Software How To

Shadows can be an important element for adding impact and drama to an image. Other times though, background shadows are simply an unwelcome distraction in images with a clean, minimalist look. In this Photoshop tutorial instructor Brendan Williams demonstrates a "sneaky selection trick" for eliminating shadows fast.

With each successive release of ACDSee Pro, the photo management suite adds ever-more-powerful features. In this review I hope to help you decide whether or not its features match up with your own workflow, meet your needs, or even improve on existing features to enhance your photographic creations.

In my own workflow, the new version, ACDSee Pro 5, smoothed over a few rough edges in the editing process and made my management chores a bit less time-consuming. The release is not so groundbreaking that it might make you consider abandoning Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture altogether, but there are some pro-level additions that are definitely worth considering. The program never crashed and operated quickly for just about any task on a standard desktop PC. Note I said PC—there is no Mac version available or considered at this point.

When most landscape photographers edit their images they strive for a bright and vivid effect, especially during autumn when beautiful warm, golden tones are just about everywhere you look. But how about marching to the beat of your own drummer by giving images a dark and moody effect that's full of eye-catching drama?

Photographs often have more depth and drama when there are shadows in the scene, but unfortunately the light doesn’t always cooperate. In the quick video below you’ll learn how to use Photoshop to create and manipulate a shadow so it appears totally real. 

Here's a frustrating and all-too-common dilemma: Your landscape photographs consistently lack punch, and nothing you've tried during the image-editing process seems to resolve the problem. Well, there's one very effective technique you may have missed, and that's what you'll learn in this tutorial from the popular PHLOG Photography YouTube channel.

Nothing spoils an otherwise great photo more than a really unattractive or distracting background. And that holds true whether you’re shooting portraits, macro, flowers, or certain types of wildlife images.

Just to be clear, we’re not recommending that anyone become a one-trick pony when editing their image. In the interesting tutorial below, however, you’ll learn how to use one simple Lightroom slider to dramatically enhance landscape photos and other images shot outdoors.