Capture One Pro Tips - Flow vs Opacity & Brush Control
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- čas přidán 2. 08. 2024
- Get to know the difference between Flow and Opacity in Capture One 20's Brush Controls.
This video goes into detail on how to get the best masking effect, based on the use of each control in isolation as well as in combination with each other.
The Airbrush option is also demonstrated, allowing you to make an informed choice of how you want to set up your brush strokes to match your own editing style.
For those wondering about the maths in terms of each "layer" of opacity or flow that Capture One applies...
The mathematical answer is that each click MULTIPLIES on the previous - and it works in the inverse way. (Rather overly complicated, in my view, but hey - it works the same way in Photoshop!)
So, it won't go: 20-40-60-80-100 with each click or brush-stroke in an additive way.
Instead, it goes 20-36-49-59-67-74-79-83-87-89, and so-on, never technically reaching 100% except for rounding.
To do the maths, you need to start at 100:
Minus 20% = 80. (Inverse = 20%)
Minus 20% = 64. (Inverse = 36%)
Minus 20% = 51. (Inverse = 49%)
Minus 20% = 41. (Inverse = 59%)
Minus 20% = 33. (Inverse = 67%)
Minus 20% = 26. (Inverse = 74%)
Minus 20% = 21. (Inverse = 79%)
Minus 20% = 17. (Inverse = 83%)
Minus 20% = 13. (Inverse = 87%)
Minus 20% = 11. (Inverse = 89%)
...and so on.
Presented by Phase One and Capture One Pro Ambassador - Commercial, Landscape & Cityscape Photographer Paul Reiffer. All video content © www.paulreiffer.com/ and may not be reproduced without permission.
Recorded using Capture One Pro v20.1 on an Apple Mac Pro 16-core Xeon with 192GB memory, 2x Radeon Pro Vega II Graphics cards and 4TB SSD.
And don't forget, the discussion continues on our Behind The Scenes Facebook group: / paulreifferlive - Jak na to + styl
Excellent tutorials. I hope Phase One is paying you! David is good, but IMHO there is no better teaching from their crew!
What a gifted teacher you are. Best on the web
Superb illustration of opacity vs flow and how airbrush affects both. Using the grayscale mask to illustrate. Brilliant.
Now I understand finally - you are a genius in explaining - thanks!
I dont recall ever leaving a youtube comment and here I find myself leaving a second comment in as many days on your channel. You have a knack sir for explaining things in simple to understand terms without leaving the viewer feeling like you are treating them as stupid. Please keep up the great work. Love your use of the greyscale feature as a teaching tool.
This is THE BEST explanation I've ever had of these differences! Thank You.
Every viewer loves Paul Reiffer, cos he teaches so superb. Now I am able to say goodbye to the former idot of me. Great appreciation from east Asia.
Quite simply the best tutorials I have found on CZcams. Clear, well paced, no fluff and nonsense, just terrific. Please keep producing this great content.
Thanks Ian - and glad they’re helping! 😎👍
Very clear explanations. Thank you Paul
I really appreciated the pace at which you presented the material and the repeated examples you used. Thank you!
Thanks for a great explanation! I will try your settings preference.
These series of videos are the best I have found for explaining various functions in Capture One. Thank you
Really loving your Camera One Pro Tips videos! You are an amazing instructor! I think if I watch this video a few times I'll actually "get it". Thank you for what you do.
Thank you, Paul, for this explanation!
Now it would be great to see how you apply these different opacity and flow settings in your daily editing -- not in terms of what the software technically has to offer, but of when and why you, personally, choose which settings in a specific case. And also, in what cases it really makes sense to activate airbrush (if you actually ever do that).
ps: your videos are great!
now I understand why low opacity and high flow. awesome. thanks
Great vid, well explained as usual
I still do not understand why capture does not support linking pen pressure to flow
Thanks Paul! You and David are absolute professionals in C1and photography. In addition to the numerous sessions on the overall image editing, such detail sessions are extremely helpful.
Great job, Paul. I learn a lot with your down to earth clear explanations.
Thank you very much
Thank you for this helpful video.
Hi Paul, this is a very well explained video! Thank you very much 😊. Lot’s of greetings, Dennis 🇳🇱
Wow Paul, that was by far the best and most comprehensive explanation I’ve heard about this stuff to date (in last 2 years of using Capture One) - Sorry DG! (LOL). Out of curiosity, can you use both airbrush and pressure sensitivity, or is it one or the other (perhaps I should just try myself). I use a Wacom and (like DG) tend not to use pressure sensitivity but, after watching your explanation I think it might be worth the time investment to see if or when it might be useful for me now. Cheers 👍
Ha! Glad it helped :-)
You CAN use pressure and airbrush, but in my experience it's not too accurate, so I tend to turn it off...!
It is so good a lecture.
As always....well done.
Finally I get it. Thanks for the useful video.
Muchas gracias
thanks! very clear!
Very nice!
Thanks!!
Mistrz!
Please do one on noise reduction. thanks
Do you ever lower your layer opacity as you paint your mask for even more control, altering the effect after the painting is done?
