[vladfrenkel]

Dear fellow Pentaxians.
Just wanted to share the following resource with you in case you are currently using or planning to use Capture One for your PP needs.
AlexOnRAW - YouTube
Alex Svet is very well known (in Russia) Event(Reportage) photographer and Capture One trainer with many years of experience.
I have personally taken several online courses (Сapture One Intro, Mastery and Event Photography course) from Alex in "Profile School" before [Russian Language only] and I find his methods of teaching to be very effective. Alex uses real life images that he brings from the various projects and show you step by step procedures he uses to improve it. He also encourage viewers to send out their own RAW files to him as well, and interactively shows you the way how to improve it on his live stream. Back in the day (more than 4 years ago), one of his free youtube how-to videos (in Russian) convinced me to try out Capture One in the first place.

Recently Alex decided to share his knowledge with English speaking photographers and enthusiasts, so he opened above Youtube channel with similar course setup (live streams, labs, Q&A etc...) so in case you interested feel free to check him out.
Alex hosts live stream shows currently every Thu @ 8 AM PST and 11 recorded shows could be found in library. Each show concentrate on specific action (Raw editing, Batch Editing, Color Management, Session Workflow, etc...)

Alex also has his own blog: [Capture One tutorials, articles, video and styles] and recently he wrote first part of Capture One Free Guide and you could download PDF of it as well for free. [http://alexonraw.com/capture-one-free-guide-1/]
Alex is also co-developer of Capture One Styles (1styles.pro) product.

I didn't want it to sound like any advertisement of Alex, and I'm not affiliated with him in any way,just wanted to share the following excellent resource with fellow Pentaxians who interested in Capture One and what it could offer for PP needs.

[PDL]

I suggest going to this link Capture One Pro - YouTube before going to some third party outfit.

[vladfrenkel]

How is it third party if it is taught by actually certified Capture One trainer ? Alex certified and go through certification every year.
In case you wondering here is the list of all certified professionals and Alex is there. https://www.phaseone.com/en/POCP/Certified-professionals.aspx Around 300 people in the world actually certified to teach by Phase One. The reason I know this cause I was actually thinking myself to get certified long time back...but honestly teaching is not my thing
Also Alex is considered by Phase One as an Expert and actually one of the official Phase One blog editors - see here for example. https://blog.phaseone.com/author/alexander-svet/
Pratik Naik, for example, who is actually teaching on Capture One Pro is not on the list actually.
If I'm not mistaken he is a retoucher very knowledgeable indeed (I've seen several of his videos) but yet not officially certified to teach. Also his approach would always be different compared to photographer's approach. As always there are many ways to learn the topic just find what works the best for you regardless of the source. Just remember that knowing the topic doesn't mean that one could teach...

Nice to have options. And the more good options the better.

And one more thing if I'm not mistaken Northrop's LR tutorial is the most LR book sold (regardless what you think about Tony). But he is not Adobe ambassador.

[PDL]

Your argument is just a bit hollow. I have been to Alex's blog and while it is nice and all that it is not really a tutorial. His YouTube channel is more of a feature list rather than a ways to work on individual images. I have attended Capture One webinars where Alex was a co-host and they are excellent. And I have attended at least two webinars co-hosted with Pratik Naik and his insights on workflow are very interesting. However, both of these guys and many others are all hosted on the Capture One Webinar channel. The hour long webinars go into detailed discussions of more narrow subjects than the general feature reviews common in Alex's blog. (I also have his free style packages which I downloaded and installed when they were announced - Alex is not a stranger to me)

I suggest that the go to spot for how to work out the details of Capture One is on their channel. Alex and Pratik are both there working specific items from their specific points of view. It is interesting to note after watching the tutorials that both of them have some steps they follow that are in common between them. Both Alex and Pratik really like the use of inverted masks which Capture One added as a standard feature in Capture One 11. For learning purposes, use the Capture One tutorials first, there are hours of them and even the older ones are useful.

As for Tony Northrup...… I find him more an irritant than anything else, so I will put that comment off to the side.

[vladfrenkel]

