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I have a very love-hate relationship with it when it comes to retouching. It is incredible to have a recipe of minor fixes that gives an ordinary image something extra. But, to get the desired result, switching between programs is frustrating and time-consuming. Capture One has made vast improvements to its software and continues its reign as the industry standard. The software could become the standalone, raw editor for most photographers’ arsenals if they were to double down on this Capture One wish list with a future update.
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Capture One does a lot of things well. Color grading, black and white tones, and basic global adjustments are easily performed with the software program. Recent upgrades such as Canon native wireless tethering, panoramic stitch, and HDR merge are welcome functionalities. As good as the program is however, there are some improvements I would love to see them make. Answering this Capture One wish list would allow them to become the all-in-one editing suite they’re capable of being.
Masking and Selections
Photoshop is still the go-to if you are looking to make precise adjustments to a specific area of an image. Their selection functionality is significantly more advanced than what is possible with Capture One’s magic brush. It simply lacks the precision and speed offered in Adobe. Take window pulls in real estate photography as an example. Even with the added benefit of HDR merge, precise selections within the highlights are still challenging to do well. For portraiture, making adjustments to the background should be more efficient.
Color Corrections
Capture One has simplified color-correcting inconsistent skin tones. Normalizing magenta fingertips to match the more golden hues has become relatively easy. After perusing the forums, it has become evident that many photographers are requesting frequency separation type capabilities.
The addition of a color-matching brush would be a great start. This would allow portrait photographers to blend skin colors for close-up beauty images better. Real estate photographers could even out color casts around the edges of the frame. It would be fantastic to do all color finessing within the construct of one application.
Ethical Skin Retouching Capabilities
The anticipation of the addition of style brushes within Capture One was met with a slight feeling of deflation. Dodging and burning brushes with the pen pressure is pretty good. But, it could be improved with updates to overall opacity and flow capabilities, perhaps multiple options. The healing brush and clone stamp are sufficient for near-flawless skin or digitals for model test shoots. However, more notable imperfections become problematic within the software. The addition of a patch tool on par with the quality and speed found in Adobe would be a huge upgrade. As it is, it is lethargic and feels a bit proprietary in comparison. So, in an industry where time is money, time is best-suited working with skin in a different program.
Final Thoughts
One of the things I appreciate most about Capture One is that they listens to their customers. Now that many of these desired tools have been integrated into the software, I’d love to see them commit to making it as competitive as possible. I hope one of their subsequent upgrades lets me fully untether from Adobe.
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