Set the Mood of Your Images Easily Using Capture One's Color Balance Tool

When Capture One 9 was released about two years ago, one of the most noticeable features was the color balance tool. It makes color grading very visual and effortless, even if you don’t have a solid knowledge of color theory. Along with tethered capture mode, the layers introduced last December, and the default color profiles, it has become one of the primary reasons why Phase One’s software is the standard in the commercial, fashion, and beauty photography industry. In this six-minute long video, Zoë Noble will show you how it can set the mood of your images and help speed up your editing process.

The color balance tool is comparable to what videographers and colorists use in video editing app such as Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve. It makes grading so much more intuitive through its visual interface that once you use it, you’ll start hating the color balance tool found in Photoshop.

In the video above, Noble demonstrates how powerful the tool can be while retaining all simplicity. Using Capture One 11, you could even apply it as a layer and then adjust opacity for more control over the final result. Note that this tool works just as well on TIFF or PSD files. So once you are done retouching in Photoshop, you can bring your edited images back into Capture One and refine the color grading using the color balance tool.

Quentin Decaillet's picture

Quentin Décaillet is a photographer and retoucher based in Switzerland specializing in portrait and wedding photography.

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2 Comments

Good overview. I love the way they designed this tool, it's almost kind of fun to use but at the same time I feel like I can get pretty precise with it. Like you said, Layers in Capture One Pro 11 changed the game and I'd do this on a new layer for sure.

Love color balance, I use it every time