Here a simple way to differentiate between knowledgeable Lightroom users and their less experienced counterparts: The former use local adjustment to maximize their edits while the latter fail to understand how these essential tools provide significantly better results.

The goal of today’s eye-opening tutorial from Utah-based landscape pro Austin James Jackson is to provide a few pro tricks to help your photos POP by selectively improving color, exposure contrast, and other key variables. By following his advice you’ll be able to give outdoor images a more polished and finished look with greater depth and dimension.

Here’s the common mindset that Jackson is trying to change: “A lot of photographers will adjust the basic sliders, they’ll go through the Tone Curve and Hue/Saturation sliders, and then they’ll call it a day.” If this workflow sounds familiar, you’re leaving a lot on the table with regard to the full potential of every photo you process.

Lightroom’s Local Adjustment tools reside inside the Masking panel and Jackson insists that learning how to use them will “instantly” make you a better photographer. Unlike the global adjustments mentioned above, this selective approach enables you to enhance specific portions within the frame using whatever tools are required, without affecting the rest of the image.

Today’s demonstration shot is a pretty seascape scene with rosy colors in the clouds and similar warm reflections in the water. Jackson already made a few basic enhancements like those mentioned above, and many photographers would be pleased without any further adjustments. But watch what happens when Selective Adjustments are applied with straightforward masking techniques.

Jackson walks you through simple step-by-step masking techniques that are designed to take the impact of his photograph “over the top.” First on the agenda is employing a Radial Gradient to add a subtle glow to a specific area in the sky. He does this by raising Exposure, boosting Highlights, and increasing Saturation. He also drops Dehaze and modifies Feather.

The transformation proceeds in a similar fashion with other types of masks, applying adjustments only where they’re needed to balance out color, tones and other important variables to arrive at a beautiful result.

Once you see how all this this works you won’t be able to unsee it—and that’s a very good thing because these techniques will improve your imagery by leaps and bounds. Be sure to visit Jackson’s YouTube channel, especially if you’re a landscape photographer, where is much more to learn.

We also suggest watching a tutorial we featured recently with another accomplished pro who demonstrates a powerful Lightroom technique that accentuates landscape photos with menacing weather for a very dramatic effect.

One of the most exciting aspects of landscape photography is that we’re never sure what to expect from Mother Nature. Sometimes calm, sunny days quickly transform into  dark and foreboding scenarios with threatening clouds and other eye-popping atmospherics that make for awesome imagery.

Unfortunately, our results don’t always match the impact of what we saw through the viewfinder, and that’s usually because we didn’t nail exposure. Other times there seems to be a promise of dramatic weather that fails to materialize no matter how long we wait.

In either case, there are post-processing techniques that will significantly enhance the impact of a shot—either by accentuating photos captured on a stormy day or by creating the appearance of dramatic weather when none really existed. This tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel demonstrates how to give Mother Nature a helping hand with a few simple adjustments in Lightroom.

Instructor Christin Mohrle is a very accomplished landscape pro from Germany, and he includes a link to the sample Raw files so you can follow along and mimic his 12-minute process as the steps are explained. He’s working with a panoramic image, so he begins by explaining how to merge eight photos he made of the scene.

Next come a few basic global adjustments to prepare his merged image for the selective enhancements that follow. He changes the profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Standard which immediately lessens contrast. Then he slightly drops overall exposure, further cuts highlights to accentuate details in the sky, and slightly increases the blacks.

After a few more simple tweaks the fun part begins, using masks to make selective adjustments to pump up drama in various portions of the shot—particularly in the sky where he creates a very ominous effect. His description of this process is a good refresher for the next time you employ masks for other types of edits.

The transformation concludes with careful sharpening and simple color grading. A quick glance at Mohrle’s before/after images confirms the power of this quick technique. There’s much more to learn about shooting and editing landscape images on Mohrle’s instructional YouTube channel so be sure to pay a visit.

We also suggest watching the tutorial we featured with another accomplished pro who explains why the f/stop you choose has a huge impact on the look of your photographs, and how to select the best aperture for various situations.

