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For a while now, editing photos has been about more than just Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. A number of other companies have popped up in recent years like mushrooms after the rain. One that you may have heard about is the company Skylum, with their Luminar Neo software. Does the inclusion of AI in its algorithms mean a revolution in photo editing?

Lightroom Classic includes a selection of interesting built-in presets allowing you to quickly achieve a variety of effects. You can also purchase a wide array of others from outside sources and easily install them within Lightroom’s Develop Module.

A third option, and the topic of the tutorial below, is to make your own presets (as many as you desire) to suit your specific needs. Why would you want to do that, with so many presets already available? One reason is to create a style all your own and quickly apply these various “looks” as needed in future edits.

If you haven’t used presets in the past, and wonder what they are, it’s actually very simple. Like certain filters, a preset is nothing more than a set of image-editing adjustments that are saved for future use. Then when you want to apply that look to an image, doing so is as easy as a quick click on the preset.

By having a selection of presets at the ready—like one for portraits, another for sunset shots, and others for b&w imagery—your Lightroom workflow will be transformed in a very positive way. In addition to giving your photos a recognizable look, you’ll work faster and more accurately in the future and achieve consistent results.

Instructor Julieanne Kost is an author, accomplished photographer, an expert in all things Adobe, and a self-proclaimed “digital imaging evangelist.” In this nine-minute episode she demonstrates how easy it is for photographers of all skill levels to create and install presets that reflect their personal vision.

By following Kost’s straightforward instructions you’ll spend less time behind the computer and more time behind the camera. She begins by making a few basic edits to a color image and converting it to b&w—offering a few tips along the way.

Then once she has the image looking precisely as she desires, she walks you through a simple step-by-step process for saving the hierarchy of adjustments as a preset that she can apply time and time again

Kost’s YouTube channel is full of lessons on just about any image-editing task you can imagine. So visit there often and whenever you run into a bind.

And don’t miss the earlier tutorial we posted from another processing expert, explaining everything you need to know about Color Grading photos in Lightroom.

Earlier this week we featured an easy five-minute fix for poorly exposed photos using Layer Masks in Lightroom. But that simple task provided just a taste of what these powerful tools can do.

So in response to a couple requests from our readers, we’re taking a deeper dive today, with the complete beginners guide below that will enable inexperienced users to unlock the power of layer masks in Photoshop for a wide variety of purposes.

Instructor Unmesh Dinda is a globally acclaimed image-editing specialist with 4.5 million subscribers to his YouTube channel. In this detailed episode he describes how layer Masks work, when and how to use them, and provides real-world examples of just about everything they can do to enhance your photos.

Dinda begins with an unusual analogy comparing Photoshop Layer Masks to facial mask worn as part of a costume. Just as the latter are employed to hide the wearer’s identity, “the only purpose of an image-editing layer mask is to hide the layer. That’s it.”

To clarify this curious comparison Dinda pulls up a photo of a beautiful ballerina in motion, with some text that he want to move from in front of the subject to behind her. This is a very basic example, and he demonstrates how easy it is to achieve with a simple masking technique.

Of course there are far more practical uses of Layers Mask for photos shot indoors and out, and Dinda provides clear examples while explaining how to get the job done. He also discusses several advantages of these powerful tools, including their “non-destructive” abilities and compatibility with non-rasterized layers.

You’ll also learn how to turn these Masks on and off, how to link and unlink multiple Masks, easily create duplicate Masks, and a technique he calls “double masking.” He also reviews a few potential pitfalls like potential problems when copying Masks,

This comprehensive demonstration runs almost 30 minutes and Dinda covers a lot of ground in a hurry. So be sure to have pen and paper by your side to you can take a few notes for future reference.

This particular lesson is Part 4 of Dinda’s popular “Photoshop for Beginners” series, and you can find earlier episodes on his YouTube channel where there are a variety of other tips and tricks for editing your work.

And don’t forget to watch to watch the tutorial mentioned above, with a five-minute fix for poorly-exposed photos using Layer Masks in Lightroom.