The first thing most landscape photographers do when arriving at a location is reach into their bag and pull out a favorite wide-angle lens. That’s because the perspective these lenses provide enables you to capture breathtaking, expansive vistas.

On the other hand, wide-angle lenses come with their own set of challenges if you don’t understand the best way to use them. In the video below you’ll learn several pro tips for making the most of wide-angle glass and doing so in the easiest way possible.

Welsh photographer Ian Worth is passionate about landscape photography, and he’s equally generous about sharing the secrets to his success. In this episode you’ll learn how to shoot better outdoor photos of various subjects when going wide is the name of the game.

Finding balance within the frame is just one of the difficulties with this type of photography and Worth explains his approach to this task. He notes that, “In the past my approach was to look for a grand backdrop and then try to find a complimentary foreground.” But as his techniques evolved he decided that this method can be difficult when it comes to piecing together an image.

Worth’s new method is easier to accomplish and he demonstrates how it works while shooting under dramatic conditions on the wild west coast of Wales. With his camera on a tripod Worth breaks one common rule by placing the horizon in the middle of the frame. But we all know rules are mean to be broken—especially in situations like this with pretty colors peeking through the clouds and beautiful foreground reflections in the water.

Everything changes in the span of just ten minutes as the clouds become even more amazing and Worth is suddenly blessed with spectacular golden light. Worth keeps shooting from the very same spot, while changing his camera settings to make the most of the evolving scene before him. And his next shot is just as compelling, but entirely different, than the first.

While watching Worth work his magic you’ll learn a number of great tips for nailing exposure and composing photos to perfection. He also illustrates the value of shooting the same image from both horizonal and vertical orientations.

Worth then moves on to other striking locations and demonstrates a number of different methods to make the most of everything he confronts. His advice is very easy to emulate and guaranteed to improve the images you shooting under various conditions in the great outdoors. Be sure to visit Worth’s popular YouTube channel where you’ll find many more great tips for shooting in the field.

On a related note, check out the tutorial we posted earlier with another pro’s tips for shooting epic landscape photographs.

Last week we featured a tutorial explaining how photographers of all skill levels can shoot impressive wildlife photos with whatever cameras they own. Today we’re moving on to the next step in the process with a straightforward lesson on enhancing these great images in Lightroom.

Photographer Anthony Morganti is an image-editing impresario with an enthusiastic following on his instructional YouTube channel. In today’s 15-minute episode he walks you through his step-by-step workflow for improving photographs of bird and other forms of wildlife.

The video begins with a description and plug for his “Ultimate” Lightroom training course you can purchase via a link beneath the video. If you want to skip straight to today’s tutorial, just forward to the two-minute mark and watch the valuable free tips in this helpful lesson.

Morganti begins with his unedited Raw file of a bird perched on the branch of an ice-encrusted tree. The composition is great, and the exposure is pretty good, but a few other variables need some work. The first thing he does is to make sure that the Lightroom Profile is correct and White Balance is set properly, and Morganti is pleased with what he sees.

But then he zooms in on the photo shot at ISO 1600 to evaluate the noise situation. While the artifacts aren’t exactly horrible they need to be repaired. Before demonstrating how to clean up the mess, Morganti explains why he says, “I suggest you remove noise early in your workflow with just about any type of photo.” He opens Lightroom’s Details panel and explains how it’s done.

It’s important to keep in mind that Lightroom is a non-destructive editor, meaning you always have the opportunity for a redo when using Denoise or any of the other tools. Now Morganti moves on to several global adjustments that really enhance his image of a cold house finch.

These edits affect every pixel in the shot, and he gets the job done by using the simple sliders in Lightroom’s Basic tab. He slightly brightens exposure, leaves contrast alone, and pulls down highlights until a bit more detail appears. Then he opens up the shadows and carefully modifies both the White Points and Black Points.

The image now looks significantly better with these preliminary steps out of the way, but there are a few more adjustments required for optimum results. We don’t want to be a buzzkill, so you’ll have to watch the video to see how these work. When your done, head over to Morganti’s instructional YouTube channel for more tips and tricks.

And don’t forget to watch the tutorial mentioned above so you can get the best possible wildlife photos in the camera before processing your shots.