Lightroom plugins are valuable software add-ons that expand creativity during the editing process with easy to use features for a variety of effects. They’re readily available, some for free and other at a nominal cost, and they can add impact to images while speeding up your workflow.

If you haven’t tried these assets in the past, it time to get going. The tutorial below from Eastern Shore Photo Instruction demonstrates a foolproof method for installing plugins and managing them properly for ease of use.

A couple things to keep in mind. First, it’s important to purchase plugins from a trusted source—just like with anything you install on your computer. Secondly, once you get started you’ll likely end up with a multitude of plugins over time, and you’ll want to manage them so they’re easy to find and use.

Today’s instructor Mickey explains everything you need to know in barely nine minutes, and his lesson is equally valuable for beginners and experienced users alike. As you’ll see, having plugins display in alphanumeric order isn’t typically the best way to go, and Mickey provides a quick and easy hack to manage and sequence the display of your plugins to match your specific needs.

While plugins may install automatically, there are several reasons why that may not work (one reason may be that Lightroom is already open when you begin the install). To alleviate any frustration Mickey explains a foolproof manual method for getting the job fast.

The first step is going into Lightroom Classic and clicking on Preferences. Next go to the external editing tab, the bottom half of which is where you configure the plugins. Once you’re there, you’ll then have to locate the plug per Mickey’s instructions, and then simply follow his advice for specifying the five options available.

These include File Format, Color Space, Compression, Bit Depth, and Resolution. The process is somewhat different whether you’re on a PC or Mac, so pay close attention as Mickey explains the procedure.

One your plugin is installed there’s a bit more to do if a fast and seamless workflow is what you want, and this is the “management” part of the process that determines where and in what order your plugins appear. This is a very important step, but very easy to accomplish. Remember, if Mickey likes it you will too.

The Eastern Shore Photo Instruction YouTube channel is one you should visit often for more tips, tricks, and helpful information. We also recommend watching another tutorial we featured recently, explaining how Lightroom’s Tone sliders work in different ways, and the correct method for using them to achieve optimum results.

We’ve all heard the blather from so-called “purists” who insist that images should be presented straight out of the camera without any post processing at all. Not only are we told to avoid adjusting exposure, color, sharpness and the like, but creative cropping is verboten as well.

Today one of our favorite landscape photographer begs to differ, insisting that refusing to crop “hurts your photos.” Instructor Mark Denney is a favorite of Shutterbug readers who appreciate that his lessons take a practical, rather than a theoretical, approach.

In this episode Denney says, “cropping is one of my favorite editing techniques, giving you the ability to alter composition after the fact.” He also expresses curiosity about why many photographers “don’t use this incredible tool.” So buckle up, forget about pleasing the purists, and take a look.

Denney boils it down to the three things he considers when deciding how to crop different types of photos for maximum visual impact. His view is that it’s not a matter of whether or not to crop, bur rather that you may not crop your images enough. Sometimes this can even mean going full bore and transforming a horizontal shot into a vertical one.

So what are the three issues you should think about before deciding on a crop? 1) Does it add value to the scene? 2) Do I want the viewer to look at it? 3) Does the photo flow? This trio of questions is pretty easy to answer, but what about the how? Just follow Denney’s simple advice and your landscape photographs will demand more attention than ever.

Denney’s first example is a pretty seascape photo that only has limited “real estate” with which to work. But a discerning eye will agree with Denney that a modest crop makes a big difference. He gets rid of distracting elements at either side of the frame and in the lower right corner of the foreground.

Denney presents other examples with challenges that require a different approaches to cropping. Sometimes that means making a far more ambitious effort, while in other instances you may want to alter perspective or crop in a way that accentuates eye-catching colors within the scene.

All these concepts are discussed in terms that are applications to nature and landscape photography, but they’re equally effective with other genres as well. So the next time you finish editing one of your photos, be sure to ask yourself, “did I crop enough?”

Denney’s popular YouTube channel is a valuable resource for landscape photographers and others who shoot outdoors. So be sure to take a look and explore everything he has to offer.

And on a totally different note, take a look at the straightforward lesson we posted earlier this month with a primer on how to shoot sensuous female portraits—with posing and composition tips from another accomplished pro.