The other day we featured a tutorial for beginning Photoshop users, discussing a variety of image-killing mistakes and simple ways to correct them. There’s no need to feel left out if you process photos in Lightroom, because we’re doing the same thing for you today.

Serge Ramelli is a highly acclaimed French photographer, specializing in landscape and cityscape imagery. He’s also a great instructor with a large international following on his YouTube channel that has almost 650K subscribers.

He introduces today’s lesson like this: “These are the five biggest Lightroom mistakes I see when people retouch their photos.” He reveals what they are and provides straightforward ways to fix them, in reverse order—from the least important to the most critical. Ramelli pulls up an early morning photograph captured in Paris to kick off the video.

At first glance this image appears pretty awesome, but upon closer examination it becomes apparent that the quality of the shot is compromised because too much Clarity was applied during the editing process. He explains that Clarity can add impact to a wide variety of images, but he insists that a heavy-handed approach is a sure way to spoil a photo by creating a garish and unrealistic effect.

Many photographers are guilty of Error #2, namely too much sharpening, and it’s one that often provokes this response from viewers: “Oh you really Photoshopped that shot.” This is another case in which a subtle approach delivers far better results and proves the old adage that less is often more. Once again Ramelli zooms in on the image to reveal a crispy and unsightly look. As Ramelli remarks, “This photo is so over-sharpened that it hurts my eyes.” Ouch!

Another common mistake involves improper White Balance adjustments, and Ramelli’s suggestion here is to remember how the colors in your scene appeared through the viewfinder when you were shooting in the field. Ramelli explains how the manner in which you use Lightroom’s White Balance slider has a “critical” effect on the impact of your images. In other words, “this is an arbitrary and artistic decision” that you have to make with care—depending upon the specific mood you want to create.

The are two more mistakes and solutions remaining, and Ramelli considers these of upmost importance. So watch the video until the end so that you don’t damage your eyes or those of the folks who view your images. Then head over to Ramelli’s popular YouTube channel for more landscape photography shooting and editing tips.

And don’t forget to watch the tutorial mentioned above with solutions to image-killing mistakes for inexperienced Photoshop users.

We recently featured an eye-opening tutorial explaining why it sometimes make sense to shoot Jpeg images, and the best way edit them in Lightroom for optimum results. We’re following that up today with this beginners guide to processing Raw files in Photoshop with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR).

This tutorial comes from our friends at the PHLEARN YouTube channel, a robust source of instructional Photoshop advice with over two million subscribers and almost 900 lessons. In today’s episode you’ll learn how easy it is to unlock the amazing benefits of ACR in less than eight minutes.

Instructor Aaron Nace is a world-renowned photographer and post-processing expert. He demonstrates how to use ACR for non-destructive editing just like in Lightroom, and kicks of the video with this promise: “You’ll learn how to open photos in ACR, master masking basics for selective adjustments, and make targeted corrections to exposure, brightness, and color.”

Nace explains that this oft-ignored built-in Photoshop feature is “insanely powerful” with a all the basic functionality of editing Raw files in Lightroom. The technique begins by creating a new layer and converting it to a Smart Object. Doing this is the key to a non-destructive approach that enables you to undo any adjustments and return to ACR whenever you want.

The next step is navigating to Photoshop’s Neural Filters panel and selecting the Camera Raw Filter from the dropdown list of options. Now you’ll see an array of adjustment sliders on the right side of the screen for performing fast and precise enhancements. Masking is available too. In other words, if you’ve ever used Lightroom, everything with be very familiar.

Nace explains why he typically start his edits with Masking before moving on to other enhancements. Because he’s working on a portrait photo he initiates the process by clicking on Select Subject. Then he employs the Subtract command and uses a brush to quickly refine the Mask so that the following adjustments are as precise as can be.

Nace demonstrates the enhancements necessary for his selection in this particular  photo. He employs simple sliders to slightly increase overall exposure and further open up shadows to increase details in the darkest portions of the model.

The foregoing is just a taste of what you’ll learn in this basic guide to ACR, so follow along and perhaps jot down a few notes. Then compare the before/after images and you’ll be very impressed by what can be accomplished with this quick and simple technique.

Aaron’s instructional YouTube channel offers straightforward videos on just about any Photoshop technique imaginable. So check back frequently, especially when you run into a bind.

And be sure to check out the tutorial mentioned above with a basic guide to editing Jpeg photographs when it doesn’t make sense to shoot Raw files.

Understanding how Lightroom’s Masking tools work is an essential component of making selective enhancements to various parts of a scene to achieve a final image with perfectly balanced tones. If you’re having difficultly creating clean results, this straightforward tutorial is just what you need.

Instructor Mark A. Hunter is a post-processing expert, and in this episode he reveals a powerful technique that may appear counterintuitive at first—until you see how well it works. The idea is to add a Mask, Subtract the same Mask, and then Invert it to achieve an absolutely precise selection.

Hunter pulls up a trio of images to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method for different types of photos. All three involve cleaning up sky selections, “because Lightroom doesn’t always get it right.” His first example is a seaside shot that already has an imperfect sky selection created with the conventional technique.

If you zoom in on the photo you’ll see how the selection has bled into the buildings on the horizon, a common problem that’s definitely not what you want. The tugboat and the surrounding area in the image are seriously underexposed so he makes a few basic corrections before revealing his alternative masking technique.

With that out of the way Hunter returns to his AI selection to “tidy it up.” He first Subtracts the Mask and illustrates how that’s done. Now the sky itself is unselected but the purple bleed over is readily apparent. But here’s where the magic occurs: Once you Invert the shot you’re back to the original mask, but all the offensive bleed on the shoreline buildings has disappeared.

Now “you can go on your merry way” and edit the image with any adjustments necessary. Here Hunter drops Highlights, adds a bit of Clarity, opens up the shadows, and makes a few other adjustments for a final image that’s far superior to the original. And this entire transformation took barely four minutes to accomplish.

Hunter’s point is this: There’s no reason to be alarmed by a somewhat sloppy initial selection, because this effective approach will clean everything up in a hurry. He does the same for two more images, just so there’s no question about how all this works for just about any photographs you capture in the great outdoors.

The technique works so well that we’re sure you’ll employ it often when making selective enhancements to your photos. After the video concludes pay a visit to Hunter’s instructional YouTube channel where there are more unique processing tips to be found.

You may also want to check out the earlier tutorial we featured, demonstrating another pro’s post-processing technique for creating dramatic depth in landscape photographs by enhancing light and shadow in Lightroom.