Three styles from our editorials for Numéro, Elle and L'Officiel, and how to use a style on your own files.
On a shoot day we grade the first frame, then save it as a style. Every image after that starts from the same look.
A Capture One style is a saved set of adjustments: white balance, exposure, curve, colour balance, colour editor, clarity, grain. Applied to a new file, it moves all of those at once, which is why a good style feels like a complete look. It also means a style never fits every image the same way. Light, skin and wardrobe change from frame to frame, so expect to adjust after you apply it.
How we apply a Capture One style to a fresh file from the shoot.
For each story we decide what the colour should do to the mood, the clothes and the skin.
Warm midtones, cooler shadows, very soft contrast and grain. The grey studio turns into a warm, printed-looking frame.
Blue pushed into the shadows and midtones, overall saturation pulled far down. The green jacket stays the only strong colour in a cold frame. The light behind it is in our fashion editorial breakdown.
Warmer white balance, a warm overall balance and a brighter exposure with a touch less contrast. Skin goes from cool and pink to warm and even.
All three styles use the same few controls and push them in different directions. A style is only as good as the light under it, so start with the lighting: our beauty dish breakdown and fashion editorial breakdown show the setups behind the frames. You can try one for free. The Teal Grunge look from our Numéro editorial comes free with the Numéro lighting setup.
Many styles carry a white balance. If your file was shot under different light, set it again after applying.
Put it on a layer and pull the opacity down until it fits the image.
Mask the skin from the style layer, then grade the skin on its own.
Grade the strongest frame, save it as a style and apply it to the whole series. That is what makes an editorial feel like one story.
Members get the Capture One style for every lighting setup in the Lab: the exact grade we used on the published image.
A saved set of adjustments, such as white balance, exposure, curve, colour balance and grain. Applied to a new image, it moves all of them at once, so you get a consistent look across a series.
They do the same job. The difference is in how you use them: in Capture One you can apply a style to its own layer, change its strength with the layer opacity and mask it, for example away from the skin.
Apply it on a new layer, lower the opacity, and mask the skin out of that layer. Then correct the skin separately. We show that step by step in our skin tone breakdown.
They work on any RAW file Capture One can open, but the result depends on the light and the camera. A style built on a soft studio frame looks different on hard sunlight. Expect to adjust white balance, exposure and strength for every new setup.
60+ lighting setups and 60+ Capture One styles from editorials and campaigns
