OK, be honest: How often have you skipped past the Color Calibration tool when processing images in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw (ACR)? If you’re like most photographers, the answer is something along the lines of “quite often.”

It’s really too bad if this sounds like you, because this oft-ignore panel can make a huge difference in the quality of your edits, regardless of the types of photos you shoot most. Or as one of our favorite instructors says, “There’s a ton of helpful data in that section that can provide incredible colors in any photo of any genre.”

Photographer Blake Rudis frequently shares tutorials on straightforward image-editing techniques, and the episode below is one you’ll want to bookmark for future reference. In barely 13 minutes he explains how the Color Calibration tool works, and provides practical examples illustrating the huge improvements it can make to your photos.

This lesson isn’t about creating outlandish effects, but rather practical ways to refining colors to get just the natural look that you’re after. These methods work equally well for everything from portraits and landscape shots to nature and wildlife imagery.

Rudis insists that, “Color Calibration is one of the most versatile tools in your post-production toolkit,” so pay close attention. He begins with a simple way to give a realistic “color boost” to photos that are a bit drab, and he provides the specific parameters he chose to rehabilitate the sample image.

His second tip involves a similar technique he calls “more color from little color.” Here he demonstrates how to improve a landscape scene captured in Yosemite. The problem with this image is that is was made on an overcast foggy day, with insufficient light to properly render the vibrant greens tones of the trees.

You’ll also learn how to achieve much better color in wildlife photos, significantly improve skin tones in portraits, and refine all colors in an image at the end of your workflow. You may never ignore the powerful Color Calibration tool again, especially after viewing the before/after examples that Rudis provides,

Rudis’ popular YouTube channel includes a wealth of image-editing advice, so be sure to take a look.

And check out another of his tutorials we posted, explaining how to use Selective Color to fix hot spots and highlight blowouts in Photoshop.

Bird photography is wildly popular regardless of where you live, among pros and novices alike. The quick tutorial below is intended for the latter, with four simple tips to help you get started.

There are numerous reasons for the wide appeal of photographing our feathered friends, not the least of which is accessibility. That’s because you need not travel further than a local park, or even your own backyard. And setting up a simple feeder behind your home draws a crowd of hungry bird in a hurry.

You can likely get started with the equipment you already own, and the wide variety of species you’ll encounter changes throughout the year—even in the dead of winter. David Reid is a Canadian pro who specializes in photographing birds and other forms of wildlife, and today’s quick episode features four helpful tips that deliver impressive results.

Reid covers a lot of ground in barely 11 minutes, with a discussion of the appropraite gear to use, the best time of day to shoot, important camera settings, and a few easy techniques. By the time you’re done watching you’ll no longer be a beginner. He says his fourth tip is “controversial” and is one “you may even hate.”

When first starting out Reid was hyper-focused on buying the “best” cameras and lenses”—until he realized there are other issues that may be even more important to consider. That’s when he began developing the tips and techniques you’ll see below.

He begins with a brief discussion of gear and the camera settings to use when photographing birds, and he reveals the one lens he relies upon for most of his work. Lens build, camera durability, and weatherproofing are also important for shooting during rapidly changing weather.

Reid’s first tip applies to all forms of wildlife photography, and it’s one you may have heard before; namely getting out in the field (or your yard) as early as possible—even before dawn so you’re set up and ready to go when birds arrive for their breakfast.

His other tips are less familiar and just as important for capturing eye-catching images. So watch the video, set up a feeder in your backyard, and get started today. Soon you’ll be ready for more advanced tutorials, and we post them frequently.

We suggest you pay a visit to Reid’s instructional YouTube channel, where you’ll find more great advice on all forms of wildlife photography.

And don’t miss the tutorial we posted from another accomplished wildlife shooter, with five simple camera hacks for photographing birds like a pro.

