March 16, 2019

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Visualize the Masterpiece

Posted in Inspirtion, Software, Technique

Understanding what you can accomplish with post-processing can make all the difference in your images

Looking at the featured image of this post (above), the image on the right was straight out of camera, and obviously, the image on the left was “tuned”. A side-by-side view is a testament to the amount of information that is contained in a RAW file and is something to keep in mind while processing. In this instance, the processed image is a more accurate rendition of the scene and best represents the way I experienced it.

So why the difference? Why not get the image perfect in camera?

When looking at any RAW file, keep in mind that what you see on your computer monitor is a visual translation representing only a small amount of data available in the file for viewing. RAW files contain an enormous amount of data that, for the most part, we never see unless we move a slider.

The image on the back of your camera is much the same. An engineer worked out for you, how “Faithful,” “Normal”, “Landscape”, or other profiles are supposed to look. The amount of saturation, sharpness, contrast, and other visual elements you see are nothing more than a single, narrow interpretation of your image. Until you get that image into a RAW editor like Capture One, Lightroom, Luminar, and so on, you’ll never see the depths of what that image contains.

In practice

For the image above, I chose to set my Nikon profiles to neutral so that I could see as much information in the highlights and shadows as possible. At the end of the day, I’m not interested in a pretty image on my camera display; it’s useless for the most part. Once that image hits my computer it doesn’t look the same as my camera preview anyway. Unless you are using the camera manufacture’s RAW editing software, almost nothing about the in-camera profiles or styles set in the camera will translate to the computer. For the most part, when bringing an image into your RAW editing workflow, you lose all of the color styles and keep exposure and white balance. From there, the look of your image is up to you. If you do choose to use the manufacture’s software so that your in-camera styles match the editing software, keep in mind that there is still an enormous amount of data in the image file that goes well beyond on what can be represented visually.

Before you take the shot

Prior to creating an image, take into consideration what your camera is capable of and understand the visual range of your files.

Also, take into account how you will edit your image to tell the story best as you see it. For example, imagine standing on a bridge in Zion National Park as the scene gets darker the sky becomes more beautifully lit. Before composing your image, you’ve already decided that you want to show the sky and the shadow detail of the river below. To get that end result, it’s crucial to understand how to get your image to a place that will more faithfully tell the story as you see it, while at the same time recognizing that the camera can’t see the same as your eyes—Being aware of this can often be the difference between a snapshot or a masterpiece.

Putting in the work

Ansel Adams once spoke about a concept by which you “visualize” the image fully in the mind’s eye before pressing the shutter; a concept that is just as meaningful today as it was when Ansel was shooting large format film in Yosemite nearly 100 years ago. The same discipline applies for Ansel as it does for us regardless of the screen on backs of our cameras. Without looking at the preview on the camera, we need to visualize the image fully in our minds with consideration to the process of how we edit, print and display our image.

Visualizing the final image before capture is a skill and discipline that takes time and practice. The more you exercise your mind, the easier previsualization will become. To help with this, know your gear and what your files are capable of. Don’t trust a podcast or technical article to tell you how good your gear is. Go do some tests for yourself. Photograph in the shade and try to predict what the image will look like before looking at the back of your camera. Intentially over and underexpose a series of images and try to recover any lost data in your RAW editor of chose. See what your camera is capable of, as not all cameras are created equal; some have less overexposure latitude while others reveal more noise if the shadows are opened too much. The software you use plays a huge factor as well. Take into account the enormous variety of cameras, sensors, and software—You have an unlimited array of possibilities for any image.

The full progression of the image

Shot on the Nikon Z7 and edited with Capture One Pro 12

 

RAW out of camera

 

I cropped and Increased over all exposure, saturation and recover some highlights.

 

I darken the sky with a linear gradent. Also increased saturation and black point slightly.

 

Using the local adjustment tool. I lightned and increases the clarity of the water and The Watchman.

 

This is my final adjustment:
I used the brush tool to darken upper corners and the land next to the stream.

