Nature Photography How To

A couple weeks ago we featured an editing tutorial, explaining an easy way to create five unique effects using the Curves tool in Photoshop and Lightroom. Today instructor Scott Davenport is back with a bonus two-minute tip, demonstrating how easy it is to fix blown-out highlights using Curves.

Guess what? Even professional shooters screw up on occasion; so don’t feel too bad about making mistakes. The trick is to not make the same error twice, and one way to avoid that is to learn from the foibles of experienced pros.

Sunrises and sunsets are among the most popular scenes for avid landscape photographers. Early morning images usually have ephemeral soft blue tones, while sunsets typically display striking yellows, oranges and reds.

Landscape photography is one of the most popular genres among Shutterbug readers, and the tutorials we post typically involve shooting and editing techniques for achieving great results. But today we’re taking s step back, with an important preliminary task you should perform before pulling a camera out of your bag.

Put two outdoor photographers in the same place at the same time—one a pro and the other an amateur—and it’s likely their photos will differ dramatically, especially in terms of creativity. The reasons a pro usually wins include better composition, high-end gear, and a greater understanding of exposure techniques.

It’s not impossible to capture compelling landscape photos on flat, foggy days, but more often these conditions result in boring, uninspiring images. If that’s what you get on your next outing in the field, we encourage you not to trash the photos with the intent on returning on a better day.