Not sure I follow why my argument is hollow.
As I've said earlier nice to have options and learn from every resource. Depends what you are learning and how. You want to learn creativity piece or practical piece? Both are tutorials but tailored towards different needs.
"His YouTube channel is more of a feature list rather than a ways to work on individual images" - I should agree and disagree. Alex will try not to show during "feature" list how to "SPECIFICALLY" work on individual images from beginning to the end this is for RAW Editing episodes (see #3 and #9). He shows outlined in agenda featurette and show you how to use it for different practical situations and apply to entire working session. Later on (judging from Russian sessions), he will start showing How to combine it all together starting from beginning to the end using his entire Sessions from the field (you could also share your own). From culling, Post Processing, Exporting, Checking, Sharpening, etc.. (starting from Culling your Images in Photo Mechanic or other sofrware and all the way to creating client version copies and once for the web).
Actually having many other tutors showing you "individual" images approach is what I have found confusing in C1 most of all when originally started learning it. Cause yes, you could get very involve in every image spending hours and hours making it better..[I call it retoucher approach or perfectionists approach].but more on this below.
I have been using C1 since version 7 and actually very much familiar with Capture One Pro channel. It goes into great details how many things C1 covers well and how it truly unlocks your creativity. Which is honestly awesome and absolutely true. There is also Sascha Erni's book on Capture One (version 9), which is also very detailed. But using those resources above ,honestly, I'd never switch from LR. Why? Cause for typical LR user (I was LR user since 1.4 version before), let's say it out loud, interface is well different and confusing [for first time user]....tools are well very different, the way it works, they way it renders, etc...Yes, there are people that show you how great the software is, but not many of them truly give you feeling that you could do the same amount of work you currently complete in LR faster (or similarly in time), they only try to convince you that you could do it BETTER.
But what if you want to learn Practical piece, true practical approach. For me Alex is good at showing you "WHY" you want to try the specific feature/tool rather than let's dive into enormous potential of it. Truly, practical approach. Alex is working professional and during busy month could easily get 3-5 gigs a week (3-5 hours event shootouts for TV or journals, etc...) Over the years he has developed mind map on what works [for him] and share it with you. So he would always say that he wants to teach you how to really work on your image, having time restrains to work on your session as consideration. Alex tries to show what works in this situation and what is truly not. For example Normalize tool, or Sharpening tools in C1 are good (if you have good amount of time), but in case of Normalize it is not yet complete, and in case of Sharpening, it could be done easier with simple Photoshop Action tailored...Anyway... Alex always say unless you are "in-love" with specific image, and truly want to bring all of it's potential forward (say Great Landscape Shot or Amazing Portrait) etc... Image processing shouldn't take longer to PP than you have spent to actually Compose it and Take it. I know it could be taken the "other" way around, oh yes, every image is the baby, and you are more than welcome to spend several hours on each image, etc... But in case you are working 3-5 gigs a week, 3-4 hours, each, this is PRACTICAL approach. Oh yes, he will show you all the ways to do it, and you will develop your own routine at the end, not necessary identical to his.
Other way around for me with Pratik. He had a wonderful video on Capture One 9 and how to do Dodge& Burn. Cool stuff, I should agree I would not know before that, that C1 could do it...BUT it is not practical, Photoshop or Affinity is a lot better suited to do this task (for me for example). Again, Pratik has wonderful ways to show you things and tasks but I seriously doubt he uses C1 to do Dodge &* Burn in C1 Off the topic, Pratik's Infinite Color tool for Photoshop is pretty good and he uses Harmonize feature which resembles C1 Color Balance wheel (and he talks about it in Tutorial).
I personally use all the Learning materials I could find, and constantly trying to find new ways to PP better, and of course Faster.
From time to time coming with Great set of images from my sessions I do wear my [Retoucher/Perfectionist] hat and spend hours/(sometimes days) on specific set of images, but even more often, I come from field with 1000 image session which needs to be quickly culled, pre-processed, shown to end customer, culled some more, processed, sharpened, exported for customer's website, and exported in Print format as well and all of it in less than 3 days time, in this case I wear [Event Photographer's] hat. So both Pratik's and Alex's ways are very much used.
Ooh, and Alex's blog is a guide not tutorial really. His tutorial is really Live Videos on Youtube. They are interactive so you could ask questions while it is ON.
And on Tony. Yeah, I know a lot of people have very different opinion on him, and for some it is very sensitive topic. But fact is the fact, and numbers are numbers. His LR books are the most popular.

[PDL]

To be blunt, the webinar's available from Capture One are Far superior to the limited number of videos from Alex. The free webinar's from Capture One are also "live" and in actuality they are merged events as the webinar's are held twice. The subjects of the webinar's are both specific and general. If Alex's methods float your boat, great if you want a overall feel on how to use the software, get it from the source. You should sign up for upcoming webinar with Alex on July 5th, I have. The real nice one with Alex will be on the 26th but I will not be attending that on as I will be on vacation.

As for Pratik look at these capture one webinar Pratik - YouTube You will learn something, the latest one even states that he uses Photoshop as the final retouch, but he uses Capture one to get a lot done because you are working with RAW data.

I also shoot events (mostly classical music and theatrical events) and I don't spend hours on a image. My workflow has changed over the years too. I started working with Lightroom (since it was in beta) and v6.14 is my last, so I simply don't care what Tony Northrup's book sales are. I personally used Adobe's tutorials and other sites to learn how to use the software.

I have been using Capture One since v5 so yeah I know how to go through group of images relatively quickly these days.

[vladfrenkel]

I'm not sure what you mean by "source". For me source is when person who teaches it certified and actually knows what he/she is doing. And if it is PhaseOne or any other method of delivery doesn't make it "source" material, just hosting platform.
I do subscribed to webinars from Capture One Pro, but rather watch it after the fact on youtube. Again very good source material, informative, but I find that David's teaching approach makes me a little less engaged than what I would prefer it to be. Call it personal, I don't know. Again, still good information, but not as "digestive" as Id like it to be. Similar with Pratik, he is a great retoucher, and I watch him often and actually use his tool (InfiniteColor) and hist tutorials. All good sources.
Shooting events, primarily sports and personal/corporate.
What I wanted to say Pratik is not certified and yet teaching, David is certified and teaching and so does Alex. All good sources. So what makes one source and the other not source material? Hosting platform?
Anyway, this was my point. Use good certified source for your materials and see what works for you. I thought Alex way of teaching would appeal to many new users of C1, thus shared link to his resource.

