Amazing Highlight Recovery with Capture One Pro 7

November 29, 2012 by 3 Comments

In Capture One Pro 7, we have introduced a new processing engine improving the image quality on a number of different parameters such as the way the software now deals with extreme highlights and data close to being clipped.

These aspects have been dramatically improved and now have:

  • Larger range for how much overexposure that can be recovered
  • Color precision is greatly improved in recovered areas
  • Much smoother transition to clipped data
  • More detail in the highlight areas

JPG                                                                Capture One Pro 6                                Capture One Pro 7

The image above shows three different versions of the same shot. The left side image is the JPG that was generated in the camera. The center image is the result of recovering highlights in the raw file using Capture One Pro 6. The image to the right is the same raw file but now processed in Capture One Pro 7.

Using Capture One Pro 7 it was possible to recover almost all the detail and color tones in the overexposed areas of the swan by using only the Highlight slider in the High Dynamic Range tool.

Visit the blog to see more examples of the improved ability to recover highlights

Below is another example of the new and improved processing engine’s ability to recover color and detail by using Capture One Pro 7 on a raw landscape image.

JPG                                                                Capture One Pro 6                                 Capture One Pro 7

With the JPG file, it is not possible to recover any color and detail in the sky. By processing the raw file in Capture One Pro 6, you can recover most of the sky, but the color information is wrong and the missing color information will show with hard transitions. With Capture One Pro 7 however, it is possible to recover both the detail in the clouds and the color of the blue sky in a natural and pleasing way.

For both raw files, the High Dynamic Range tool was used to recover the highlight detail. Some global saturation was also added.

When shooting landscape images using natural light, it can sometimes be quite challenging to control the highlights as you cannot control the light source. And even when you can control the light, you may still need the ability to recover highlights.

Many of us have tried shooting a portrait in the studio only to misadjust the flash just as the expression was just perfect, like in the example below.

Raw file – way overexposed                                                     Capture One Pro 6 recovery

This image is totally overexposed due to a human error with the flash and even though Capture One Pro 6 can recover a majority of the image, it will still require many hours of retouching to save it.

However, with Capture One Pro 7 it is possible to recover all the highlight detail.  The image above has only been adjusted by using the Exposure tool globally as well as the Exposure tool in a Local Adjustments mask in Capture One Pro 7.

All the best,

Niels

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

Better JPG with Capture One 6

December 30, 2010 by 1 Comment

Image Professor tip 12 - 1

In Capture One 6 you can get higher image quality even at smaller files size compared to Capture One 5 when processing to JPG.

Even though Capture One 6 and 5 has the same quality range (0-100), the underlying algorithms has been changed and optimized.

In version 5 only quality levels from around 85-100 would lead to reasonable image quality.

In version 6 you can use the full quality range from 0 to 100 and find the quality/file size ratio that fits you needs.

For Web quality usage the ideal quality levels are between 0 and 40
For Print quality usage the ideal quality levels are between 80 and 100

Image professor tip 12 - 2

The above illustrates the file size for the image above when processed to JPG using the different quality levels.  The uncompressed TIF file is 31.5Mb. Note that the compression depends very much on the content of the file and the above should be used only as a guideline.

Image professor tip 12 - 3

When viewing the file at a zoom level of 100% it can be difficult to see the difference in quality. In the illustration above the top left image is quality level 0 and bottom right image is quality level 100

Let’s take a closer look at a zoom rate of 300%. Then the different quality/size trade-offs become quite obvious.

Image professor tip 12 - 4

Top left is quality level 0 and bottom right is quality level 100

Now at 400% zoom.

Image professor tip 12 - 5

Top left is quality level 0 and bottom right is quality level 100.

As a very good compromise between quality and file size I use quality level 85.  Take a close look at the original TIF vs. the JPG compressed at quality 85.

Image professor tip 12 - 6

Zoom level 300%. Left image is the uncompressed RAW file. Right image is the JPG file at a Quality level 85. It is really hard to see the difference and remember the JPG file here is almost 20 times smaller than the TIF file.

Experiment with the different quality settings and find your ideal compromises.

Happy New Year!

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

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