rendered using the new processing engine.

Left image is the raw file without any adjustments. Center image has been optimized in Capture One 6.  Right image has been optimized in Capture One Pro 7 with the new optimized High Dynamic Range tool and the Clarity tool.  Notice how much more detail Capture One Pro 7 has pulled out of the dark foreground and the more dramatic sky.
 

When working in a Session, you can simply browse to any folder with images.  If the images have already been rendered in Capture One 6, then Capture One Pro 7 will render them exactly like version 6. In the Color Tool Tab in the Base Characteristics Tool we have added the version number of the processing engine.

The Base Characteristics tool.  Here you can see the current processing engine being used for the selected image. You will also see an upgrade button that will upgrade the processing engine to version 7 and convert all settings to Capture One Pro 7 settings.
 

If you work in a Catalog, you need to import your images.  If you have already worked on the images in Capture One 6 and you want to import them to Capture One Pro 7 with all the existing adjustments then choose “Use Existing Adjustments” in the Importer tool as shown below.

The Importer tool.  Choose “Include Existing Adjustments” to ensure that the images will be rendered exactly like as when they were adjusted in version 6.
 

All new images will be rendered using the Capture One 7 engine by default.  This is also the case if you create a new variant of an image using the version 6 engine.  A new variant can be created by right clicking on the thumbnail of the image and selecting “New Variant”

Upgrading an image from version 6 to version 7:

If you work on images with adjustments from Capture One 6, you can upgrade the processing engine to Capture One Pro 7. In the base characteristics tool, you will also find the “Upgrade” button that will upgrade all your selected images.

Not all image adjustments can be 100% transformed to the new version 7 engine.  When you upgrade an image the different settings will be converted to create an image that comes as close as possible to the look you had created using the version 6 engine. However, as some of the tools have been improved from version 6 to version 7, it may not be possible to create a 100% match.

Please note that you cannot “undo” an upgrade so if you want to make sure not to lose a special look created with the Capture One 6 engine you can:

  1. Clone the variant. This will give you a virtual copy with exact the same settings and including the processing engine version.
  2. Then upgrade the new variant leaving you with two variants of the image based on the two different processing engines.

You can then compare the quality of the version 6 processing engine with the version 7 processing engine side by side and fine-tune the upgraded version if needed. It won’t take long until you’ll notice the great improvements in the new processing engine.

As mentioned, not all adjustments from version 6 can be converted to a 100% match in version 7 as many tools have been improved. The improved adjustment tools are:

  • Contrast from the Exposure tool
  • Highlight and shadow from the High Dynamic Range tool
  • Clarity settings
  • The noise reduction parameters in the Noise and Advanced Noise tool.

All the best,

Niels,

You can download the free 60 days trial of Capture One Pro 7 here

You can learn more about Capture One Pro 7 here

Introducing Capture One Pro 7 – The Professional Choice in Imaging Software

Capture One Pro 7

We’re proud to introduce Capture One Pro 7 – your new digital assistant with the power to bring about an image quality revolution.

Based on a new groundbreaking image processing engine, Capture One Pro 7 renders precise colors and incredible detail. It contains support for leading high-end cameras, flexible photo management, all the essential adjustment tools and performance in one customizable solution.

Capture One Pro 7 supports you with infinite possibilities to organize, adjust, and showcase your work. Go with the professional solution to help you and your photography excel.

Stay tuned for new and inspiring Capture One Pro 7 tips & tricks here on the Image Quality Professor’s blog

Learn more about Capture One Pro 7

Download the free 60 days trial

Top Processing Tip 2: Exporting to the ‘Long Edge’

There is a very simple way in the Process Recipe tool of Capture One Pro 6  that enables you to output a batch of images to a specific size on the long or short edge of an image.

Instead of scaling the image to other options like width and height or percentage scale, using the Long Edge or Short Edge option is very useful when outputting a range of images that are a mix of portrait and landscape.

This avoids images of different file sizes when they are a mix of portrait and landscape.  It is also useful if the selection of images differ somewhat in their ratio of width to height and do not fit into a specific output size.

The Process Recipe Tool

To setup a recipe in this way, see the following screen shot of the Process Recipe tool…

Note under ‘Scale’ we set the option to Long Edge.  Beneath that option we can then choose

dimensions in Pixels (px), Inches (in), Millimetres (mm) and Centimetres (cm).

In this case the Long Edge of the Image is set to be 1280 pixels long.

Therefore a mix of Landscape and Portrait images will be sized in a similar way for presentation on the web.

Top Processing Tip 1: Using Sub Folders in Recipes

Introduction

Recipes in Capture One Pro 6 are a very powerful way of managing multiple outputs from a batch of images.   Output Recipes can be customized and subsequently have any number of recipes processed simultaneously.

