All language subtitles for 2. Exposure adjustment

The first step in our work on the photo will be to address its brightness,

contrast and saturation using the exposure panel in Capture one.

I like to work on a copy of the photos to easily compare it with the original

and in capture one you can clone a variant by right clicking

and that's what we will be working on.

So looking at this photo,

it seems slightly too dark to me.

I want it to be more fresh, bright and vibrant.

So we will tackle that first.

We can always check what the program thinks about the exposure of the photo

by clicking on this magical wand here

which will set the exposure values.

The program considers appropriate.

And let's see how it looks.

The photo has become too bright, overexposed,

so we'll decrease the exposure visually until we are satisfied.

I think around

0.6 is great in this case

and no highlights are blown out

and the shadows have opened up a bit,

making the entire photo more vibrant.

At this stage I also often add a slight contrast,

but it's important to make subtle changes.

Going into high contrast ranges can ruin the photo,

blowing out the highlights and making the shadows too dark.

We don't want that.

We want the photo to have a neutral base.

So I would make it around eight or nine.

It gives the photo a bit more 3D look

without blowing out anything

or drowning anything in black.

In capture one, we can always check the state before our edits.

There's a Nikon for that.

By holding the alt key

you will see the keys I press displayed.

In the bottom left corner.

We click that icon and see the original state.

It was dark and now it's a bit brighter.

Everything has opened up a bit.

I don't usually touch the brightness slider.

It's just a global adjustment for lightning or darkening the photo

so we can reset it with a double click.

In portraits where there is a lot of skin.

It's often worth reducing the saturation slightly.

The skin starts to look more elegant and not so overly colorful.

Again, subtle adjustments are enough.

I think around minus six is great.

Let's check her before and after.

The original was a bit hazy and dark and now it's more open.

But nothing is overexposed.

It's a good base.

So we will finish working with this panel at this stage.