Granted it’s extremely unsafe but it’s still an amazing structure to shoot. I personally haven’t shot it before so I thought we should all get together head down and shoot it for one last time.

The details

Saturday 7th May
5:30pm.

Full details and some discussion on the facebook event page. https://www.facebook.com/events/1095747760466817/

Photo Cred: Wing Chung.

Around the middle of last year I started to tether in the studio. I was easier for the clients along with myself to see exactly what we were getting. I was tethering with Lightroom and while it worked it was so slow. So after a few shoots it was just to painful to continue. The delay was just to great.

I started to look for other alternatives and of course Capture One Pro popped up. So when a copy landed on my desk a few months ago the first thing I did was use it to tether. It’s a whole new world. The images were almost instant. At this point I thought It couldn’t get any better! That was until I sat down and had a play with the software.

I’m not going to lie, there is a major learning curve as it’s nothing like the Adobe way. You have sessions and catalogs which each have their own way of working (I’ll get into that in another post). It’s a whole new mind set and you need to re-think the way your workflow works. Capture One does try and help you along the way with plenty of video tutorials but there are still some gaps you need fill in for yourself. I’m still working on this part. I hope to have a complete workflow post up soon.

As I said earlier with the tethering I didn’t think life could get any better, but then I started to play with the processing tools. Just WOW my RAW images were sharper, they seemed cleaner and with a bit of tinkering I was able get my head around the non Adobe way.

I stared off using the default layout which had a the strip of images running along the bottom much how the Lightroom Develop module looks. However for some reason it just seemed unnatural. I’m not sure why because it should have felt the exact same as Lightroom, but eventually I dragged the film strip of images up on to the right hand side and things just felt better. Funnily enough this seems to be the layout most people go for.

In terms of panels, I found the order to be a bit backwards. This could be because of my many years of Adobe conditioning but the beauty of Capture One Pro is that you can rearrange and create your own panels to suit your workflow. With a bit of tinkering I had it setup in away that just worked for me.

You might be thinking well this is a bit of pain but really the ability to add and move panels and then create your own tool sets within these panels can drastically reduce your editing time when you get it setup correctly.

For example my Black and White panel has everything I need for black and white editing. I have no reason to switch between panels or do massive amounts of scrolling to change up an option. As I mentioned above I will post a full run down of my workflow very soon, but once you get your head around the different options between Catalogs and Sessions it will make life a lot easier.

Working With Sessions

Sessions is the original way of using Capture One and it’s designed perfectly for tethered capture. Everything about a single project (session) is stored in a self contained folder structure. The beauty of this is that you can put a session on an external hard drive and work on it from anywhere that you have Capture One installed.

Working with Catalogs

Catalogs are more inline with what we are used to coming from Adobe. The allow you to hold lots of projects and search, along with everything that is available in Sessions. There are advantages to using one or the other or like myself I use a combination of the two.

What is Capture Pro One Missing?

It’s not all good there are a couple of things that I would love to see Capture One include in the next version of their software.

The number one item I would love to see if better lens correction. The lens distortion correction in Lightroom is awesome and in most cases can fix issues with out the need to open the image up in Photoshop. No matter what I did with Capture One tools I couldn’t seem to get it right.

Secondly, more lens profiles. Tamron has stepped up their game a lot in recent years with the pro series 24-70. 70-200 and 90mm macros that are tack sharp. Not to mention these new prime lenses that are just about to hit the shelves. Yet there wasn’t a profile for Tamron lenses at all.

Lastly their Noise reduction needs some work. I’ve been spoilt with Lightroom’s noise reduction algorithm’s that manage to clean up most of the noise that you find in high ISO. I’m just lucky that most of my work doesn’t require noise reduction or very little.

Actually there is one more little gripe I have with Capture One Pro 8 at the moment, and that is syncing adjustments. Granted I’m still learning the shortcuts and I’m constantly finding new and faster ways of doing things but I haven’t been able to work out how to sync adjustments across a selection of images. If you know how add it in the comments below.

Tools

I started this review in version 8 of the software but mid way through finishing the brought out Capture One Pro 9 so I’ll run through all the new tools that came with the update.

Capture One’s contrast slider was always a little bit of a let down with most people using levels to add that extra punch. However they have revised the contrast engine making changes to the algorithms of colour, saturation and contrast.

The color editor is one of the software’s most important tools, and now you are able to make masks from a colour edit giving you even more control.

The update comes with a new brush pack which adds flow, airbrush, linkable brushes and straight line brushing.

The curves tool got an update and in my mind it’s probably the best update. The addition of Luma curves allows you to create contrast with out effecting saturation, and curve adjustments can now be used locally!