Images can be processed for output as TIFF, JPEG or DNG. Capture One Pro 6 provides a range of options for setting the file compression, bit depth, color space, resolution and size.  Hence, images can be scaled easily making it possible to produce a range of outputs for different purposes.  To help manage these various different outputs, within the Advanced tab of the Recipe Tool is an option to manage the location of the exported files.

Process Recipe – Advanced Tab

In the following example we have two process recipes…

One creates a high quality TIFF

The second creates an image for the web sized at 1280 x 1024 pixels.

In the Advanced tab, there is a further option called Subfolder which will automatically create a subfolder of that name within the chosen output folder.

Therefore when the export is complete it is easy to locate the different kinds of files that have been exported.

A shortcut to the ultimate image quality

Capture One has a multitude of keyboard shortcuts that can facilitate fast navigation around the software. These normally perform functions that would otherwise have to be done with the mouse or by selecting menu items. Shortcut keys can be a real time saver in day to day use of the software and spending time to learn them or create your own set can be very worthwhile.

Editing keyboard shortcuts

Capture One comes with a default set of keyboard shortcuts, however, you may wish to edit these shortcuts to fit with your own familiarity of shortcut keys. This is easily achieved in the Keyboard Shortcuts editor.

Within Capture One, go to Capture One>Edit Keyboard Shortcuts and the following menu will appear:

Begin by Duplicating the current set of shortcuts as the Default set cannot be edited.

Choose a name for the new Shortcut set, and now you can begin to edit the available shortcuts.

Just expand a subsection of shortcuts and double click on the shortcut you want to edit.

Then, simply press the desired keyboard shortcut. If the new shortcut is currently in use by another action, a warning is displayed at the bottom of the menu, but the selection of this new shortcut is not prevented.

Press Enter on the keyboardto save the shortcut.

If you want to change back to the default set, simply choose Default from the drop down menu.

Working the workspace

Workspaces in Capture One are an easy way to customise the interface so that it makes the most sense to you.  This could include elements such as:

-  Making your favourite tools easily accessible

-  Changing the layout and content of the toolbar

-  Making different workspaces for different tasks (Importing, Editing, Shooting, Focus Checking)

By streamlining the interface, your favorite functions and options can be found quickly and easily.  Different tasks will also require focus on different parts of the software.  For example, whilst selecting images from a shoot, it is not necessary to have the Tools on display, thereby creating more screen real estate for image viewing.

Building and Saving a Workspace

The default workspace in Capture One Pro 6 looks like this:

Many elements of the Workspace can be changed – among others:

-  Contents of the Toolbar

-  Adding / Removing Tools from a Tool Tab

-  Changing the position of Tools in a Tool Tab

-  Adding / Removing Tool Tabs or Creating Custom Tools Tabs

-  Creating floating windows

-  Position of the Browser and Tools

Customizing the Toolbar

Right-Click on the Toolbar and choose Customize Toolbar.

This will bring up the following menu:

Then you can simply drag and drop the required icons from the available selection into the toolbar to match your needs.

Customizing Tool Tabs

To add a new Tool Tab to the interface, right-click on the Tool Tab Area and choose Add Tool Tab.  A list of the Tool Tabs that have not yet been added will be shown in the menu.

Choose one of the available ones and it will be added to the Tool Tab area.

Note – the Tool Tab area can also be increased or decreased in size by click dragging on the edge of the Tool Area.

You can also change the order of the Tool Tabs to fit your unique workflow. Just Cmd-click and drag the icons to change the order of the Tool Tabs. If you want to add a tool to the currently open Tool Tab, you can Right-Click on the Tool Tab itself and choose Add Tool.

Finally, when you are happy with your new Workspace, choose Window>Workspace>Save Workspace.

The Workspaces can be accessed from the same menu or by using the Workspace icon on the toolbar.

Learn more about working the workspace in this tutorial

Photography Travelogues – Mournful Gentleman in Sanliurfa

Sanliurfa, Eastern Turkey

Sanliurfa, also called Edessa in the Bible, lies in south eastern Turkey and today is a mix of religions and politics. I have now made two trips there and on both occasions, I frequented a small outdoor cafe secreted away in the middle of a labyrinth of alleys and market stalls.

On this occasion, I returned with photographs taken from the first trip. It was a buzz to hand out prints to the people I had photographed a couple of years earlier, but I am sure they had completely forgotten me. It was also a great introduction for more portraiture.

I was travelling with a group of ten photographers, and our subjects, the men (there were no women playing dominoes or cards that I could see) were surprisingly accommodating for our cameras.

Of course, not everyone was keen to have his photograph taken, but I noticed that when they said no to me, they often changed their mind when the women photographers in our group approached them.

This photograph was taken after several of our group had already been given permission. I was really pleased because this gentleman’ s face had earlier caught my attention and I was disappointed after my first pass of his table had been fruitless!

I don’t think the man’s expression changed the entire time we were there. The photographs taken by the other photographers look exactly the same.