 

The results

For my Zion image of the Watchman above, I knew that as long as I didn’t overexpose the sky and kept even the slightest detail in the shadows, I had all of the info I needed. As I was pressed the shutter button, I knew just how I wanted to edit the image.

Like most skills in photography, the more you shoot and visualize your final image, the easier the process will become. At some point, visualizing will become second nature and you won’t think of it much anymore. You will simply shoot with a scene in mind and later, while editing, you will see the image as it should be and make it so.

Here is an interesting link with Ansel Adams speaking about the idea of visualizing.

 

 

This post contains affiliate links. If you’d like to learn more, see my affiliate disclaimer here.

January 1, 2019

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Hello Capture One, Goodbye Lightroom

Posted in Software

Featured image edited using Capture One

With so many RAW editors on the market today it’s hard to decide which is the best. Well let me just say, there is no “best”. What works best for you is what matters. Choosing software can be daunting especially with all of the promo and promises out there. At the end of the day, software is a tool just like a camera body. So long as you can get your images tuned how you like and your clients are happy, it’s the perfect fit.

In this post I’ll be mentioning three of my primary image tuning tools while focusing on my migration from Lightroom Classic to Capture One.

It’s been two years now into my migration from Lightroom to Capture One and Luminar. In short, it’s been a colossal pain! First and foremost, learning a new RAW workflow is like learning a new language, but for me, its been worth it and I’m glad I made the move.

Luminar

Let’s look at Luminar 3 before I get to Capture One and Lightroom. For me, I use Skylum’s Luminar platform as a plugin to Capture One, Photoshop, as well as Lightroom. My primary use of Luminar is for inspiration. Its AI features, such as the AI Sky Enhancer and Accent AI Filter, will often times highlight the best features of an image that I might not otherwise have arrived at by my own tweaking. There’s also a great selection of presets for even more creativity.

Another huge plus for Luminar is the price. At $69 retail it’s hard to beat and a great companion app to any raw editor. Skylum, who is also the developer of Aurora HDR, is big into AI and are continually updating their software—Definitely a company you should keep an eye on.

Click here for a more in-depth read into Luminar.

Right: Example of Luminar AI Sky Enchancer + Accent AI Filter

Capture One

I started with Lightroom 2 10+ years ago and stuck it out until I felt there was a system that worked better for me. I still mostly love Lightroom and know that it’s an entirely viable piece of software, but I wanted better. Thus began my journey into Capture One.

Capture One has been around as a RAW editor just as long as Lightroom if not longer. It was the improvement in image quality that got me so excited about the switch. The best way I can describe it is “fidelity”—Capture One allows my images to speak with a more dynamic range of color and tonal range. It’s almost like listening to music in my truck (Lightroom), which has a great system, versus listening to the same artist live (Capture One). There is a tangible, but not always, definable difference.

It’s also fair to point out that, in my experience, all RAW editors have a personality of their own—A “look” if you will. We don’t need to get into the reasons why, however, we do need to be aware that the look of Lightroom is not the same as Capture One, Luminar, On1 Photo Raw, Alien Skin……the list goes on. At this point for me, I love the “Capture One look” along with its robust set of tools.

Click here for a more in-depth read into Capture One.

Lightroom and Capture One side by side

Left: Lightroom / Right: Capture One

The comparison

Although I have a lot of experience with Lightroom, nowadays I rarely use it. I have completely moved over to Capture One and after some growing pains, I couldn’t be happier. The only time I get back into Lightroom is when I have an older job to process that was initially edited in Lightroom. Otherwise, it’s all Capture One.

1. Stability

While both programs are reasonably fast on a modern machine, I feel Capture One is more stable and less likely to be broken in an update. I always cringe when I see Adobe has a new update for Lightroom or Photoshop, so often those updates make changes that either break my workflow or add additional hurtles. For exampe, I have an extensive preset collection that I use on a regular basis. In a recent update when the presets were converted to the new standard, several key presets stopped working. I also use the Palette controllers as well as a Shuttle Pro controller. It’s always a crap shoot if those will keep working after an update.

