If you’ve ever spent hours searching for a photo that you know is somewhere in Lightroom or on your hard drive, you understand the pitfalls of sloppy organization. We’re going to fix all that today with some great tips from British landscape pro Jethro Stebbings.

For the past several years Stebbings has been refining a method for keeping images at his fingertips, regards of whether they reside on his computer, within Lightroom, or somewhere on an external drive. He finally came up with a method that he insists is both foolproof and futureproof.

Stebbings says his technique is equally appropriate for beginners and pros and will safeguard your hard-earned photos regardless of genre, how many you have, and the device on which they’re stored. He notes that many photographers organize by location, alphabetical order, time, category and hierarchy.

You’ll see how there are some holes in this conventional approach, and some of these can really slow you down when you want to find a photo in a hurry. Stebbings says you may find this method meaningful and contextual, “but in terms of a system it’s very ambiguous.”

Stebbings’ approach relies upon how files are organized on a hard drive vs. how he keeps them sorted in Lightroom. He begins with his recommended approach when using a time-based method on a hard drive. And the “rules” and parameters he suggests are anything but ambiguous. This system works really well for organizing backup files too, while clearly differentiating them from the originals.

On hard drives Stebbings classifies images by year, month, day, and device, but the approach he takes in Lightroom relies upon Collections. He explains what Collections are, exactly how they work, and the way in which they enable you to “add meaning” to the files. You’ll also see why he says, “collections are extremely helpful and they are the future of organization in Lightroom.”

The foregoing is just a brief outline of the Stebbings’ safe and timesaving system for keeping images at your fingertips. We therefore recommend bookmarking the lesson and taking a few notes, so you’ll be well prepared when you take on this very important task. We’re sure that you’ll be very glad you did.

Stebbings’ YouTube channel is full of help tips and tricks like these, so be sure to pay a visit when you have time to explore.

We also suggest checking out the tutorial we posted recently from another pro, explaining how to dramatically enhance bland and boring outdoor photographs in Lightroom.

Some of us miss out on great opportunities to capture images with maximum impact because we always shoot in color. One reason for this is that some scenes cry out loudly for a monochrome approach.

Darrell Oakden is an accomplished British bird photographer who regularly shares the secrets to his success. This episode is a bit different as he steps out of comfort zone to explain why he’s “become quite addicted” to capturing images in b&w. Like most experienced photographers Oakden is constantly experimenting with new techniques to try, and that’s what he explains how to do today.

Oakden says shooting in monochrome has greatly increased his enjoyment of photography, and the seven tips he covers in the video include everything from camera setting and techniques, to helpful ideas for composing shots differently when eliminating color from an image. He also delves into a discussion of the best way to edit monochrome photos to achieve dramatic results.

You’ll learn that this style of shooting requires you to look at the world differently and why your new-found vision will ultimately improve your color imagery as well. One interesting trick when scrutinizing a scene is to quint your eyes so they’re nearly closed. Oakden says that by doing this “contrast because much clearer and you can more easily see all the lights and darks.”

Oakden notes that setting the camera to b&w mode isn’t a destructive process. As he explains, choosing this setting simply displays a monochrome image through the viewfinder and on the rear LCD. Yet, “if you shoot in Raw, the Raw files still contain the color information if you want to use that.

In other words, viewing the image in monochrome forces you to focus on the tonal range of a photo, and that’s important because some colors have a very similar brightness. Thus, different levels of contrast are more readily apparent when evaluating a scene in b&w. This is a big help for accentuating patterns and textures.

Oaken goes into greater depth on the previous point by describing how to find these patterns and textures withing the frame and use them to advantage. He describes his third tip as “one of the most important aspects of b&w photos,” which is understanding how to use tonal contrast to make monochrome images more compelling.

There’s  lot more to learn, including  the importance of relationships between objects, and other ways to compose a scene with monochrome in mind. The lesson concludes with a detailed demonstration of editing your images effectively. You can find more helpful advice by visiting Oakden’s instructional YouTube channel, especially if you want to give bird photography a try.

And don’t miss the tutorial we posted recently from another accomplished pro, explaining how to shoot beautiful flower photos with key camera setting, tips and techniques.

DxO PhotoLab 6 and DxO PureRaw 3 are two popular photography software options, especially for noise reduction. DxO is pretty famous for its machine-learning noise reduction algorithms, but I see a lot of confusion over which one of these two you should get – if either. Read on to find out!

Christmas may still be a long way off, but the advantage of being an adult is that you can enjoy it any time. Santa rang me a few days ago to say he had a new Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR on the way for me! I think it should arrive next week, and I can’t wait to put it through its paces for you. This week, however, brought news of some other interesting lenses. Have a look for yourself.