Photoshop How To

Photographers of all skill levels are using Instagram these days to showcase their work, and some pros even use this platform as an online portfolio. If you want to jump on the bandwagon, there are few things you need to know.

Photoshop has a bunch of powerful hidden tools, and there’s one that image-editing expert Colin Smith calls a “Magic Button” that will instantly fix colors in an image. If your guess is we’re speaking of the Auto Color Tool, think again!

Blue hour, that magical time just before sunrise or sunset, is usually a great time to shoot. With the sun just below the horizon, beautiful blue tones bathe the landscape and create a dreamy soft glow.

Summer means stormy weather, with threatening thunderstorms that offer great opportunities for dramatic landscape imagery—especially when lightning is involved. The challenge to coming up with dramatic photographs is dealing with the complex lighting conditions that electrical storms present.

One of the first things photographers do when editing images is reduce noise and sharpen soft photos. And while there’s a bunch of helpful apps that address these tasks, the video below describes what one expert says is the “quintessential” method of accomplishing both jobs in Lightroom.

Most photographers would rather be out shooting than sitting behind a computer editing dozens of images. One way to dramatically reduce processing time and get back out in the field is to “batch process” your photos.

Whether you prefer portraiture, macro, or tabletop photography, it’s nice to have a choice of backdrops to make your images stand out. Unfortunately, many of us shoot against a plain wall because we can’t afford to invest in backdrops of various colors.