Dealing with image-killing noise is a task commonly faced by landscape photographer who shoot at high ISO settings, either because of low-light conditions or when using slow shutter speeds to capture motion. In either case, there’s a simple way to remove these ugly artifacts, and today’s tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel explains how it works.

Instructor Christian Mohrle is an acclaimed landscape pro and a very popular educator. In this 14-minute episode he explains why “AI Denoise is my favorite Lightroom tool,” and how it can save underexposed images. His demonstration image  is a dark photo of a beautiful scene, shot at ISO 6,400, with a lake in the foreground and looming peaks in the distance. You can download the Raw file in the description beneath the video and follow along as the video proceeds.

Mohrle always begins with a few basic global adjustments that provide far more control for the important techniques that follow. His goal is a well saturated effect, so the first thing he does is go into the Basic tab and change the Profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Landscape. This immediately makes the image more vibrant and opens up the darkest areas.

Other preliminary enhancements include bringing up exposure, opening shadows, and carefully increasing Whites (taking care not to overly affect the dramatic sky). He then modifies White Balance, increasing the Temperature, “to make the shot feel warmer.” He also boosts Texture for a crisper look, while gently dropping Clarity and Dehaze.

Now it’s time to head into Lightroom’s Details tab where it’s easy to spot some very heavy noise—particularly in the darkest areas within the frame. The restoration process is initiated with a quick click on the Denoise button. At this point Lightroom does all the heavy lifting and provides a preview that reveals how the image will appear with and without AI Denoise applied.

The preview includes an Amount slider that enables you to refine the effect. When you like what you see just hit the Enhance button and you’ll be able to continue with your normal workflow and any other adjustments that are required.

Mohrle walks you through these final steps that include masking, color grading, and a bit of judicious sharpening. We trust that you’ll be very impressed when you view his before/after examples. In short, it’s a quite remarkable transformation.

There much more to learn about shooting and editing landscapes and other outdoor images on Mohrle’s instructional YouTube channel. So be sure to pay a visit and explore what he has available.

And for another straightforward and helpful Lightroom tutorial be sure to check out our recent post, explaining how to dramatically enhance dull and boring landscape photographs to make them POP!

The April 8 total solar eclipse is just around the corner and many people across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are excited about this spectacular event. Here’s an extremely important warning worthy of careful consideration—whether you plan to photograph the eclipse or just marvel at the celestial beauty with your eyes.

Here the problem in a nutshell: According to experts at the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the market is “polluted” with so-called “eclipse glass” that are either totally fake or don’t offer the necessary protection. A total eclipse happens as the moon passes between Earth and the sun for a few moments when the sun is totally blocked from our view.

The only time it’s safe to view a total eclipse without protective eyewear is during this brief period of totality. At first it can be difficult to distinguish between counterfeit solar viewers and the real thing. The confusion is compounded by the fact that most fake glasses are manufactured by just a few Chinese companies, before being rebranded with different logos.

Worse yet, according to experts at AAS “There’s no way to tell by just by looking at them whether eclipse glasses are genuinely safe.” But there’s an easy trick if you didn’t purchase glasses from a respected, certified source: If you put them on indoors, nothing should be visible except for extremely bright lights.

Then, if the glasses pass this initial test, put them on outdoors and look around. AAS data reveals that you still shouldn’t see anything through the specs, except perhaps the Sun’s reflection on a shiny surface or puddle—and these should appear very faint. Even if they pass this second critical test, be sure not to look directly at the sun for no more than two or three seconds every five minutes or so.

The ASS Solar Eclipse Task Force has puplished this list of solar viewers marketed by accredited labs that rigorously tests the products they sell. And don’t be fooled by unapproved glasses that are sold with the appropriate “ISO 12312-2 standard” nomenclature. That’s because “anyone can make such a statement, but that doesn’t make it true.”

We recommend you read the entire AAS statement that can be accessed through their link provided above. So have a very enjoyable and safe April. We hope your photographs look spectacular!

And just in case you need a bit of help, check out the tutorial we posted last year, explaining how to photograph the October 14 Annular Solar Eclipse that transfixed many of us across the nation. Of course, the maps and timing of that event differ from what will happen next week.

