Let’s face it: Sorting and culling your pictures after a shoot can feel like a never-ending task. Whether you’ve spent a wild weekend capturing wildlife or a bustling day capturing a wedding, sifting through hundreds or even thousands of photos to figure out which ones to keep, edit, and store can drive you crazy.

Fortunately, Adobe Lightroom’s star-rating system is a superhero tool that helps you efficiently organize and store your precious images. If you’ve been struggling to keep your photos well-managed, then it’ll be an absolute game-changer – as long as you know the right approach.

In this article, I’ll explain everything you need to know about using star ratings in Lightroom, including what star ratings are and how they work, plus some handy tips and tricks to keep your workflow fast and efficient.

Ready to get your photos organized? Let’s dive right in!

What are Lightroom star ratings?

Star ratings refer to one of Lightroom’s handiest image organizational features: the ability to apply a rating (from 0-5) to each and every image in your catalog.

The star rating option will appear underneath your photos in the Library module:

You can click to apply a rating (and if you choose a rating by mistake, you can always click on the stars again to remove it).

You can also apply star ratings in Grid View. Simply click the dots at the bottom of a photo:

And you’re done! Note that you can always use the Lightroom Sort option to sort photos by rating:

Or you can filter based on specific ratings (e.g., 3 stars and above):

How to improve your workflow with Lightroom star ratings: 4 tips

Star ratings have the power to revolutionize your editing process. In this section, I’ll share a handful of valuable tips to supercharge your workflow, starting with:

1. Embrace the magic of hotkey stars

Earlier, I talked about assigning ratings by clicking on the corresponding stars underneath your images. And sure, it’s an effective approach – but did you know that you know you can assign star ratings from 0 to 5 using your keyboard? These awesome hotkeys are what make the star rating system incredibly convenient.

In fact, if you have hundreds of photos to edit, this can dramatically cut down your time spent in Lightroom. Simply open an image in the Loupe View, press a hotkey to assign a star rating, then press the right arrow key to advance to the next file. You can blow through entire batches of images in seconds!

And if you want to go even faster, enable Lightroom’s Auto Advance feature by selecting Photo>Auto Advance. That way, once you rate an image, you won’t even need to press an arrow key; the program will automatically advance to the next photo.

2. Use star ratings to prioritize your photos

So you’ve just imported a bunch of photos, whether they’re wildlife shots, wedding moments, sports highlights, or captivating portraits. Now comes the burning question: Which ones are worth keeping? When you’re out in the field, you may capture multiple shots of similar subjects in slightly different settings or poses. At a wedding, for instance, you’ll have tons of dance photos, but only a select few will make the final cut.

This is where the star rating system swoops in to save the day. By assigning different ratings depending on the quality of each image, you can quickly categorize your shots and make sure that the best photos get shared and edited and the worst end up in the “delete” pile.

(By the way, here’s why I prefer the ratings system over the flag system: With star ratings, you get to be far more granular. Not only do you select the images to edit and delete, but you can also identify which images to edit first and which to edit down the line. You’re not limited to the binary “yes” and “no” of the flags.)

Now, you can assign rating values that align with your personal preferences, but here’s a suggestion: Let “0” (no rating) be your delete category. Then, designate “1” as the keep-but-low-priority-for-editing category—these could be your b-roll shots for applying general presets. Then, when you set an image to “2,” you’re saying it deserves immediate development, and when you assign a “4,” you’re signaling that it’s one of your absolute best shots. This tiered rating system ensures you only have to go through your images once – and ideally not more than twice. Trust me, it’s a massive time-saver, especially when you’re dealing with a large volume of files!

Quick note: I strongly advise against using “5” in your workflow. Reserve that rating exclusively for your top-notch, highest-quality images.

Once you’ve rated your shots, go ahead and sort them by rating. Then dive into the editing process as needed!

3. Use Smart Collections to create a portfolio

No doubt you’ll capture some amazing shots that you’ll be proud of and will want to keep for future reference, printing, or showcasing in your portfolio. As I mentioned earlier, these exceptional images deserve a five-star rating. (Remember: Only a select few shots should achieve this!)

To gather all your best shots in one place and create a stunning portfolio, Lightroom offers a nifty feature called Smart Collections. Think of it as your personal assistant that automatically gathers all images in your catalog with a specific attribute.