Top-Notch composition skills can make the difference between good photographs and great ones, especially when shooting landscapes and other outdoor scenes. Today you’re going to learn five “essential” framing techniques that pro Sean Gallagher says contribute to the impact of his stunning imagery

Gallagher is an environmentally conscious documentary photographer who has travelled the globe producing compelling work for National Geographic, The Guardian, the Pulitzer Center, and other top-tier outlets. He’s also been a Fellow at the prestigious UK Royal Geographic Society for the past 20 years.

Whether you’re just getting started or a more experienced shooter Gallagher’s proven techniques will level up your composition skills in barely 12 minutes. And all this really requires is viewing the word a bit differently and taking a more thoughtful approach. In essence, this lesson is all about creating order out of the chaos we often confront when pursuing our craft in the field.

Gallagher’s first suggestion is one with which you’re likely familiar; namely, the popular Rule of Thirds. There’s no need for us to summarize it here because we’ve covered it the past, other than to note that it’s one of the most basic fundamentals of photography. If you think this common “rule” is too basic for publications like National Geographic, think again, because Gallagher says this: “The Rule of Thirds often underpins so many of those great photographs you see.”

A less familiar approach is to use patterns and shapes when framing up a shot. Here Gallagher notes that “the human eye and brain are especially attuned to recognizing patterns and shapes.” His point is that as photographers we can tap into our natural appreciation of these important elements to make images with more impact and interest.

The use of symmetry is another powerful technique for drawing a viewers eye into an image, as is what Gallagher refers to as “The Power of Three.” He also demonstrates his thought process behind “Filling the Frame” and why there are times when your images aren’t good enough because you’re simply not close enough.

Gallagher’s tips are illustrated with beautiful images that will provide you with a heavy dose of inspiration and encouragement to expand your photographic vision. So take a close look and put these straightforward techniques to work. Your image library will thank you for sure.

We also recommend watching another tutorial from Gallagher that we featured in the past, in which he demonstrates how to capture Golden-Hour landscape photographs with a unique and breathtaking look.

Last month we featured a beginners guide to boudoir photography without flash—using nothing more that window light and a simple backdrop or plain white wall. Instructor Yuliya Panchenko is back with another tutorial today for creating a totally different look that really grabs attention.

Panchenko is an Orlando-based boudoir specialist whose popular YouTube channel is dedicated to straightforward tutorials for photographers who are inexperienced with this unique genre of portraiture. In today’s 12-minute episode she collaborates with stunning model Scarlet Begonias to teach you the secrets of employing low-key lighting to create dramatic images that accentuate the female form.

She describes the concept like this: “Low-key lighting is a style with enhanced shadows and contrast that adds drama and mystery to images.” This a compelling technique, especially for boudoir sessions, because it helps define and accentuate the subject’s most enticing physical attributes (and hide others she doesn’t want on display)  

Be sure to keep in mind that much of what you’ll learn also applies to making conventional portraits that stand out from the crowd. Panchenko covers a variety of topics, including camera settings, posing tips, and how to direct an inexperienced model to achieve flattering, intimate portraits.

This particular technique does rely upon a minimum of supplemental illumination and Panchenko provides two options for setting up a home “studio.” One relies upon a couple incandescent lamps and a single photography light, and the other throws a second studio light into the mix.

In basic terms the technique works like this: You’ll want to use a simple dark backdrop and eliminate ambient light from the room to avoid unwanted light spillover on the subject or background. Panchenko explains why she keeps ISO as low as possible, typically ISO 100-150, uses an aperture setting of f/11, with a shutter speed of 1/200.

Panchenko’s overall goal is to  “only allow the specific highlights we want in our image to enter the camera.” And she walks you through all the necessary steps for controlling the illumination to get the job done to perfection.

After watching the lesson head over to Panchenko’s YouTube channel where you’ll find a wide variety of boudoir photography techniques, tips on working with models, gear recommendations, and much more.

And don’t forget to check out the very helpful boudoir photography beginners guide mentioned above.