Take a close look at the landscape photographs you admire most and you’ll likely discern a powerful common denominator; namely, a thoughtful attention-grabbing “depth range.” The video below from Andy Hutchinson describes this oft-ignored concept and demonstrates how to create the effect during post processing.

Unlike most of our in-depth image-editing tutorials, this one demonstrates a small, lesser-known trick that adds a beautiful finishing touch to nature and landscape images shot under various conditions. All it takes to get the job done is precisely apply contrast according the depth range of your shot.

Hutchison is an Australian pro whose popular YouTube channel shares lessons on everything from outdoor shooting techniques and drone photography to practical post-processing advice for editors of all skill levels. In today’s eye-opening episode he explains how and why this subtle trick works, and he provides clear instructions for applying depth masks to your work.

Hutchinson describes this method as perceptual editing. He puts it like this: “I’m going to show you how to use depth masks to accentuate how our eyes interpret depth and focus by processing images in a way that reinforces what we naturally see—rather than how a camera sensor captures data.”

After a quick nod to the science Hutchinson turns his attention to the many benefits of depth maps, how to generate them, and why these simple tools belong in your everyday workflow. He suggests thinking of depth maps as “a kind of see-through map that paints the immediate foreground in white and the most-distance background in black.”

Unlike other methods like a linear gradient, for example, a depth mask changes according to what’s in the image at hand. As Hutchinson says, “this is important because sometimes distant things and near things sit next to each other within the frame. He provides the example of a seaside cliff edge photographed side-on to the adjacent sea.

Next on the agenda is a step-by-step demonstration for employing depth maps to significantly enhance photos that don’t quite make the grade. Everything you need to know is right there, whether use Adobe software or other apps with depth-map capability like On1 PhotoRaw.

There are many more how how-to videos to be found on Hutchison’s instructional YouTube channel. And be sure to watch a similar tutorial from a German post-processing expert who demonstrates how he uses Lightroom to give dull landscape photos a realistic atmospheric lighting effect that introduces greater depth and dimension.