We’ve all been told to avoid shooting on bright sunny days or when the sun is high in the sky because contrasty light is the enemy of great photos. While there’s some truth to this rule, harsh conditions also present opportunities for capturing great images.

The six-minute tutorial below from the CameraFocus YouTube channel provides an interesting counterpoint to the notion that you should always try to shoot when the sun is lower in the sky, with several powerful tips for using harsh light to capture photos that really aren’t possible under “better” lighting conditions.

After all, it’s not possible to choose your own weather, so it’s important to understand how  to use brilliant sunny days to advantage for creating images full of drama. While this lesson concentrates on techniques for action photography, the methods described work just as well for just about anything your shoot outdoors.

The first step is understanding how the direction of light affects the subject of a scene, and how a subtle change in camera position can have a big impact on your results. You’ll see how to proceed when the sun is directly overhead and what you should do when the sun is on either side of your subject.

There are also times when the light hits the subject straight on, with the sun at your back. And this requires yet a different approach for properly exposed photos. There’s also the issue of backlit subjects, and that’s part of this discussion as well.

You’ll see why your camera’s histogram can be particularly important when shooting in difficult situations. There are also several very helpful tips on composition and choosing the best camera settings for the task at hand.

Contrasty light typically means a spike in both highlights and shadows. Understanding how to deal with these competing considerations and maintain details in both areas is a key aspect of what you’ll learn. And, of, course, it’s important to accomplish all this while achieving an overall balance throughout the scene.

If action photography is your thing, you’ll also pick several helpful tips on autofocus techniques and the various AF modes that are available on most cameras. The CameraFocus YouTube channel offers a wealth of other helpful lessons, so be sure to pay a visit.

And don’t miss the tutorial we posted recently from another accomplished pro, explaining how to use exposure bracketing for perfect outdoor photos in difficult lighting situations. 

We’ve all been out and about and stumbled upon a great scene that can’t be ignored, even though the only camera we have available is our phone. Most of today’s advanced smartphones take pretty impressive photos that can be made even better with a bit of thoughtful editing.

There are numerous mobile apps available for both iOS and Android, with a few designed to meet the needs of experienced photographers who are looking for more than a few Instagram-friendly special effects. In the tutorial below from the Behind the Tripod YouTube channel you’ll learn how to use the app one pro says, “you MUST download now.”

The instructor named Steve regularly posts tips and tricks for all types of photography, and this episode is devoted to the power of the Snapseed app. In 10 minutes he explains how to use this free tool to crop images, adjust exposure and color, remove unwanted objects from a shot, make selective adjustments, sharpen photos and much more.

Steve says that by the time you’re finished watching “you should be far more confident in using the most important features in Snapseed and be able to work through your photos to give them that WOW factor.”

We regularly use Snapseed to edit our mobile photos, and easily achieve impressive results. Our approach is to first turn to the Tune Image panel that provides quick adjustments with sliders—much in the same way you’d do in Photoshop or Lightroom. Here you can modify everything from highlights, shadows, contrast and brightness, to vibrance and ambience. And often that’s all it takes.

There are more extensive options with tools for color enhancements and a choice of b&w conversions, to HDR edits, ways to rotate image and control perspective, and make selective adjustments to  specific areas within the frame. You can even add a vignette, blur a portion of the shot, create a double exposure, and add text to your photos.

You’ll also find a Looks panel for creating certain effects, and these are very photocentric options that differ from the gimmicky effects found in other mobile editing apps. And once you get an image exactly where you want it, the Export panel provides just about everything you need.

You can export a file to a specific folder, create a copy of the image with which you can modify sizing, format, and quality in the Settings menu. There are also options for sharing images in a variety of ways, like via email, to Facebook and other separate apps.

That’s just our take on Snapseed, and we definitely agree with Steve about how great this app performs. Check out the video as he has other impressions and goes into greater detail, so you’ll understand exactly how it works. You can find more helpful tips by paying a visit to Steve’s popular YouTube channel.

We also recommend watching another tutorial we posted recently, explaining why what you think is a Lightroom bug is actually a useful feature and how to use it.

Some landscape scenes look far more compelling when rendered in b&w, whether you captured the shot using your camera’s monochrome mode or do a conversion later during the editing process. In either case, some thoughtful processing is required for optimum results.

Today’s tutorial from the PHOLOG Photography YouTube channel demonstrates a straightforward edit for achieving epic b&w landscapes using Lightroom Classic. And this easy technique work wonders for virtually all forms of outdoor photography. As you’ll see, color adjustment can help, even with b&w Raw files.

Instructor Christian Mohrle is a favorite among Shutterbug reader because of his ability to simplify seemingly complicated tasks. In this episode he covers everything from cropping and other basic adjustments, to masking, sharpening, and more.

We encourage you to download Mohrle’s sample Raw file with the link beneath the video so you can make the adjustment yourself as they’re explained. Mohrle crops the image to eliminate unimportant areas in the frame, and then opens Lightroom’s basic panel to switch the profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Monochrome.

His basic adjustments continue with dropping exposure to create the “dark and grim” look he desires. He then increases whites while dropping blacks and shadows to create dramatic contrast. Paying close attention to the histogram during these steps proves very helpful.

Mohrle is looking for a sharp and clear image so he pumps up Texture and significantly increases Clarity. He also drops Dehaze to introduce the impression of fog. A few other quick tweaks and it’s time for the selective adjustments that really perfect the transformation.

Here Mohrle begins with simple masking to create the look of light entering the scene from the top left of the frame, with the remainder of the image remaining rather dark. He does this by first applying a Linear Gradient to the opposite side of the image to further darken the top right of the scene.

There’s also a Linear Gradient over the foreground for a few adjustments there and a Radial Gradient over the top left portion of the frame that Mohrle uses to create the lighting effect mentioned earlier.

The final step in the b&w edit is a bit of color grading; yes, you heard that correctly. Mohrle turns to the Color Grading tab and adds subtle blue tones to the shadows and midtones of the image, because “I personally don’t like the basic black-and-white-look.” He also adds  a slight bit of saturation to improve this effect.

Mohrle’s YouTube channel is full of great advice for landscape photography so be sure to take a look. And don’t miss the tutorial we posted last week, explaining how to use both positive and negative Clarity to enhance outdoor photographs.