Photoshop How To

Some photographers limit their processing regimen to playing with the shadow/highlight sliders, bumping up contrast and saturation, and adding bit of sharpening. But even if you like to keep things simple, there’s another easy-to-use tool that deserves your attention.

One sure way to ruin an otherwise great photo is to miss the exposure and end up with ugly blown-out highlights. The problem typically occurs with landscape images when the sun peaks out from behind the clouds. But this unsightly mistake also happens with other types of images—both indoors and out—and doesn’t necessarily mean you have to blow off the shot.

It’s always interesting to see how different photographers approach the same assignment. Even when shooting similar subject matter, results can vary widely based upon the personal style of each photographer and the equipment they bring to the task

If you’ve ever marveled at a spectacular landscape photograph and wondered how it was made, there’s a good chance the photographer employed a luminosity masking technique in Photoshop that provides extremely precise control over post-processing adjustments.

When you come across a gorgeous outdoor scene the challenge is only beginning. First the shot must be composed effectively, but even more importantly you have the nail the exposure precisely. Otherwise you’re certain to be disappointed with the results.

Last week we featured Episode 1 in a new how-to series by image-editing expert Anthony Morganti, designed for those of you new to Photoshop and Lightroom. Here, in Episode 2, you’ll learn how to use Layer Masks to properly balance photos with both bright highlights and dark shadows.

We’ve all had the misfortune of traveling to a beautiful destination with a lake in the foreground of a stunning landscape, only to discover boring light, a drab cloudless sky, and water devoid of the brilliant reflections we anticipated.