Overview
Capture One allows the application of certain built-in and user-customizable Styles and Presets to layers, thereby allowing you to apply groups of adjustments as a specific look or personalized style to selective areas of an image. Styles and Presets can be applied either from the Layers tool after creating a layer, or directly from the Styles and Presets panel, where they can be applied to the background, the selected layer, or a new layer. Not only does this help speed up your workflow, especially if you are working with multiple layers, this new option for Styles and Presets provides a more streamlined workflow. Presets can also be applied to a layer from the tool’s manage preset menu.
Capture One enables you to apply a Style or Preset in different ways, such as to a gradient, or to the image as a whole as an offset, or you can brush it in. Brushing is arguably the most versatile option. The application of a group of adjustments (i.e. a Built-in Style) or a customized group (i.e., a User Style) this way enables you to adopt the brush’s flow control option so you can build-up the effect gradually, in steps. You can even fade the amount applied on each layer retrospectively using the Master Opacity slider - there’s no more guesswork and no more painstaking reapplication of individual adjustments.
There are some restrictions in the way the Styles and Presets can be used, however. When working with the dedicated Styles and Presets panel, they can only be applied from there using the tool’s context menu (ctrl/right-click). If you prefer to brush-in adjustments, you can do so after creating a layer and brushing-in a small area first, allowing you to see the effect on the image as you brush over the rest.
Styles can’t be stacked on the same layer (you must use a new layer for each, where the effects are additive) and where certain settings aren’t compatible they’re disabled, such as those relating to certain features including the crop, keystone correction tools, and the application of metadata. When certain settings are disabled, the Style or Preset may still be applied partially. A dialog will open to advise you.