About Thomas Fitzgerald

Thomas is a professional fine art photographer and writer specialising in photography related instructional books as well as travel writing and street photography. 

Video: How To Relight a Photo in Capture One using Layers

Video: How To Relight a Photo in Capture One using Layers

In this video I show you how to change the direction and focus of lighting in a scene in Capture One using layers.

I was recently walking through a local park and this little Robin was jumping around on the tree near a viewing spot. It almost seemed to be posing at one point, and didn’t seem to mind us standing there, although I didn’t want to get too close. The light was coming and going that day so it was hard to get just the right spot. I liked this one shot, but the light was wrong. (If the bird had just moved over a bit!!!) Luckily this was a relatively easy fix in Capture One.

The original photo before editing - Nikon D700

What I ended up doing was using. Few different techniques to refocus the light in the shot from the branches on one side onto the bird. I also used some tricks to slightly darken the bright spot behind the bird in order to even it up a bit, because I felt the light was too strong and a little distracting.

Edited version from the video

Finally, I also show you a practical use for this, and how to take it further and turn the photo into a Christmas Card!

“Christmas Card” version with some ice texture added in Photoshop (via Envato elements)


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