Creating soft, blurry backgrounds is a popular technique for making subjects stand out from their surroundings. It’s also useful for eliminating clutter, and directing a viewer’s eye to the most important element of a scene.

This task can be accomplished in the camera with the right lens, proper settings, and good technique. Today’s quick tutorial demonstrates how to mimic the effect during the editing process when you didn’t quite get things right in the field.

This episode from Photoshop Café also relates to creating out-of-focus “bokeh” effects, a look many photographers seek. In barely six minutes you’ll learn how the get the job done while avoiding common pitfalls.

Instructor Colin Smith is an expert at all things Adobe, and his goal here is to help you “take an exiting photograph and create more separation between foreground and background.”  Trust us, by following this advice your photos will have significantly more impact.

This straightforward method involves three simple steps; the first of which is what Smith calls “isolating your subject.” This involves a trip to the toolbar and selecting one of the three “magic” options—either the Magic Wand, Quick Selection, or Object Selection tools will work.

As soon as you do this, a Select Subject box appears atop the screen. But before you click the button be sure to select the Cloud option that Smith says delivers optimum results. Then Photoshop’s AI makes the selection, and there are ways to do a bit of cleanup if necessary.

Next Smith explains how to avoid a common mistake before applying the blur. Here the goal is preventing ugly halos around your subject. As you’ll see, the solution is “preparing the background properly” in the manner Smith recommends.

Now you’re ready to apply the blur and finish up the edit. Smith demonstrates the correct way to do this with precision. If you’ve been doing it wrong, wipe that approach from your mind.

There are many more editing tricks on Smith’s instructional YouTube channel. So be sure to pay a visit the next time you’re in a bind.

And check out the tutorial we posted recently, explaining why another expert recommends using the Vibrance tool instead of Saturation to adjust colors in your photos.

We thought we’d start the day with a fun short-and-sweet” technique for embellishing photos with sunstars captured in the camera. So pull up a chair, watch the two-minute video below, and see how it’s done.

Sunstars and nighttime starbursts can add some oft-needed oomph and pizazz to all sorts of photos. It’s like putting a little twinkle in the eye of whatever scene you’re about to shoot.

Perhaps you’ve captured sunstars yourself. But admit it: Did you do so intentionally, or did the affect occur inadvertently? Most photographers (myself included) fall into the latter category when sunstars appear in photos thanks to a lucky confluence of camera settings, the lens in use, and the aperture you choose.

Instructor William Patino is an accomplished landscape photographer based in New Zealand, with a knack for simplifying interesting shooting techniques. In this quick episode he demonstrates a straightforward process for capturing eye-catching sunstars in a predictable way.

The technique boils down to three essential elements, the first of which is the proper source of light. In this regard it’s important to shoot when the sun isn’t diffused by a clouded sky, and camera  position relative to the sun may factor into the equation.

Exposure settings are another critical consideration, and here it’s is necessary to choose ISO and shutter speed to arrive at a small aperture which is ultimately the key to capturing sunstars with regularity. Patino says f/11 often works, but he recommends f/16 or f/22 when conditions permit.

The third, and Patino say his most important tips, is to frame the scene in a way that an object (like a tree) partially obscures the sun so that the sunstar “bursts around the object.” Watch how Patino combines these three simple elements to get the job done.

There are many more simple tips and tricks on Patino’s YouTube channel, so take a look and subscribe.

We also suggest you watch the tutorial we posed recently from another pro, explaining how to “shape light” for more dramatic landscape photos.

Photo By Jennifer Carr

Today’s Photo of the Day is “Short-Eared Owl in Flight” by Jennifer Carr. Location: Burlington, Washington.

“A short-eared owl skims the ground in search of a vole in western Washington in the late afternoon sunlight,” describes Carr. “This photograph showcases my motivation as a photographer because I set a goal for 2023 to seek out and photograph an owl in the wild. I purchased a new lens, practiced on some local birds and studied autofocus settings. I researched owls, consulted with birdwatchers and other photographers and found that there was a location nearby where short-eared owls regularly hunted in the winter. I had expected to need to visit multiple times before successfully photographing the owls, but they were readily on display!”

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including Assignments, Galleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

The post Photo Of The Day By Jennifer Carr appeared first on Outdoor Photographer.

The past month has been special for Shutterbug readers thanks to the weekly installments we’ve posted of an amazing free Lightroom masterclass from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel. Part 1 covered the basics. #2 dealt with masking, and last week’s episode explained the finer points of using Lightroom’s Tone Curve.

Today’s fourth installment of the 10-part series demonstrates how to achieve perfect color in landscape photos by using Lightroom’s HSL panel. The term HSL is an acronym for Hue, Saturation and Luminance. All three are important to understand if you want to achieve images with beautiful, natural looking colors when processing your work.

Instructor Christian Mohrle is an exceptional German landscape photographer with a passion for helping others improve their imagery. As you’ll see, each of these elements affects the colors with your photos in different ways. And when used properly it’s simple to to give an image whatever look you desire.

Mohrle explains that Hue refers to the actual color itself; i.e. red green or blue. “This particular slider enables you to easily change the color of specific areas in a photo. So by modifying green tones, for example, you can transform summer foliage into autumn colors.

Saturation works differently by modifying the intensity of a color (making it either stronger or more subdued). With these sliders in Lightroom’s Basics panel the idea is to target colors individually—bring them up or down to suit your taste.

The term Luminance pertains to the brightness of colors. And these sliders let you make certain areas of a photo brighter, others darker, while leaving some portions of the shot untouched if need be. Mohrle says, “Think of a blue sky: with Luminance controls you can target the blues to make them darker with mpre contrast and drama.”

Mohrle demonstrates how easy all this is to accomplish, and he discusses all the key HSL settings necessary for making your outdoor photos really stand out.

If you missed one or more of the three previous episodes of this ongoing series, head over to Mohrle’s YouTube channel where they’re easy to find. He has numerous other videos on a wide variety of topic—all devoted to shooting and editing photos captured in the great outdoors.

We also suggest you watch another tutorial we posted recently, explaining a pro trick for shooting amazing landscape photos with a wide-angle lens.