This beginners guide gives you 20 tips for getting started in Capture One 20

As photographers start to explore alternatives to Adobe’s suite of applications, Capture One is a piece of software that’s often recommended as an alternative to Lightroom. While it may be arguably superior in certain aspects, and very similar in others, the workflow is a little different to Lightroom. So, it can take a while for new users to get used to it.

In this video, Michael Comeau at On Portraits walks us through his 20 top tips for beginners to Capture One to help newcomers get to grips with the software quickly and speed up their overall workflow.

Customize Your Capture One 20 Interface
Use the Pinned Areas and Scrollable Area
Always Back Up Your Capture One Catalog
Learn Your Capture One Keyboard Shortcuts
Double Click a Slider to Reset It
Use Select Next When for Faster Culling and Rating
Use Variants to Work With Multiple Versions of an Image
Use Process Recipes to Output Multiple Version of a File at Once
Be Careful With the Focus Mask
Use Metadata Presets When You Import an Image
Use Styles and Presets
Use Layers for Local Adjustments
Use Luma Masking for Selecting Parts of an Image Based on Brightness
Take It Easy With the Skin Tone Tool
Take It Easy With the Clarity and Structure Sliders
Use Gradient Masks for Gradual Adjustments (duh)
Use the Luma Curve to Control Contrast
Turn on the Crop Handles
Subscribe to My YouTube Channel (shameless plug #1)
Grab My Free Capture One Styles (shameless plug #2)

The last couple of tips, as Michael admits himself, are shameless plugs for his channel and website, but Michael regularly puts out content and videos specifically for Capture One users providing tips and tutorials. So, if you want to improve your Capture One workflow, they’re worth at least checking out.

As raw processing software goes, Capture One is definitely one of the more powerful ones out there, offering a wide range of useful features for photographers. It’s also one of the most popular tools out there if you like to shoot tethered. If you haven’t tried Capture One yet, you can find out more about it and download a free trial version on the Capture One website.

Do you use Capture One? What’s your top tip for beginners?