Tilt-shift lenses work wonders to significantly refine an image in a number of important ways. Unfortunately these specialized lenses are extremely costly and beyond the means of many photographers—especially for the limited application they provide.

But here’s the good news: Thanks to Lightroom’s new Lens Blur feature you can mimic some of the effects of a tilt-shift lens, as you’ll see in the tutorial below from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel. You won’t have to invest in new glass, and the results you achieve are surprisingly realistic.

Instructor Christian Mohrle is a successful German landscape photographer who always has a few tricks up his sleeve, and today he demonstrates how to use Lightroom’s Lens Blur tools for this specific task. We suggest downloading the sample Raw file in the description beneath the video so you can make the changes yourself while watching Mohrle explain the steps.

The Tilt-shift magic comes about halfway through the video, after Mohrle improves the image with a few basic adjustments and a bit of selective masking and color grading. These are important steps, so we encourage you to watch the entire lesson.

The preliminary steps begin with changing the profile to Adobe landscape for more base saturation. Mohrle also adjusts White Balance to maintain a Blue Hour look, slightly raises overall exposure while dropping the highlights, and opens up shadows in the darkest portions of the frame. He also increases texture and drops Clarity.

Mohrle then employs some simple masking to further refine the image, primarily focusing on the sky. He uses a large Linear Gradient to get the job done. Here his goal is to bring down exposure in the top portion of the image. Because this adjustment adds a bit too much saturation he opens the Color panel and slightly tones things down.

The next step is opening Lightroom’s Color Mixer for some straightforward color grading. Mohrle uses the sliders to bring up red tones while dropping yellows and oranges. He also slightly increases the blues and applies a bit of split-toning.

Now you’re at the 6:31 mark of the video where you’re learn how to use Lens Blur to create the natural looking tilt-shift technique. Mohrle explains that this new feature is intended for creating soft, blurry backgrounds, but you’ll see that there’s a lot more than it can do when you manipulate the Depth Map of the image.

Mohrle’s popular YouTube channel contains much more of interest for shooting and editing landscape photographs, so be sure to take a look when you have time.

And don’t miss another helpful editing tutorial we posted recently from another expert, explaining how to use Lightroom to add texture and contrast to Landscape photos without killing image quality.

There are countless plugins available for Lightroom and Photoshop, some more effective than others. But which one’s are the best for landscape and nature photographers? Read on and you’ll find out.

Instructor Austin James Jackson is an accomplished landscape pro based in Southern Utah whose considerable skills belie his young age. In the 15-minute tutorial below he reveals “three plugins I think you should own for landscape photography.” In fact, he says he uses these helpful post-processing add-ons with virtually every image he edits.

All three of these simple tools easily launch from Lightroom or Photoshop and can be used at any point during the editing process, and that means you won’t have to change your entire workflow to take advantage of the plugins to easily enhance your work in a variety of different ways. You’ll find links to these top picks in the description beneath the video.

Jackson actually discusses four different plugins, but he says two are interchangeable, meaning you really only need three. His first choice is Nik Color Efex 6 that sells for around $150 with a few extras. When opening Efex 6 you’ll notice tons of filters in the panel on the left, and Jackson explains which ones he prefers and how they work.

This software offers a wide variety of other features, including presets, customization, import options, and more. The filters Jackson says he uses most are those called Polarization, Pro Contrast, and Tonal Contrast. As you’ll see, you can even stack filters atop one another for enhanced creative control.

Another top pick is ON1 Effects 2023, and Jackson says this one is interchangeable with Nik Color Efex 6, so it’s just a matter of which one your prefer. Despite its powerful capabilities, On1 Effects is significantly less expensive than Nik Color Efex 6: It has a regular price of about $70 and often goes on sale for around $50. He walks you through much of what it can do, so you’ll be able to make an informed choice.

There are a couple more plugins that Jackson considers “essential.” and he explains how they work to improve your editing experience. One is the very popular Topaz Photo AI and the other is ON1 Resize AI that does exactly what the name implies.

Bottom line: If you want the best edits possible these assets will help you get the job done, easier and more effectively than if you just rely upon Lightroom or Photoshop alone. After watching the video take a look at Jackson’s popular YouTube channel where there’s much more of interest for landscape photographers.

And don’t miss the tutorial we posted recently from another image-editing expert, explaining how to use Lightroom’s amazing new Point Color tool to eliminate ugly color contamination from photos.

Technical skills are undoubtedly important, but sometimes they’re not enough to capture images with maximum impact. That’s because even if you know your way around the camera your images will suffer if you’re not equally adept at composing scenes in the field.

The video below from one of our favorite outdoor photographers reveals a number of common framing mistakes that have to do with following the “rules” of photography too closely. You’ll learn when the break the rules and use other effective techniques instead.

Instructor Simon’s d’Entremont is an accomplished pro based in Eastern Canada, specializing in wildlife and landscape photography. He’s also a great instructor who posts weekly tutorials, and in this episode he reveals several of his secrets for composing outdoor scenes in a variety of different situations.  

Simon puts it like this: “Compelling compositions really separate artistic photos from snapshots of convenience.” His straightforward, practical tips will help you transform average photos into great ones in barely eight minutes.

The first mistake occurs when including people or animals in a shot, without leaving sufficient room to avoid “squashing” these subjects. A common example is when the subject is too close to the edge of the frame. Or as Simon says, “it’s like punishing someone by making them stand in a corner.” This is easy to resolve by finding something interesting with colors or patterns to fill the empty space.

Another beginner mistake is to put your subject in the middle of the frame without any symmetry to balance out the shot. Simon says the middle is rarely the most interesting place to position a subject. As you’ll see, photos are usually more engaging with the subject placed off to one side with other complimentary elements elsewhere in the frame.

The time to center a subject is when there’s symmetry in the scene, with equally weight on both sides of a photograph, as Simon illustrates with a several very effective images. As he explains “this is a unique way of providing a balanced and proportional view”—especially when the subject is looking straight at the camera.

The foregoing is just two of the seven tips that Simon provides, and they’re all very easy to accomplish. So put these methods to work the next time you’re out in the field and great photos will be the result. You can find more great lessons on outdoor photography by paying a visit to Simon’s instructional YouTube channel. So head over there after watching this video.

We also suggest watching the very helpful tutorial we posted recently, explaining seven additional landscape photography tips from another accomplished pro.