Photoshop How To

Lightroom can be bewildering for those new to the software because there is a seemingly endless array of tools and techniques to learn. Fortunately, Lightroom Ambassador Michael Aboya is here with another of his “In a Lightroom Minute” tutorials, explaining the difference between three easy-to-use tools.

Whether you’re shooting formal portraits or quick photos of family and friends, imperfect skin can really detract from an image. In this tutorial you’ll learn the best way to smooth a subject’s skin in Lightroom.

As the name suggests, Lightroom’s Targeted Adjustment Tool enables you to “target” and adjust certain portions of a photo without affecting other parts of the image. Unfortunately, this powerful easy-to-use tool is unfamiliar to many photographers.

It would be great if we could always expose images perfectly, with nice details in the highlights, shadows, and midtones. But when shooting under uneven lighting outdoors, it’s easy to be a bit off.

Making complex masks and precise selections can be an intricate chore especially, if you’re using a Raw editor in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw. That’s why one pro turns to a Photoshop trick whenever he needs accurate control over a specific area in an image.

Have you ever shot an outdoor portrait, or other image with a strong foreground subject, but wished the background was more attractive? If so, you won’t want to miss this quick Photoshop video.

If you're using the global vibrance and saturation tool to edit your photos in Lightroom, you should stop right away, according to landscape pro Mark Denney. While that color adjustment feature is ok when used in moderation, it affects the entire image and can damage the quality of your shot, he says.