When I asked if I could take a photograph, he just nodded his head slightly. There was no rapport with me and I didn’t know if he was extremely shy or very sad.

Mindful that he had already been posing for some time, I hurriedly took four  or five shots.

My capture technique was designed to focus carefully on my subject’s wonderful eyes and throw the background out of focus as much as possible.

On the Phase One 645 DF medium format camera, I used an 80mm Schneider lens set at f2.8. Larger format cameras have shallower depth-of-field than DSLRs, so an 80mm f2.8 lens is very similar to a 50mm f1.4 lens for a DSLR camera.

And a 50mm f1.4 lens is probably the least expensive accessory lens you can buy for a DSLR, yet it is absolutely wonderful for portraiture.

Light levels were low, so I rated the P65+ back at ISO 800, allowing me to hand hold the camera and keep the shutter speeds fast enough to avoid camera shake and subject blur.

Of all the photos I took in Turkey, this portrait haunted me and was one of the first I worked on upon my return home. I think it shows that when it comes to great portraits, all the camera techniques and post-production tricks in the world don’t help unless you capture a great expression.

The photo was taken in Phase One’s Sensor Plus mode, so the 60-megapixel sensor delivers the equivalent of a 15-megapixel file in return for a faster ISO setting. And as you can see, there is absolutely no problem with the file !

In processing the image, I have darkened down the background and lightened up the gentleman’s face. This is one of the aspects of photography I really love, being able to re-light a scene after the event. For a professional shoot, you’d light it, but when you’re on the road shooting from the hip, sometimes the light isn’t perfect.

But the subject is.

Photography Travelogues – Finding the right balance

Young Street Merchants in Hosap, Eastern Turkey

Our bus stopped at the top of the hill at the entrance to the Hosap castle, so it didn’t take the residents in the town below too long to work out that potential customers were about! However, to sell to us, we also had a price: they had to pose for a photograph!

Does the colour look approximately correct in the photograph above?

We can see it is late in the day with yellow sunlight kissing the tops of the background hills, leaving the shadows cooler and almost blue. It’s an emotive response to colour, but is it accurate? And should it be accurate?

Often, the colours we use in our photographs are technically incorrect (depending on the colour model we’re using as a reference), but they still look pretty good!

For instance, your camera uses its white balance system to set a ‘correct’ colour balance, but since the camera doesn’t know what the light is like, it can only adjust the white balance to a theoretical ‘zero’ or ‘correct’ position.

Speaking non-technically, white balance is the term used for getting the colour cast correct at the point of capture, or when processing the raw file. It uses a temperature (yellow/blue) and tint (magenta/green) colour model to make colour adjustments. Colour balance is when we change the colour cast, usually during editing the file. The colour balance dialog uses the three red/cyan, green/magenta and blue/yellow channels. Both approaches to controlling the colour cast in a photograph can achieve similar results and  are sometimes referred to interchangeably.

This is the image with the white balance suggested by the camera. The camera has seen the warmth in the light and neutralised it, but perhaps cooling the colour a little bit too much.

If you’re not  happy with the colour balance, you can use the white balance tool in Capture One to change it. Using the white balance picker, click on objects that are white or neutral in colour, or that  should be or could be neutral.

In this image, I have clicked the white balance picker on the girl’s white handkerchief, but I think it has too many optical brighteners in it because the result is much too blue.

In this third example, I have clicked on the grey roadway on the right of the image. Whether the road should be neutral grey or not isn’t really the point, because the rest of the image looks just right. I find using the white balance picker on various areas in the image while processing in Capture One is a useful way for determining the best colour balance, even if the white balance setting isn’t ‘accurate’ or ‘correct’!

You also have to be aware of how your viewers feel about certain colours. For instance, technically speaking, snow at high altitudes in the shadows is blue, but if it looks too blue in a photograph, it can look unnatural to many people. For this reason, snow photos can benefit from a slightly warmer colour balance, even though this may be technically incorrect.

So, if a technically correct colour balance isn’t necessarily the best, why do our cameras try to set it?

Whether we end up using a technically correct colour balance in our final edit is one matter; starting our photographic editing with a technically correct colour balance within our image file is another.

Many photographers find it very useful to start with a correctly colour balanced file. It helps ground their creative process and it also gives them a place to return if colours go awry.

So, unless you are sure about the colour balance you want in the final image, good camera practice dictates that we aim to produce image files which can produce a neutral or natural white balance. This is one of the reasons shooting raw files is so important because you can always reset the white balance within a raw file, something that can be much more difficult (if not impossible) to do with a JPEG file.

In the hero image at the top of the page, I have used two white balance settings. The girls in the foreground have a warm white balance setting, while the background has a cooler, bluer setting. Providing this subtle colour contrast also helps bring the subjects forward, emphasising them against the cooler background.

I hope you like it!

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