If you confront an absolute mess when opening your Lightroom Catalog, you’ve come to the right place. In the video below you’ll learn how to clean up that chaos for a faster and more convenient workflow.

The video below is particularly helpful for photographers who shoot and edit a lot of images without a tidy system and end up with photos all over the place. The frustrating result is that it can be difficult to find the one image your searching for.

Instructor Austin James Jackson is an accomplished shooter and image-editing expert who shares weekly tutorials on landscape photography and post-processing techniques. This nine-minute episode is well worth watching, as it will save you tons of time, with a cleaner workflow, beginning today.

Even if you’re a neat freak it’s easy to let your Lightroom Catalog get out of hand. And if you tend to bask in clutter you need Jackson’s advice even more. Be sure to check the links beneath the video when you’re done watching, where you’ll find more helpful lessons on maintaining a fast, easy-to-use Lightroom workflow.

The first step with today’s task is to open your catalog and select All Photographs. By doing this you can see every image in the Catalog, regardless of its location. At this point Jackson offers a blunt warning: “If you use folders to store your images, STOP!” He explains why this is an inefficient practice, and explains how and why to use Collections instead.

As Jackson explains, there are a variety of methods and nomenclature you can use to create Collections, and this one-time task of organizing every image in your Catalog in this manner can be a tedious chore. But according to Jackson, “This is the best way to start cleaning up your mess,” and it will pay big dividends forever more.

Jackson has more valuable organizational advice, including the importance of separating images you’ve edited from those that still need attention. So watch the video, straighten up your room, and then organize your messy Lightroom Catalog before you go out to play!

There’s much more of interest on Jackson’s instructional YouTube channel, so pay a visit and subscribe.

And be sure to check out the recent tutorial we posted, explaining how to accentuate “atmosphere” in Lightroom for more compelling landscape photographs.

If the term “lens compression” sounds familiar and you know it’s a thing, but you’re not sure what it does, how it works, and why it can be beneficial, the video below is for you. We’re going to clear up all the above and more in this episode of “Booray Explains.”

Instructor Booray Perry is a Florida-based pro known for basic tutorials on important photo concepts and techniques that are helpful for novices and advanced shooters alike. Today’s lesson is a straightforward explainer clarifying all the key factors of this misunderstood photo concept.

Perry insists that every photographer should understand how lens compression works, “because it can make a big difference in the images you capture.” This concept comes into play when shooting with telephoto primes or at the long end of a zoom lens of 200mm or more.

In simple terms, lens compression can be used to make the background of a scene appear bigger and closer to your subject, and the effect is immediately apparent when viewing a photo. Perry makes the same shot using a 50mm lens and a telephoto to illustrate this point

Keep in mind that depending upon how you wish to depict a specific scene; a compressed perspective may not be want you want. But when you do, it can be very effective. Perry notes that for a really noticeable effect, “you need your background to be at least twice as far from your subject as you are—the farther the better.”

Perry offers several other simple yet important concepts to understand, for making the most of this technique. So what so special about using this method? Perry says to think of it like this: “Lens compression is just one more tool that we have for manipulating our environment.”

Bottom line: In appropriate situations this tool enables you to create images that don’t exactly mimic what people see with their eyes. And doing this will help you become a better visual storyteller.

If you enjoy Perry’s calm style, infused with a bit of humor, pay a visit to his YouTube channel where there’s much more to see and learn.

And if you missed the story we posted touting the “awesomeness” of affordable f/4 lenses, be sure to check it out.

Most Shutterbug readers are familiar with a Photoshop feature that automatically detects and creates a mask for an object, thanks to the tutorials we’ve posted in the past. But that capability pales in comparison to a “hidden” masking tool that you’ll learn how to use below.

This episode comes from the internationally popular PiXimperfect YouTube channel that has over four million subscribers. The topic of today’s lesson in a “mind-blowing” feature that enables you to automatically mask everything in an image at once—including multiple objects and even the background.

Instructor Unmesh Dinda is a favorite among regular Shutterbug readers, and in less than nine minutes he explains everything you need to know about this remarkable capability that delivers great results. And he provides real-world examples to illustrate everything this process can accomplish.

You’ll learn how to use these masks for basic tasks like making adjustments to color and contrast, and adding depth to a sky for a more dramatic look. Dinda also demonstrates more advanced techniques made possible by the Auto-Mask feature that’s powered by Photoshop’s Object Selection tools.

Dinda explains how to get started by finding and selecting the Mask All Objects tool. As the name suggests, what this command does is create a mask for everything it detects. From there you can selectively make any necessary adjustments to various portions of the image. All available masks appear in a panel on the right.

Dinda provides keyboard shortcuts to speed up the process, and he uses different photos to illustrate how to use each mask with various tools—in pretty much the same way to would if you used the conventional approach of selecting each portion of an image with individual masks—one after another.

As you might suspect, this amazing approach dramatically speeds up your workflow. And it does so without sacrificing quality or the tools at your disposal in any way. In short, when Dinda calls this technique “mind-blowing” he’s speaking the truth.

Dinda’s instructional YouTube channel has lessons for just about every Photoshop task imaginable, so head over there when you have time and dramatically expand your skills.

And be sure to check out the powerful Photoshop tutorial we posted last month from another editing expert, explaining five easy steps for making selections with perfect edges.

Have you ever been disappointed by your early-evening cityscape photos because they didn’t accurately capture the magic of Blue Hour? That’s actually a common occurrence, and in the video below you’ll learn how to correct the problem by making city lights glow with a simple HDR technique.

Instructor Greg Benz “got hooked” on photography over 20 years ago. Today he’s a successful pro, and he says, “My goal is not just to create art, but to share the vision, tools, and techniques behind my work.”

In this powerful episode he shares his secrets for using “the amazing HDR tool” in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) to restore the full details in images captured after dark. Before donning his magician’s hat and demonstrating the HDR edit, he makes some quick adjustments to correct a few basic problems.

What you’ll notice right away are the converging verticals in the shot, and Benz demonstrates how easy that distraction is to correct. Another problem has to do the unrealistic curvature in a light pole on left side of the frame. This is due to the geometric distortion of Benz’ lens, and it’s equally easy to fix.

Benz then works on the color, exposure, contrast, and luminosity of the image with a few other quick adjustments, and now the photo is looking pretty good. He makes a copy of the shot at this stage for comparison purposes, and now it’s time for some HDR magic.

The approach recommended by Benz requires a few changes to Photoshop’s HDR settings. The first, which only applies to Mac users, involves choosing the Technology Preview option within the Settings dropdown menu. He also demonstrates a workaround for Windows users.

The remainder of this eye-opening lesson is the fun part, as Benz walks you through the necessary steps for emulating his powerful HDR method. As you’ll see, it’s actually very straightforward. Now compare his standard edit with the beautiful HDR image and you’ll be very impressed.

After watching this helpful video head oveer to Benz’ popular YouTube channel were you’ll find much more of the same.

We think you’ll also enjoy another tutorial we posted recently, explaining how to edit sunset photos for a natural yet spectacular look.