I was asked on another forum how I integrate Phase One Capture One into my post-processing workflow.  Well, here it is.  I’ve been using it for a 4 months and absolutely love it.  Personally, I believe it is significantly better than Lightroom in regards to post-processing RAW files.  I use Lightroom to finalize simple adjustments and as my storage library.

You can find more information on Phase One Capture One software here.

You can also find many Capture One “how to” videos on YouTube here.

Start Capture One. Go to “File” and click on “New Session”.

New menu pops up.  Create name for your “session”.  I typically use the scheme below, number, month, year, and camera.  Click “ok”.

After the app is open, I then import my images.

Images are imported to the “Capture Folder”.  I then begin grading my images, “green” to keep, “red” to trash.

Next, I go to the “Filters” tab and highlight just the “red” colored images.  I then select all of them and through them into the trash (trash folder in C1).  If I’m confident I don’t need any of them, I will then empty the trash folder.

I then return to the “Capture folder” and highlight “Green” color filter.  I will then make my adjustments.  Once I’m done I will grade them one more time and the ones I want to export, I will make them “5 stars”.

I will then move my “5 star” images to the “select folder” and then from there I will process them.  I typically process them at original size, 8 bit tiff.  I will do 16 bit tiff when shooting landscape.

Now if you go to the “session folder” you will find 4 folders.

I will then move the entire “session folder” to my final photo library (located on an external hard drive).  I will then open Lightroom and import the “session folder” “output folder”.  From here I will apply any keywords and grading (i.e. pick flag and star grading system).

I make the majority of my adjustments of in Capture One and will do image cropping, dust removal, and presets such as VSCO film presets in Lightroom.  I find making these adjustments easier in Lightroom.

Hopefully this helps anyone who is interested in using Capture One.  Yes, it’s a process but overtime I have gotten very quick at it and don’t find it slowing my post-processing down.

Gage