Every so often we all take things too far when making adjustments in Photoshop, and some photographers cancel the enhancement and begin again. But what if we told you there are “hidden undo sliders” that enable you to backtrack your steps incrementally rather than starting over?

In this tutorial from the globally popular PiXimperfect YouTube channel you’ll discover five easy methods for taking a partial step back to modulate the heavy-handed adjustments you just made. Or as instructor Unmesh Dinda puts it: “take a half step back.”

Dinda has over five million subscribers to his channel, and he’s a favorite among Shutterbug readers who appreciate the thorough-yet-concise manner in which he imparts his wisdom. If you never realized you had access to a handful of undo sliders, this episode will quickly bring you up to speed.

The first method Dinda reveals involves using Photoshop’s Fade command to dial things back when editing a portrait photo. And like with his other four tips, he provides keyboard shortcuts that accelerate the process. The problem with this shot occurred when Dinda used a selection to remove bags under the subject’s eyes, but his initial adjustments were excessive.

Another technique, applied to a different portrait image is simply reducing Opacity, and this method works great when you go overboard with color grading and overlays. Here Dinda hovers over the Opacity tab and drags it to left the until the effect looks really good. He also explains the settings required for this particular task.

Adjusting Smart Filter Opacity is another effective method when you want incremental control over reducing various enhancements instead of starting over from scratch. This technique sounds similar to the previous one, but as you see it’s quite different. He uses this method to quickly and efficiently perfect adjustments he made to his shot of a bulldog in the forest.

The are two remaining methods described in the video; one using Mask Density and the other employing Reconstruct in Liquify. All five techniques will save you plenty of time by backing off adjustments that smack you in the face.

Once you’re done watching pay a visit to Dinda’s  instructional YouTube channel that contains a treasure trove of lessons on powerful image-editing techniques.

And on a related note, be sure to check out the tutorial we posted from another post-process expert ho demonstrates why excessive post processing can ruin images with an unrealistic result, and how to do things properly from the get-go.

Experienced landscape photographers often use a technique known as “focal-length blending” to create interesting wide-angle compositions. In this 12-minute tutorial you’ll learn how easy it is to get the job done—both in the field and in Photoshop.

In simple terms, the method works like this: You’ll shoot a couple images at different focal length and then blend them together during post processing. Instructor Austin James Jackson, a Utah based pro, explains the compositing process like this: “Think of it like a focus stack where you’re blending multiple images, but instead of focusing on different spots you’re actually zooming in and out and blending multiple focal lengths.”

This may sound crazy, but it really works when photographing certain scenes like the example in this lesson. As you’ll see, Jackson’s expansive vista was captured with a very wide lens, which deemphasized a key element in the frame. By taking this approach to make this subject a bit larger the final image is significantly improved.

Jackson’s desert scene has a clump of colorful flowers very close to the camera, and a small distracting bush a bit further back on the ride side of the frame. The bush is sort of ugly and adds nothing of value to the photo, so he eliminates if from the composition before concentrating on the flowers.

According to Jackson, the focal-length blending technique works best with images that have a lot of negative space in the midground. He’s shooting at f/9 and making sure each of the images are properly focused for what follows. It’s important to have your camera mounted on a tripod when using this approach.

Jackson demonstrates why it’s not necessary to make a huge change in focal length when zooming in on the subject between shots. You also must be mindful of not getting in so tight that part of the key subject falls outside the frame. In his example, a change of just 11mm makes a huge difference.

Once you’ve captured the necessary photos it’s time to upload them to the computer, open them in Photoshop, and blend them together to create one amazing and very realistic landscape image. If you also focus stacked the images it’s important to handle that first before jumping into the focal length blend.

Jackson walks you through every step of the straightforward process that’s accessible to Photoshop users of all skills levels. For this demonstration he only captured two shots that need to be merged—each at a slightly different focal length setting.

We think you’ll be duly impressed when you compare the before/after images. Then head over to Jackson’s very popular YouTube channel for more eye-opening lessons like this one.

And don’t miss the tutorial we posted recently form another accomplished pro who demonstrates how to master Photoshop’s powerful Clone Stamp tool in barely two minutes.

I’m excited to announce that we’re now able to offer yearly, rather than just monthly, memberships on our Member Page! Our readers have asked about this feature for months, and it’s finally here. To kick things off, we’re also announcing a major 72-hour sale for yearly signups.

This has been quite a busy week for our team. Spencer put another batch of lenses through their paces in our lab, including a pair of Nikon supertelephotos that I’m very curious about. Jason is on a quest to photograph his 700th bird species, currently stuck on bird #699. As for me, I took advantage of the nice weather in the “natural laboratory” of Central Europe to test two very interesting lenses last week. One of them is a complete novelty – the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8. You’ll be able to read more about it soon. For now, let’s recap this week’s news in the photography world.