Here’s how you set it up: In the Collections tab, choose the Plus icon, then select Create Smart Collection:

Next, give your Collection a name (such as “Portfolio”), and add some selection criteria. You can base it on any attribute you assign in Lightroom – whether it’s stars, flags, keywords, or more. In our case, we want to collect images with a five-star rating, so we’ll create a single rating rule:

Finally, hit Create, and watch as your Smart Collection – with all your five-star images – appears!

As you continue your photographic journey, your five-star collection will keep growing, beautifully documenting your progress and telling your unique story!

4. Use stars to categorize subjects

This method of using star ratings is quite unique, but it can work wonders, especially if you’re keen on keywording your images.

Imagine you’re a bird photographer. Throughout the day, you’re constantly switching subjects, photographing different bird species left and right. When you import those images into Lightroom, the daunting task of keywording awaits you. Well, fear not! The star rating system comes to the rescue, making it a breeze to sort through your feathered friends in no time.

Here’s how it works: Mentally assign star ratings to particular species, and then use hotkeys to swiftly assign the corresponding star rating to each image. Once you’re done “coding” your species with stars, simply filter them in Grid View.

Now you can focus on completing your keywording, knowing that you’ve effortlessly organized your shots. And if you want to remove the star ratings afterward, it’s as easy as highlighting the images and pressing the “0” key.

Note that this technique isn’t limited to bird photography alone; you can apply it to various photography scenarios!

Lightroom star ratings: final words

Lightroom star ratings are like the secret sauce to streamlining your photo editing game. With just a few clicks, you can assign ratings to your images. That way, your photos will be neatly organized and ready to be edited. No more endless scrolling through folders and scratching your head trying to remember which shots were your favorites.

So embrace the power of Lightroom star ratings. Let them be your guiding stars in the vast universe of digital images. Take control of your workflow, save precious time, and unleash your creative genius!

Now over to you:

How do you plan to use Lightroom ratings? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Lightroom Star Ratings: A Quick Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ian Johnson.

Picture this: You’re lying on your back, gazing up at the night sky. Suddenly, you see it: a dazzling display of stars and galaxies that takes your breath away. That’s the Milky Way, and – with a few essential tips and tricks – you can create stunning images that’ll leave your friends and followers in awe.

In this article, I’ll show you how to plan and execute the ultimate Milky Way photoshoot. From determining the perfect location to using the best gear and techniques, I’ve got you covered. You’ll learn how to capture every little detail of that celestial chandelier twinkling overhead and create images that are simply out of this world.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s unlock the secrets of Milky Way photography and take your skills to infinity and beyond. Once you start snapping these jaw-dropping pics, you won’t be able to stop. Let’s go!

1. Plan your photography around the galactic core

If you’re looking to capture jaw-dropping images of the Milky Way, then you’ll need to plan your shoots around the galactic core. This is the brightest and most visually stunning part of our galaxy, and it’s only visible during certain months and locations. (I like to refer to the galactic core as “The Big C.”)

For photographers in the Northern Hemisphere, the galactic core is present from late April to late July and can be seen in the southeastern to southwestern sky. As the summer progresses, it moves westward, and by the end of summer, it rises in the southwestern sky. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to see it during the winter months.

Photographers in the Southern Hemisphere have it a bit easier, as the core is visible from February to October, with peak visibility in June and July.

Don’t forget to factor in the lunar phase when planning your shoots. To capture the clearest Milky Way images, you’ll want to avoid a bright moon. However, even a first-quarter moon can make for some stunning shots (as long as it’s not in the middle of the Milky Way, where it could be too bright).

To help you plan your shoots, there are plenty of phone and desktop apps available. My personal favorite is Stellarium, which is free and available on desktop. Simply enter your location and desired time, and it will show you when and where the galactic core will be present during the darker lunar phases. It’s a great way to ensure you’re in the right place at the right time for your Milky Way photography.

2. Find a dark location

To capture the Milky Way in all its glory, you’ll need to find a location with minimal light pollution. Some purists insist on traveling to remote, dark sky areas, but don’t fret if you can’t get away to one of those. You can still capture stunning shots even in areas with some light pollution.

In fact, a little bit of distant light can add a unique element to your photo, like in the image below that I captured in Death Valley. The glow on the horizon adds a beautiful contrast between the earth and the sky:

Remember, if you can see the Milky Way with your naked eye, you can shoot it! However, if you want to discover the best dark sky locations, International Dark Sky Places is a great resource.

