The Capture One Beyond Collection offers a lot of versatile styles for photographers that have a fondness for classic analog imagery.
Capture One is introducing two new style packs today: Beyond B&W and Beyond Film. These style packs take inspiration from timeless black and white images and classic film emulsions, respectively. While created with classic film stocks and imagery in mind, the Beyond Collection aren’t designed to emulate the look of film emulsions like styles from RNI or Mastin Labs do. Both new style packs were created to provide a quick and repeatable workflow for photographers and photo editors. Like other style packs from Capture One, the Beyond Collection styles packs installs easily with a simple double click and work right out of the box. We got a chance to test-drive these new styles before their public release. Head on after the jump to check out the results.
Table of Contents
Features
From the official Capture One press release:
“Derived from four color film stocks, the Beyond Film Styles present a broad but specific base of aesthetics that go beautifully with everything from wedding imagery, portraiture, travel & lifestyle, and fashion. Equally as inspired, the Beyond B&W Styles bring the intrigue, elegance, and focused drama of black and white, for truly enduring photographs.”
In Use
Both the Beyond B&W and the Beyond Film style packs offer several different looks. Five core looks come included in the Beyond B&W style pack, each available in three varying intensities (15 styles total). The Beyond Film style pack features four core looks that are also available in three varying intensities as well (12 styles total). A collection of eight film grain styles are also included (four different types in two intensities) with both style packs. These include Harsh, Silver, Soft, and Tabular grains. Grain styles are not new to Capture One, and can be applied manually using Capture One’s Film Grain tool. You can even choose the types of grain.
Each of the primary looks included with both style packs lend unique qualities to your images. They’re excellent starting points if you’re not sure how you want your final image to look. And unlike other sets, you’re not really encouraged to start with Daylight or Tungsten white balancing.
The styles within the Beyond B&W style packs evoke a sense of timelessness seen in classic black and white imagery. As for the Beyond Film styles, your images could take on a slightly brighter and warmer tone or adopt a subtly desaturated feel depending on the style you apply. Which style is the “right” one for you really depends on how you process your images and the final result you’re after. One thing that is consistent across all of the styles in the Beyond Collection is that your final images will appear more dramatic overall as you increase the intensity of each style applied.
While testing the Beyond Collection, we encountered one minor issue. Capture One’s press info claims that the styles within the Beyond Collection can be applied as a layer, giving photographers even more control over each style’s strength. However, we found that this was only possible with the styles within the Beyond Film pack. Styles included with the Beyond B&W pack could only be applied to the “background.” No matter what we tried, there was no way for us to apply the Beyond B&W styles onto a layer within Capture One (the latest version of Capture One 20 Pro was used).
Both style packs can be used for a variety of different photography genres. Personally, I found both style packs to be quite versatile. If you’re a fan of dramatic portraits or street photography, you’ll probably love the results that Beyond B&W can give you. Landscape and lifestyle photographers that prefer vibrant colors will likely gravitate towards the Beyond Film style pack. Ultimately, it really depends on your personal style. Below are some sample images of both the Beyond B&W styles and the Beyond Film styles so you can take a look at how they work for yourself:
Beyond B&W
Beyond Film
First Impressions
The Beyond B&W and Beyond Film style packs are available separately for US $49 / €59 / £49 each or together as the Beyond Collection bundle for US $79 / €89 / £79. Note that they’re slightly more expensive than previous style packs available from Capture One (most will run you US $34). Unless you work solely in black and white or in color, it doesn’t make much financial sense to purchase the style packs individually. All of the styles in the Beyond Collection can serve as great starting points in a photographer’s post-processing workflow. If you’re starting with properly exposed images, many of the Beyond styles can even serve as “One Click” edits. The inclusion of the various grain styles is a nice bonus as well. They can be handy for photographers that aren’t familiar with Capture One’s Film Grain tool. Whether the styles in the Beyond Collection will suit your specific needs, however, ultimately depends on the way you shoot as well as your editing style.