If you’re a landscape photographer and use Lightroom to process images the tutorial below is likely to improve your workflow by explaining four “hidden” tools you may not know exist. After all, Lightroom is such a robust package that it’s almost impossible to keep track of everything it can do.

Instructor Christopher O’Donnell is a very adept landscape photographer who regularly posts Lightroom and Photoshop tutorials designed to help others work faster and more effectively when processing their work. He kicks off today’s very helpful episode like this: “These secret features require a few extra clicks to access or set up, but they’ll make you far more productive and save time in the long run.”

His first tip involves hidden features of the histogram. This trick lets you know exactly what tones you are adjusting with the sliders for Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks in Lightroom’s basic panel. It works like this: When you hover the mouse over any particular slider, certain tonal groups will be highlighted in the histogram.

O’Donnell explains that, “these ranges represent the five tonal sliders which gives you an excellent preview of how many pixels you’ll be adjusting with each slider.” By visualizing which pixels are being adjusted you’ll understand how much difference you’re making in the lightness of your composition.

Another unfamiliar and very handy feature lets you use the histogram to monitor your color channels. This trick lets you see whether or not you’ve blown out a specific color. As you’ll see, there are several histogram charts overlayed on each other. In other words, each color has its own peaks and valleys, and O’Donnell explains how to put this valuable information to work.

Tip number three explains how to employ the histogram so you can see LAB color values for lightness. This one is unique because most of us only pay attention to RGB values. O’Donnell recommends this approach because it enables you to monitor your “L”, (i.e. lightness) value. This works on a scale from 0 to 100, with 100% being pure white and 0% representing pure black.

The video concludes with Lightroom’s fourth hidden tool, which involves using Pins to preview Masks. We’ll let O’Donnell explain the details of how this works, but here’s a quick summary: With the Masking panel active you’ll see small pins on your image, each of which represents a Mask in the panel. By hovering over a pin you’ll see an overlay preview of the area of the image affected by that mask.

O’Donnell provides far more detail about how to make the most of these hidden tools. So pay close attention and maybe jot down a few notes. Then head over to his popular YouTube channel for more editing tips and tricks.

We also suggest checking out a tutorial we posted recently from another post-processing expert who explains how to control highlights in Lightroom for more impressive landscape photographs.

According the instructor Neil Borg, “Dodge and Burn is the secret weapon for sculpting light and adding drama to the photos you capture outdoors”—just like it was in the darkroom for the iconic masters of landscape photography during the heyday of film.

Borg is a self-taught pro, specializing in travel and landscape photography, and in this video he demonstrates a step-by-step process of dodging and burning in Lightroom in a way that makes the task simple for photographers of all skill levels. So pull up a chair because eight minutes is all you need to learn how it’s done.

The first step is to carefully evaluate the image at hand and decide which portions of the scene need modification for better tonal balance throughout the frame, and Borg has some solid advice for making that determination. It’s all about understanding what areas need to be lightened and/or darkened to achieve a more compelling photo.

Borg’s sample image has a few problems. The foreground is rather flat, and the bright sky is equally unimpressive. As a result, the photo lacks a singular focal point to guide a viewer’s eye through the frame.

Borg’s goal is simple: “We need to use dodge and burn in order to create a more interesting image that leads us directly towards our subject.” He begins with a few basic adjustment to improve the shot as much as possible for what follows. Borg slightly increases exposure to enhance details in the shadows, while dropping highlights to accentuate details in the sky.

Other global adjustments include opening up the shadows and slightly boosting Clarity for greater contrast between the light and dark portions of the frame. Now it’s time for a few local adjustments to specific areas of the shot. These include a Linear Gradient over the sky that he uses to enhance drama and impact.

The image now looks better and is prepared for the real meat of the tutorial; namely, straightforward dodging and burning that transforms Borg’s bland shot into a really special image. He begins with the burn before turning his attention to dodging and walks you through every step of the easy-to-follow process.

If you’ve avoided this technique in the past because you thought it was too complicated, this impressive transformation will definitely change your mind. So take a look and then add dodging and burning to your Lightroom workflow.

There’s much more to learn on Borg’s instructional YouTube channel, so be sure to pay a visit when you have time. We also suggest watching an eye-opening tutorial we posted with another pro, explaining how to step outside your comfort zone by shooting high-key outdoor photographs that stand out from the crowd.