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Last edited by vladfrenkel; 06-24-2018 at 06:59 PM.

[PDL]

So the people who are demonstrating the features of Capture One, who work for Phase One (the company who owns and produces Capture One) are not what you consider "source"? Many of the short tutorials are written by people who develop the software and hardware sold by Phase One. The Certifications are designed, evaluated and provided by Phase One. Just how are employee's who create the software more "source" than some one who is "certified" by the same company. I don't think you have thought this all the way through.

If you like Alex and his tutorial offerings, then find and dandy for you. However, to suggest that he is better able to provide information on how the software works rather than going to the company and people within that company who produce the product is off base. Use whomever you wish to give you insights, but don't suggest to first time users that your favorite site is better than anything else just because you like it that they are "certified". Remember, without Capture One's instructors, Alex would not be certified at all. Many of those people who are providing the certification are in the Capture One webinars and tutorials.

[vladfrenkel]

Oh no I'm pretty clear on what I have said.
Using your logic Alex is the source. Why? Check link that I have provided earlier by him writing articles (short tutorials) on official Phase One Blog on Phase One website. So parent company is OK for him to write articles as one of the main editors (and you may say he is temp employed while writing them) and represent Phase One by doing that. Rite ? Or his knowledge somehow changes when he posts on some other media say his own YouTube?
So he is Source when he writes for PhaseOne and Not source when he writes for himself ?
Certification - is the mechanism to assess user knowledge to make sure it is "by standard" and complete by Phase One at best of their knowledge. What they can't assess is really can you teach or not really...
Person who worked for the company - say developer knows in-and-outs of the software, and yet not necessarily "certified" to teach. Even Phase One Instructors (and employees who wants to teach) similarly certified by parent company. Why do you think such a program even needed? It is train-the-trainer program. And you rite people providing certification are actually first to be certified. They are usually taught by developers first who created specific set of features so they task to make it more "user friendly". And it is bi-directional. During certification program it is not uncommon for teaching Instructor (who is not necessarily Phase One employee btw), to learn from the classroom some uncovered tips and tricks.
I've used to work for the big development company and knew code for specific product better than any "Instructor" providing the class on it would ever would, but yet won't be able (nor wanted to) teach, cause of lack of "Teaching" mentality/skill. And I've had to be certified to do so even if I wanted to. This is very typical big IT company approach. Developer train the Instructor, Instructor create cert programs, certification program would be taught to many Instructors/Trainers, etc... We would train third party trainers (preferably with teaching degree) so they would help with end customers, and travel on site to provide end support, etc...
Remember I've mentioned that I was thinking to get certified rite? So @ Phase One it works exactly the same (not a surprise).
Certification program is created for the reason. Even for it's own employees, Phase One provides classes to Train the Trainer type of the deal.
And guess what, in order to maintain "certification" one, have to go through certification every year (similarly to employee who wants to teach and hired by PhaseOne). Renewal and maintenance of such certification is cost ly to certified user, so it is commitment to maintain it.
All the people that "blessed" to teach by PhaseOne, will be on the list I've provided earlier. They are all similarly cleared to teach, similar to it's own employees/Trainers who goes through the same program.
This program give you needed "knowledge" and ways to bring the topic. But it doesn't mean yet that you could explain the topic to everyone. In order to explain the topic, sometimes teacher should have proper type of "field" experience, charisma, etc... Not always, and not for everyone, but in certain cases it is the must.
Please go and read what I have wrote earlier, did I have ever said someone is "BETTER", or "WORSE" it is up to person who takes the "class" to decide. I like Alex's approach better personally (and I have said it many times as "personally" rite?) as the first time user. Again you are "INSISTING" that he is NOT going to provide information better than let's say "David" in the comment below (or I should say Official Capture One Pro resource). Rite? How do you know? Seems like even Phase One is OK with him teaching people even on their own website...hm...This is again sounds like "personal" type of the deal. You seems to "PREFER" to receive it from hosting company, Good. But again, it is very personal.
Approaching it from the other side, consider just that if person works (or worked) for Phase One and knows the product, that he would provide topic "BETTER" to EVERYONE (key word) compared to similar person who went through the same program but not employed by above company would not be entirely correct and complete either. Information and it's digestion is very personal. You prefer to always receive it from the source (Capture One Webinars), Good, I like to receive it from multiple sources incl Webinars, but for starters prefer the way Alex explain overall process and how to quickly switch without looking back. In my book, good as well. 2 very different and very personal opinions.
Cause we have established that information and learning is very personal, pls allowed me to suggest the sources that worked for me personally and let the end user decide what he likes the best. Good that you have provided your source with alternative insight earlier, this will eventually benefit the end user even more.