Awe-Inspiring Nature Photos with Side Light & Atmosphere

Today’s post-processing tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel illustrates a powerful Lightroom workflow that’s guaranteed to transform how-hum landscapes into spectacular images that simply can’t be ignored.

The technique is accessible to users of all skill levels, and Instructor Christian Mohrle walks you through a step-by step process that involves introducing side light in a way that boosts depth and adds an atmospheric effect. We encourage you to follow along and make the adjustments yourself by downloading Mohrle’s demonstration Raw file with a link beneath the video.

Mohrle is a globally popular German landscape photographer and image-editing expert. This lesson relies on a bit of thoughtful cropping and several simple global adjustments to prepare the original shot for the awe-inspiring look created with his side-lighting effect, selective edits with masks, and a few color-grading tricks.

After straightening his image with a quick crop and rotation, Mohrle opens Lightroom’s Basic panel and changes the profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Standard. This slightly brightens dark areas within the frame, and Mohrle then extracts even more shadow detail by pumping up exposure.

The basic portion of the edit continues by bringing down highlights to protect the sky, while increasing shadows and blacks. He also adjusts white balance for a warmer autumn look, boosts vibrance, modifies tint, and enhances both sharpness and. midtone contrast by adding texture and clarity. Then Mohrle creates a subtle glow effect by gently dropping dehaze.

The image now appears about as good as possible when relying solely upon basic adjustments that effect the entire scene at once. And this means the fun part begins as you watch Mohrle selectively enhance the image with masks, introduce his attention-grabbing slide light effect, and finishes it all up with final color grading and sharpening.

There’s a wide array of powerful how-to videos on the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel, so be sure to take a look.

And don’t skip the earlier tutorial we featured with another post-processing expert who demonstrates a simplified approach to Photoshop’s Blend Modes so that beginners can enhance their images with these transformational tools.