Introduction to Capture One Express 7 | Phase One

Capture One Express 7 offers dedicated photographers a revolution in image quality. You get precise colors and incredible detail from tailor-made camera profiles that bring out the best in your camera. It is a powerful tool containing flexible photo management, essential adjustment tools and fast performance in one integrated package.

Learn more about Capture One Express 7 imaging software:
http://www.phaseone.com/express

Free 60 days trial:
http://www.phaseone.com/download-express

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Capture One Express 7 is built with the same revolutionary
image quality as seen in Capture One Pro.
It is a unique tool containing flexible photo management,
essential adjustment tools and fast performance in one
integrated package
Images in Capture One Express are stored in the default catalog.
A catalog is a way of storing images using a database to track
the location of images and certain information about those images.
Like for example, adjustments and Meta Data.
By default, this database is stored in the system Pictures folder
First lets look at how to populate the Catalog, with some more images.
Importing images into Capture One Express is done
via the import window.
Typically, this will be images from a camera memory card,
or from your hard drive.
To import images, press the import icon in the toolbar.
Select where to import image files from, and click open.
There are two ways to store images in a
Capture One Express Catalog.
They can either be moved inside the catalog database file itself
or placed on any other storage medium,
for example, external hard drives
Storing images inside the catalog is simple and doesn't require
any decisions where to place your images.
We refer to these as Managed Images
However, the maximum catalog size is then determined by the
size of storage the catalog database file is placed in.
Storing images outside of the Catalog is more flexible.
We refer to these as Referenced Images.
'Offline' browsing of images is then also possible.
To learn more about offline browsing,
watch the specific tutorials on our YouTube channel.
Therefore, Under 'Import To' decide where to store the
imported images.
Choosing 'Inside Catalog' will store the images within the
Catalog database file itself.
To leave images where they are, choose the
'Current Location' option.
Automatic backups can also be set by checking
'Backup Enabled' and setting a location.
Decide on the naming format for the imported files.
Click here to build any number of naming formats.
Using 'Image Name' will retain the existing file name.
Finally Meta data and Adjustments can be set in the further
two menus.
Check the 'Include Existing Adjustments' box if you are bringing
in RAW files that have already been worked on in earlier versions
of Capture One.
Click 'Import All Images' here and the import process will start.
The Activity Monitor will open showing the import process.
Once the import has finished, the images will appear as
thumbnails along the bottom of the screen here.
Change the thumbnail display by clicking on one of the three icons.
Catalog information is shown here, within the Library tool.
It is split into three sections - 'Catalog Collections',
'User Collections' and 'Folders'.
The content of Catalog Collections cannot be changed and
shows fixed albums of all the images in the Catalog,
recent imports and the trash.
User Collections allow the creation of Albums, Smart Albums,
Projects and Groups.
These elements allow the virtual organization of your catalog.
It is 'virtual' as organising images in this way does not require
them to be physically moved on disk.
Any number of 'Projects' can be created within the Catalog.
Subsequently that 'Project' can contain any number of Albums
or Smart Albums.
Finally groups are simple a way of grouping together any number
of Projects or Albums. The hierarchy is very flexible enabling you
to create the image Catalog for your needs.
To create a Project, click on the plus icon in the 'User' area,
and select 'Project'.
A project cannot contain images itself, so you will need to
place an Album inside the project.
Click on the Plus icon again, and choose 'Album Inside..'
Then simply drag any image or groups of images into the
new album.
Projects also limit the search scope of a Smart Album.
Smart Albums are populated based on their search criteria.
For example a rating or a keyword.
Therefore placing a Smart Album within a Project is a great way
of automatically filtering selected images, for example.
To make a Smart Album, follow the same procedure as before.
Some presets are available for commonly used Smart Albums.
In this case we will use the Five Star criteria.
Now any image in any album in the project will appear in the smart album,
if it matches the criteria.
The folders area helps you manage where images are stored in
the catalog.
If you have chosen to use Referenced images, their actual
location will be shown here.
If you want to physically move images from folder to folder,
these kinds of operations must be done from within
Capture One Express,
so that the database is aware of the changes.
Its also possible to reestablish connections to lost images,
move images inside the catalog and add additional folders
to move images too.
For more information on this, watch the accompanying tutorial
on our youtube channel, "Working with Referenced Images".
Now lets look at adjusting some images.
Capture One Express 7 uses individual profiles for your camera
for delivering the best out of the box results
in terms of colour rendition, noise reduction and detail.
The software has an extensive set of adjustment tools to give
you the creative look you desire.
Lets look at a simple workflow to get you started.
Tool Tabs are shown here on the left hand side.
The various tools are placed within these tabs.
Hover the mouse over the icon to see the title.
First, move to the color tool tab.
Take the white balance picker and choose a neutral area
in the image.
White balance can also be adjusted by using the sliders here.
Other common adjustments like Exposure Compensation
and Shadow and Highlight recovery, can be found in the
Exposure Tool Tab.
Images needing the same adjustments, can easily be adjusted
by using 'copy' and 'apply' commands.
Cmd-click other images that would benefit from the
same adjustment.
For this operation, it may be helpful to see the images in a multiview
Click here to tile any selected images.
Images in Capture One are often referred to as 'Variants'.
This is because any image can have a virtual copy made known
as a 'Variant'.
Variants are great for experimenting with different adjustments
on your images.
Watch the specific tutorial on our YouTube channel
to learn more about this feature.
To copy the adjustments added to the Primary Variant,
click the 'Copy' button on the toolbar.
The Primary Variant is always indicated by a thicker white border.
If you want to remove any of the adjustments you have just
copied, before applying them to any other Variant, then this
can be done in the 'Adjustments' clipboard.
Uncheck any options you don't want to be copied across.
Then click the Apply button, also on the tool bar.
Adjustments are now copied across.
Individual tools have a number of icons on the top bar.
If a question mark is visible here, then it gives access to useful
online help about that particular tool.
If an A is present, this will action Auto adjustment of the
current tool on any selected images.
The next icon gives access to the Copy / Apply command,
as seen earlier, but just for that particular tool.
The next resets the tool to default settings.
The reset action will apply for all selected images.
Hold down the Option key to temporarily reset the tool.
This is very useful for viewing the effect a tool has.
The next manages presets. For example tools can have a
preset value saved and recalled within the same menu.
Take time to browse the tool tabs to see the extent of
adjustments Capture One Pro 7 offers.
Other tutorials available on Phaseone.com or our YouTube
channel go into more detail on different tools.
Once you are happy with the adjustments applied to your
images they can be exported in a variety of popular image formats.
Select one or more images to export and then click on the
Export Variants icon in the toolbar.
The Export dialogue will open. Work through the dialogue
to setup the export parameters.
First choose a location for the exported files.
Choose a naming format for the exports. Leaving the format
set to 'Image Name' will retain the raw file name in the export.
Click here, to adjust the naming format.
The 'Recipe' is the parameters which will form the basis of the
image output. For example, the file format and scale.
Many different file formats can be selected from the pull down
menu here...
Decide on the other parameters and then click the Export button.
The Activity Monitor will open showing the progress of the export.
However, as this is a background process, you can continue
to work on your images.
To learn more about Capture One Express 7, don't forget to use
the help icons around the software and view additional
tutorial videos, available on Phaseone.com or our YouTube channel.