This tutorial is the first installment of an eye-opening series describing conditions under which you shouldn’t trust a camera’s meter to deliver accurate exposures when shooting images in certain situations. Today you’ll learn how much to underexpose a photo when faced with a low light, high contrast scene.

Instructor Martin Castein is an accomplished London-based pro who specializes in landscape and portrait photography. He not only explains when underexposure is necessary for a properly balanced image, but how to determine the degree to which you must override the meter depending upon the specific task at hand.

The demonstration image is a nighttime environmental portrait of a pretty model captured on the street at night, with a number of  lights and other bright elements surround the subject. By the end of this video you’ll understand how to expose scenes like this to achieve the specific look you want to create.

Castein demonstrates how he determined the correct exposure for this low light, high contrast image. But first he explains what he means by “high contrast” in situations like this: “A high-contrast scene is one in which the highlights are really bright and the dark areas are really dark.” In other words, there’s a huge range between the lightest areas in the frame, the darkest  portions of the scene, and everything in between.

Here’s how Castein describes the problem: “If I let the camera pick the exposure, the meter is going to go absolutely wild. That’s because at certain angles there’s going to be a lot of bright lights in the background.” Conversely, when shooting from another perspective there can be very dark sections that bias the reading recommended by a meter.

In short, the meter will try to balance the confusing illumination, and Castein explains why he  doesn’t trust the camera to get it right, and the methods he employs for determining exposure settings himself. In this particular image the model is strongly backlit, which factors into the equation.

While this type of illumination may seem to complicate matters further, when shooting at night or during the day, you’ll see why the reverse is often true. That’s because “putting the bright spots behind a subject usually means we get more even lighting.”

So watch how Castein gets the light exactly right for his beautifully exposed image. His method not only works really well for portraits, but for a variety of other subjects as well. Then visit his instructional YouTube channel to learn more helpful tips and tricks.

And on a related note, be sure to watch the recent tutorial we posted from another adept pro who explains how to use Exposure Bracketing when photographing landscape scenes in high-contrast situations. 

One common concern when photographing outdoor photos under challenging light is that the images we capture don’t appear as impressive on the computer as the scene we witness through the viewfinder. If that sounds familiar today’s five-minute Lightroom tutorial will set you straight in a hurry.

Instructor Neil Borg is a self-taught pro specializing in travel and landscape photography, and he’s an expert behind the computer. He kicks off this episode with a quick description of the problem. “One of the most important post-processing skills is the ability to extract color from photos.” He explains why shooting in Raw provides maximum control and versatility when tackling this essential task.

The goal is to achieve vibrant tones while keeping things looking natural, and Borg demonstrates simple global and selective enhancements for “adding some POP” without going overboard and risk messing up the shot. This involves taking time to carefully evaluate an image to determine a strategic plan before jumping into the enhancements.

Borg’s sample image is a flat and uninspiring seascape shot with dull colors and less than optimum composition, but it does have potential. He’s working in Lightroom, but everything you’ll learn can be easily accomplished with just about any other post-processing software you use. His goal is to “increase the vibrance of colors individually in order to make certain tones stand out more than others.

He begins with a few global adjustments, the first of which is to change the profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Landscape, and that immediately makes his image slightly more vibrant. Then he significantly reduces highlights and increases shadows. You might expect him to also crank up Vibrance, but Borg avoids this step for now because doing so “will increase color everywhere, and that’s not something we’d like to do.”

The real magic of Borg’s approach occurs with the selective enhancements he makes to various portion of the photo, and he uses a number of Color Range masks to accomplish this straightforward task. As you’ll see, “this allows us to select a range of colors in order to be able to affect particular areas that need to be enhanced in indifferent ways.”

Borg walks you through the step-by-step process that makes the image far more compelling, and then demonstrates a few tricks for refining the result. The tutorial concludes with a bit of careful cropping that improves the composition of the shot.

There’s much more to see on Borg’s instructional YouTube channel that has almost two million devoted subscribers. So make a point to take a close look and see what he has to offer.

We also recommend watching the related tutorial we posted with another pro who demonstrates the best way to shoot and edit beautiful spring flower photographs for images that pop off the screen.