Here’s another of our ongoing tutorials designed to help you make the most of Adobe’s latest Lightroom update that’s full of new tools and a few surprises. Today an acclaimed French photographer demonstrates five new tricks in Lightroom 2023 that he says, “will change your life.”

While your life may be fine just as it is, we can all use some help streamlining our Lightroom workflow and understanding how the new capabilities work. And, at the very least, that’s what you’ll learn in the 20-minute lesson below. If you life changes for the better too, consider that a bonus.

Instructor Serge Ramelli is a successful French photographer whose landscapes, street photography, and cityscape imagery appear in over 120 galleries across the globe. He kicks of today’s episode with this bold claim: “I’m going to show you five techniques that I’m sure you don’t know and have never used.” Make sure you watch until the end, because Ramelli presents his “secrets” in reverse order, from the least to the most important.

The countdown begins with tip #5, explaining what Ramelli says is “the best way to organize your photos”—a topic we covered in greater detail a couple weeks ago. Ramelli discusses the method he uses to speed up his workflow and choose the best photo for an occasion. He says that some photographers “spend days or months trying to locate an image,” and his approach will solve that frustration.

The system he developed proved very helpful after shooting over 170 images of his pretty daughter. Ramelli explains that he first reviews all the photos from a session, and then rates them in order of potential. That’s only his first organization step, and he carefully describes all the others.

Next on the list is a technique for creating AI presets for super-fast edits, in this case for portraits. But you can do much the same for all sorts of photos. The idea is to create a single preset for a particular style of imagery that you can apply almost instantly to similar photos. As you’ll see, this one will save you tons of time.

The last three techniques are those Ramelli considers of increasing importance, beginning with a straightforward method for synchronizing images between two Lightroom libraries—on both the laptop and desktop computers. He then explains a trick for getting moving you Lightroom Collections to your phone.

The lesson concludes with a very helpful demonstration of how to create a website for free using your Adobe photography plan. Ramelli has almost 650,000 subscribers to his instructional website where you can a wealth of shooting and editing tips and tricks.

And don’t forget to watch the detailed tutorial mentioned above that explains how to clean up your Lightroom mess and never lose a photo again.

We’ve all been awestruck by breathtaking time-lapse “videos” and wondered if creating them was within our skills. As you’ll see in the tutorial below, just about anyone with a camera and some know-how can get the job done.

According to the experts at National Geographic, “Time-lapse photography is used to capture changes or movement that occurs over a long period of time.” The idea is to set up your camera on a tripod and capture a bunch of images at regular intervals. The magic occurs when the individual shots are combined and viewed in rapid sequential order for an otherworldly experience.

Michael Shainblum is a professional photographer/videographer based in San Francisco, with a knack for simplifying seemingly complicated tasks. Today’s behind-the-scenes episode is a great example as it only takes him 16 minutes to explain how you can shoot amazing time-lapses of your own.

You’ll watch Shainblum do his thing amidst the foothills of the imposing Eastern Sierra mountains as he shoots dramatic storms sequences and night sky time-lapses, while explaining how you can do the same. He discusses the necessary gear, important camera settings, proper composition, and several other key variables.

One of Shainblum’s favorite time-lapse subjects are clouds moving across the sky, and on this day he’s greeted with great opportunities as thunderous cloud cells full of texture blow North above the scene. He’s shooting with a Sony a7S III mirrorless camera and a Tamron 20-200mm zoom, but you can use the methods he describes with just about any modern gear you own.

It’s a rather hazy day so Shainblum threads a polarizing filter onto his lens, which dramatically darkens the sky and pumps up the shot. He explains that one difference between shooting conventional photos and time-lapses is the importance of anticipating motion; in this case, understanding exactly where the clouds are going to move through the scene.

Shainblum recommends shooting in Raw and using Manual focus so nothing shifts as you capture the sequence. He typically uses Manual exposure mode, even under consistent light, for reasons that he explains. He also describes his approach for modifying exposure when shooting late in the day, so the sequence gradually becomes darker and darker as it proceeds—just like it would when the sun begins to drop below the horizon.

You’ll be blown away while watching this time-lapse, as you will when viewing the others he demonstrates in this impressive lesson. You can find more helpful tips by paying a visit to Shainblum’s YouTube channel.

And be sure not to miss the tutorial a posted from another accomplished landscape photographer who explains the best camera settings to use for shooting epic sunset photographs.

Today we’re bringing you another powerful tutorial from the popular PHLOG Photography YouTube channel, designed to help you create epic landscape photos that really stand out from the crowd. This one reveals six creative special effects that are easy to accomplish in Lightroom.

Instructor Christian Mohrle is an acclaimed German landscape photographer, and the tricks he demonstrates below will work wonders for just about any images you shoot outdoors. As always, he provides a link beneath the video for downloading the demonstrations images so you can make the adjustments yourself as they’re explained.

He begins with a timely method for adding an autumn look to uninspiring photos with spring colors. All you have to do is make use of Lightroom’s HSL tools and Calibration adjustments. Mohrle explains that the most important setting you want to change is found under the Hue tab. He demonstrates how to manipulate green, yellow and orange hues to get the job done.

Mohrle’s second tip will enable you to easily give photos a polarization effect by darkening blue areas of the sky and boosting contrast throughout the frame. These tricks occur in Lightroom’s masking panel—beginning with a Color Range mask and employing the eyedropper tool to target the sky. As you’ll see, the Refine tool helps perfect the mask.

Next on the list is a simple method for adding a popular “Orton Glow” to boost the impact of an image. This one is super simple, requiring the use of just two sliders. Simply head into Lightroom’s Basic tab and scroll down to the Present settings. Mohrle demonstrates how easy it is to create the effect by modifying Clarity and Dehaze.

One of our favorite tips in this episode explains how to create artificial “bokeh balls” to add interest to the background of a shot. One again you’ll head into to Lightroom’s Masking panel—this time using a Radial Gradient to create the enchanting effect. Mohrle notes that bokeh balls are typically brighter than surrounding areas and he demonstrates how to accomplish this for a realistic look.

You’ll learn two more interesting effects by watching until the end, and they’re just as impressive and straightforward to accomplish. One enables you to add dramatic fog to a photo, and the other is what Mohrle says is “my favorite effect.”

By employing the simple tips in this eye-opening lesson you’ll never be accused of making outdoor images with a “same-old-same-old” appearance. Once you’re done watching pay a visit to Mohrle’s instructional YouTube channel where there’s much more to learn about editing landscape photos for maximum impact.

We also encourage you to watch a tutorial we posted recently from another image-editing expert, demonstrating the best way to improve outdoor photographs by adding more texture and contrast.