Nature Photography How To

Mads Peter Iversen is a professional landscape photographer, but he freely admits that he still makes mistakes. Iversen even says that two major photography mistakes he makes are ones that beginner photographers typically struggle with.

According the instructor Neil Borg, "Dodge and Burn is the secret weapon for sculpting light and adding drama to the photos you capture outdoors"—just like it was in the darkroom for the iconic masters of landscape photography during the heyday of film.

Smart photographers do a lot of research and scrutinize a variety of specs before investing in a new camera. And that's a good thing because we all want to make an informed purchasing decision so the camera we buy best suits our specific needs.

If there's one overriding post-processing strategy it's to avoid image-killing mistakes by apply enhancements carefully and with restraint. That's because a heavy-handed approach often results in "overcooked" photos that have a strange relationship with reality.

There's nothing more frustrating that capturing a beautiful landscape scene, thinking that you totally nailed focus and exposure, only to return home, view the image on the computer, and discover that you didn't get the light right after all. Sure, you can fix many exposure problems during post processing, but wouldn't you rather get things right in the camera?

Lightroom is so full of powerful tools and capabilities that it's understandable when inexperienced users overlook some very powerful features that not only provide more effective  results but can streamline their post-processing workflow. Today's Lightroom Classic tutorial from instructor Brian Matiash falls into the latter category and it's all about what you can accomplish in Lightroom's Versions panel.

Experienced Photoshop and Lightroom users understand the difference between enhancing images in a realistic way and ruining an otherwise nice shot by creating an "overcooked" effect. This quick tutorial from the Yorkshire Photo Walks YouTube channel explains where to draw the line.