The tutorial below is for all of you who’ve grown tire of hearing “purists” proclaim that, “Unless you turn your mode dial to M you’re not a real photographer.” As we’ve said before, that’s a lot of bunk, as numerous pros regularly shoot in Aperture or Shutter Priority depending upon the assignment.

Another misconception is that Manual Mode photography requires sophisticated skills and is only suitable for advanced shooters, and that’s a silly claim too. After watching this 12-minute video, you’ll be out shooting in Manual Mode in no time.

Hyun Ralph Jeong modestly says, I’m just a guy who loves taking pictures.” But as you’ll see in this episode he’s quite accomplished and a very adept instructor. Whether you just bought your first camera, want to take your photography to the next level, or are simply curious about what Manual Mode involves, this episode will demystify the technique.

As Jeong explains, “There’s a big difference between not shooting in manual because you don’t know how and why, and not using this mode because it won’t affect your style of photography.” So watch this demonstration and then decide what mode is best for you.

Shooting in Manual requires constantly adjusting aperture, shutter speed and ISO, as well as understanding how these three variables interact to achieve proper exposure. It’s also important knowing where to begin; i.e. do you start by first adjusting aperture, and let that choice dictate the appropriate ISO and shutter speed settings, or should another variable be preeminent?

The answer to the above question is simple: “It depends.” In other words, the approach you take depends upon the subject matter and the effect you desire. The hierarchy you use is reliant upon a number of factors, including whether your subject is static or in motion, do you want to blur the background of a scene or maximize depth of field, the light levels you confront, are you shooting handheld or with a tripod, and a few other considerations.

As you’ll see, Jeong provides a clear explanation to these questions so you can make the proper choice under various conditions. And after giving Manual mode a try, you can always go back to your familiar approach

There much more to learn on Jeong’s YouTube channel, and in the earlier tutorial we posted explaining why your photos are unsharp and what to do about it.

All of us want to do a thorough job of processing photos, but we also want to do so as quickly and efficiently as possible. That way we can get back out in the field with a camera and do what we love most.

With that in mind we think you’ll appreciate the tutorial below for speeding up editing from a post-processing expert who goes by the handle AdamDNN on his instructional YouTube channel.  As he notes, there are plenty of things you can do to improve your workflow, but “these five methods really stand out for me.”

Adam also discusses a few new features in the latest Lightroom update that really accelerate your editing, including the new AI Masks that can save a lot of time. Fast and precise edits are really important when you return from a daylong excursion with hundreds of images. Same thing for wedding photographers who may shoot thousands of photos at an event.

Tip number one is new to us, and it involves White Balance. Instead of using Auto White Balance to capture images, he recommends choosing a setting that’s most appropriate to the scene, and sticking with it unless there are dramatic changes to the light. That substantially speeds the editing process because you don’t have to make White balance adjustments for each individual shot

Adam’s second tip has to with the tedious chore of going through all your images to select those that are worth editing. Here he reveals the two methods he uses for rapidly culling photos to choose the heroes, maybes, and rejects. By following this process you can make a second pass to refine your choices.

The other tips you’ll see include a trick for using an iPad and Lightroom mobile to facilitate the process, how to shoot in “sets” of similar images so you can edit in bulk, and the most efficient way to use masks. He also reveals several keyboard shortcuts that he credits for “speeding up my work flow immensely.”

You can find more tips and tricks on Adam’s instructional YouTube channel, so be sure to pay a visit and subscribe.

And don’t miss another helpful tutorial we posted earlier, with a simple system for organizing Lightroom catalogs.

What if you could access every image in your photo library while traveling – and rely on a simple solution to protect the photos you capture on the road?

Mylio Photos makes both these goals possible. The app works differently than other photo software. It’s a digital photo hub that turns your computers, phones, tablets, and storage devices into an intelligent system for managing and backing up a lifetime of photos, videos, and important documents. 

Here are the biggest benefits of the way the app works. It serves as a universal library for all major platforms (Windows, iOS, Android, macOS). With Mylio Photos, you can consolidate all your media – from unlimited sources – so it’s cataloged together in one beautiful library you can access from all your devices, anytime, anywhere. No cloud service is required.

Keep reading to learn how Mylio Photos allows you to manage your entire library while traveling (even without the internet) — and helps protect the new images you’re shooting. (Try Mylio Photos for free here.)

Fit your entire library on your phone or tablet with Mylio Photos
With Mylio Photos, you can fit even a massive photo library on a limited-capacity tablet or smartphone.

How does it work?
Mylio Photos syncs optimized versions of your photos to devices with limited storage space, such as a laptop or smartphone. It protects your originals on larger-capacity devices you control such as external drives, a desktop computer, NAS, or cloud service.

Mylio Photos’ optimized smart previews take up about 5% of the space compared to originals. To put this in perspective, one million smart preview files will take up about 1 TB of storage.

Before your trip
As you get ready to leave, you’ll want to set up Mylio Photos so it works seamlessly to help you access and protect all your photos while you’re on the road. Here are four steps to take before departure.

