Portrait Edits with Capture One
One of my first portraits edited with Capture One
About a year ago I first learned about Capture One. I was interviewing with a company for a studio photographer job and they had asked if I knew the software. I did not at the time, and so of course I started researching the software. Capture One is an alternative to Adobe Lightroom, which I’ve been using for years. I have done almost all my photo edits in Lightroom (including most of the shots on this site). I rarely need Photoshop as I can do almost everything I need and want in Lightroom. So when I first looked at Capture One I was reluctant to make any change. I read some reviews, it didn’t sound like Capture One was necessarily better, although for some reason it did seem as if the higher end professionals typically chose Capture One over Lightroom. I experimented a bit during my interview period but in the end I stayed with Lightroom. Mostly because I already knew it, but also because at first glance it appeared to easier to use.
Fast forward to 2021, Capture One came up again and so I decided to give it another look—but this time I downloaded the free trial, watched several tutorials, and have been using it almost exclusively now. I now get why so many of the higher end pros are using it, it really is amazing software—especially Capture One 21.
The more I learn about Capture One, the more I see the beauty of it. Capture One is really set up for professional workflows. While it has catalogs (similar to Lightroom), the sessions are even more exciting to me—I wish Lightroom had sessions like Capture One does as they are perfect for my own workflow. Think of sessions like individual shoots or projects—instead of having one giant library to sort through, you can have each job or project be set up it its own session—and the powerful tools sessions include are amazing. Beyond organization, I find I enjoy working with the editing tools in Capture One far more than I initially thought. Lightoom is indeed similar, but I feel that it does not give you nearly the amount of detailed control that you get in Capture One. The biggest advantage I think is having layers. Layers in Capture One are like layers in Photoshop, but easier to use (in my opinion). Creating masks is also really easy, combined with layers, you can easily isolate areas of a photograph and adjust with a very high level of precision. Yes, Lightroom has the adjustment brush and similar functionality, but it just doesn’t seem to give you the same control Capture One does.
Another area Capture One has an edge is with color. The skin tone tool alone I think is worth using Capture One for your portrait edits. In addition there are several tools for adjust color very precisely; you have the ability to create masks using a color picker and adjusting it’s parameters, then editing that mask until it’s just right, and tweaking the color precisely.
I definitely recommend Capture One and I continue to fall in love with it more the more I use it and learn about it. It’s very powerful software for pulling the best image out of a photograph.
Another cool tool used here, grain—a few more variables and options that you find in Lightroom