The Histogram is one of those tools that many Lightroom users ignore because they don’t fully understand everything it can do. This tutorial from the Photo Feaver YouTube channel will bring you up to speed in a hurry and convince you to include the Histogram in your post-processing workflow.

Instructor James Feaver is a passionate landscape pro and image-editing expert who posts weekly lessons for photographers of all skills levels. He introduces today’s six-minute episode like this: “You shouldn’t ignore the Histogram because it will get you better colors, and more realistic contrast. In can even fix your white balance with precision.”

Here’s a quick overview for those who are unfamiliar with the basics: The Histogram is a simple graph that illustrates how many pixels of a specific exposure value are in an image. This handy visual aid is split into five sections for evaluating whites, midtones, highlights, shadows, and blacks. In essence, it’s a very convenient way to determine of an image is underexposed, overexposed, or just right.

With the basics out of the way Feaver moves on to other powerful capabilities of the Histogram, like refining White Balance in every image you edit. His first example is a shot he made in Zion National Park that is overly dark because it was exposed for the sky. This is immediately evident with a quick glance at the Histogram because most of the tones are bunched up on the left side of the graph.

Feaver quickly corrects this initial problem by moving the Exposure and HSL sliders while explaining the concept of “clipping” so that you don’t go too far in either direction. You’ll also see how targeting Whites and Blacks can add even more detail to the photo. He then explains how to improve Contrast and slightly “stretch out” the Histogram to further improve the image.

But the Histogram is useful for much more than adjusting exposure, which is where Feaver’s second sample photo comes into play. This shot is a bit too warm for Feaver’s taste and you’ll see how easy it is to cool it off.

At this point he turns his attention to the Histogram’s three color channels (red, green, and blue) and demonstrates a straightforward trick for “matching up the peaks” to quickly fix or enhance these tones for perfect color throughout the frame. Here’s when the Temperature and Tint sliders prove very helpful.

Feaver also explains why sometimes a “correct” Histogram may not be exactly what you want, especially with regard to White Balance enhancements. Once you’re done watching the video head over to Feaver’s instructional YouTube channel where there are many more shooting and editing tips to be found.

And don’t miss an earlier tutorial we featured with another image-editing expert who explains a handful of “hidden Lightroom secrets” for taking your nature photographs to the next level.

Those who use Photoshop’s Generative Fill to remove objects from an image know that it often fails to do an acceptable job. In this tutorial from the Photoshop Café YouTube channel you’ll learn why may occur, and when and how to employ the Remove tool instead.

Instructor Colin Smith is a post-processing expert, and he explains everything you need to know about object-removal done right. He breaks down several myths about Generative Fill, explains when it works and when it doesn’t, and the advantages of using the Remove tool for certain types of images. He also reveals a common misconception about resolution with regard to Generative Fill.

So when should you employ Generative Fill as opposed to other tools? The answer according to Smith boils down to this: “If you need to generate something you should be using Generative Fill.” This may seem like a facile explanation, but it makes much more sense when viewing his image of a women and her bicycle in front of a brick wall.

In practical terms it works like this: Non-generative tools will work fine if your goal is to remove both the woman and her bike, because “the image has everything needed.” On the other hand, if your goal is to only remove the woman, “now were going to have problems because part of the bike will have to be generated.”

Smith then walks you through a step-by-step process of employing both methods as appropriate. Here are a few key benefits of Photoshop’s Remove tool: There are no resolution limitations, it works faster, and an Internet connection isn’t required for local AI.

After employing the Remove tool to eliminate the woman and her bike, Smith then turn his attention to leaving the bike in the shot, while just removing the model. This is where Generative Fill comes into play and you’ll learn the right way to proceed while avoiding common mistakes that degrade the quality of the results you achieve.

So here’s the takeaway: Both techniques will get the job done when correctly applied. It’s simply a matter of understanding when to take one approach versus the other. Once you’ve finished watching this lesson, head over to the Photoshop Cafe YouTube channel where you’ll find solutions to just about any post-processing problems you confront.

And don’t miss the tutorial we featured recently with another image-editing specialist who demonstrates three alternatives to Lightroom’s Hue/Saturation/Luminance sliders for  enhancing photographs with perfect color.

Lightroom’s ever-evolving array of features and tools can be difficult to keep track of by intermediate users, let alone those new to the game. Today’s quick tutorial cuts through the grease by revealing five powerful “secrets” that anyone can start using today.

Photographer Nickolas Warner is a NY-based pro specializing in landscape, travel, and nature imagery. He’s also a very popular instructor, and in this six-episode he reveals a handful of hidden of “hidden” Lightroom methods that may even be unfamiliar to experienced users.

At the top of Warner’s list is a technique he calls “Subtracting the sky from the sky.” This process begins by opening Lightroom’s Masking panel, creating a new mask, and selecting the sky. This is the conventional approach and the results are often far from perfect, as you’ll see by zooming in on the image when you’ll notice ugly bleed-through to the adjacent mountains in the background.

This problem may also occur in reverse when inverting the mask to target everything in the scene but the sky. Fixing this may seem like a daunting task until you watch Warner clean up the selections by putting Lightroom’s oft-ignored Subtract feature to work.

Another cool trick involves the use of Lightroom’s Midtone Exposure slider that’s particularly useful for processing high-contrast photos. In these cases increasing the overall exposure quickly pushes the highlights and blows out the sky in Warner’s sample image. This is where the Midtone slider improves the image in a hurry by following the steps Warner provides.

Warner refers to the third secret as a “background color switch” that enables you to more accurately assess the tones an image when view against the white background on your computer screen. All that’s required is to switch the background to black or one of the many shades of gray. And you can always toggle back and forth to evaluate the image in different ways.

Keep watching because there are two more helpful tricks to learn that are just as effectice and easy as the trio summarized above. Warner refers to these as “before-and-after tools,” and color-masking additions.” Once the video concludes head over to Warner’s instructional YouTube channel where you’ll find a wide variety of post-processing advice.

We also recommend the Lightroom tutorial we featured with another editing expert who demonstrates how to rehabilitate underexposed photographs for perfectly balanced tones throughout complicated outdoor scenes.