What if we told you there’s an easy-to-used tool that helps nail exposure with every image you shoot? There is, and it’s called the histogram. Unfortunately it’s often overlooked.

In the quick tutorial below you’ll earn how a histogram works, the best way to use it, and why it takes the guesswork out of properly exposing a scene exactly the way you envision. Once you get the hang of this powerful tool you can forget about exposure problems and move on to other imaging parameters.

Instructor Booray Perry is a favorite among Shutterbug readers because of his straightforward lessons that are always infused with a bit of humor. In today’s episode he covers the necessary basics for using the histogram immediately, and there’s a link to a more comprehensive, illustrated tutorial on this topic in the description beneath the video.

As you’ll see, there are two ways to harness the power of this tool. One is to configure your camera’s display so the histogram always appears on the rear LCD while you’re shooting. This way you can make any necessary adjustment to get things right in the camera.

Another way to employ the histogram is when processing your images, because this feature is available in most editing programs. Regardless of which approach you prefer, Perry says this: “The truth is that everyone who understands and uses the histogram swears by it,” and you will too.

In simple terms the histogram is a chart that display how much of an image is dark, how much is bright, and everything in between. In other words, the left side of the graphic represents pure white, the right side displays pure back, and the middle indicates the intermediate tones.

When looking at a histogram you’ll notice peaks and valleys in the graphic indicating the amount of any particular brightness level within an image. Armed with this handy information you can instantly tell if the scene on your screen contains blown-out highlights, crushed shadows, or both.  And this enables you to quickly resolve the problem by modifying exposure settings or using EV Compensation.

Perry demonstrates how to get the job done in barely eight minutes, and it’s super simple to do. You can find more straightforward tips like this on Perry’s popular YouTube channel, so be sure to take a look.

And speaking of exposure, we encourage you to take a look at our recent post featuring a beginners guide to long-exposure photography.

There are numerous ways to employ masks when editing images in Lightroom, some more complicated that others, and we’ve covered many of them in the past. Today you’ll learn a short and sweet trick that delivers big results in hurry.

The topic of this five-minute episode from image-editing expert Anthony Morganti is “intersecting masks,” what this accomplishes, and how to get the job done fast. As he says, “this is something important and very useful.“

Morganti pulls up a pretty seaside shot with a small sailboat on the shore. He did some basic editing earlier, and now he wants to further improve the image with the use of two types of masks. His goal is to add a mask over the boat to brighten it up, and then use a mask over the sky for a bit of added drama.

A problem occurs when he applies a Subject mask to the boat. The boat is only partially selected, and a portion of the surrounding area also falls within the mask—an imprecise result that Morganti didn’t intend. As a result, he needs to both add and subtract from the mask. He tackles the latter task first with a brush.

Morganti then uses a second mask for the sky so he can make the enhancements he desires. He tries a few quick adjustments to achieve the dramatic look he wants. But here’s the catch: he’s simply not satisfied with the result.

Now comes the meat of the tutorial as Morganti says, “What I can do is intersect the sky mask with a linear gradient that is upside down.” Wait. What? This may sound a bit crazy until you hear Morganti’s explanation: “When you intersect masks, your adjustment will only be applied to the portions of the two masks that overlap.” Hence the sky mask avoids the sailboat.

Now this quick trick makes a lot more sense, right? Best yet, this technique is very simple to accomplish by following Morganti’s instructions. And the final image looks fantastic.

You can learn more about all things Adobe by visiting Morganti’s instructional YouTube channel. So go there often to see what’s new.

And for another easy editing technique that pays big dividends, check out our tutorial explaining how to use Lightroom’s Healing tools to remove dust and other distracting elements from photos.

Adobe updates software so frequently that it’s difficult to keep track of all the new features and remember favorite tools from the past. The quick tutorial below from Photoshop Café is a great refresher, explaining five easy-to-use features in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) that make a big difference in your results.

Instructor Colin Smith demonstrates “five absolutely helpful tips” in both ACR and Lightroom that you need to start using to edit your images if they’re not already part of your workflow. He ACR hacks are super useful when process your files.

This episode opens with a batch-processing technique that enables you to apply adjustments to dozens, hundreds, or thousand of images at once. This trick only requires a couple clicks and, like other tips he offers, saves an incredible amount of time. And it ensures consistency among photos of a similar style.

Tip number #2 is all about making selections. Most users know that ACR and Lightroom can automatically select objects using artificial intelligence (AI) but Smith says, “They don’t always select the right object. And that’s where you may have to use your own intelligence, using the quick tricks Smith recommends to “select anything” with precision.

Photographers who shoot both video and stills will learn a really helpful trick for color-grading videos in ACR. And there are also a few of what Smith calls “hidden helpers” for accomplishing a variety of tasks really fast.

Smith also discusses the power of Look Up Tables (LUTS), describing what they are and how to open and use them in ACR and Lightroom. He also provides a link to where you can get free LUTS from the vault at Photoshop Café.

There’s also a link to where you can obtain Smart Presets for free. Bottom line, this is a very helpful episode that’s worth much more than seven minutes of your time.

There’s plenty more great stuff on all things Adobe on Smith’s instructional YouTube channel, so pay a visit when you have time.

We also recommend watching an earlier tutorial we posted from another expert, explaining how to use Lightroom’s Healing tools to remove ugly junk from your photos.

We’ve posted numerous tutorials in the past explaining why so many accomplished photographers prefer to shoot in Raw, or set their cameras to capture both a Raw file and a JPEG every time they press the shutter button.

Today’s episode from German landscape pro Christian Mohrle provides a unique twist on this topic that illustrates the freedom of editing in Raw. It will save you a lot of time by using just one file—instead of multiple images and merging them for a perfect exposure.

Mohrle’s original intent was to take the focus-staking approach, so he captured three shots of his scene; one underexposed, another with the exposure recommended by the camera, and a third that’s too bright But as he began working on his first shot, which was really dark, he realized he could achieve a well-balanced image with that one photo.

There’s a link to download Mohrle’s image in the description beneath the video, so you can follow along as he demonstrates the rehabilitation process. His goal is to turn the underexposed photo into a dramatic and vibrant sunrise shot, and you may be amazed at what he accomplishes by viewing the before/after photos.

Mohrle begins by making a few global adjustments in Lightroom’s basic panel to the overall shot, to make it as good as possible for what follows. He starts by changing the profile to Adobe Standard, which slightly opens the shadows. He then cranks up exposure in a way that doesn’t add objectionable noise. There are few other quick enhancements to create the moody look Mohrle desires.

Next Mohrle turns to Lightroom’s masking panel for selective enhancements to different portions of the scene.  His first step involves a small radial gradient for further exposure adjustment to the sky, and an eye-catching glow just above the horizon.

Now the image is looking pretty good, and you’ll see how Mohrle makes it really pop with some simple color grading and sharpening. All that’s left to complete the spectacular transformation is a bit of cleanup in Photoshop.

There are more great editing tips and tricks like this on Mohrle’s popular YouTube channel, so be sure to pay a visit.

And for those who insist on shooting JPEG photos, take a look at the recent tutorial we posted explaining how to edit them like a pro.