Nighttime is a great time to shoot on city streets because streetlamps, car trails and colorful shop windows often create a sparkling tableau. And in rainy weather, reflections on pavement adds impact to the scene.

But what if you mess up on the exposure and your photos appear dark and boring? This five-minute tutorial explains a foolproof technique for transforming those failed images into money shots with a Video Game-style neon effect.

Instructor Neil Borg’s YouTube channel promises to “unlock the world of photo editing” with straightforward tutorials for photographers of all skill levels. Be forewarned that the neon dreamscapes you’ll learn how create  in Lightroom today are not only fun, but can be addicting as well.

Borg begins with a quick crop to refine the composition according to the Rule of Thirds, along with a few basic adjustments to prepare the shot for the nuanced enhancements that follow. He increases exposure to add more life to the lights and slightly decreases highlights to pull more detail out of a prominent bright sign on the right side of the frame.

The rest of the adjustments for his neon effect all rely upon color calibration and grading, and Borg walks you through the simple step-by-step process that begins in Lightroom’s Calibration panel. He moves the Tint slider to the left (toward the greens), while shifting Hue in the same direction (toward the reds).

Borg also modifies blue tones to create an eye-catching teal color. The next step is adjusting the colors of the darkest areas of the shot while slightly opening up the shadows in a way that accentuates the neon effect. The image is now pretty close to what Borg envisions, and he refines the look with White Balance adjustments.

A few quick local enhancements are all it takes to get the neon color effect just right. Borg concludes the impressive transformation with a bit of careful sharpening and noise reduction. Take a look as his before/after examples and you’ll really like what you see.

There are many more helpful post-processing tips on Borg’s instructional YouTube channel, so be sure to explore what’s available.

And speaking of shooting at night, we also suggest watching the recent tutorial we posted with another image-editing expert who demonstrates how to use Lightroom’s Denoise to create clean photographs shot at almost any ISO setting.

So you captured a gorgeous landscape scene and nailed focus, exposure, and composition. Then you reviewed your images on the computer, expecting stunning results, only to discover that the horizons are curved and distorted.

This is a common problem that often occurs when shooting expansive vistas with a very wide lens. In this tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel you’ll learn how easy it is to fixed this problem with Lightroom’s Lens Correction tools.

Instructor Christian Mohrle is a highly acclaimed German landscape photographer who has a blunt opinion on this topic: “A bent horizon is something that will definitely ruin an otherwise good image.” Feel free to download his sample Raw file with the link beneath the video so you can make the quick fix yourself as the steps are explained.

Mohrle explains that the bent effect will be stronger or weaker depending upon the lens in use and how you composed the shot. “Placing the horizon in the dead-center of the frame will minimize the effect. On the other hand, if you put the horizon toward the edge of an image the curvature effect is accentuated.”

The first step is going to Lightroom’s Lens Correction settings and making sure to check the Remove Chromatic Aberration box. Mohrle explains why he always checks this box when editing an image, but it doesn’t have anything to do with today’s task of straightening the horizon. The next key step for this task is to select Enable Profile Corrections.

Lightroom usually detects the lens you used, unless an adapter was employed. In that case it’s necessary to set the lens profile manually, and Mohrle demonstrates how that’s done with a dropdown menu offering a wide variety of choices. As you’ll see, using the wrong profile can result in an inverted curve to the horizon.

Not only does applying the proper lens correction rehabilitate the horizon, but it improves any vignetting as well. There are times when the horizon is significantly repaired, but it’s not absolutely perfect. Mohrle explains how to quickly refine the result by using Lightroom’s Distortion slider.

This tutorial doesn’t end once the curved horizon is fixed, because Mohrle is a true perfectionist. Therefore he walks you through his process for enhancing the image further with basic global adjustments, masking, color grading, and a bit of subtle sharpening. The transformation is completed by removing a few distracting sensor spots.

Everyone interested in landscape photography should pay a visit to Mohrle’s robust YouTube channel, where there’s a wealth of lessons on all aspects of the craft.

We also suggest watching the tutorial we posted recently with another post-processing expert who explains how to avoid making a variety of beginner image-killing mistakes when editing your landscape photographs.

