There’s nothing more frustrating that capturing a beautiful landscape scene, thinking that you totally nailed focus and exposure, only to return home, view the image on the computer, and discover that you didn’t get the light right after all. Sure, you can fix many exposure problems during post processing, but wouldn’t you rather get things right in the camera?

Landscape pro Ian Worth is a very accomplished photographer based in Wales, who says he’s “passionate” about helping others improve their skills by sharing the secrets to his success. In this episode he explains a variety exposure problems and their solutions, including the fact that your camera’s histogram, viewfinder and rear LCD may not accurately represent what’s captured by the sensor.

Worth introduces today’s lesson like this: I will discuss changing several camera settings that can help achieve more consistent exposure results when photographing challenging scenes.” His advice is very helpful because we all want predictable results that make the editing task as minimal as possible

Worth begins with an explanation of why it’s good practice to “expose to the right” in certain situations, and he quickly reveals when this technique is particularly useful and how it’s done. As he says, “I like to make sure I’m preserving highlight detail and not losing any information,” and why he takes a cautious approach when exposing images with this method.

Worth explains the aforementioned discrepancy between the Raw file captured by the camera’s sensor, as compared to what’s displayed on its viewfinder, histogram and LCD. As you’ll see, this disparity can easily result in under- or overexposed images in certain situations—especially when shooting with a mirrorless cameras. As you may expect, there’s a viable workaround.

The forgoing considerations are just a taste of the topics and techniques that Worth covers in the video. By the time you’re done watching and take his suggestions to heart you’ll be far more confident and proficient when it comes to accurately nailing exposure in the camera.

Ian’s instructional YouTube channel is well worth investigating because it offers many more important shooting and editing tips like those in the today’s video—especially if landscape photography is your thing.

In this regard, don’t miss the tutorial we posted from another top pro who demonstrates how to create more dramatic landscape photographs by perfecting highlights and shadows to give images more depth and dimension.

The other day we featured a tutorial for beginning Photoshop users, discussing a variety of image-killing mistakes and simple ways to correct them. There’s no need to feel left out if you process photos in Lightroom, because we’re doing the same thing for you today.

Serge Ramelli is a highly acclaimed French photographer, specializing in landscape and cityscape imagery. He’s also a great instructor with a large international following on his YouTube channel that has almost 650K subscribers.

He introduces today’s lesson like this: “These are the five biggest Lightroom mistakes I see when people retouch their photos.” He reveals what they are and provides straightforward ways to fix them, in reverse order—from the least important to the most critical. Ramelli pulls up an early morning photograph captured in Paris to kick off the video.

At first glance this image appears pretty awesome, but upon closer examination it becomes apparent that the quality of the shot is compromised because too much Clarity was applied during the editing process. He explains that Clarity can add impact to a wide variety of images, but he insists that a heavy-handed approach is a sure way to spoil a photo by creating a garish and unrealistic effect.

Many photographers are guilty of Error #2, namely too much sharpening, and it’s one that often provokes this response from viewers: “Oh you really Photoshopped that shot.” This is another case in which a subtle approach delivers far better results and proves the old adage that less is often more. Once again Ramelli zooms in on the image to reveal a crispy and unsightly look. As Ramelli remarks, “This photo is so over-sharpened that it hurts my eyes.” Ouch!

Another common mistake involves improper White Balance adjustments, and Ramelli’s suggestion here is to remember how the colors in your scene appeared through the viewfinder when you were shooting in the field. Ramelli explains how the manner in which you use Lightroom’s White Balance slider has a “critical” effect on the impact of your images. In other words, “this is an arbitrary and artistic decision” that you have to make with care—depending upon the specific mood you want to create.

The are two more mistakes and solutions remaining, and Ramelli considers these of upmost importance. So watch the video until the end so that you don’t damage your eyes or those of the folks who view your images. Then head over to Ramelli’s popular YouTube channel for more landscape photography shooting and editing tips.

And don’t forget to watch the tutorial mentioned above with solutions to image-killing mistakes for inexperienced Photoshop users.

We recently featured an eye-opening tutorial explaining why it sometimes make sense to shoot Jpeg images, and the best way edit them in Lightroom for optimum results. We’re following that up today with this beginners guide to processing Raw files in Photoshop with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR).

This tutorial comes from our friends at the PHLEARN YouTube channel, a robust source of instructional Photoshop advice with over two million subscribers and almost 900 lessons. In today’s episode you’ll learn how easy it is to unlock the amazing benefits of ACR in less than eight minutes.

Instructor Aaron Nace is a world-renowned photographer and post-processing expert. He demonstrates how to use ACR for non-destructive editing just like in Lightroom, and kicks of the video with this promise: “You’ll learn how to open photos in ACR, master masking basics for selective adjustments, and make targeted corrections to exposure, brightness, and color.”

Nace explains that this oft-ignored built-in Photoshop feature is “insanely powerful” with a all the basic functionality of editing Raw files in Lightroom. The technique begins by creating a new layer and converting it to a Smart Object. Doing this is the key to a non-destructive approach that enables you to undo any adjustments and return to ACR whenever you want.

The next step is navigating to Photoshop’s Neural Filters panel and selecting the Camera Raw Filter from the dropdown list of options. Now you’ll see an array of adjustment sliders on the right side of the screen for performing fast and precise enhancements. Masking is available too. In other words, if you’ve ever used Lightroom, everything with be very familiar.

Nace explains why he typically start his edits with Masking before moving on to other enhancements. Because he’s working on a portrait photo he initiates the process by clicking on Select Subject. Then he employs the Subtract command and uses a brush to quickly refine the Mask so that the following adjustments are as precise as can be.

Nace demonstrates the enhancements necessary for his selection in this particular  photo. He employs simple sliders to slightly increase overall exposure and further open up shadows to increase details in the darkest portions of the model.

The foregoing is just a taste of what you’ll learn in this basic guide to ACR, so follow along and perhaps jot down a few notes. Then compare the before/after images and you’ll be very impressed by what can be accomplished with this quick and simple technique.

Aaron’s instructional YouTube channel offers straightforward videos on just about any Photoshop technique imaginable. So check back frequently, especially when you run into a bind.

And be sure to check out the tutorial mentioned above with a basic guide to editing Jpeg photographs when it doesn’t make sense to shoot Raw files.