2. Local adjustments

While Lightroom has better noise reduction and an overall “smoother” look where Capture One is distinctly crisp. You can definitely get either one to look mostly like the other, but they still have their own unique personalities. Lightroom will allow you to adjust specific colors in the HSL panel, but Capture One will allow you even more control with the selection of a specific color range and the ability to create an adjustment mask from that color selection. It’s impressive and something you need to test.

Capture One also has a skin tone adjustment in the color tool that is very helpful for balancing and tuning portraits—A big plus over Lightroom. While both programs have local adjustment capabilities, Lightroom has a limited palette for local adjustments while Capture One offers nearly all of their adjustment options as layers, making it one of the most prominent and powerful features of Capture One.

For example, while Lightroom offers local adjustments with some level of luminosity control, Capture One features legit layers with luminosity masking! It’s brilliant, and if this were the only feature difference I would still switch, it’s that good. Did I mention you could also create layer masks from color range selections? So nice.

Another great feature of Capture One is Focus masking—For you mirrorless shooters, think of focus peaking. If you’re not familiar with focus peaking, when enabled, any area of an image will show a colored mask where the image is in focus. This feature is brilliant for faster culling. It’s my understanding that Capture One uses the info in the raw file to determine focused areas and only works on supported RAW files. I couldn’t function without this feature now that I have it.

3. Catalog and session handling

In short, a catalog is similar to what we are familiar with in Lightroom as a database that holds all image information (including metadata, adjustments, etc.) for multiple jobs containing files in many locations. Capture One will allow you to have multiple catalogs open at the same time, which is a massive plus when managing data that might be on a remote drive. Meanwhile, sessons are commonly used for one project at a time. Sessions can also be very self-contained, so they are much easier to move, backup, and share if needed.

The debate about which setup to choose or which is best will not be quickly answered. I personally use catalogs because I want to have access to all of my images at once for searching.

For a more indepth explination checkout this pre-recorded webinar hosted by Capture One.

Tips for making the switch

Here’s a brief list of things to be aware of if you’re looking to make the switch:

  1. You will lose all of your image adjustments. Lightroom and Capture One don’t share editing info, so you’ll need to re-edit your images in Capture One. Although it sounds terrible, it’s not really. You may just come away with a better image. For any finished images you have in Lightroom, I would suggest rendering out as PDS’s or TIFF’s and import alongside the RAW file into Capture One.
  2. You may lose your keywords and ratings. Lightroom stores all of your settings, including keywords and ratings, in a database. You need to configure Lightroom to write changes to a sidecar file so that the info can be read by Capture One on import. To reiterate, your image adjustments will not transfer.
  3. “Presets” will be referred to as “Styles”. Capture One uses the term “presets” to refer to parameters for a specific tool, while “styles” are adjustments saved from multiple tools are more like what you might be familiar with in Lightroom as “presets”.
  4. Heavy reliance on levels and curves. Lightroom adjustments doesn’t require you to touch levels or curves much, where Capture One relies heavily on them.
  5. Overexposure settings are different. Lightroom has “whites” and “highlights” slides to correct any overexposure whereas Capture One has only “highlights” and “shadow”. You may initially think they work the same, but they don’t. In Capture One the “highlights” and “shadow sliders are intelligent and offer a more fluid adjustment from image to image with often better results.
  6. There are no modules like developing or library in Capture One. With Capture One you can pretty much do all things from all places.
  7. All of the shortcuts are different. Don’t worry though, you can custom configure just about any action(s) in Capture One with a shortcut of your choosing.
  8. Don’t edit the same folder of images between Lightroom and Capture One. This could cause edits to be lost and potentially increase glacial melt. It’s best practice to separate images if they need to be touched by both applications or only move the through editors in 1 direction.

Final thoughts

Should you switch to Capture One? I can’t really answer that for you. I’m glad I did and have no regrets. I will say, though, that migrating from Lightroom did take a significant amount of time to learn the application, organize, and build a productive workflow. All in all, I would suggest diving in deep and really commit to learning it before you decide.

I wish you fun exploring!

 

For some amazing tutorials be sure to checkout the Capture One YouTube channel.

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