This quick tutorial is intended for inexperienced Photoshop users who don’t understand how easy it is to employ Curves Adjustment layers and the huge difference they can when editing images in Photoshop. The video comes to use from the Creative Layers YouTube channel, and it demonstrates three “essential” tricks for getting started today.

These straightforward techniques will enable you to handle a trio of common tasks and achieve surprisingly effective results in a hurry, and the whole process take barely three minutes to explain. Then you’ll feel more confident moving on to more advanced photo-manipulation methods using Curves.

Tip #1 demonstrates how to harness the power Photoshop’s Curves Adjustment layers to rehabilitate faded images. Today’s unnamed instructor pulls up a flat and boring environmental portrait with his subject standing the foreground of the frame, with a dingy, dull green tree as the backdrop.

The first attempt relies upon Hue/Saturation sliders to boost vibrance in the shot, but this approach fails for two reasons: First, the colors aren’t significantly improved and, worse yet, the subject’s skin tones take on an ugly and unrealistic reddish orange tint. But watch what happens when a Curves Adjustment Layer is created for quickly transforming the shot from a throwaway to a keeper.

Understanding how to maintain color consistency throughout an image is the second topic of conversation. As our instructor explains, “You may have experienced that when you try to change the light values in an image using Curves, the light changes but so do the colors”—and sometimes not in the way you intend.

All that’s necessary to get things right is setting the Blending mode of the Curves layer to the Luminosity option. As you can see in the example of a blue sky with fluffy clouds, this enables you to modify light values without affecting blue tones in the sky. In essence, this is a two-second fix.

Last on the list is restoring dark areas in an image in a way that doesn’t blow out highlights and degrade other characteristics of the photo. The demonstration image is nice cityscape scene captured with the sun low to the horizon and a pretty sky full of soft blue and orange tones. The problem is that the interesting buildings and roadway in the foreground are far too dark and devoid of sufficient detail.

Once again, the fix is fast and dramatic. All you have to do is to add control points to shadow and highlight areas and use a Curves Adjustment layer to balance out the tones and restore details throughout the shot. There are many more beginner tips on the Creative Layers YouTube channel so be sure to check it out.

We also suggest watching a tutorial we featured recently with another post-processing instructor who demonstrates an easy image-editing technique for enhancing nature and wildlife photographs in Lightroom Classic.

Most photographers admit to being gadget freaks, hence the affliction known as Gear Acquisition Syndrome (G.A.S.), and it’s often difficult to collect new photo accessories without feeling guilty. The 10 accessories described in the following video are affordable and extremely useful, so you can open up your wallet and grab a few while setting your qualms aside.

Photographer Mike Rogala began his journey shooting film back in the 80’s and he’s now convinced that “digital photography is far less stressful”—in part because all the modern accessories that make our craft more enjoyable and creative. His goal for this episode is to “explore 10 must-have accessories that will elevate your photography game and help you capture stunning images.”

This comprehensive guide is particularly helpful for beginners who want to invest wisely in their hobby without breaking the bank. Rogala’s 10 picks include everything from tripods to bags, and he discusses their importance, functionality, and how they can enhance the shooting experience.

Rogala’s begins with the simple L-Bracket that that can be incredibly handy when mounting your camera atop a tripod. They’re typically equipped with Arca-Swiss compatible plates on the bottom and one side of a lightweight frame. The L-bracket enables you to quickly switch between portrait and landscape orientations without adjusting your tripod setup.

Another way to make these adjustments is with an adjustable lens collar, and these are often included when you purchase a long telephoto lens. These can also be purchased separately at nominal cost, and they’re lightweight, compact, and very easy to employ. A full camera cage is another option if you want to attach other small accessories like microphones, lights, supplemental battery packs, and more.

Rogala’s other favorites include wired or wireless remote triggers that enable you to capture a shot without ever touching the camera, and a battery grip that doubles power, provides more secure handling, and has conveniently placed shutter release buttons for vertical and horizonal shooting.

Then there’s the ND lens filter that Rogala considers “crucial,” a portable LED light panel with constant/adjustable illumination, versatile quick release plates, and several more guilt-free accessories that you may want to consider. And while Rogala’s list was compiled with beginners in mind, more experienced shooters will also find much to like.

After watching this episode head over to Rogala’s YouTube channel where you’ll find more gear tips, as well as straightforward shooting and editing advice for photographers of all skill levels.

You also may want to watch the tutorial we posted earlier this with several important maintenance procedures for keeping your valuable photography equipment fresh and working like new.