3. Wait for clear weather

If you’re a landscape photographer, you probably love a dramatic sky with interesting clouds. But when it comes to capturing the beauty of the Milky Way, clear skies are what you’re looking for. That’s because even a thin layer of clouds can obscure the stars and ruin your shot.

However, that doesn’t mean you should always avoid shooting on a partly cloudy night. In fact, sometimes a few wispy clouds can add an extra layer of drama and framing to your Milky Way photo, creating a unique and captivating result.

So don’t let a little bit of cloud cover discourage you from heading out to capture the Milky Way. With the right technique and a bit of creativity, you can turn even a partly cloudy night into a beautiful and memorable photo opportunity.

4. Include foreground elements

The most breathtaking Milky Way images are the ones that show the galactic core in relation to earthly objects. Something as ordinary as a person sitting on a chair can look truly remarkable when framed by the wonders of the Milky Way.

So think hard about what you’d like to include in the foreground of your Milky Way shot. Even if you nail the perfect conditions and technique, your shot can still look dull if you don’t add something else in the frame to give the viewer some context. Choose an intriguing foreground feature and maybe experiment with some light painting to make your Milky Way shots truly spectacular.

This could be anything from a unique rock formation like a sea stack or arch to a rundown shed or an interesting tree. Consider locations that have a point of interest, and then figure out how that spot lines up with the Milky Way.

5. Use the right lens

While using the gear you already have can be convenient, nighttime photography can be challenging due to the lack of light. To capture stunning Milky Way shots, you’ll need a fast lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 or wider.

Super wide-angle lenses are ideal for capturing nightscapes as they typically produce very little blur. Even when set to a maximum aperture of f/1.4, an ultra-wide lens will often keep a great deal of your image in focus (assuming you focus carefully!). The last thing you want is a sharply focused Milky Way with a foreground that is rendered as soft, creamy bokeh. So leave the lovely 85mm f/1.4 at home.

Another advantage of super wide lenses is that you can fit a lot of the Milky Way into your frame, and there’s less magnification, which allows for longer shutter speeds before the stars in your shot begin to trail.

Don’t fret if you only have a standard, all-purpose, kit lens that isn’t very fast. You can still get some decent Milky Way shots by using long exposures and high ISO settings to maximize your camera’s sensitivity to light.

If you’re only just delving into the genre, you’ll be pleased to know that some of the most popular wide-angle lenses for night photography are quite affordable. Rokinon (also known as Samyang) offers two lenses that have gained a cult following among night shooters: the 14mm f/2.8 and 24mm f/1.4 lenses. The build quality might not be great, but as long as you handle them with care, they usually perform well.

These lenses are popular because they offer sharpness, speed, a wide field of view, and much less coma than other more expensive lenses. (Coma is elliptical aberration around stars.) Some more expensive lenses produce really bad coma on stars in the corner of the frame, which isn’t the end of the world, but it’s not ideal.

6. Choose the right camera

When it comes to Milky Way photography, having the right camera is key. You’ll need a camera that can handle high ISO settings during long exposures, while still producing good image quality. Even if your camera isn’t top-of-the-line, you might be pleasantly surprised by the image quality of your high ISO images, thanks to recent advances in camera sensor technology.

Some of the best cameras for astrophotography in the past few years have been full-frame models like the Canon EOS R5, the Nikon Z7 II, and the Sony a7 IV. But don’t worry if you’re shooting with a Four Thirds or APS-C sensor – you can still get great results with the right techniques.

Remember, you don’t need the most expensive gear to get started. Use what you’ve got and upgrade when you can’t resist the temptation to splurge.

One essential feature you’ll want in your camera is a good Live View screen or electronic viewfinder (EVF) to help you focus and compose your shots.

7. Use a tripod

When it comes to Milky Way photography, you’re going to be working in the dark. And that means one thing: You need a nice landscape tripod.

Without a sturdy tripod, your images are going to turn out blurry and unusable. And since Milky Way photography involves long exposures usually lasting between 10 to 30 seconds, you absolutely need to keep your camera still.

So don’t skimp on a cheap and flimsy tripod. Go for something stable that can withstand some wind (though make sure it’s not so heavy that you can’t lug it around with you). Finding a balance between weight and stability is key.

Investing in a good tripod will ensure that your Milky Way photos turn out sharp and clear. Trust me, you don’t want to go through all the effort of planning the perfect shoot only to be disappointed with blurry results. A solid tripod is a must-have for any serious Milky Way photographer.

