Here’s an eye-opening tutorial from one of our favorite landscape photographers for those of you who struggle when processing images in Lightroom. It’s all about how Lightroom’s Auto Settings can set you up for refining a shot further and can even “save your photos.”

German pro Christian Mohrle has a portfolio full of absolutely spectacular landscape photos, and he’s just as good behind the computer as he is in the field. If you’ve watched his lessons in the past, you know that he takes a two-step approach when processing his work. He first makes basic adjustments to the image as a whole so it’s as good as possible for the selective edits and masking that follow.

The point of today’s episode is to help you achieve the optimum “base image” using Lightroom’s Auto Settings. In some cases, the result maybe be perfectly fine without further editing, but if more needs to be done this initial approach will greatly simplify any steps that follow.

Mohrle walks you through the simple process in just 12 minutes while demonstrating the further refinements he made to transform a really good sunset scene into a great one. We suggest downloading his Raw file with the link beneath the video so you can follow along and makes the changes yourself as they’re explained.

He admits that “I was struggling a lot and didn’t know what to do with the shadows, the sky, and the forest on the right side of the frame.” Mohrle tried several of his go-to basic adjustments, all of which proved unsatisfactory, at which point Lightroom’s Auto settings came to the rescue.

Mohrle’s photo was part of an HDR sequence and you’ll see how the individual shots were merged as a prelude to describing the way Auto settings work and how to apply them for maximum effect. By checking the Auto Settings box in the Photo Merge window the image is instantly much improved with greatly restored highlight and shadow detail—even before clicking on the Merge button.

According to Mohrle, this is what happened: “What Lightroom tries to achieve with these Auto settings is it wants to create a balanced exposure with better contrast.” To illustrate how this happens he opens the Basic panel so you can see every adjustment that was automatically applied.

If all an image needs are adjustments to these common parameters, well, you can call the job done. But sometimes a few more enhancements are necessary if perfection is your goal.  To that end, Mohrle moves on to straightforward masking, color grading and sharpening. Take a look at his before/after images and you’ll be impressed.

Then head over to Mohrle’s instructional YouTube channel where you’ll find much more of interest for shooting in the field and editing images in Lightroom or Photoshop. And don’t miss the related tutorial we posted with another top pro, explaining how to shoot and edit HDR photographs for perfect exposures every time.

Last week, after a long time, I picked up the classic Nikon D850 DLR camera. Why did I do that? Well, to digitize the photos I took with even more classic cameras like the Nikon FM 3a. I didn’t stop with this relatively recent history and started digitizing some of my parents’ old slides as well. You will soon be able to read about how this can be done easily and without a special scanner. But before that, you can read about the latest news from the world of photography.

Maniacal about making backup copies of photos and video footage like I am? Then this baby is for you. When set to RAID 1, the SanDisk Professional G-RAID MIRROR drive automatically duplicates data onto a second built-in drive as it’s stored to provide worry-free data redundancy.

Overview
Backup copies of data, images and video files are like vitamins: we know how important they are, but sometimes we forget. Oh, you might sidestep disaster for a while, but sooner or later fate catches up with you. The SanDisk Professional G-RAID MIRROR external RAID drive takes human frailty out of the equation and automatically keeps two copies of everything you save to it. The benefits are obvious. In the unlikely event that your primary storage drive fails, you have a backup immediately at hand. Score that Technology 1, Regret 0.

RAID is an acronym for “Redundant Array of Independent Disks,” which is self-explanatory. RAID drives can be configured in various ways, each identified by a number after the word RAID. For example, RAID 1 is often called “mirroring” because it saves two identical copies of all data as described here. The SanDisk Professional G-RAID MIRROR external drive comes out of the box set up as a RAID 1.

The SanDisk Professional G-RAID MIRROR can also be arranged as a RAID 0, where instead of being saved as two distinct and identical copies, data is divided and spread across multiple drives. This is called “striping” and the primary benefit is increased data transfer speed (but with no redundancy). This SanDisk drive can likewise be setup in the JBOD configuration. JBOD stands for “Just a Bunch of Disks.” In fact, with the SanDisk G-RAID Mirror drive, users can change the RAID mode setting from default RAID 1 to RAID 0 or JBOD just by flipping a switch, i.e., without  the need to download an app or install special software.

