The Color Balance tool overview

The Color Balance tool enables precise control of colors, hue, and saturation within an image. Similar to many other adjustment tools in Capture One, it can also be used when making localized adjustments in conjunction with the Layers tool. The tool includes a Master color wheel that replicates Capture One's original tool in functionality and then options with separate color wheels for Shadow, Mid-tone, and Highlight areas.

The 3-way option displays all three Shadow, Mid-tone, and Highlight color wheels for convenience, while separate larger color wheels may be displayed independently. If space allows, the individual larger color wheels can be displayed simultaneously by triplicating the tool in the tool tab so that each can be removed to float anywhere within the workspace or even on a second monitor. When floating, the tool can be resized and can even retain a slightly enlarged size when replaced in the tool tab.

Adjustments using these tools are highly specific. For example, adjustments made to highlight areas will affect mid-tones slightly but will not alter the shadows. In addition, the three new wheels have adjustment sliders for saturation and lightness. The latter slider is used for tinting (lightening) and shading (darkening) hues in the selected color range. Adjustment of lightness maintains both hue and saturation, while lightening the highlights maintains fine gradations with a gentle roll-off.

Although the saturation slider duplicates one of the functions of the color wheel, it can be adjusted independently of the hue. This allows greater precision and prevents inadvertent hue changes during adjustment.

An accurate white balance should be set before you get started. Then color adjustments can be applied to create the desired mood for an image. Like other settings in Capture One, these changes can be saved as a preset and applied to additional images.

Adjusting the color balance globally

Customizing the Color Balance tool

Creating localized split tones

Resetting the color wheels

Changing the color wheel layout

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