8. Shoot RAW files in Manual mode

Always shoot your Milky Way photos in RAW. This will preserve as much information as possible, giving you more options during post-processing.

And make sure you set your camera to Manual mode. That way, you’ll have complete control over your shot, including the ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and white balance. It might take some practice to get the hang of it, but trust me – it’s worth it!

Shooting in Manual mode may seem daunting at first, but it’s the only way to really get the perfect shot. So take some time to practice in advance and get comfortable adjusting all of your settings as needed.

9. Use Live View or the EVF

To set the focus for your Milky Way photography, switch off the autofocus and crank up the ISO to around 5000 for maximum light sensitivity.

Also, set your aperture to its widest and fastest setting, typically f/2.8.

10. Set your focus on a star

Point your camera’s Live View or electronic viewfinder (EVF) at the brightest star you can see. When a small dot of light appears in the center of your view, zoom in (magnify the view, not the lens) until you see the tiny dot as large as possible. Slowly turn the focus ring on your lens until the star becomes a sharp, tiny pinpoint of light. Be patient and take your time to get it just right.

Don’t blindly set your focus to infinity; this will only result in blurred images. Instead, try using a feature like Focus Peaking or Focus Assist, if your camera has it, to help determine perfect focus on a star. Alternatively, you can calculate the hyperfocal distance, but I prefer this method for its simplicity and effectiveness.

Remember, getting your focus right is crucial for capturing sharp and stunning Milky Way photos, so take your time and make sure it’s spot on.

11. Compose your shot

Now that you’ve focused your lens on the brightest star, it’s time to compose your shot. Use your headlamp to illuminate the scene so that you can see what you’re looking at in your Live View. If your camera has a digital level to ensure perfect horizon lines, use it. Otherwise, consider investing in a bubble level for your hotshoe attachment.

Set your shutter speed to around 10 seconds (at ISO 5000, if possible), and take a test shot. You only need to take some rough images to get your composition right, so there’s no point in shooting a full 30-second exposure and waiting around.

Once you’ve finished capturing test shots and made your final tripod adjustments for the perfect composition, it’s time to dial in your camera settings.

13. Pick the right white balance

When shooting the Milky Way, I like to set my white balance to Incandescent (or Tungsten, depending on the camera). It gives me a cool blue hue and lots of contrast in my camera’s EVF, which helps me see the Milky Way clearly. Later, when I process my images, I often reset the White Balance to Auto (AWB) mode for a more natural color temperature.

While I prefer the Incandescent/Tungsten preset for neutral results, I advise you to experiment with different WB settings to get the color temperature you like best. You can always adjust it later in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw.

14. Set your ISO

You used ISO 5000 for the test shots to help you compose your shot quickly. But for your actual Milky Way shot, you want to use the lowest ISO setting you can get away with. Dial it down to ISO 2000 and see if that gives you good results. You can always increase it to ISO 3200 after a few more test shots. I personally rarely go above ISO 3200, as my RAW files tend to degrade significantly at that point.

15. Pay attention to your shutter speed

From this point on, you’ll be juggling your shutter speed and ISO setting to get the most light sensitivity while still having a fast enough shutter speed to avoid star trails. Star trails are great if you’re going for that effect, but even a small trail can result in a Milky Way shot that lacks clarity. That might be okay for web images, but for prints, you’ll want more sharpness.

Therefore, try to limit your shutter speed to a maximum of 15 seconds so that you can keep the stars in your image sharp and trail-free.

After setting a shutter speed of 15 seconds, take a look at your camera’s light meter reading. If it’s telling you that the image is overexposed, you might be able to dial your ISO down a bit or shorten your shutter speed to 10 seconds.

Sometimes, I like to overexpose images and ignore my light meter reading entirely. When shooting the Milky Way, I’m guided more by what I see in my test shots than by what my light meter tells me to do.

After your shot is complete, zoom in and check the details to make sure everything is as sharp and clear as possible.

16. Try a 30-second exposure

I know I just told you to keep your shutter speed under 15 seconds, but here’s a little secret I like to use: I take an extra shot with a 30-second exposure to capture an even brighter Milky Way. I do this if I’m planning to publish a low-resolution web image because the slight star trails caused by the longer exposure won’t be very noticeable. The stars will still look sharp enough but will be far brighter compared to a 15-second exposure.

