Outdoor Photography How To

One of the greatest challenges when processing dull nature and landscape images is creating an eye-catching effect that retains a believable, realistic look. The solution often rests on the proper use of colors, and this tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel demonstrates a foolproof method for getting the job done to perfection.

This is the favorite season of many experienced outdoor photographers because of the gorgeous colors that paint the landscape no matter where you live. Yet, it can be challenging to replicate the stunning autumn tones you witness in the field—especially when shooting in flat light.

Photographers who've done enough shooting outdoors know that some scenes appear far more compelling in b&w. The challenge is that after a monochrome conversion, some photos are significantly less dramatic than expected. We're going to fix that in the next 15 minutes.

Last week brought you a short-and-sweet tutorial from post-processing impresario Julieanne Kost, explaining the simple process of using Photo Merge in Lightroom to create beautiful HDR images that would be impossible to capture in a single shot in the camera. Today she's back with another five-minute episode, demonstrating how to speed up the editing process by using the Quick Develop panel in Lightroom Classic.

Many landscape photographers never leave home without a polarizing filter in their bag. This simple accessory serves a variety of purposes from darkening pale blue skies and enhancing colors, to reducing reflections on foliage and non-metallic surfaces like water.

Here's a tutorial from one of the world foremost post-processing experts who demonstrates how easy it is to use Photo Merge in Lightroom Classic to combine bracketed exposures into a High Dynamic Range (HDR) DNG file that contains all of the quality and flexibility of a Raw file. If you've avoided this editing method, thinking it was beyond your skills, that's going to change in the next six minutes.

Not long ago we featured an interesting Photoshop tutorial explaining how to transform ho-hum daylight scenes into spellbinding photographs that appear as though they we're shot at night. Today's tutorial is about the real thing, with several pro tips demonstrating how to capture dramatic landscape imagery after the sun drops below the horizon.