One sure way to ruin a great landscape scene is to miss focus entirely or focus on the wrong area within the frame. We’ll solve that dilemma in the next seven minutes with a tutorial from Landscape Photography University— a curriculum designed “to inspire you with helpful tips that leave confusion and burnout behind.”

Instructor David Johnston puts it like this: “There’s no worse feeling in landscape photography than thinking you got the photo in focus and then learning that you didn’t.” His goal for this episode to help you achieve proper focus every time under a variety of outdoor situations so you can concentrate on other elements that contribute to successful images.

One critical consideration is the concept of depth of field. And this involves understanding how to expand or contract the zone of sharpness as pertains to the foreground, background, and midrange of a shot. Johnston demonstrates how this works, and why the f/stop you choose is a key contributor to getting things right.

You’ll also learn why your camera’s orientation—namely level to the ground, pointed up, or aimed down—factors into the effect you create. For example, “if you’re shooting vertically and tilting the camera forward you’re creating a larger foreground and pulling more of the subject into the bottom of a photo with more elements closer to the camera.” And this has serious implications for where focus falls.

In this situation it may be impossible to achieve sufficient depth of field, even when shooting at f/16 or f/22. The solution that Johnston provides is to capture two images of the same scene, one focused on the foreground and another with the focus point set further back. Then it’s  simple matter to merge the two shots during post processing by following Johnston’s straightforward instructions.

This is a popular technique known as “focus stacking,” and Johnston walks you through the step-by-step procedure. You see why enabling the Auto Align Layers option works wonders to register the two images—just in case you moved the camera slightly from one shot to the next. This approach also corrects another potential misalignment problem known as “focus breathing.”

There are a few more valuable tips in the remainder of the video, and by the time you’re done watching there’s a very good chance that you won’t have to suffer the disappointment of missing focus and spoiling an otherwise great shot. The Landscape Photography University YouTube channel is a great resource for everyone who shoots outdoors, so be sure to take a look when you have time to explore.

We also recommend watching our recent tutorial with several powerful autumn landscape photography ideas and techniques from a successful Romanian pro.

Zoner has released several major upgrades to ZPS X that improve portraits, enhance workflow, obliterate chromatic aberration and leverage AI to make photo editing easier and more powerful than ever before.

Zoner Photo Studio X continues to get better and stronger with every generation. The current collection of upgrades is mind-blowing. Improving a time-proven editing platform is no easy task. ZPS X has already established a large global user base, offering the best price-performance ratio and professional tools at a low price. It’s been on the market for more than 30 years and has been downloaded by over 10 million users worldwide.

15-Second Description of Zoner Photo Studio X
What exactly is Zoner Photo Studio X? In a nutshell, it’s a single-app solution that provides everything every photographer—regardless of level or camera brand—needs to import, sort, edit, retouch, enhance, catalog and publish photo and video files (including Raw files), plus much, much more.

ZPS X features a unique architecture that’s easy and intuitive to navigate and fun to use. Without leaving the application, users can seamlessly switch between modules labeled Manager, Develop, Editor, Print and program—a major timesaver. There are flexible workspace layout choices, too. And you can select the Browser view and see all images in a specific folder—without leaving the Zoner Photo Studio X workspace.

Watch the Videos
Zoner has added 11 concise videos to their YouTube channel that vividly demonstrate some of the new features.

Download Full-Featured Trial Version Now
Want to see more for yourself right now? Download the full version of ZPS X for Windows 10 and 11 PCs and try it for 7 days absolutely free with no obligation and no credit card required.

Zonerama Photo/Video Storage/Sharing Platform
Zoner also maintains Zonerama, the free-to-all online platform that provides users unlimited space to upload photos and videos where they’re securely stored and shared. Even if you are not a ZPS X user you can open an account on Zonerama. Seasonal Tip: Zonerama is the perfect place for families to privately share images and video with the kiddos who are away at school, or spread the experience of winter vacations with friends and relatives, in a secure, password-protected environment.

Highlights of Current Upgrade
Shoot portraits, family candids, social media selfies or other smiling faces? Of course you do. Several of the Fall 2024 upgrades are designed to improve the editing experience of people pictures—and enhance the awesomeness of your images.

Starting now, Zoner Photo Studio X can:

Choose the best photos with AI close-ups
Zoner Photo Studio X automatically detects and zooms in on faces and displays them next to the photo. You can enlarge previews to compare sharpness and facial expressions.

Remove backgrounds with a single click
The new AI batch filter automatically removes the background from your images. You can then replace the previous background with a transparent one, or fill with a color variation of your choice.