Key Features
Delivers up to 44TB of max capacity (22TB in default RAID 1)
Equipped with two 7200RPM Ultrastar Enterprise-class hard drives
Default configuration is RAID 1
Expandable capacity via PRO-BLADE SSD Mag slot
Fast Thunderbolt 3 interface
Pairs well with iPad 4 tablets

Reasons to Buy Today
Your image and video files are priceless
See reason #1

Reasons to Shy Away
There are alternative systems, including NAS drives and Cloud storage

Sum & Substance
The SanDisk Professional G-RAID MIRROR external RAID is an external drive that can easily be transported from your studio to your office. Measuring 5.2 x 8.3 x 4.0 inches (133 x 210 x 103 mm) it occupies minimal desk space and delivers maximum peace-of-mind. It’s plug-in simple to use and hard to mess up. It can grow with you because it features a PRO-BLADE SSD Mag slot that enables you to add SSD capacity and performance without adding to your workspace.

Data safety is important for non-photographic files, too, of course. Nowadays, everyone keeps records of life transactions digitally. Protect your tax records, client communications and other important data backed up automatically.

Highly recommended.

Price & Availability
The SanDisk Professional G-RAID MIRROR external RAID is available in 12, 16, 24, 36 and 44TB capacities. Prices start at $659.99 for the 12TB model. (Bear in mind that RAID 1 mode divides the overall drive capacity in half when saving two copies; a 12TB holds 6TB of data in total.) It’s available now from Western Digital, parent company of SanDisk, and authorized SanDisk Professional retailers and e-tailers including Amazon.

For all of your data storage needs, visit the SanDisk Professional Store at amazon.com.

 

—Jon Sienkiewicz

 

(As an Amazon Associate, Shutterbug earns from qualifying purchases linked in this story.)

Capturing beautiful female portraits can be very challenging for inexperienced photographers. And when the “model” is also new to the game, things become even more difficult. After all, many of our subjects aren’t really models at all, but rather spouses, loved ones, or female friends.

This tutorial from the popular In Your Fayes YouTube channel isn’t about camera gear, posing tips, lighting, or shooting techniques. Instead it concentrates on an oft-ignored task; namely, how to put your subject at ease during what could even be her first modeling session.

Today’s instructor Faye is the channel’s namesake and she’s known for her captivating portraits. She’s also an attractive professional model, so she knows of what she speaks. In this helpful six-minute episode she shares eight ways to make your subject feel comfortable and allay any fears—thereby making the shoot productive and fun for both of you.

Faye has been modeling since she was 16 yeas old, and she quickly learned that her comfort level had a big impact on what “I radiated with my face” and the impact of what the photographer was able to convey. This fact is particularly important when working with novice subjects because, despite a great appearance, they may be insecure about their looks.

The process begins when first reaching out to a subject, and it’s important to be very clear about how you intend to proceed, the type of images you’re looking for, and what you expect from the model. Wardrobe expectations are also very important.

Getting to know your subject and developing trust and a friendly rapport is the first thing you should do, so don’t pull out your camera and begin shooting as soon as she arrives. Otherwise the session could become awkward from the onset, and that can be difficult to remedy as the shoot proceeds.

Tip #3 has to do with the fact that “everyone loves food and music,” so make sure to put on some sweet sounds with good vibes and have snacks or even a meal planned depending upon the anticipated length of the session. In other words, it’s difficult for a nervous, moody, or hungry model to really deliver the goods.

Good communication is also essential, both before and during the shoot. So make sure the model understands the “feel” you’d like to convey with your images and solicit her input so that she feels like an important member of the team.

At this point you’re only halfway through the lesson, and there’s much more helpful advice to go, including the power of positive feedback and why you should let the model view the photos as they’re captured so it’s easy for her to switch things up for a different look. Ask a few questions, listen carefully to the subject’s responses, and, above all, have some fun!

And on a related note, watch the tutorial we posted from another adept pro, explaining how to capture stunning outdoor portraits without flash in direct sun.