Inverted Masks in Local Adjustments

May 19, 2011 by 2 Comments

When working with local adjustments in Capture One Pro 6.2, you now have the option of copying a mask from one layer to another.

Moreover, you also have the option to make an inverted mask.

When optimizing an image using local adjustments layers, you often need to do adjustments in a mask in one layer combined with adjustments in another layer based on the inverted mask.

The image on the left side has been optimized by using a local adjustments layer with a mask for the sky and an adjustments layer with the inverted mask for the foreground. The image on the right side is straight out of the camera.

First, I create a new adjustments layer for the sky by pressing the “+” button in the local adjustments tool.

With the brush cursor tool set at a large radius and hardness 0, I paint a mask for the sky. To enhance the colors and drama in the sky, I add some extra contrast for this mask.

For the foreground, I add another adjustments layer. Instead of painting a new mask for this layer, I just reuse the mask from the sky but in an inverted form.

Click on the triangle in the local adjustments toolbar to open the menu “Copy Mask from” and select the mask “Sky”.

In the same dropdown menu, you can now select “Invert Mask”

Now, I have a perfectly matched mask for the foreground. In order to open up the very dark foreground, I also add exposure compensation, brightness as well as some saturation.

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Use local contrast adjustments for increased drama!

February 24, 2011 by 8 Comments

Capture One Pro 6.1 now includes contrast adjustments in local adjustments layers.

Contrast applied locally can be very powerful and add more drama to landscape images.  Typically, a sky with clouds can be changed dramatically by applying contrast in a local adjustments layer.

Portrait images can also be enhanced by using contrast locally in an adjustments layer.  For portraits both decreasing and increasing contrast can be effective.   

The photos above are an example of a landscape image where the use of contrast in a local adjustments layer has a fantastic effect, creating drama in the sky and the entire image.  The image to the left has come straight out of the camera. The image to the right has been optimized primarily by adding contrast to an adjustments layer that has been applied to the sky.

Create your own powerfull images:

The first step is to make a mask for the sky.  A graduation type mask will work excellently for this image.  You can get information on how to make a graduation type mask in the article on this blog “Working with graduation filters in Capture One Pro 6” from the 17th February 2011.

Because the clouds in the image are already quite bright, applying contrast alone will only lead to even brighter clouds. A contrast curve makes dark parts darker and bright parts brighter.  So the trick here is to combine the increased contrast with decreased brightness.  For this image, a contrast of +50 and a brightness adjustment of -39 create exactly the increased contrast in the sky that I was looking for.

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