For prints, though, I usually stick to the 15-second exposure version for the extra sharpness. The goal is to create jaw-dropping Milky Way images, and sometimes a little experimentation can take your shots to the next level. Just remember to play around with your shutter speed and always keep the end goal of your image in mind (i.e., whether it’s for the web or for print).

Milky Way photography tips: final words

There you have it, my friends – everything you need to know about Milky Way photography! I hope you’re feeling inspired and ready to hit the road and start snapping away. Remember, practice makes perfect, so don’t be discouraged if your first attempts aren’t quite as mind-blowing as you’d hoped.

The key is to keep experimenting, keep learning, and keep pushing yourself to try new things. Milky Way photography is a journey, not a destination, and the more you explore, the more you’ll discover about the cosmos.

So grab your camera, pack your bags, and get ready for an adventure like no other. The Milky Way is waiting for you, and it’s time to make some magic happen!

Now over to you:

Do you have any Milky Way shots you’re proud of? Share your images in the comments below!

The post How to Photograph the Milky Way: 15 Essential Tips appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Gavin Hardcastle.

Looking to learn everything there is to know about Photoshop’s Camera Raw filter? Well, have no fear, because the ultimate guide to the CR filter is here!

If you’ve only just started out post-processing your images in Photoshop, you may worry that the CR filter is a little too advanced – but that’s a mistake. In fact, the CR filter can be a game-changer for even the most inexperienced of photographers.

In other words, you don’t have to be a Photoshop expert to use this powerful tool. And that’s where this guide comes in. We’re going to break down everything you need to know about the CR filter in a way that’s easy to understand. Specifically, we discuss:

• What the filter actually is
• How to access the filter
• A handful of ways to use it in your post-processing workflow

So if you’re ready to start using Photoshop’s CR filter like a pro, then let’s dive right in!

What is the Photoshop Camera Raw filter?

At its most basic, this filter allows you to use the functions of the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) interface within Photoshop. You can essentially make adjustments within ACR at any time during your workflow, rather than limiting its usage to the RAW processing stage only.

It’s worth noting that if you were to import your working file into Lightroom to make the same adjustments, it would be a cumbersome step. But with the Camera Raw filter in Photoshop, you can use these tools without any extra effort.

To find the filter, simply select Filter>Camera Raw Filter, and the dialog box will pop up. However, before you do this, you may want to stamp all the layers by pressing Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Alt/Opt+E. This will combine all of your layers into a new layer from which you can work.

Camera Raw filter limitations

While the Camera Raw filter is a great tool, there are some limitations you need to be aware of.

For example, you’ll lose some functionality of the white balance adjustment in ACR because you’re not working from a RAW file. You can still make drastic changes to the temperature of your images with this tool, but it won’t be as versatile as when you’re working on a RAW file in ACR. You’ll also lose the Crop and Rotate tools that you normally have access to when working on RAW files.

It’s also important to realize that because you’re not working with a RAW file at this stage, you won’t have the same versatility that you would when editing in ACR. Instead, the process will be more like editing a JPEG file in Lightroom or ACR. This means you’ll have less information to work with.

Bottom line: If you want to make the most of the Camera Raw filter, you need to get things as close to perfect as possible in the RAW stage of post-processing. That way, you’ll have plenty of information to work with – and, consequently, added versatility – when you use the filter in Photoshop.

How can the Camera Raw filter be used?

The CR filter is packed with tools – so much so that there’s no way to make anything resembling a complete list of its effective uses. But here are a few ways I apply the filter:

• To fine-tune adjustments after RAW processing
• To apply certain adjustments that are difficult to do in Photoshop’s main interface
• To make quick adjustments that apply to certain parts of the image
• To add quick and easy vignettes
• To make final tweaks before finishing your image

Now let’s take an in-depth look at each approach:

1. Fine-tune adjustments after RAW processing

If you’re anything like me, you like to make decisions on the spot when you’re processing your RAW files. But have you ever come back to a photo after a day or two and realized that you no longer like the adjustments you made? It happens to the best of us.

The problem, of course, is that you can’t go back to ACR if you’ve already started making adjustments in Photoshop. You don’t want to lose all your hard work, after all!

Well, here’s a quick and easy solution: Stamp the layers to a new layer and run the Camera Raw filter. That way, you can make any ACR-type adjustments you want, and it won’t affect your original work.

