Photo How To

More and more photographers are using Luminar Neo, either as an adjunct or replacement for Photoshop and/or Lightroom. Created by Skylum, Luminar Neo is an AI-powered program for Mac and PC users that’s updated frequently and relatively simple to use.

A lot goes into making successful landscape photos, and we regularly share tutorials on everything from composition and exposure techniques to choosing the proper gear. Today’s episode is simple and specific—identifying what one pro says are three essential element of every great shot.

Those who use Lightroom know there’s a lot going on under the hood, with a myriad of features that go unused. Perhaps you ignore these tools because they don’t fit your workflow, or maybe they’re just too complicated for your needs.

Most experienced landscape photographers understand why blending bracketed exposures is often the only way to make great images of high-contrast scenes like sunsets, sunrises, or when the sun is high in the sky. That’s because no matter how good your camera is, it can be impossible to capture the wide range of tones from bright highlights to deep shadow with a single image in the camera.

The task of editing landscape photos is typically challenging because we often shoot in complicated situations, like when pointing the camera directly into the light at sunrise or sunset. Then there are those confusing scenes with bright highlights, dark shadows, and important midtones within the frame.

What if there was a way to never take a blurry photo again? While that might not be entirely possible, pro landscape photographer Mark Denney says he knows three things that many photographers do to cause out-of-focus images.

We like the photo how-to videos from the folks at Mango Street Lab because they're short, sweet, and eminently helpful. The below video tutorial titled "3 Mistakes All Beginner Photographers Make" is no exception.