Here’s another quick and transformative Lightroom technique from Julieanne Kost—one of the foremost Adobe Experts and a self-proclaimed “digital-imaging evangelist.” Like many of her succinct lessons, this one runs barely four minutes, as she explains the concept of Virtual Copies and describes when and how to make them a part of your Lightroom workflow.

Simply put, a Virtual Copy is a replica of a file with all the adjustments you’ve made so that you can experiment with further enhancements and other modifications without affecting the original image. And because you’re not creating full duplicate versions of the same shot, a Virtual Copy doesn’t place a burden on your hard drive by taking up additional space.

Kost pulls up a seascape photo that she processed in Lightroom for a dark and moody effect. She introduces today’s topic like this: “Let’s say I want to create another version of this photo with a different look.” She clicks the Photo tab atop the Lightroom workspace, and then selects the “Create Virtual Copy” option from a dropdown menu that appears.

Lightroom will then create a secondary thumbnail that’s stored in the catalog. The magic is this: “We’re not taking up extra disk space like we would have by duplicating the original photo.” You can easily differential between the two thumbnails because the Virtual Copy has a page-curl icon on the lower left corner.

The copy can then be modified with different adjustments, the addition of Star Ratings, Keywords, other metadata, and the like. And these changes are only applied to the Virtual Copy—leaving the file with the original edits untouched. Likewise, you can select and adjust the original file further without affecting the Virtual Copy.

Kost demonstrates how this works by moving to Lightroom’s Develop module and applying a Landscape preset to change the look and feel of her image. And a quick glance at the film strip confirms that these changes were only applied to the Virtual Copy

Another space-saving consideration is that you can create as many Virtual Copies as you want—each with a unique effect. Just follow the approach outlined above and each new copy appears as a new thumbnail in the filmstrip at the button of the screen.

Then you can edit each of these versions to your heart’s content, with different cropping, aspect ratio, variations to color, exposure and contrast—and whatever other variables you want to change. When you select all the images and click on Export, Lightroom will export all of the variations as unique files.

There’s a bit more to understand and Kost explains everything you need to know for getting the job done. Be sure to visit Kost’s robust YouTube channel where you’ll find many more helpful editing tips, tricks shortcuts and tutorials for working with Photoshop and Lightroom.

We also suggest watching a tutorial we posted recently, describing another pro’s five favorite mobile apps that will greatly improve your smartphone photographs.

Adobe’s post-processing tools are in a constant state of evolution, and some features that were a bust in years past have recently become far more useful and effective. Such is the case with Exposure Blending and HDR in Photoshop and Lightroom. This tutorial from Photos on the Bay explains how the process has evolved and why you may want to take another look.

Instructor Neil Medland is an Australian pro specializing in landscape and seascape imagery. He says that “10 years ago HDR was a swear word in photography because the overprocessed and unrealistic images it produced turned a lot of people off—including myself.” He’s revisiting this approach today to see how much better the function is in 2024.

Medland explains why recent improvements to HDR makes Exposure Blending a lot better than in the old days. He illustrates this point with a few seascapes that are particularly challenging because of the broad range of tones in the scenes. And he was very surprised by the beautiful and natural looking results of his edits.

The typical approach involves three shots of the same scene, each exposed differently; one with a “correct” base exposure, another that’s overexposed for the shadows, and a third shot that’s intentionally underexposed for the highlights. The idea is to blend all three photos together and arrive at one shot with perfectly balanced tones.

Medland illustrates how to  get the job done in both Photoshop and Lightroom—explaining why the latter doesn’t have all the same tools. He selects his three images in Lightroom and then walks you through the Exposure Blending technique. The process begins by right-clicking on Photo Merge and then HDR in the sequence of dropdown menus that appear.

He then demonstrates how the method begins differently when working in Photoshop. However, once you get going everything else is pretty much the same. You’ll see the specific settings that Medland recommends for different types of images.

Medland explains when the Auto Align setting is warranted, as well as “the bit that makes the biggest difference of all;” namely, how to configure the Deghosting feature. He illustrates why setting this to “None” will often produce “the cleanest the nicest looking blend by far and away.”

The foregoing is just a taste of what you’ll learn in this comprehensive 14-minute video, and you may want to take a few notes for future reference. We bet that your opinion of HDR will be far more favorable by the time this lesson concludes. Then head over to the Photos on the Bay YouTube channel where you’ll find many more easy and helpful tips.