This trick works great for quick edits like exposure, contrast, and vibrancy. It also comes in handy if you find that you want to reduce the highlights or whites before diving into more extensive editing. (I use this technique all the time!)

2. Make trickier adjustments

Photoshop might be all-powerful on its own, but ACR (and Lightroom by extension) does make a few things easier. For example, the Clarity slider is tricky to replicate in Photoshop. Using the Photoshop Camera Raw filter to make Clarity adjustments is easier and can save a lot of time.

Another example is the use of the Highlights, Whites, Darks, and Blacks sliders to make quick, intuitive global contrast adjustments. Using these tools is especially useful if you’re not yet fully familiar or comfortable with Photoshop’s Curves and Levels adjustments.

3. Apply local adjustments

When I’m using the Photoshop Camera Raw filter, one of my favorite techniques is to make targeted adjustments to specific areas, like the background. Once I’ve got the adjustments dialed in, I can use a layer mask to ensure they only affect the parts of the image I want.

This approach works great for textured backgrounds because I can tweak the clarity and contrast to my heart’s content without worrying about messing up the subject. With a well-crafted layer mask, I can rest assured that my edits won’t bleed into areas they’re not wanted.

4. Add a vignette

There are tons of ways to create a vignette in Photoshop. In my opinion, however, the Vignette tool – offered in the Camera Raw filter – is by far the easiest, fastest, and most intuitive to use.

Simply head into the Effects panel, find the Post Crop Vignetting option, then adjust the sliders until you produce an effect you like!

By taking this approach, you can create a subtle – or, if you prefer, an extreme – vignette in just a few seconds. Also, if any part of the vignette is interfering with your subject, you can always mask it out later using Photoshop’s sophisticated masking options.

5. Make final tweaks

Another handy way to apply the Photoshop Camera Raw filter? Use it to add final tweaks to your finished images.

Once you’ve edited your image in Photoshop, you can run the filter and see if there are any additional adjustments you’d like to make. Tiny shifts to the file’s exposure, contrast, clarity, and vibrance can all help give an image a little extra polish. Sure, you can apply these adjustments in Photoshop, but the CR filter – with its array of easy-to-use sliders – is faster and more intuitive.

Remember: By this point in your workflow, your image should be mostly finished. Aim to keep any adjustments at this stage small and subtle, especially since you’re not working with a RAW file.

Just the beginning

With a tool like the Photoshop Camera Raw filter at your disposal, you can apply all sorts of adjustments with relative ease.

For the most part, if you can do it in Adobe Camera Raw (or in Lightroom’s Develop module), you can do it with the CR filter inside Photoshop. Feel free to use it however you need to achieve the results that you want.

Final tip: Use Smart Objects

Using Photoshop Camera Raw filter as a Smart Object might just be the missing piece of the puzzle in your workflow. It can be a game-changer for your post-processing style, giving you the flexibility to come back and tweak any adjustments that you’ve made.

Setting up a Smart Object is simple: just right-click on the layer that you want to work with and choose Convert to Smart Object.

From there, run the Camera Raw filter as normal. Make any adjustments you want, and once you’re happy, click OK. In the Layers palette, under the layer you’re working on, you’ll see the name of the filter below the Smart Filters box. If you double-click on it, you’ll be taken back to the Camera Raw filter dialog box where you can adjust any of the settings you’ve previously tweaked.

This technique is incredibly useful if you tend to second-guess your decisions later on. Smart Objects give you the freedom to make changes without having to start all over again.

Of course, Smart Objects may not work for every photographer’s workflow. If you like to use a lot of stamped layers, you may have already created and worked on a new stamped layer by the time you see something you want to modify. In this situation, any adjustments made to a Smart Object would not be visible.

But in general, using Smart Objects can make a huge difference to your workflow. They provide flexibility and save you time in the long run, allowing you to focus on the creative process. Give it a try and see how it works for you!

The Photoshop Camera Raw filter: final words

If you’re looking to up your image editing game, the Camera Raw filter is essential. This powerful tool seamlessly integrates Adobe Camera Raw into Photoshop, allowing you to make adjustments to your images at any point in your workflow without the need to switch between programs.

While it may not be as good as the original Adobe Camera Raw application when it comes to white balance adjustments or cropping, the Camera Raw filter still offers a wide range of functionality that can help you achieve the perfect look for your photos.

So, next time you’re editing an image in Photoshop, why not give the Camera Raw filter a shot? You might be surprised at just how much it can enhance your editing capabilities!

