There are numerus ways to shoot and edit landscape photos depending upon the look you’re after. Sometimes you may want a dark and moody image, while other times the goal is to accentuate interesting atmospheric condition like fog, snow, or rain. Another common approach is to create vibrant images full of eye-catching color—even when shooting under flat light or in the shade.
This tutorial from the popular PHLOG Photography YouTube channel falls into the latter category, with a number of effective editing tips for getting the job done. While the lesson describes a complete edit from beginning to end, the emphasis is on using masks in Photoshop’s Raw editor to completely transform an uninspiring shot.
Before clicking the “Play” button be sure to download the sample image using the link beneath the video, so you can make the changes yourself as they are explained. German landscape pro Christian Mohrle is a very adept instructor, and he walks you through the step-by-step process from beginning to end.
The lesson begins with several basic global adjustment to create a solid base image for the selective enhancements that follow. The process begins by changing the profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Landscape. This immediately boosts the overall saturation of the image. Next Mohrle turns to the Basic tab and adjusts color temperature to fix the unnatural blue cast of the photo.
Other preliminary enhancements include slightly raising exposure, dropping highlights to bring out detail in the bright waterfall and sky, opening up shadow areas, and raising the blacks. Mohrle also adds Texture and Clarity, reduces Dehaze, and pumps up Vibrance.
The image is now much improved with the global enhancements completed. Now it’s time for the real magic of the tutorial; namely selective modifications to different portions of the shot. These are accomplished with a few straightforward masks using both radial and linear gradients to complete the impressive transformation. And Mohrle demonstrates how easy this is to do.
You’ll watch him make further adjustments to perfect the sky, accentuate the foreground with more Clarity, and increase detail in the waterfall. When you compare Mohrle’s before/after images, the impact of his processing technique is readily apparent.
Mohrle’s instructional YouTube channel has much more to offer, especially if landscape photography is your thing. So be sure to pay a visit when you have time.
We also recommend watching the related tutorial we posted previously that explains how to shoot dynamic landscape photos with more depth and perspective.
Bird photography is an exciting and very accessible genre, with beautifully colored subjects as close as your own backyard. Yet, some shooters feel intimidated and overwhelmed because they mistakenly think photographing our feathered friends is beyond their skills.
Today’s tutorial from Park Cameras, a leading retailer in the UK, is a straightforward primer designed to ally all these apprehensions so you can start photographing birds today. Even more experienced shooters will pick up valuable tips for upping their game.
All you’ll need after watching this lesson is a bit of practice in your yard, a local park, or at a nearby nature preserve. Instructor Gareth Evans posts weekly tutorials every Tuesday, and this episode covers everything from focus, exposure, and other key camera settings, to composition and gear. He even describes the mistakes he made early on, so you don’t make them yourself.
When first getting started Evans says not to worry about finding a location with the biggest, most colorful, or exotic species. Instead, just go to a place where you’re certain to find a bunch of birds. In addition to the spots mentioned above, lakes, rivers, and the seashore offer plenty of subjects for practicing your newfound skills. When you’re happy with the results, it’s then time to move on to more challenging situations.
It’s likely you already own the right gear for your initial forays into this type of shooting. Whatever camera you own, and a telephoto zoom like a 70-200mm, will get the job done. While Evans always has a tripod in the car, he rarely uses it. He says that shooting hand-held, “gives me the most freedom to spot a bird, raise my lens, be able to track it, and take the photo.”
Evans moves along to technical matters and describes the important differences between photographing stationary birds in interesting poses, and the more difficult task of shooting birds in flight. This consideration impacts a variety of factors from camera settings like focus modes, and how you expose the shot.
It’s also helpful to do a bit of research on the species you confront most, because understanding their feeding habits, flight patterns, and other predictable forms of behavior will give you a big advantage. Care to guess what Evans considers his most important tip? He says, “patience is by and away the biggest part of taking good photos of birds!”
Take a look at the other great tips Evans provides, and then head over to the Park Cameras YouTube channel for more of the same. We also suggest watching another tutorial we posted, explaining several unfamiliar tips for sharper wildlife and nature photos from a long-time German expert.
Photographers often turn to Lightroom’s HSL sliders as the first step in editing landscape and nature photos. But what do you do when this technique falls short? As you’ll see in the tutorial below, there’s often a better solution that’s very easy to accomplish.
Outdoor photographer Scott Davenport regularly posts shooting and editing tutorials that are popular among Shutterbug readers who appreciate his calm, reassuring approach. In this episode he explains why Lightroom’s Color Range Masks often outperform HSL sliders when processing certain types of images.
HSL adjustments do provide some control over separating colors, but Color Range masks can be a far better choice when HSL sliders affect more colors than you want. Or as Davenport puts it, “To guarantee no impact outside of only the hues you want to impact, you need to reach for a Color Range mask.”
The lesson begins with an overview of how both tools work, and Davenport discusses when one method works better the other depending upon specific attributes of the image at hand. His demonstration photo is a great example, with this as the overarching takeaway: “Sometime HSL enhancements have too much impact,” especially if a natural looking photo with precise colors is what you’re after.
Davenport’s goal with this particular edit is to enhance green tones in the foreground, and the common approach would be to slide the yellow HSL slider to the right. Doing that does improve the greens, but it also causes an unwanted color shift to the yellow flowers among the grass. In essence, the problem is that the HSL approach is a global adjustment, that may impact the other important tones within the frame.
Color Range masks, on the other hand, work their magic selectively by targeting only the areas in the image that need to be adjusted—while leaving all other tones untouched. Davenport drops the Color Picker in the grass, and all green tones in the image (from foreground to background are immediately selected.
As you’ll see, it’s easy to refine the mask, for a greater or lesser effect. In this case Davenport backs it off slightly so the yellow flowers are unaffected. At this point he demonstrates a few simple steps to complete the transformation.
After watching the video, we suggest you take a look at Davenport’s instructional YouTube channel, where there’s much more to learn.
And don’t miss the related tutorial we posted earlier from another image-editing expert, explaining how to achieve photos with pleasing natural-looking colors using Lightroom’s White Balance tools.
