Adjustments by numbers
February 3, 2011 6 Comments
In Capture One Pro 6, you can use multiple Color Readout pins to guide your adjustments of the colors in an image.
This is very helpful if you need to adjust an image to meet a set of specific values in, for example, the shaded and highlighted areas. Doing so can help you achieve better results when printing.
The positions of the Color Readout pins are not tied to an individual image but are applied to the main viewing area of Capture One (“the Application Viewer”).
When lighting the scene of a tethered shoot, multiple Color Readout pins will give you a quick overview of how well you have lit the different objects. This makes it fast for you to create the perfect lighting for your final shots.
Using the Color Readout pins
The image has been adjusted by using the Exposure Tool and the Levels Tool. I used 3 Color Readout pins to help me control the values in the selected areas.
1) Highlights: I placed a Color Readout pin in the highlighted reflection of the dress. In order to keep the details in the highlighted area, I made sure that I got values from 250 to 254 for the color giving the highest value.
2) Shadows: I placed a Color Readout pin in the shaded part of the girl’s hair. In order to show the details in the shaded area, I made sure that I got values from 20 to 30 for the color giving the highest value.
3) Skin tone: I placed a Color Readout pin in the highlighted reflection on the girl’s skins. I made sure that I got values from 215 to 230 for the color giving the highest value in order to create a natural reproduction of her skin.
Using the Color Readout values when adjusting images is a supplement to just relying on what you see on the monitor. It will help you produce more consistent images and make fewer mistakes.
The Color Readout values in Capture One Pro 6 depend on how the Proof Profile is set up. By default, it is set to use the ICC profile from the selected Output recipe. In the example above, I worked in sRGB as I was preparing the image for online use. An important thing to note when setting up the Proof Profile is that it makes a difference whether you use sRGB or Adobe 1998, as the values change from one to the other.
You can add or remove a Color Readout pin by using the respective Cursor Tool. Click on the Picker Cursor Tool to see the different picker choices.