Remember, photography is all about experimentation and trying out new techniques. Don’t be afraid to play around with the Camera Raw filter and see what kind of results you can achieve. Who knows, you might even discover a new editing trick or two along the way!

Go ahead and give it a try. Your photos (and your viewers) will thank you for it. Happy editing!

The post Photoshop Camera Raw Filter: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

Color is an often overlooked element of photography, yet it can make a huge difference to your images. With careful use of color, you can attract plenty of attention, and you can add intensity and impact to your compositions.

But figuring out how to use color in your photos can be tricky. Not only do you have to find the right subjects, but you also need to ensure the colors blend well together and work with the overall mood of the piece. That’s where this article comes in. Below, I share five tips to improve your use of color in photography, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced shooter!

Let’s dive right in.

1. Find a colorful scene

If you’re looking to create photos that feature beautiful colors, you’ll need to start by seeking out vibrant scenes. While you can always work with more subtle subjects, the more color you can find in the field, the more eye-catching the result and the easier it’ll be to use the hues effectively.

So keep an eye out for lots of intense colors. The way the countryside unfolds in the summer, for example, can be a wonderful way to showcase color in a landscape. You’ll often be able to capture purple hues of lavender and/or golden wheat fields, both of which can look amazing.

You might focus on one dominant color in a scene, such as green. Alternatively, you can seek out a variety of tones, like a cool blue sky mixed with a red field; this can add some complexity to your shots and evoke different emotions. Blue often provides feelings of cold, whereas red can add warmth, energy, and excitement.

As you become better at finding colorful scenes, I’d encourage you to think of the different hues in terms of the color wheel. Colors that sit opposite one another on the color wheel – red and green, for example – are known as complementary colors, and they can create a sense of depth and visual tension when combined in a single photo.

You can also use analogous colors, which are colors that sit next to one another on the wheel, such as red and orange or purple and blue. Analogous colors tend to create a more harmonious, low-key result.

Bottom line: For the best results, make sure you find vibrant scenes, then spend some time thinking carefully about the dominant colors and how you can combine them.

2. Look for details with color

It’s easy to spend time thinking about the obvious colors present in the wider environment – but if you want a more unique composition, consider focusing on details with color. Even if the overall scene is a little drab, there may be colorful details that are just waiting to be captured!

For instance, if you’re photographing in a city, you can find colorful details in storefronts and signs. And if you’re photographing a landscape, you can zoom in on flowers in bloom.

Think about the different colors and details you might photograph, and experiment with a variety of color palettes to see what works well. (Remember to use that color wheel!) Try and find details to photograph that feature single colors, then work with combinations of colors and see which you prefer.

A dedicated macro lens can be useful here, especially if you want to really hone in on those details, but it’s certainly not a requirement. And if you like the idea of magnifying your subject, try testing out each of your lenses to see just how close they can go (you might be surprised by what you find out!).

3. Change your white balance setting

Did you know that your camera can alter the color of your images? You simply need to change the white balance from a cool setting to a warm setting (or vice versa).

Note that your camera should offer a handful of white balance presets, which are designed to quickly set the WB in the field. These correspond to specific lighting scenarios, such as shade, clouds, tungsten lighting, and fluorescent lighting, and they’re generally used to neutralize color casts – for instance, the Shade preset is designed to counteract the bluer light present in shady areas – but you can use them creatively to achieve different looks in your shots.

For instance, you can select the Shade, Cloudy, and Daylight presets to get warmer and brighter colors in your images, or you can use the Incandescent and Fluorescent presets to cool things down.

And if you require a subtler touch, note that there’s also an option to manually adjust the color temperature, which can be a nice way to achieve precise results.

4. Use a polarizer to boost color and contrast

One of the greatest accessories you can have in your photography kit – especially if you’re serious about really bringing out the colors in your photography – is a polarizing filter. A polarizer is usually placed on the front of your camera lens, and it’s a versatile piece of equipment that can minimize reflections, darken skies, and manage glare from water sources such as lakes or the sea.

So what does this have to do with color? As it turns out, dealing with reflections in water, skies, and foliage helps show off the true colors underneath. That’s why landscape photographers love working with polarizers, especially when dealing with leaves in the fall as well as any subjects containing water. Even if the unpolarized scene looks pretty colorful, pop on that polarizer, and – bam! – the color and contrast will be enhanced.

