Whether you’re an experienced Lightroom user or just getting started there’s always something to learn. And if there are few easy-to-use methods that work wonders for photographers of all skill levels, that’s even better.

Today’s tutorial from Photoshop Café features five powerful (and perhaps unfamiliar) tips that you can start using today to transform ho-hum images into spectacular shots. Best yet, these winning techniques take barely nine minutes to explain.

Instructor Colin Smith is a specialist at all things Adobe, with a knack for simplifying important image-editing tasks. In this straightforward episode he discusses artificial intelligence (AI) and masking tricks, batch processing, color grading, and more. By the time you’re done watching you’ll be well prepared to tackle more involved techniques.

Smith begins with a simple method for using AI masks to apply a color gradient to the background of a photo, while adding a bit of lens flare for extra impact. The example he uses is a portrait with a boring gray background, but you can take advantage of this quick trick for all sorts of photos—indoors or out.

Tip #2 involves creating an AI mask to change the color of his model’s hair. But the real power of this one is the batch-processing trick he demonstrates for “using AI masks to retouch thousands of images instantly.” This one is a real timesaver, even if you only have a handful of photos to process.

Smith also reveals a versatile approach that he calls  “round trip integration.” Here he demonstrates “how to keep Lightroom adjustments in Photoshop and use Photoshop filters from Lightroom.” And for those who shoot video, Smith has a great color-grading tip for giving footage a compelling cinematic look.

You’ll also pick up simple advice for using Camera Raw, and learn a couple easy methods for removing dust and other distracting elements from your photos.

You’ll want to spend some time on Smith’s instructional YouTube channel, where there is a variety of editing tips and tricks.

And don’t miss our earlier post, with episode #1 of a free online Lightroom masterclass that you don’t want to miss.

Bird photography is one of the most popular passions for Shutterbug readers. Check out our Photo of the Day Gallery to see  some outstanding images of our feathered friends. Want to turn your bird photography trips – or your backyard bird feeder – into a money machine? Here’s how.

Store your photos in the cloud via the Saal Photo Portal to share and sell them online. Create galleries and your own photo shop storefront to offer quality print products. There’s no fee and no commission charges. And Saal Digital takes care of all the back-end work.

Your images of birds of prey, amazing migratory creatures and even seasonal garden variety birds can put dollars in your bank account. Not into birds? Then even if your specialty is weddings, sports action, cityscapes—or virtually anything else—you can start earning real dollars from your photography.

Open Your Own Photo Shop
Let your bird photos take flight. The Saal Photo Portal empowers you to set up your own storefront to sell your photos on printed products you enable, such as: Photo Prints, Posters Wall Decor (Metal Print, Acrylic Glass, PVC Foam Board, Gallery Print), Photo Books, Calendars, Greeting Cards, as well as many popular Photo Gifts—the possibilities are as broad as your aviary portfolio.

You set the prices for the printed products and Saal Digital handles fulfillment. Items in your storefront can be shared the same way as your photo galleries. You can also include the products in your galleries so clients have one-click access. Like galleries, products in your storefront can be password restricted.

Go Wider
Broaden your reach and attract more paying customers by activating your public profile. Again, the setup process is intuitive and easy. You have full control over which galleries are displayed on your public profile. And you can publish as many galleries as you like.

Getting Started
Getting started is as simple as 1-2-3 and you maintain full control of your selling prices, copyrights and image galleries.

There are no fees or commission charges. Create your account in the Saal Photo Portal and start selling without any cost of any kind. Saal Digital handles the photo merchandise production, money exchange and item delivery. The Portal is everything you need in a single, full-service provider that takes care of the entire process.

Click here to create a free account and shift your career into high gear or read on for more details.

Create an Account
When you click the account creation button you are guided step-by-step. A foolproof To Do list keeps track of the process and keeps you on target effortlessly. Once established, next you create your image galleries and upload images. You can also create sub-galleries. For faster workflow, you can upload photos in low resolution and without editing until they are purchased.

With the images in place, the next step is to manage the sales process. You can activate the sales button to allow ordering, select the appropriate price list, add your watermark and adjust the layout and appearance of the display mode. Sell digital files by defining the price segmented by resolution or decide on the commission you wish to receive when selling your images on Saal Digital’s photographic products.

Next, share your gallery. Optionally you can restrict access to the gallery by setting a password. This is an excellent way to deliver the proof images and offer them for sale to clients—members of birdwatching clubs or associations, for example. Viewers can buy your images in the formats you enable.

You can even offer discount coupons with or without time limitations to stimulate sales. If enabled, viewers can post their comments and feedback—a very useful tool for professional development. Because you are in total control of every step, you can modify the options at any time.

For more definitive control over the products in your storefront,  you can create the layout of each printed item using the same Saal Design Software USA used to produce products for your personal use.

