Capture One Styles

Capture One Styles are a very powerful feature of the program. It allows you to pull all stops in terms of both creativity and productivity. You can make styles yourself, or you can shop around for what others have prepared. In this post I review some sets of styles, both free and paid.

In this post we will look at what is available on the web, ready for you to use. For a more technical insight on styles, how to make them yourself, please look up a previous blog Adjustments In-Depth, part 1 and part 2.

If you are interested in Capture One Presets as well, please find a tutorial here with a reference to all Presets available in the Webshop. You find the Styles and Presets tool covered in that post as well.

Do you want your own style? Of course, but even then I like to encourage you to explore what is already prepared and ready to use. It can inspire you, and it is fun and entertaining! I am aware that there are many photographers looking for filter effects to give their image a distinct mood or emotion. I call them playfully the “Cokin generation” and there is nothing wrong with that. We love styles all the same.

Styles For Free

Straight from the horse’s mouth are the built-in styles that come with the program. I discussed them in an earlier blog. It is a great start to whet your appetite and help you build your own.

Exclusive Styles

The next step is a modest set of styles, named Exclusive Styles and made by friends of Phase One, including the Image Quality Professor himself.

This set was originally made for Capture One Pro 7 and you can still download it from the Phase One website. However, they will not work with later versions of Capture One Pro.

Because I liked this set I repaired and rearrange the styles. Download the Phase One Exclusive Styles for free and use the styles with the latest version of Capture One Pro, up to version 10.

Examples

I will show you two examples I prepared with these styles. The first example is a style that is coloring your image to give it a distinct mood. Its name is Cool Color and was created by Esben Zollner Olesen.

The second example converts your image to black & white and raises the contrast to the maximum, and is named Rough Black & White and was also created by Esben Zollner Olesen.

Of course, there is more to find on the web and Google is your friend.

Film Styles For Sale

There are (only) a few offerings on the web of commercially available styles for Capture One Pro. The one I like to review here is the Film Styles by Alexander Svet. He is a creative professional photographer who likes to share his passion with others. He has two sets of styles on offer.

Both sets are inspired by the characteristics of the respective films that were once common and part of our collective unconsciousness. Now they are part of our collective memory unless you started your photographic footsteps in the digital era.

Using films as a reference for styles is a smart move. It gives some reference to start with both for the creator and the user of the styles.

Capture One Film Styles

The first set is named Capture One Film Styles and that says it all. It is a collection of 58 color and 42 black & white styles based on their film counterpart. Agfa, Fuji, Kodak, and Polaroid, they are all there. In two examples below I tried the films I have been working with in the past. I enjoyed the sense of recognition that these styles embodied. In other words, well done.

Let’s take look at a Kodak Panatomic-X style first.

The second example I like to share is a style that mimics the Kodak Kodachrome 64 film. I have not used it as much as the Ektachromes in the past but the strong love-hate relationships with the product the memory seems to last longer..!

Well, need I say more? I can almost smell the darkroom! The styles come in both Capture One 7 and 8 versions. You can download a free 5 styles sample from the maker’s website.

Capture One Film Styles Extended Set

This Extended Set for short, is the second set of 100 styles from the same photographer. Again a set of both color and black & white film styles made for Capture One 8. In addition, it contains so-called grain styles which introduce film grain, both separately and integrated with the black & white styles.

To elaborate, the black & white styles are available both with and without grain and the separate grain styles can be added to any other style or image to your liking. In addition, you get the grain settings as a preset too.

Tip

Remember to use the feature to stack styles!

Now for some examples. This time I start with a Fuji Provia 100F style against the original image.

Next, I compare the Provia 100F with one that has a separate film grain style added. Notice the subtle change in texture.

Finally, you see the original image compared to an Ilford FP4 black & white style which includes grain (one without grain is available in the set also).

These examples give you a pretty good idea of what this set is capable of. You can download a free subset for trial from the site.

How To Install Styles?

Getting styles is one step. Installing a second. The Exclusive Styles comes as a Mac package, which installs itself in the right location. Both Film Styles sets are plain folders you have to copy manually to the correct folder or you can use the import styles function of Capture One. On the Film Styles website, you can find detailed instructions.

Wrap Up

To summarise, I think all the style sets discussed here are worth their money. The Exclusive Styles are free but great as a gift. Both the Film Styles sets are an incredible value and will give every Capture One enthusiast who likes styles a boost. Highly recommended!

Note: in July 2016 I published a review of the DT Capture One Style Pack. It is a great addition to this post.