Most photographers prefer to process their images on the computer for a variety of reasons. But every so often, especially when on the road, it’s really convenient to get the job done on your phone or a tablet. And Adobe’s Lightroom Mobile is one of the best apps for getting the job done.

Lightroom Mobile is not only free and offers a wide array of capabilities, but a paid Adobe membership is not required to take advantage of the impressive features it offers. In this tutorial you’ll learn how Utah-based pro Austin James Jackson edits one of his landscape images from beginning to end.

As you’ll see, Jacksons approach is far more sophisticated than just the basics like shadow/highlight control and sharpening. In fact, he harnesses the power of Lightroom Mobile to make a variety of global and local adjustments that significantly improve the shot. He even demonstrates how to make targeted enhancements to Hue, Saturation, and Luminance—just like when working on a laptop.

According to Jackson, “You can almost do everything with Lightroom Mobile that you can accomplish on the desktop with Lightroom Classic.” While his demonstration image is a landscape shot captured in the Columbia River Gorge, just about all of the techniques apply equally well to portraits, action shots, and much more.

The first step is loading a photo into the app and understanding how to find it in the future. He then provides a quick overview of the app’s layout and all the basic sliders. While Lightroom Mobile offers automatic controls, the emphasis today is processing images manually in a way that offers far more control.

Jackson covers all the essentials, including cropping options, navigating the app’s important Optics tab, and using versatile Masking tools. He also demonstrates how to employ Tone Curves and a variety of color enhancement adjustments.

You’ll also learn why Jackson is a fan of using Vignettes to emphasize the key portion of a scene and direct a viewer’s eye to exactly where he wants it to go. It’s all very easy to accomplish—and may even make you feel good about leaving your laptop at home the next time you hit the road.

There’s a wide variety of helpful shooting and editing tips on Jackson’s instructional YouTube channel, so head over there after watching this lesson and see what he has to offer.

And be sure to check out the tutorial we posted recently from another image-processing expert who demonstrates a straightforward Lightroom technique for giving landscape photos more drama, depth, and overall impact.

Camera settings are among the most democratic aspects of photography, in that the optimum choices are available for shooters of all skill levels. It’s simply a matter of changing the defaults and configuring the camera in a way that best suits your specific style of photography.

After all, camera manufacturers create default setting as general guides that usually work OK for shooting various types of images. But “OK” shouldn’t be good enough if you’re serious about our craft, and it’s time to pull out your camera and choose the specific settings that work best for you.

This tutorial from pro James Popsys is specifically intended for nature and landscape photography because those are his specialties. He’s confident about the approach he’s developed over the years and says, “they are integral to my photography.”

Most of the settings you’ll learn will work wonders with just about any full-featured camera you use and can be modified quickly when you encounter unusual situations. As you see, some of Popsys’ recommended setting are of the set-it-and-forget-it variety, while others are dependent upon the specific task at hand.

A great starting point is to create a two or three Custom Settings for common applications—an option that’s available with most modern digital cameras. This way you can quickly shift gears when shooting with the primary settings you’ve chosen as soon as the subject matter or conditions change.

All it takes to use these pre-configured Custom Settings is rotating the Mode dial or tapping a Function button on the top or back of the camera, and by doing this you’ll achieve consistent results every time. Another advantage is that this approach significantly speeds things up because you’ll rarely have to dig into the menu to modify settings.

Popsys walks you through the Custom modes he uses most and explains how they work. He then turns his attention a camera’s basic defaults and demonstrates options that typically deliver super when shooting in the field. These include options for focusing modes and focus points, drive settings, and much more

You’ll even learn why how and he sets up the camera to keep shutter speeds and ISO settings with a specific range to avoid inadvertent mistakes when shooting on the fly. There’s much more to discover while watching this important lesson, including how to dial in the metering mode that will work best for you.

After the video concludes go grab the camera you use for outdoor photography, take advantage of Popsys’ advice, and get rid of all the default settings that are holding you back. Then head over to his popular YouTube channel for more tips and tricks.

We also recommend watching the tutorial we posted recently from another accomplished shooter, explaining several pro hacks for capturing amazing backlit photographs outdoors.