Sometimes - I generally go "a bit heavy" on the layer, knowing we can back it off later :-)
Great video. I have tended to keep flow down and opacity up, but I can see why the other way around would work well. Is there not a risk of step transitions in the mask when using a low opacity and a high flow? I will give your method a try and see how I get on with it. Have you ever used 'Use Pen Pressure'?
Hi Mark,
So the trick is to keep the brush edge soft, and keep to low low low rates - ie: 15-20% max - if you want smooth transitions.
Pen Pressure is useful if you're familiar with that method when using a tablet, but I tend to find the brush starts running away with itself (unintentionally) as I'm not always consistent with the pressure I place down on the nib!
Thanks and understood. I am getting to grips with Capture One and the videos are helping.
Hi Paul, I have to agree with everyone about your videos - they're Great! Just one question about this that is troubling me. When you set the flow to 20% and go over the same area 5 times it should be up to full brightness assuming the opacity is at 100%. It didn't appear to be, and I've checked it out myself and it isn't. I believe that it's not additive as in 20% + 20% + 20% etc but in some way is fractional counted somewhere around ten strokes before I reached the equivalent of 100% with the hardness set at 0%. But with the hardness set at 100% it took only two strokes at 20% to reach full opacity. I have to assume therefore that the hardness also affects the flow rate? I also have this very jerky overlay when the hardness is set to 100% whereas at 0% it's very smooth, after Capture One has worked it out. Can you shed any light on this?
So, the mathematical answer is that each click MULTIPLIES on the previous - and it works in the inverse way. (Complicated, I know...)
So, it won't go: 20-40-60-80-100 with each click or brush-stroke in an additive way.
Instead, it goes 20-36-49-59-67-74-79-83-87-89, and so-on, never *technically* reaching 100% except for rounding.
(To do the maths, you need to start at 100.
Minus 20% = 80. (Inverse = 20%)
Minus 20% = 64. (Inverse = 36%)
Minus 20% = 51. (Inverse = 49%)
Minus 20% = 41. (Inverse = 59%)
Minus 20% = 33. (Inverse = 67%)
Minus 20% = 26. (Inverse = 74%)
Minus 20% = 21. (Inverse = 79%)
Minus 20% = 17. (Inverse = 83%)
Minus 20% = 13. (Inverse = 87%)
Minus 20% = 11. (Inverse = 89%)
...and so on.
This is the same way that it works in Photoshop - and while confusing (I'm not a fan!) it's what we're stuck with :-)
As usual, a very clear and comprehensive video Paul. Many thanks.
I'm still not ready to go 20% opacity / 100% - though I can see the logic of what you do! :-)
Ha ha! Give it a try - or even push it to 10% Opacity...! But yes, flow is an equally good way of staying in control of the mask, just be careful with that airbrush tick box if you do it that way.
Can you change the colour of the mask from red to a different colour. Or is it red or grey scale only
Hi Jeffrey,
You can go into Preferences > Mask and alter the mask colour to whatever you prefer. The grey scale will always be greyscale by definition, but the red default for drawing a mask can be changed in that panel :-)
I actually cant' understand automask... does it work with curve lines like the shape of a person?
Check out our "Advanced Masking" Pro Tips video - that should help :-)
Great info, but I think I need to play it over and over the get it in my head. sometimes I need to cover more areas little by little on an image, but when I click again in to a new area of the image and by accident I get the new paint to paint over the old painted are I can see that it double it. How do I avoid that ?
Hi Jose,
Unfortunately, there's not an elegant way of doing that, if you're trying to create a mask with less than 100% opacity. As you rightly say, you'd need to release the mouse and then either [space] or hand-tool across to the next area to start brushing again, and any overlap is going to cause a double-mask.
ONE option, if it's down to the strength of the mask, is to do the work at 100% flow and opacity, and then reduce the overall layer opacity in the top panel? Otherwise, yes, you're going to get some double-masking however you try.
The issue is, I wouldn't want Capture One "guessing" that I want to go off the edge of the viewport as I move to the sides either. Tough call, that one.
Of course - the more brutal answer.... "Buy a bigger/higher resolution monitor ;-) "
One way to see what you have already covered is by viewing the coloured mask. But this can be difficult to see if the effect is not very dense. An alternative to seeing what you have already done is temporarily to increase or decrease exposure by the maximum amount, to exaggerate the effect. Then you might see better the areas already affected, so you know where to avoid, or where to erase an overspill. It very much depends on what you are doing, but an extreme temporary exposure adjustment can be a very good quick visualisation tool, and sometimes more effective than looking at the mask in an overlay colour. Of course, this only helps to visualise, and you might still have to use undo if erasing is not the answer.
Additionally, once you are happy with one area and are worried that you might then over-paint what you have already done, you could continue on a new layer: the effect would be cumulative but you could discard or change the opacity of one layer if it interfered with another in a way you did not like: think of it as painting on successive overlaid sheets of acetate if that helps, and throw away or replace any you are not happy with. The same principle applies to C1, Photoshop and Lightroom (multiple adjustments rather than layers in its case). Using successive layers can really help to avoid destroying work you were previously happy with. Hope this helps.
10:50 Those Mac specs, though :O
Yeah - it's a beast... For now! ;-)