Have you ever captured an image that looked like a pixelated mess, either because your camera was inadvertently set to low resolution or you cropped the photo excessively? If so, this tutorial from the Bazillions instructional YouTube channel is just what you need, as it explores the fascinating world of AI upscaling.

Instructor Matt Griffith is a nomadic pro whose work spans the bustling streets of Bogota to other locations in Europe where he also captures beautiful landscape images. He introduces today’s episode by saying this: “AI upscaling is a technology that’s revolutionizing how we enhance and refine the clarity and detail of our images.”

He notes that what you’ll learn in this comprehensive video is equally appropriate for professional photographers as it is for amateur who are passionate about bringing old or low-resolutions back to life. In other words, “Mastering AI upscaling tools is a game-changer” for everyone with a camera—regardless of the type of images they shoot.

Griffith begins by discussing the fundaments of AI upscaling, and he explains how it differs from traditional methods. He then takes an in-depth look at various online and offline tools, including KREA, Upscayl, HitPaw Photo Enhancer, and Photoshop’s latest upscaling features.

You’ll discover the strengths, weaknesses, and unique features of all these tools so you can decide which one best meets your specific needs. The lesson also includes step-by-step mini tutorials with practical demonstrations of everything necessary for achieving stunning images—whether you’re rehabilitating images for professional use or just enhancing old family photos to keep the precious memories alive.

One important consideration is choosing a proper upscaling tool for the specific task at hand, which is why you may want to have a couple of these apps in your toolkit. And one cool aspect of Griffith’s approach is that he explains how to achieve creative effects during the upscaling process.

You’ll also see side-by-side comparisons of images upscaled with different tools—making it easy to understand the impact of various technologies. After you’re done watching take a look at Griffith’s YouTube channel where there’s much more to learn.

We also urge you to watch the tutorial we featured recently from another expert who demonstrates how to use a Photoshop technique known as “focal length blending” for the best landscape images you’ve ever created.

Zoner Photo Studio X, a popular photo and video editing application, has been improved in vital ways, including processing images optimized for HDR displays, Zoner announced today. Current users can download the latest version at no additional cost.

According to Zoner’s Thomas Urban, the most significant enrichment of Zoner Photo Studio X leverages true HDR technology that’s baked into advanced monitors. It’s not the multi-image HDR that may first come to mind.

“No — not the old, over-processed bracketing technique that has been called HDR up until now,” Urban explained. “True HDR technology can display a greater dynamic range of light and gets the maximum brightness, detail and emotion from your photos. You’ve never been closer to reality than with HDR and ZPS X.”

A deeper explanation of true HDR can be found on Zoner’s website. Quoting from that article, “True HDR photography is a new way to use technical advances in display technology to show high dynamic range and details that are closer to reality.”

According to Urban, Zoner Photo Studio X is among the first photo editing applications to include support for true HDR. In fact, he told us, ZPS X includes the most comprehensive support for true HDR formats and the highest comfort for editing true HDR photos. The software update has been thoroughly tested on dozens of different monitors supporting true HDR. The only slight downside: it will be necessary to calibrate your HDR monitor as well as ZPS X for accurate results.

Users can present their HDR work fully on Zonerama, Zoner’s online storage and sharing platform that’s free to all. Zonerama has been able to handle HDR content since June of 2023.

Other enhancements to Zoner Photo Studio X include the ability to create unique editing styles with new Develop Module effects. The Glow Effect brightens highlights, making images more dynamic and while emphasizing lens flare. The Halation Effect adds a retro feel to images by adding a subtle glow around objects.

Additional improvements comprise 3D LUT manipulation, color fringe control, new keyboard shortcuts and new features for the video module.  Users can now choose from 36 customizable video transitions, add timestamps while editing video and improved keyframing.

Zoner Photo Studio X is billed as a powerful yet affordable alternative to Lightroom and Photoshop for Windows users. ZPS X consists of five modules that enable users to switch operations without leaving the software platform. The modules are used to perform organization, basic editing, advanced editing, printing and video editing.

Zoner Photo Studio costs $59 per year or $5.99 monthly. Users can download the full version on a 7-day Free Trial basis. ZPS X supports Windows 10 and 11.

∞ Shutterbug Staff