Leica just announced the M11 Monochrom, their latest black-and-white-only camera, and Shutterbug had a chance to use one for several days well ahead of the launch. Based on the Leica M11—which we labeled “The Ultimate M” in our review last year—the Leica M11 Monochrom delivers resolution up to 60.4 megapixel and image quality that’s beyond human imagination. The launch included the unveiling of the new Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH.

This is a new product announcement and preview. We’ll follow up with an in-depth review in a few weeks, after we’ve had a chance to explore the capabilities of the new Leica M11 Monochrom thoroughly. For background we encourage you to read the  Shutterbug M10 Monochrom review  and our review of the Leica M 11 mentioned above.

Key Features

• All Leica M11 features and functions

• Monochrome BSI CMOS full-frame sensor with triple resolution technology: 60/36/18 megapixel

• First BSI CMOS in a Leica

• Base ISO 125, maximum ISO 200,000 and it really works

• Internal memory 256 GB

• Covert design—no red dot logo plus dark chrome finish

• High quality aluminum top cover and scratch resistant black paint finish

• Unscratchable Sapphire Glass LCD monitor cover

• Fast connection to the Leica FOTOS App to accelerate the mobile workflow

• Made in Germany, the legacy of most Leicas

Commentary
The Leica M11 Monochrom is fitted with a full-frame sensor that’s revolutionary. The  brand new pixel design results in a completely new black and white sensor that was exclusively developed to unleash the full optical performance of Leica M lenses. This is the first ever BSI CMOS Monochrome sensor in a Leica camera. It’s a native 60 Megapixel sensor that steps down to 36 and 18 megapixels. The base ISO of 125 is the lowest ever in an M Monochrom, and top ISO is 200,000. It’s not just a number—it works.

Pricing
Leica M11 Monochrom is priced at $9,195.

Announced at the same time, the Leica Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 ASPH is $4,495 in black and $4,795 in silver.

In the Field
Here’s a small gallery of images captured by the new Leica M11 Monochrom. 

—Jon Sienkiewicz

Hot spots and highlight blowouts are the bane of portrait photographers and others. They can occur with images shot in the studio under artificial illumination, as well as those captured with natural light outdoors. Fortunately there’s a simple and effective Photoshop fix, as you’ll see in the quick tutorial below.

This nine-minute episode comes from the f64 Academy, an instructional YouTube channel with the goal of presenting “the best Photoshop tutorials for photographers of all skill levels.” This one pays off on that promise, and is easy enough for anyone to accomplish.

If you’ve watched previous lessons from image-editing expert Blake Rudis you know that Selective Color is one of his favorite Photoshop tools for a variety of tasks. Today he begins with an exuberant question: “How in the heck can Selective Color fix a highlight blowout or portrait hot spot?”

The typical approach for these kinds of corrections is Luminosity masking. But Rudis insists that the method you’ll learn today “will blow any Luminosity Mask out of the water.” In fact, he has a three-word description for the image he repairs here using Selective Color: “WOW that’s insane.”

As you’ll see, this remedial effort employs Selective Color for two purposes: One to eliminate hot spots on the model’s face, and another to color grade the distracting highlight blowouts. Rudis says he recently experimented with the absolute values of a Selective Color layer in terms of tonal values, “and I was shocked, I mean shocked, at what I was able to do.”

If this tool elicits that response from a pro like Rudis, it’s definitely a method the rest of us to should learn how to use. And the implications range far beyond portraiture alone—including landscape photography as he demonstrates near the end of the video. So give his tips a try and take care not to shock yourself too much when viewing your results.

Rudis describes the difference between relative and absolute values, and explains why you should rely upon the latter for these particular tasks. He then walks you through the simple step-by-step procedure for getting the job done.

We encourage you to visit the f/64 YouTube channel frequently, especially if you’re a regular Photoshop user, where there are many more techniques to learn. It’s also a great source of solutions whenever you run into a problem.

And be sure to check out the tutorial we posted from another image-editing expert, explaining how to eliminate ugly bright halos in landscape photos.