The Creative Process: Colour grading & creating a cohesive portrait series

In the afternoon, the process moves from camera to screen.

We’ll take a deep dive into Capture One, exploring the software from the ground up and building a smooth, considered workflow from the moment you bring your images in to the final edit.

We’ll work through image selection and organisation, file management, culling, adjustments and the tools that make the editing process more intuitive and efficient. From there, we’ll move into the more creative side of the process — refining skin tones, contrast, colour, tone and atmosphere, and understanding how each decision contributes to the feeling of the final photograph.

A particular focus will be placed on colour grading: how to create depth and consistency in colour, how to work with skin while still creating a distinct visual mood, and how to carry the same feeling across a series of images.

We’ll also look at the relationship between individual images and the larger body of work — how to edit a selection so that the photographs speak to one another, rather than simply sitting beside each other.

You’ll then select your own favourite images from the day and work through your own series, applying the process we’ve covered and developing the images into a cohesive final edit.

Capture One is an industry-leading platform, but the principles we cover throughout the session are not limited to one program. The approach to image selection, workflow, editing, colour and creating consistency can be carried directly across to Lightroom, so you can apply everything you learn within the software you already use.

The aim is not simply to teach you where to find the tools, but to give you a deeper understanding of how to approach the image once the photograph has been made — and how to carry that process through to a finished body of work.

YOUR IMAGES

Everything you photograph on the day is entirely yours.

You’ll receive your images to continue editing after the workshop and are welcome to use them within your portfolio, website and social media.

The intention is to leave not simply with individual photographs, but with a cohesive series of portraits that you’ve created, selected and developed yourself — work that you can continue to refine and make your own long after the day is over.