If you don’t realize that your Adobe Creative Cloud subscription incudes a wealth of helpful free tools, it’s time to wise up and grab what you need. Many of these freebies aren’t readily apparent, and they’re easy to get and put to use.

Image editing impresario Anthony Morganti explains what’s available in barely six minutes. You’ll find a variety of options for creative effects, improving your workflow, finding answers to common problems, and much more.

All you have to do is open the Creative Cloud app and click on the Apps tab (the second tab on the top left of your screen). Once you do that another screen opens up, showing the apps you’ve already installed—from Photoshop, Lightroom, and Creative Raw, to elements like Bridge, InDesign, and whatever else you use.

Now here’s where the fun begins. When you hover over any of the installed apps, one or more icons appear. Using Lightroom Classic as an example, Morganti demonstrates that five icons appear. If you select the first one you’ll be taken to a number of helpful video tutorials on a wide variety of editing topics.

Similarly by clicking on the third button next to Lightroom Classic, you’ll find a selection of powerful plug-ins that are there for the taking. Other buttons have equally valuable (and free) assets for various tasks, like presets for giving images a unique look.

Your other installed applications offer more great stuff, and one of the best ways to start is by hovering over Photoshop in your list where you be amazed by what you find. It’s important to note that some of what’s available isn’t free, so be sure to check that as you proceed. You can also filter offerings by clicking on “top rated.”

Another important button adjacent to any installed app is the second button from the right. This takes you a support community where you can find clear and concise suggestions for solving problems with any Adobe app installed on your system. Morganti says,“This is the first thing you should do” when confronting any difficulty.

Morganti’s instructional YouTube channel contains a wealth of information on processing images, so pay a visit when you have time,

And be sure to check out another tutorial we posted recently, explaining how to create and use simple Photoshop Actions to streamline your workflow.

A primary goal of all photographers is to capture images with precise focus. The challenge is getting the job done when shooting scenes like landscapes that have important objects in the foreground, background and mid range of the frame.

In such cases (unless you have a view camera with perspective control) it’s impossible to achieve sharpness throughout an entire scene in one shot. The solution is to use an editing technique called focus stacking. As you’ll see, this is an amazing way to achieve tack-sharp images without compromising composition.

This approach is often ignored because of the misconception that it’s extremely complex. But as you’ll see in the tutorial below from one of our favorite instructors, “this is a really easy-to-learn technique that you’ll use for years to come.”

William Patino is a pro landscape photographer based in New Zealand, who says he’s “passionate about sharing my tips, techniques and adventures” with others. In this episode he demystifies focus stacking in less than seven minutes. And you can use his advice while processing photos in Photoshop, Lightroom, and other popular editing programs.

The concept of focus stacking is actually very simple. In Patino’s words, “It’s when you shoot multiple exposures, each focusing on a different point within the frame.” Then you get on the computer, stitch the shots together, and end up with a single image with “infinite” depth of field.

Patino explains that this technique is particularly useful when the f/stop in use fails to produce the necessary depth of field. This typically occurs when you want to get ultra close to a subject in the foreground, while preserving sharpness further back throughout the frame—like with a majestic mountain in the background.

You’ll learn how many exposures are necessary for different situations, and the method for auto-aligning and auto-blending multiple shots. Patino also demonstrates how to check sharpness through the scene, and use the Transform tool to repair imperfect transitions if necessary. Surprise: It’s far easier than you thought!

There’s much more to learn on Patino’s instructional YouTube channel, so pay a visit and subscribe.

We also suggest you watch the video tutorial we posted from another pro, explaining a popular Adobe tool with an amazing new feature.

Congratulations to Max Foster for winning the recent Extreme Angles Assignment with the image, “Flaming Peak.” See more of his work at maxfosterphotography.com.

View the winning image and a selection of submissions below. And be sure to check out our current photography assignment here and enter your best shots!

The post Extreme Angles Assignment Winner Max Foster appeared first on Outdoor Photographer.

Today I am very excited to announce a project that I have been working on for the past few weeks, which will be one of the new pillars of Photography Life. Welcome to our brand-new forum! Yes, the timing of this announcement is not a coincidence – I know that many other forums have been popping up lately in response to DPReview’s sudden closure. But this is also an idea I have been planning for years – a better, faster, more positive, and more sustainable forum for photographers of all levels.