And be sure to watch the tutorial we featured recently in which another pro explains why too much color can ruin outdoor photographs unless you follow his straightforward advice.

Everyone loves photographing their pets, even if they specialize in other genres. And those of you who don’t have a furry friend yourself will likely be asked by someone else to make a few portraits of theirs. After all, you own a camera, right?

Unfortunately, many pet photos look like more casual snapshots than “real” portraits created with all of our shooting and editing skills. We’re going to fix that today with a quick post-processing tutorial from the aptly named Inspawration Photography YouTube channel.

As you’ll, see the process of editing pet photos is a bit different than the technique we use to enhance human subjects, and today’s unnamed instructor begins with this promise: “Whether you’re working with dogs, cats, or any other pets, this video breaks down the five editing mistakes that might be holding you back.”

The first problem is referred to as “Blue Dog Syndrome,” but it actually occurs with all animals that have black fur. In some situations and lighting conditions the tele-tale sign is that an animal’s fur appears too blue (or sometimes too warm). You’ll learn how to quickly  fix this common White Balance problem to achieve a realistic look.

Then there’s what our instructor calls the “Fake Sun Fiasco” which can also be responsible for pet portraits with an unnatural look. This one describes how to correctly introduce an eye-catching sun flare effect. You’ll learn why subtlety is the key, and how to avoid an “alien abduction” appearance that you definitely want to avoid.

Another key issue is named “Mood Mismatch Mayhem,” and this is equally important when shooting people pictures. The point is that “your editing should enhance a pet’s personality—not clash with it.” Bottom line, by concentrating on a subject’s facial expression and body posture your pet portraits will be far more compelling.

The “Darkside Dilemma” is tip #4 and this technique is for those of you who love moody, dramatic edits. Here you’ll see how to make sure your photos aren’t too dark, especially when photographing animals with black fur. The trick is understanding how to balance darkness with visibility.

The lesson concludes with another tip that also applies when editing portraits of humans, and this common issue involves over-editing a subject’s eyes and how to keep them looking “soulful and natural.” If you’re interested in further expanding your skills, pay a visit to the popular Inspawration YouTube channel for more tips and techniques.

And if you want to get started with wild bird photography, be sure not to miss the beginner’s primer we posted recently on this popular topic.

Experienced landscape photo0graphs know that their job isn’t completed in the field, because thoughtful processing is essential for spectacular and realistic results. This task requires using the proper tools in the correct order, but there’s another key consideration that is frequently overlooked.

This eye-opening Lightroom tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel harkens back to the days of film, when photographers created a strategic plan before going into the darkroom. According to instructor Christian Mohrle, the same holds true when processing digital files because having a detailed plan before sitting down at the computer is “absolutely vital.”

This point is clearly illustrated in the image above in which the notations on the original shot are reminiscent of how darkroom experts marked up their proof sheets before getting to work. And the anticipated adjustments are remarkably similar.

Mohrle’s demonstration image (which you can download with a link beneath the video) is a boring and unimpressive shot with flat colors and insufficient contrast in the sky. Mohrle says he anticipated this result while on location, “but I already knew there were things I could do in Lightroom to make the photo look far more interesting.”

So examine the notations on Mohrle’s original file, then watch how he executes this detailed plan for a remarkable transformation. And if you downloaded his Raw file you can make the changes yourself as the step-by-step process is explained. Every image requires unique enhancements but the takeaway is this: a pre-edit strategy will make post processing faster and far more effective.

Mohrle proceeds with a specific hierarchy of changes, and he always begins with basic adjustments to an image as a whole, before turning to the selective use of masks to refine various portions of a scene in different ways. The next step is thoughtful, localized color grading to further refine the effect.

Careful sharpening comes next, and you’ll see why Mohrle favors a subtle approach. For this particular image he adds the optional step of Focus Stacking to get things just right. Then he concludes the process with a bit of cleanup to remove small distractions and other unwanted artifacts.

A quick glance at the before/after images reveals how well this approach works. There’s much more to learn about editing landscape photos on the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel, and in the recent tutorial we featured with another pro who explains why too much color can ruin your landscape photographs if three essential elements are missing from your post-processing workflow.