Sync the mobile devices you plan to take with optimized versions of all your photos. The Mylio Photos Sync Panel lets you check the sync status of all your connected devices at a glance. This helps you ensure that your entire media collection is backed up before you take off, and that you can browse and organize your entire library while you’re on the road.

Free up space on your phone’s camera roll. Mylio Photos can import and back up media from your iOS or Android phone automatically. It can even free up space on your phone’s camera roll once your photos are safely backed up. The app does this by scanning your library, then letting you know how many files can be safely deleted and how much storage the deletions will free up.

Taking these steps ensures you’ll be able to access all your photos during your trip. Plus, you’ll have more room for pictures you’ll be taking.

Leave a system at home (like your computer) powered on and running Mylio Photos in the background. If you have internet connectivity while traveling, this will let you access your full-quality media on demand. The app will automatically begin syncing any new photos you add to your storage and backup devices at home.

While you’re traveling
Travel days can be busy. But there’s also often some downtime in hotels and airports. Try these two travel-photo hacks to ease your post-processing workflow once you’re back in the daily routine at home.

Take photos with your smartphone at key locations even if you’re shooting mostly with a mirrorless or DSLR camera. Why? These photos can provide additional metadata. For instance, if your camera doesn’t add geotags, you can easily grab the GPS coordinates from a smartphone photo then batch-apply those coordinates to other photos you shot at that location in Mylio Photos.

Start reviewing and organizing your photos with QuickReview mode. Mylio Photos offers some unique benefits that can help you maximize time in your hotel room, a coffee shop, and even WiFi-free flights. Getting ahead on your workflow while travel photos are fresh in your mind is never wrong.

QuickReview mode lets you review hundreds of photos quickly on a smartphone in Mylio Photos. With a nod to one-handed gestures made popular by apps like Tinder, just swipe right to keep a photo, swipe left to reflect and flag it for deletion. The tool works on tablets and laptops too, with keyboard shortcuts.

You can also manage photos on the flight home. You don’t need an internet connection to organize and manage your photos in Mylio Photos; they’re all stored on your mobile device. The offline changes you make will sync across your devices when you’re back online.

Once you’re back home
Now it’s time to continue refining your travel photo collection and to share your best shots.

Add or correct metadata if necessary. Did you forget to change your camera settings to the correct time zone? Use Mylio Photos to shift the date or time. If you took a photo with your phone while shooting, you can copy and batch-apply the timestamp information to camera photos taken at the same time.

Edit photos in Mylio Photos, or your favorite external editor. The editing tools in Mylio Photos are quite good for basic edits. But if you like to use external editors like Lightroom, Photoshop, Luminar Neo, or Radiant Photo, it’s quick and easy to hand off a photo or group of photos. After making edits externally, you just save the edited versions back to your Mylio Photos library. 

Play with PhotoExplorer. Tap any of your images in Mylio Photos to automatically launch a web search based on the GPS info in the photo. It’s a neat trick that lets you rediscover the name of that great restaurant you found, or search for more information related to a site you visited.

Share your best photos. It’s convenient to share photos and videos from Mylio Photos: Just Copy and Paste to most external apps, email, text, and other platforms. You can also use their SafeShare option to strip all personal info from images before sharing to other applications or posting to social media. 

Ready to test drive Mylio Photos for free? Learn more and get started with this link.

Sometimes we edit outdoor photos to make them more closely resemble what we saw through the viewfinder. Other times, especially when shooting on drab days, the goal is to add some punch so the images look as they would under better conditions.

Today’s Photoshop tutorial isn’t about gaudy special effects. Rather, it demonstrates how to employ an easy-to-use Photoshop tool to give boring, dull images a vibrant yet realistic look.

We often rely upon German landscape photographer Christian Mohrle for straightforward tutorials on shooting and editing outdoor imagery. In the 10-minute video below you’ll learn how easy it is to use Photoshop’s powerful Color Balance adjustment layers to transform drab rejects into spectacular keepers.

Mohrle begins with an image of a pier over the water shot under less-than-ideal light. It’s a pretty scene that would make a gorgeous photo on a better day. You can download the photo using a link in the description beneath the video, and make the changes yourself as Mohrle describes the process.

Before explaining his Color Balance technique, Mohrle makes a few straightforward Raw adjustments to get the phot looking a little better. He first changes the image profile to Adobe Landscape, which immediately increases saturation for the post-sunset look he’s after. He then opens Photoshop’s Basic panel and adjusts White Balance, Exposure, and Tint.

After adjusting sharpness and making a few other quick enhancements it’s time for the meat of this episode; namely, the Color Balance adjustment tool. As the name suggests, this approach lets you tweak various color tones in shadows, midtones and highlights. In a way, it’s sort of like Split-Toning in Lightroom, and Mohrle quickly walks you through the step-by-step-process to arrive at a beautiful result.

You can find more editing tips and tricks on Mohrle’s instructional YouTube channel, so be sure to take a look.

And check out the tutorial we posted from another top pro recently, explaining the key elements of outstanding nature and wildlife photos.