DNG users you haven’t been forgotten. Previously Capture One Pro hasn’t supported DNG files very well however with this new version allows for Capture one Pro to work with files that have been converted to DNG.

Lastly for tethered shooters you can now see your camera’s battery status in the toolbar.

Some Interesting Findings

I’ve noticed a few things while using Capture One Pro 9 that are a little annoying yet I can’t seem to work out if it’s just me having these issues on both my main editing station and my laptop or if it’s more wide spread.

Within sessions you have session generated folders such as Capture, Selects and Output. For some reason over time these disappear leaving only Output. I haven’t worked out a way to restore them and I end up going down into the HDD tree and locating the folders.

Another issue I’ve come across is all though Capture One Pro 9 is faster it’s also a memory hog. When you have to regenerate an entire sessions previews because they aren’t showing up, don’t expect to be able to do to much else.

Should you make the Switch?

I would say it really depends. For a wedding photographer I would say that the Lightroom workflow is probably faster, but for fashion, landscape and everything in between where you aren’t necessarily batching a whole heap of photos and you are taking the time on each one, then yeah it’s worth the switch. Let me warn you though it comes with a learning curve which I’ve mentioned about + a feeling of disorganization for a few months, unless you were one of those Lightroom users that created individual catalogs for each shoot. However once you get over the hump Capture One Pro 9 is just amazing.

UPDATE: I’ve been using Capture One Pro 9 exclusively now for all my shoots. What I can tell you is that I have been able to speed up the batch process dramatically with the use of keyboard shortcuts and tool bars that allow mass applying of settings.

Also while I was a little harsh on the Noise reduction I have found that with extended use in most cases it actually does a pretty good job. Lightroom still has the edge over it but unless you are shooting super high iso work on a constant basis I doubt it would be much of a problem.

One thing that still nags me is the stability and possible memory leaks. Exporting large amounts of proof images requires the software to restart a few times. The queue is saved so it kicks off where it left of but it can be a bit annoying. Also there does seem to be a small delay when applying alterations. Maybe I just don’t have my settings right?

You’ve probably noticed that over 2015 the post rate on RAW had dropped dramatically, you might have also noticed that we haven’t run any public workshops at all. The reason is simple, just over 8 months ago we had a new little addition to our family. Preston was born on the 28th of January and since then it has been full on, not only with Preston but the fact that most of my year has been completely booked up with various photography jobs.

With all of this going on unfortunately something had to give and it was RAW. I had been feeling for awhile that RAW was turning into just another news site posting the same stuff that every other photography website was posting. So now that I have my home life and my work life kind of under control I can turn my attention back to RAW but make a few adjustments.

This won’t be a news site where there will be a post or two each day showing you the same content every other site is posting. This will be about photography. The topics I’ll be posting about will be shoot wrap ups, behinds the scenes, post processing and reviews. The aim of this new content is to help you with your photography.

To finish of the year with a bang I’ve released “The Ballerina” which is our only public workshop of 2015. I’ve organised an amazing ballerina with international credentials to model for us and we’ll be covering both natural light and studio lighting. This is a workshop you won’t want to miss out on.

So that about brings you up to speed and where RAW is heading. I hope you’ll stay around, cause it’s only going to get better.

Ideally I would like to shoot 2-3 models for my #ModelsOffDuty project and if I can swing it one or two editorials. Of course I’ll also need to put a team together for those editorial shoots so if you are keen to be involved then lets make it happen. The #ModelsOffDuty project does have some strict rules in terms of the models feature and shoot.

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Would you like to shoot? [button color=”see-through” hover_text_color_override=”#fff” image=”default-arrow” url=”http://tristanjud.com/#!/contact” text=”Contact Me” color_override=””]

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Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ve been asked to move on before but never from a public space. My question is have any of you guys had an run-ins like this when you are out and about shooting?

Tell us a little about yourself?

I was born in Treviso (a small city near Venice) in 1977. I started with photography in analogue, when I was sixteen. At that time I was a student at artistic high school in my city. My father is a visual artist and he always influenced me a lot, so, at a certain point, I felt the desire to express myself too. I was looking for a means of expression and that’s how I met photography. I started taking photos of my classmates, during the free time moments with a Pentax spotmatic and a 50mm f1.8…And I never gave up. As a professional photographer I started working in a studio near to my place, printing black and white photos in dark room. After two years I decided to move to study Cinema in Bologna where today I work and live. Actually in the last five years, after getting married to an Israeli girl, I also spend a few months every year in Israel. During these years, I’ve been through a lot of different experiences in several studios between Bologna and Milan exploring many fields of photography but today I’m specialized in fashion and portraits and I’m a photographer for Allure Models Agency.

