Capture One Pro - All About Levels

A fairly comprehensive tutorial on using the Levels control in Capture One Pro. I describe what the tool is doing to your tones so that it is easier to understand why the levels tool is useful.
Again apologies for the crickets on crack outside my office window...I live in a wonderful area with lots of wildlife... but that wildlife doesn't abide by my filming schedule.
timeline and chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:45 Difference between contrast slider and Levels
02:51 What Levels does to the image - understanding black point and white point
06:53 Second example image with lack of contrast
08:15 Black point and white point pickers
09:36 Using level control to colour grade (adjust colour)
10:18 Adjusting the midtones while retaining black and white point
11:47 Third example image - full edit with levels control
14:12 Auto levels adjustments
15:59 Adjusting auto level settings
17:02 Conclusion

[@grandegulo]

The best explanation of the levels I have ever seen!

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Thanks! I appreciate the comment 👍

[@alanp253]

Great vid on Levels. Please do more CO vids on more advanced CO editing. AlanP

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Thanks Alan. The intentions for the year ahead are definitely to create more tutorials. Stay tuned for more! Thanks for watching

[@Ragnovlod]

Your videos of Levels and Curves are very well done. Thanks!

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Thanks, glad you found them useful.

[@uwegroe9344]

Great explanation! Thank you very much, I‘m glad about finding your channel!

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Thanks, and thanks for watching!

[@billboswell4509]

Just wanted to mention that even though I've used CO for 4 years I never understood the separate Red, Green, and Blue Levels. I was recently working on a sky which had a very slight green color cast. A very slight adjustment of the Green level successfully fixed it and made it more Blue. What a great technique you taught. Thank you.

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Absolute pleasure Bill! Will be doing a turorial on curves soon and the individual colour channels are even more malleable there

[@reclaimyoursecurities]

Thanx much. Very helpful

[@emilvonmaltitz]

You're welcome!

[@martinoberstein8431]

Profound and clear description - very instructive. Thank you ever so much, Emil!

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Thanks Martin. Glad you found it helpful.

[@goldfinch2283]

Great tutorial; thanks!

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@micheljodoin531]

Another brillant video ! Thanks a lot !

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Thanks Michel… and thanks for watching

[@billboswell4509]

Very clear and well presented. I’ve used it for 4 years but still learned a few tips. Looking forward to more from you.

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Thanks Bill! If New Year's resolutions are something to go by (they're not) the intention is very much to spend time on creating videos now that I have resigned from my college teaching post...stay tuned for more...hopefully ;)

[@Laikeen]

Very interesting, thanks so much

[@emilvonmaltitz]

You're welcome. Thanks for watching

[@aleepinhophoto]

Another great video. I didn’t understand how levels worked before but now I am excited to use it. Also very good to know the difference between adjusting the contrast knob itself and levels.

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Thanks Ale!

[@rodneyturnerphoto]

Very informative

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.

[@vegasplayer7387]

Excellent tutorial! Being a new user to C1, I learned a LOT here! Absolutely subscribed! Can’t wait to try this out today with some photos I took last night.

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Brilliant, gald it helped! Thanks for subscribing!

[@keithpinn152]

Hi Emil: Thank you so much for creating and sharing this video. Your detailed yet easily understanding explanation of the Levels panel is exceptional. I have subscribed to your channel in order to understand more techniques in editing. Cheers, Keith (Canada)

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Thanks Keith. Glad you enjoyed it and found it useful... The intention is to spend some time in the next year developing the content on the channel so hopefully there will be more!

[@numinoos]

Excellent, thank you. It took me at least 2 years to get up to speed with C1. It has a very steep learning curve but it is extremely powerful. Your Levels tutorial is very clear and I can only recommend it. I look forward to a Curves control tutorial of the same calibre if you intend to cover it later. Wish you a bright 2024 year.

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Thanks! I am very much hoping to create more videos through 2024 and Curves is on the horizon (or on my to-do list to be more accurate). Compliments of the season and the best for the New Year!

[@ChrisWhittenMusic]

Great video. Something similar on the curves tool would be great.

[@emilvonmaltitz]

In all likelihood in the next month. Currently full with work at a tradeshow but have a curves tutorial near the top of my todo list! Thanks for watching Chris.

[@almostgreen9498]

At 12:50 you say "The opposite of blue is red." Isnt it yellow? Shouldn’t you be using the opposite of blue, i.e. yellow, by moving the slider the opposite way?

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Verbal typo. You’re correct that on the colour wheel the opposite of blue is n’t red, it’s orange (purple/indigo is the opposite of yellow), but if you want to counteract the blue you’d need to add a warmer red or orangy red in this instance.

[@almostgreen9498]

@@emilvonmaltitz Glad you will be doing a tutorial on the individual color channels. You are good at this!

[@Lazybetdotcom]

superb Thank you.

[@emilvonmaltitz]

It’s a pleasure. Thanks for watching.

[@kuriouskhemist3395]

Fantastic content - you are a gifted instructor Emil. Thank you!

[@emilvonmaltitz]

Many thanks for the comment! Glad the tutorials are appreciated. Thanks for watching.