Start to Finish Portrait Retouching in Capture One Pro 8

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In this tutorial I’ll be showing you just how far you can get retouching a portrait in Phase One Capture One Pro 8. We’ll cover the retouch from start to finish without ever going into Adobe Photoshop.

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41 Comments
  1. Olivia Mead says

    This tutorial was somewhat helpful, but didn't explain which specific adjustments to be made in each layer. The vagueness made it hard to follow. The photo looks amazing, I just wish I had more specific, clear-cut instructions on how to mimic it.

  2. sjazz says

    Michael, I’ve noticed that with Capture One Dodge & Burn layers are based on exposure adjustments whilst in your Photoshop course and actions you use curves instead. Please let me know if what is the reason for that. Thanks.

  3. fangxu sun says

    before was much better than after to my eyes.

  4. Vivian Lee says

    I must be the only one who loves the after photo, very artistic…the before photo was WAY too orange. She looked like a carrot.

  5. Jozef Gurzynski says

    What lens and aperture did you shoot that image with?! It's gorgeous!

  6. P says

    Michael it looks like you were shooting with the D800? Would you mind sharing what glass you were using … the focus falloff is fantastic. Thanks for the tutorial and your willingness to share you knowledge. Best!

  7. Joey Mantka says

    To be honest nothing happened. It's just like adjusting the Tint and Color Temperature. The freckles are more prominent in the finished one..

  8. Leo Ma says

    Great work, May you do one in Photoshop?

  9. Visual Masterpiece says

    Am I the only one who thinks Capture One's implementation of brush tools is awful? I wish it was as fast as Aperture 🙁 There is NO reason for layers.. tons of extra steps taken here. #DEALBREAKER

  10. blackjohnny0 says

    I prefer much more LR. C1 has better standard colors and thats all for me. Theoretically you have more options in local adjustments, but its easier in LR.

  11. Dracule Mihawk says

    What the hell happened? The image before looked better LOL

  12. Sinorox says

    Will you ever make capture one presets?

  13. rayner1902 says

    Anyone can help me out here? I can't get the black and white luminosity adjustment to work. When I disable B&W all my RGB adjustments go back to default. How could I retain the adjustments like in 15:00?

  14. Paw Aft says

    well, with all due respect, i think that the final photo lacks all kind of warmth in the face of this young lady. she has absolutely no "glow". in fact, she looks horribly pale, darkened and ill. you turned her into a corpse, lol

  15. Macon Moments photo says

    i noticed you brought up using a wacom tablet. ive been looking at a tablet monitor for editing. do you have any experience with any of those?

  16. Craig K says

    I can appreciate the technical skills, and thanks for taking the time to create these videos. However after seeing many of your videos, the skintones always make the faces just a bit lifeless. As if you're attempting to reach this 'perfection' that, in the end, doesn't do these models justice. Natural light, and it's affect on the shadows / highlights / skintone has it's own appealing nuance. The problem is that many seem to feel that's it's not quite perfect, so take so much time to create something that, in the end, robs the image of it's character.

  17. Marcell Szűcs says

    Exceptionally great tutorials, amazing talent!

  18. Brian DeSimone says

    love your videos. thank you

  19. Before was really much better. Color balance of face became like a brick with more less contrast

  20. Craig Beckta says

    Love your tutorials Michael, Craig Beckta

  21. Cristina Franco says

    excellent

  22. Mohammad Alwazzan says

    before much better

  23. lauza247 says

    i wish capture one would use "flow" instead or as well as opacity.

  24. Tony De leon says

    The before picture looks better

  25. Steve Roberts says

    Nice video. But can someone give the poor girl a glass of water…she looks well dehydrated.

  26. dengie75 says

    this is very informative, though i must say the final image looks like she is made out of plastic !! why warp the natural light.

  27. Jesse Lim Jia Nian says

    That's what I really like how a pro retouch their works. First they make sure they do it right on the shooting part with the lighting, etc. Then they bring out that dramatic look later on with all those subtle yet impactful adjustment. This, really inspires me a lot, every time…

  28. ajay fay says

    Can I ask, does this work better then lightroom cc? If I am using a DSLR? I have been thinking of switching over. .

  29. Frank Apollonio says

    this is great, she has perfect skin tho, what do you do when you actually have to heal problem areas/skin smoothing… haven't figured out how to smooth skin other than clarity reduction.

  30. Ali Buitrago says

    the picture is beautifull even without retouch

  31. Silviu Iulian Geangos says

    Michael, I love your work! I'm quite a begginer in this, but I like very much this type of work and I love spending a lot of time on it. I have two questions, though, if you would be so kind to answer me; the first one is: your models simply glow, in a very contrasty and stylish way; I wonder, do they use some kind of oil, or cream, or make-up on their skin for the shooting? I'd love to get that effect one day. And the second question is: How do you get photos so sharp, and still use very small f numbers? I'd love to hear from you! Have a nice day, Michael!

  32. Victor Shikhman says

    Does Capture One have lens profiles to fix vignetting or other optical issues for particular lenses?

  33. nrws says

    Bardzo subtelnie, w polskiej grafice wszystkie parametry są x10, a ludzie wyglądają jak poparzone d&b plastikowe manekiny.

  34. Antonín Lavrenčík says

    thanks Michael, useful a lot

  35. Chloe p says

    Such a beautiful Portrait Michael!

  36. Pamela Corrales says

    Me encantó este tutorial. Michael muchas gracias por tan maravilloso trabajo 🙂

  37. Ryan MacLean says

    Thanks +Michael Woloszynowicz! This is a great intro to 8, and covers much of my retouch workflow. 

  38. Steve Zimmer says

    Excellent video; especially loved the "trick" of switching to B&W for dodging and burning. Thanks Michael!

  39. James Gunning says

    I've got to ask.  I love the processing features, and over all development features of capture One Pro 8 (that color editor is amazing), especially considering the files are kept smaller with better quality before heading in to PS; compared to from LR.  I've come from years of LR use, so I'm having a bit of an issue.  I can't seem to wrap my head around the DAM features in C1pro8.  I've looked through phase ones videos, and they've been of some help.  But I'd love to see your take on it for a video.  I'm sure I'm not the only one out there that is having this issue. Love the long form nature, and high quality of this video.  Thanks for this one too!

  40. calmfiddle says

    Thanks for this excellent intro to retouching in Capture One, I've just downloaded it and am trying to figure out how to use my Wacom tablet with this program. I see right around the 7:50 mark, you were able to quickly zoom in and pan around while keeping the masking tool selected. I can't seem to figure out how to get my Wacom to perform that function. I'm used to holding down the ALT in Photoshop to pan, but it doesn't seem to be the same in Capture One.

  41. David Meyer says

    That's pretty cool, but from what I can see, there is some lag when using adjustment brushes (when you are working on her eyes). And also, comparing to Photoshop, isn't there less control overall on what you can do with the layers in CO? I mean in Ps you can 1. adjust the brush you're using 2. adjust the layer's opacity and fill of a layer 3. change blending mode 4. Mask in or out and much, much more… It's interesting to see there are things one can do in CO and it's an interesting challenge, but I think I'd still rather run the image through Ps for any retouching more detailed than global adjustments of a RAW file… And definitely loving CO for working with RAW files, in my case Lr doesn't get much use any more.

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