Check out Saal Digital’s YouTube video for more details, or visit them online.

Saal Digital Is a Leading Choice for All Photo Printing
Saal Digital is a professional photo lab and one of the leading suppliers of photo products. You can be proud to offer your images on Saal Digital’s photo products because of their attention to detail, long history of happy customers and the highest quality standards for finished products. They work closely with professionals and always endeavor to further develop their techniques in order to achieve higher standards and to meet the needs of their customers. Amateurs and pro photographers around the globe rely on Saal Digital for consistently superb photo products. 

Saal Digital is the best place to turn your images into tangible works of art and a money-making machine.

Hone Your Bird Photography Skills

Time to step up your bird photography to publishable level? Search Shutterbug for stories like this one: Want Better BACKYARD BIRD Photos? Here’s How and this one: 5 Great Tips to Take Better Bird Photos. Stay connected to nature by photographing these descendants of dinosaurs and fatten your budget for more photo gear at the same time.

Stay in the loop. Resister for Saal Digital’s free newsletter and you’ll receive exclusive discounts and design tips.  You can unsubscribe at any time.

—Shutterbug Staff

Whether you’ve made the switch to Luminar Neo, or you’re using it along with other image-editors, the tutorial below is sure to improve your work with a revealing look at how one pro uses seven new tricks when processing his photos.

Luminar New is rapidly gaining in popularity, as it uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create most of it’s magic. And that means that despite it’s wide array of tools, Neo is very easy to use. And, of course, this affordable software delivers impressive results—or we wouldn’t be discussing it here.

Professional photographer David Manning is a convert who says the new tools he describes in this 12-minute tutorial are “leveraging AI to make our job as photo editors very easy.” In fact he now accomplishes editing tasks with “clicks or sliders” in Luminar Neo, that he spent 20 years perfecting in Photoshop and Lightroom.

The first timesaving trick he describes involves using HDR Merge. He explains this technique using real estate photography as en example: “You need to create well exposed indoor images with windows that aren’t blown out, but the camera often lacks sufficient dynamic range to accomplish this in one shot.”

Focus stacking is another way Luminar Neo uses AI to make quick work of combining multiple images that Manning says  “used to take me forever in Photoshop.” The example he uses here is a tight shot of a Polaroid camera with everything in focus.

As he notes, this would have been a very difficult challenge using conventional methods because of the very close camera-to-subject distance. He also demonstrates how to use Neo to upscale images, and use Supersharp AI to achieve very impressive results.

Other topics of interest include Magic AI, Noiseless AI, and Background Removal AI—all made fast and effective using Luminar Neo’s powerful tools. If you’re a diehard Adobe user you may have second thoughts after this revealing lesson.

You may want to head over to Manning’s YouTube channel after watching this video to learn more editing tips and tricks.

On a related topic, check out the tutorial we posted earlier, explaining three editing mistakes that ruin photos in Luminar Neo.

We have a special treat for you today and for the next few weeks, with the first episode in a 10-part masterclass from our friends at the Phlog Photography YouTube channel. So if you want to expand your Lightroom skills the lesson below provides a great start. 

Instructor Christian Mohrle is a noteworthy landscape photographer who says he created this powerful series with a specific goal in mind, “I’m going to go through all the editing tools Lightroom has to offer, and explain them in detail.” What makes this opportunity so helpful is that Mohrle’s tips are divided into separate relatively brief videos, so you’ll never feel intimidated or overwhelmed.

Today’s premier episode covers everything you need to know for using Lightroom’s most basic tools, so you’ll be well prepared for more involved tasks. In future weeks Mohrle’s topics run the gamut from color grading, masks, lens correction, and tone curves, to HSL adjustments, sharpening, and more.

If you’ve watched Mohrle’s editing tutorials in the past, you know that his first step is always to select Lightroom’s most appropriate Camera Profile for the image at hand. Today he explains why doing this creates a good “base image” for all adjustments that follow.

Another key basic task is modifying White Balance for the specific look you’re after. Here Mohrle explains various ways to do that by using the Auto setting, choosing a pre-defined setting, employing the White Balance Selector tool, or by adjusting Lightroom’s sliders manually. And all are viable options.

Mohrle then moves on to Tone settings and the oft-ignored Histogram. This discussion includes simple steps to take for properly setting the contrast and brightness of an image. The lesson wraps up with a basic overview of Lightroom’s Presence settings, with a straightforward explanation of how to use simple sliders to quickly give photos more detail, clarity, and saturation.

There’s a lot going on in barely 11-minutes, so you may want to jot down a few notes for future reference. And we’ll be sure to post new episodes in this series as soon as they’re available.

There’s much more to learn about shooting and editing outdoor images on Mohrle’s YouTube channel, so be sure to take a look,

We’re also sure you’ll like an earlier tutorial we featured recently, explaining five “secret” Lightroom tools for better, faster edits.