AI presets deliver gorgeous portraits in minutes
The new trio of AI presets automatically creates masks that let you brighten the face and eyes or accentuate the subject’s mouth. Presets detect multiple faces and let you adjust each individually.

Beyond Portraits
In addition to the very robust set of new features that enhance portrait photography, Zoner Photo Studio X engineers have initiated a number of new functions that facilitate post-processing and invigorate workflow.

With ZPS X, users can now:

Invoke AI automatic enhancement
Edit one or hundreds of photos with a single click. Zoner Photo Studio X, with the help of AI, recognizes the scene and applies custom-fit adjustments. This results in photos with dynamic contrast and more vibrant colors.

Select and edit without delay
A new Autostacking feature selects similar images and arranges them into groups. Further, you can expand stacked photos with a single click, and select the main preview image. 

Derive maximum detail and color from Raw images
Raw is often better, right? Not if it’s hamstrung by overexposed highlight areas or underexposed shadows. ZPS X recovers significantly more detail and color in blowouts. The new version of its Raw processing engine considerably improves the handling of highlights, blocked shadows and other exposure parameters. And with the new Color Reconstruction slider, you can color blowouts.

Loading Fujifilm Raw files is now twice as fast
Zoner Photo Studio X engineers have cut the loading time for Raw files from the Fujifilm X-Trans sensor in half. You asked; Zoner heard you and took action.

Note: With this update, you can edit all your Raw images—including those previously edited in ZPS X—with improved Raw processing. For the change to take effect on previously edited photos, change the processing method to the latest method.

Automatically remove chromatic aberration
The new option for correcting chromatic aberration uses image analysis and offers a suitable correction. It works without specifying a lens profile and is compatible with all formats.

Direct support for the Loupedeck+ console
Loupedeck is the top brand in photo and video editing consoles, perfectly designed for pros and beginners. ZPS X now fully supports the Loupedeck+ editing console so you edit photos even faster, more conveniently, and with greater precision.

More keyboard shortcuts for your photo editing
Now it’s even easier to customize ZPS X and make your workflow faster and more personalized. There are more than 1,000 keyboard shortcuts to potentially save hours of editing time.

Align images in your photo books
Keep the images in your photo books neat and straight using grids and guidelines. Plus, ZPS X has updated the process of adding freestanding pictures to make the experience more enjoyable.

Rotate and adjust images in the preview
Today, Zoner Photo Studio X enables you to rotate, pan and resize video clips, images, and text directly in the video preview. You can also now match text styles for an entire video.

Navigator now remembers last opened folders
Pick up right where you left off. Set up (in Preferences) how you want the Navigator to appear next time you open ZPS X.

More HDR on Zonerama with a new photo format
Users can present their HDR work fully on Zonerama, Zoner’s online storage and sharing platform that’s free to all. Zonerama has been able to handle HDR content since June of 2023. And starting now, Zonerama supports HDR JPEG + gain map, so you can share your photos in maximum quality.

New smart canvas prints
Striving to improve nearly every individual aspect of the Zoner Photo Studio X experience, Zoner has expanded Print options. You can try the new canvas prints printed on innovative smart panels. Their lightweight material is durable and resistant to damage during transport.

Mind-Blowing Collection of Enhancements
This concludes the topline peek at the best new features added to Zoner Photo Studio X, and it’s a long list to unpack. To understand why millions love ZPS X and how these improvements work in concert to make a strong product even stronger, download the full version of ZPS X for Windows 10 and 11 PCs and try it for 7 days absolutely free with no obligation and no credit card required.

Don’t miss the concise collection of videos on Zoner’s YouTube channel that capture the excitement of the Fall 2024 upgrades to Zoner Photo Studio X.

Pricing and What’s Included
Zoner Photo Studio X is available for $59 per year, or $5.99 on a month-to-month basis. There’s also a Family Plan. The subscription includes free, automatic upgrades as new features emerge, access from any PC anywhere, English-language tech support, 15 free 4×6 prints (every year), 20GB of secure Zoner Cloud Storage, free presets created by the ZPS X community and Premium-level access to Zonerama.

Most important, a subscription to Zoner Photo Studio X gives your Window 10 or 11 the most powerful photo and video editing you can buy for less than the price of one cup of designer coffee per month. Powerful enough for pros, easy enough for newbies. Give the full-featured 7-day free trial version a spin and find out for yourself how much fun photo and video editing can be with the right tools.

∞ Shutterbug Staff