Get to grips with Capture One Express for Nikon
Neil Freeman shows you how to customize your image editing workflow using this fabulous – and free! – editing software
Capture One Express is a free image-editing program that contains many features of the more powerful Pro version, and has everything you need to process your Nikon Raw files.
The interface has four main areas: Tool Tabs & Tools; Image Viewer; Image Browser; and Toolbar and cursor tools. The interface layout is customizable, and the ‘View’ menu has further options to create your own personal workspace, where you can hide or move tools.
Frequently used tools are located in Tool Tabs; each tab is split into a pinned and scrollable area of tools, individual tools can be easily moved between each space. To choose images to edit, use the Image Browser to show the available photos from the current collection. Use the Image Viewer to show the currently selected photo from the browser. The toolbar contains various customizable buttons, which can be toggled on or off, such as Before/after or Exposure
Warning. In the middle are the cursor tools, which change the behaviour of the cursor.
There are multiple ways to activate features. For example, selecting the cursor tool lets you double-click to zoom in to 100% then double-click to zoom back out again; alternatively you can use the icons in the top-right of the interface to zoom in and out; or use the shortcuts of ‘.’ and ‘,’.
So, let’s explore the basics, apply some simple edits to a Raw file and export it as a JPEG.