Are you self-taught or did you study?

I could say that in photography I’m a self-taught educate. The truth is that I come from a very inspiring world. My father is a painter and I spent all of my childhood going around with him, visiting art shows and having artist around me. I started with photography when I was sixteen, taking portraits of my classmates at the artistic high school. And I never gave up. I did other things (I have a degree in cinema disciplines) but at the end, become a professional photographer was natural.

How much personal work do you shoot?

As much as I can! I don’t have a lot of time to work on personal projects at the moment (and I could say that it’s good) but when I don’t work, I always find the time to take some personal series, usually portraits or nude.

What’s your favourite photo/series you have shot?

It’s very difficult for me to identify a series as my favourite one. I hardly go back to see my old series because usually, a week after the publication I don’t like them anymore. Anyway, if we are talking about fashion series, one of my best work is “wild swans”, a series I took one year ago for Satellite Magazine -Los Angeles.

What’s in your bag?

I have a couple Nikon bodies (a D600 and a D700), a Polaroid, some fixed lenses (20mm,28mm,50mm,85mm) and some cobra flashlights. I don’t put a lot of money in my cameras; I prefer invest in lenses and studio equipment (lights and accessories).

What lens could you not live without?

Definitely my 50mm f1.4

Studio or Location?

It depends on the project. I feel quite comfortable in both of the situations.

Natural light or Flash?

Same answer. It depends on the project!

Which photographers inspire you and why?

Well, there are some photographers who are particular inspiring for me. For fashion and portraits photography, some of them are Peter Lindbergh, Steven Meisel, Mario Testino, Tim Walker, Miles Aldridge. In reportage photography the list is even longer but for me the master still is Henri Cartier Bresson. I love the sensibility and delicacy I used to approach people and situations.

What Project are you working on now?

I keep going with a personal project, started a couple of years ago (you can see some of those photos on my blog), about very simple and clean portraits of girls, models but also friends or simply people met by chance while walking around, portrayed in their places.

What’s your process for coming up with ideas and then turning them into a shoot?

There is no role. Sometimes I have an idea on my mind and I just try to put it on a shoot but in other cases, I simply see something or someone interesting and the idea for a series comes out naturally. When I think of a fashion shooting, I often take inspiration from the works I see around me (I spend a lot of time in platforms like Behance, studying the works of my colleagues) and from any kind of media. But if we talk about a portraits series, It’s always a person what inspires me. I love people. I love the idea of discovering them with my photos. So, I see someone who mesmerizes me and I feel the desire of knowing him/her with my camera.

How has your style developed and changed over time?

It’s difficult to say; someone else, could probably say that better than me. I think my style is about the same. But I can say that I changed a lot my approach to a set and to the people who work on it. Today I know better what I want and how to get it. I also found out that some little details sometimes make a difference in an image.

Your work mostly revolves around shooting people/models how do you go about getting your models to give you what you need?

I don’t have a rules to get what I want. The only thing I try to do with my team and so with the model too, is trying to involve them in my project, sharing all my ideas during the photoshoot.

What’s your number one tip for post processing?

The best post processing is a good taste

Could you choose a photo you have taken, and explain how it was shot and processed?

I’m not good in post-production. Often people tell me “nice shot! How did you post-produced it?” Well… The truth is that I come from analogic era and I’m used to get what I need from my photos when I take them. Most the lights/colors/effects that you can see in my photos, were there at the moment I took them! I attach here a shot that shows it. Two flaslights with colored jelly, long time exposure and my hand moving during the exposure… that’s it!

iso 500. 1/6 sec. F4.5

What’s the one thing you know now that you wished you knew when you started out as a photographer?

One thing I know is that at the beginning of my career I wasted a lot of time. Maybe because when you are young, you always think “ok, there is a lot of time!”. So, if I were able to speak to Davide in his twenties, I’d say him: “hurry up, Davide! You have a long way to go!”

Make sure you check out Davide’s website to see more of his work.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can see more of Sam Robinson’s work over on his website.

YongNuo known for it’s cheap knock of flashes is taking on the plastic fantastic from Canon with their first leap into the lens market with a 50mm f/1.8 and coming in considerably cheaper. So how does it stack up?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Are you in the market for a 50mm? Would you consider the Yongnuo?

via DigitalRevTV

In 1977, Garry Winogrand was invited to talk to students of Rice University about photography.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you don’t have the patience to watch the 1:46hr long talk here’s a 16 minute highlight reel, which was created by Washinton DC’s National Gallery of Art.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(via National Gallery of Art via Reddit)

Photos need to be in by Wednesday the 25th of Feb.

You can post them to the Facebook Group, Google+ Community or in the comments below.