Ron Leach

Whether you’re attempting to photograph the Milky Way, or simply trying to capture a sparkling nighttime sky over your backyard, astrophotography can be intimidating. And once you’ve captured a few shots, editing the images may also seem like a daunting task.

We still have a few weeks to go before winter gives way to spring, and the date of March 20 means different things to different photographers depending upon where they live. But whenever buds start blooming and bugs start buzzing, it’s time to start thinking about macro photography.

Image processing tasks can often be like shooting photographs, in that you may occasionally fall into a creative rut and need a few fresh ideas. That’s what the tutorial below is all about, and in just 12 minutes it will pull you out of the doldrums and get your creative juices flowing once again.

What, what? If you’re confused by the headline above, admittedly so was I. One of the first things many of us do when opening Photoshop is use the Levels tool to make quick, basic adjustments to exposure. But according to a very trusted source, you should never, ever use Levels. If that sound like blasphemy, read on.