Sooner or later in the evolution of every photographer, a time will come when creating personal style becomes a top priority. After all, we all want our images to be readily recognizable so they grab attention by standing out from the crowd.

Perhaps the best way to facilitate this process is by creating custom presets that reflect your creative vision. It’s not only easy to do, but you can make as many presets as you need to accelerate the editing process for the types of images you shoot most. Then you can instantly apply one of these timesaving presets to any image you capture.

You may be wondering why you should undertake this task since your editing software already includes a wide array of built-in presets. Or maybe you’d rather purchase an occasional preset online when something unusual strikes your fancy. Well, there are a few good reasons.

First, the presets built into Photoshop and other image editors are used by everyone else, so they’re not really going to imbue your images with a unique look. In fact many of these aren’t so great and yield gimmicky results. And why would you spend money purchasing presets from someone else, when it’s so easy to create your own?

Instructor Gary McIntyre kicks off today’s tutorial by saying this: “The new addition to Photoshop for creating your own presets is built upon the Adjustment Layers where you can add as many of these layers as you want. This handy new feature can save a lot of time in your editing if you have a preferred style or want to achieve a certain effect throughout a series of images.”

McIntyre’s approach to this two-minute episode is quite interesting as he explains how all this works. He pulls up an environmental portrait with the goal of giving the image a vintage look. He does this by modifying Hue/Saturation, Color Balance, and a few other characteristics until he achieves the exact look that he had in mind. And you’ll learn how to achieve these simple enhancements.

Then when the edit is complete, you’ll see how easy it is to create and save a preset of the adjustments he made, so duplicating this particular effect is a simple one-click operation.

We’re not suggesting that you simply copy this particular preset (although you certainly can), but rather that you follow McIntyre’s instructions to create personal presets of your own that you can use over and over again to reflect the style(s) you like most.

Be sure to visit McIntyre’s very popular YouTube channel where you’ll find a wide variety of straightforward techniques  like this one.

And don’t miss the tutorial we posted recently from another image-editing expert who explains why and how you should hide Photoshop’s home screen until you really need it. As he says, “In most cases it just gets in the way.”

German pro Christian Mohrle is a favorite among Shutterbug readers for two reasons: His imagery is stunning and the tutorials he posts are extremely effective and to the point. So when Mohrle identifies a Lightroom tool as the software’s “most powerful feature,” it’s time to pay attention and learn how it works.

This super helpful episode describes “the insane potential” of this post-processing technique and demonstrates how Mohrle uses different types of masks to create his gorgeous photographs. We suggest downloading the sample Raw file in the description beneath the video so you and Mohrle can get the job done together as the steps are revealed.

There’s  common theme running through all of Mohrle’s lessons and he puts it like this: “Masking is a vital part of my post processing, however it’s never the first thing I do.” In other words, he always gets the basics right before jumping into selective enhancements with masks. And that’s where he starts with today’s minimalist-style landscape shot.

Preliminary adjustments include cropping with a Rule-of-Thirds composition, adjusting the sky and foreground for a better base exposure to accentuate details in bright and dark areas within the frame, and modifying White Balance and Contrast. He also changes the profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Standard to provide more control over Contrast later in the process.

You’ll notice a significant improvement as Mohrle makes these and a few other simple tweaks, but as he says, global adjustments like these aren’t sufficient to achieve images with perfect colors and tones. And that’s where Lightroom’s Masking tools come to the rescue.

The first step is creating a sky-selection mask that enables Mohrle to refine the top portion of his shot. However, there’s a catch because he doesn’t want these enhancement to bias a solitary tree extending above the horizon. The quick solution here is to select Subtract and then employ a Linear Gradient to remove the very bottom part of his initial selection.

Mohrle’s selective enhancements to other portions of the image continue with a few different types of masks over the foreground, the horizon, and smaller areas that need work. It’s all very straightforward and accessible, even if you’ve never harnessed the power of masking in the past.

Two things will happen when you compare Mohrle’s before/after images: You’ll be very impressed by the remarkable transformation, and you’ll no longer avoid masking techniques because you thought they were too complicated to implement.

We encourage all landscape photographers to visit Mohrle’s instructional YouTube channel where there are many more shooting and editing tips to be found.

And don’t miss the tutorial we posted recently from another top pro, explaining the easiest way to use exposure bracketing in Lightroom to enhance landscape photographs.

Nikon just announced a new Super Zoom, the NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR, for Nikon Z series full-frame/FX-format mirrorless cameras. Boasting the highest zoom ratio in its class (14.28X) and a fast f/4 aperture at the 28mm end, it’s also the lightest in its class, weighing only 25.6 ounces (725g).

For expanded versatility, the new zoom focuses to 7.8 inches (0.2m) at the maximum wideangle position and 3.9 feet (1.2m) at the maximum telephoto position. Additionally, the NIKKOR Z 28-400 f/4-8 VR features VR (Vibration Reduction technology equivalent to 5.0 stops efficacy.

The subject of widespread rumors (as many popular Nikon products have been), the new NIKKOR Z 28-400 f/4-8 VR is very compact, measuring just 5.57 inches (141.5mm). It also provides dust- and drip-resistance.

Optical design comprises 21 elements in 15 groups and includes four ED glass elements and three aspherical elements. Also, it features internal focusing. The VR image stabilization is equal to 5.0 stops of correction as measured in accordance with CIPA standards.

Price & Availability
The new NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR lens is expected to ship in mid-April for $1299.95 (anticipated street price). For more information about Nikon products visit Nikonusa.com and connect with Nikon on Facebook, X (Twitter), YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Vimeo and Flickr.

∞ Shutterbug Staff