Capture One

RAW photos are known to leave a lot of breathing room for post-processing, so knowing how to edit them properly understandably requires quite a bit of experience. There are a lot of variables to adjust and account for, making the process rather daunting for some.

Altering these kinds of photos cannot be done by simply feeding them into any regular editing software, so they require specialized programs. Due to that, you need to look out for competent apps that are available. Capture One aims to be your trusty software when it comes to that: comprehensive menus, user-friendly interface, intelligent brushes, a neat "Speed Edit" feature, plus an intuitive before/after visualizer make this a competitive entry into the market.

With the plethora of features available in Capture One, you'd think that there'd be a busy, nigh-incomprehensible interface to accommodate for their number. That couldn't be further from the truth, as this is a clean, well-kept interface you're seeing in this app, displaying that which is essential, yet keeping everything else in reach.

For example, the editing menus that occupy the left side of the interface are all nicely organized and grouped up, based on their capabilities. The "Lens Correction" can correct the profile on your camera and smooth out imperfections, "Color" can help you change the white balance, as well as the shades and hues, whilst "Exposure" provides you with plenty of options and graphs to fiddle with the light interaction in your photos.

The "Before" menu contains a clever option to aid you in your photo processing work. Essentially, upon interacting with it, a vertical slider that you can move to the sides of your image will appear. The left part of the photo will thus show the unaltered version, whilst the edited variant can be seen on the right.

There is also a menu at the top of the interface, which you can use to correct the vertical perspective in your photo, as well as apply intelligent brushes that automatically detect the contents in your photo, to enhance it and remove imperfections.

In conclusion, Capture One is impressive. It may have plenty of features that satisfy the professional user, but it's most noteworthy how even a beginner can pick this up and use it without much trouble.