How often have you returned from a shoot thinking you captured some great images, only to discover that they look flat and uninspiring on the computer? If you’re like most photographers, you’ve experienced this disappointment more than once or twice.

Today the PIXimperfect YouTube channel comes to the rescue with a simple Photoshop trick for adding depth, dimension, and drama to boring images. In fact, instructor Unmesh Dinda says this technique is so effective “it creates an illusion of 3D.”

Dinda demonstrates the step-by-step process in a rapid-fire manner, so be sure to have pen and paper ready to take a few notes before launching the video. He uses the power of Curves, Layer Style, and a unique masking technique to automatically add realistic highlights and shadows to the subject.

In essence this is a portrait-editing lesson, but you’re likely to find other uses for this quick-and-easy approach. And while most of our portraiture tutorials involve female models, this one uses a male subject (which is long overdue).

The first step is a crucial one, and that involves going to the Image tab atop the screen, choosing Mode, and then selecting 16 Bits Per Channel from the dropdown menu. Doing this is important because the method involved employs several masks, and working in 8-Bit mode will likely result in unsightly banding.

The next step involves several options for fixing the distracting background. In this case Dinda demonstrates a simple method for turning it black. He then makes the artistic choice to create a dark base for the image at hand. As you’ll see, at this point the photo already appears much better.

Dinda’s final adjustments includ3 strategically adding highlights and shadows, along with a few other quick tips to “make it Pop.” All that’s left is cleaning up a few distracting spots and the remarkable transformation is complete.

Dinda’s wildly popular YouTube channel is full of helpful lessons like this one, so be sure to pay a visit.

And don’t miss another tutorial we posed recently, explaining a Photoshop trick for giving photos precise color and contrast

Adobe is constantly busy refining their software, and today we’re taking a looking at a key new feature in the just-released update to the Cloud version of Lightroom 2023. Of specific emphasis here is the new artificial intelligence (AI)-based Noise Reduction capabilities.

The tutorial below comes from the folks at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography (RMSP) based in Montana that’s been training budding shooters since 1989. So this is a great opportunity to get up to speed in a hurry.                                            

Born in Missoula, Forrest de Saintonge (we’ll call him “Forrest”) is the founder and lead instructor at RMSP, and in barely nine minutes he explains what you need to know for using this exciting capability. For those using Lightroom Classic there’s a video for you in a link beneath the video.

For this demonstration Forrest starts with a photo shot at ISO 6,400, and as he zooms in close you’ll see a ton of ugly noise—making the photo pretty unusable as is. As Forrest explains, the Noise Reduction sliders in earlier versions have bee replaced with new AI-based tools.

The process begins by noting several ways to use the new tool, and Forrest explains his preference for beginning in the Grid view and choosing Enhance from the dropdown menu. As you’ll see, there’s also a method for making these adjustments in bulk when you’re working on several images with the same noise problems.

Then Forrest opens the Preview window and zooms in on a particularly noisy portion of the shot; oftentimes that’s the background or an area where a key subject meets the background. By doing this you can examine both the details and blurry areas so you’ll have a better idea of where noise reduction needs to be applied.

As Forrest explains, a 50% percent setting is what Adobe recommends based upon what ISO you used to capture the photo.  And you can modify this level (up or down) to best suit the image at hand. There’s much more to learn in this helpful episode, so be sure to watch until the end.

Forrest’s instructional YouTube Channel has much more to offer, so be sure to pay a visit when you have time.

And don’t miss an earlier tutorial we posted, explaining how to use Color Calibration tools in Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw.