Skip to main content

⚠️ Please note that this topic or post has been archived. The information contained here may no longer be accurate or up-to-date. ⚠️

Capture One curves

FirstName LastName

I've been told that  the Capture One curves behave different from those in Photoshop. I mean that the single R, G and B curves, when changed separately for skin or colour correction, result in different loutcomes than in Photoshop. Isn't it all about maths? Shouldn't the same values result in the same outcome? I am confused.

Thanks in advance!

Daniela

0

Comments

2 comments

Date Votes
  • OddS.

    > Daniela: Isn't it all about maths?

    Photography is a visual art, adjust 'til it looks right. A radio amateur I know would say "tune to maximum smoke".

    I use C1 and several other applications for post processing and I don't think numbers work exactly the same in any of them.

    0
  • Ian Wilson
    Moderator
    • Edited
    Top Commenter

    I don't think that there should be a difference. I would expect there to be on some tools - for example the scale on the Tint slider is a bit arbitrary between apps, and the contrast slider may apply a different algorithm behind the scenes. But the curve is as you say a fairly mathematical affair. So if you move a point from about the middle of the red curve up a bit so that it says Input 127, Output 150, I would expect that to have a similar effect in any app. Either the 127 point has been moved up to 150 or it hasn't, you would think. 

    Can you see a difference in practice? That's actually quite hard to answer, because the differences you do see may be the result of something else.

    This image of a hot air balloon has the red curve pulled up to Input 127/Output 150 in both C1 and PS. They do look different.

    But they looked different before any adjustments had been made to the image at all. That's because Capture One and Adobe Camera Raw apply different defaults to the image from the start. 

     

    Having said that, I also tried it on a JPG produced (in C1) from the original raw and then adjusted that by the same amounts. They still didn't look quite the same...

     ... but I suspect that this is because the unadjusted JPG didn't look the same either, which must be the result of how C1 and PS render the file in the first place, even though ACR wasn't involved this time.

    So the upshot of all that is that I think that as far as the curve adjustment goes, you're right that it should be mathematically the same. But C1 and PS (and any other app too) will give a different look anyway.

    Ian

    0

Post is closed for comments.