Do note, however, that your results will vary depending on the quality of your polarizer as well as the angle of the lens relative to the sun. I’d recommend reading up on polarization best practices, though if you’re more of a hands-on learner, why not grab a good polarizer and spend some time experimenting?

At the end of the day, polarizers won’t take up much space in your bag, but they’re a great way to bring out colors and are plenty useful for making your images more distinct!

5. Boost colors in post-production

In general, if you want lots of color in your images, it’s best to photograph vibrant scenes – but if you’re struggling to achieve the look you’re after, you can also use post-processing techniques to boost the intensity of any existing hues.

The simplest way to do this is by increasing the saturation, which is an option offered by pretty much every editing program on the planet. You might also try boosting the vibrance, which is like saturation but targets cooler colors when enhancing the scene.

But if you’d like to customize the effect, you can always use HSL sliders to increase the saturation of individual colors while leaving other colors alone (or even desaturating them). This isn’t an option you’ll find in basic editing programs, but Photoshop and Lightroom both offer it.

A word of advice: While it can be nice to increase colors in your photos, make sure you don’t go overboard. If you saturate the colors too much, your image may start to look rather garish. Always check the before and after views to ensure you haven’t taken the color saturation too far. It can also help to spend some time away from the computer; then, when you come back, you can evaluate the colors more objectively.

Color in photography: final words

Working with color can be a great way to enhance your images. You just have to know how to effectively incorporate colors into your images – and how you can boost color intensity without taking the effect too far.

So spend some time seeking out those colorful scenes and vibrant details. Experiment with white balance adjustments and other post-processing effects that can tweak or enhance colors, and if you want to give your scenes a boost, consider using a polarizer.

Now over to you:

Do you have any additional tips for working with color in photography? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Color in Photography: 5 Tips for Stunning Results appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jeremy Flint.

Black-and-white family photos are an amazing way to showcase the beauty, personality, and emotions of your clients. This monochromatic approach isn’t just a trendy throwback to days gone by; it’s also an elegant way to focus your portrait photography on the bare essentials of light and shadow while showcasing your clients in stunning new ways.

While black-and-white portraiture might seem simple on the surface, it requires a lot more subtlety and nuance than most people realize. These 11 tips will help you get the most out of your images – and it’ll elevate your knowledge of this type of photography in the process.

1. Shoot in RAW

If you are new to black-and-white photography, one of the best ways to get started is to shoot in RAW. This format offers the ultimate editing flexibility, which makes it a great option for people who just want to experiment with monochrome.

When you photograph in RAW, your camera saves all the data from the moment of capture. This is in contrast to formats such as JPEG and HEIF, which discard data to keep the storage space low. All of that image information means you can easily test out different black-and-white edits when working in Lightroom, Luminar, Affinity Photo, and other non-destructive editors.

RAW files take up much more space than JPEG images, but the trade-off is well worth it, especially if you plan to convert to black and white. When you convert RAW files to black and white, you get to decide which colors are brighter or darker, and you can heavily manipulate the overall exposure. You can recover bright portions of images that are a bit overexposed, and you can lift the shadows to bring out parts of your images you might have thought were lost.

The RAW format also lets you make subtle adjustments to skin tones, clothing textures, and other areas that are crucial when dealing with monochromatic light and shadow.

2. Embrace high-contrast backgrounds

When taking pictures in full color, you have a great deal of flexibility when it comes to all the elements of your compositions. Things are a bit different when handling black-and-white family photos, however.

Since you are dealing strictly with light and shadow, one of the best ways to make your subjects stand out is to work with backgrounds that offer a great deal of contrast. Uniform tones work great and help to eliminate distractions, but any background that stands apart from the people in the frame will help.

The infant photograph displayed above works well because the viewer’s attention is immediately drawn to the baby and not the background. You can create similar compositions with a variety of backdrops, and even if you’re not shooting in a studio, you can still work with high-contrast backgrounds. Find a wall or even some foliage that stands out from your subjects, and your black-and-white photos will turn out much better.

3. Photograph in black and white

While shooting in RAW and converting to black and white afterward can work well, another way to get great results is to use one of the black-and-white modes built into most cameras. If you shoot with a mirrorless camera or work with a DSLR in Live View, you can use these built-in monochrome effects to preview your final image and adjust your compositions accordingly.

In my experience, when you can see your shots in shades of gray as you compose, you’ll pay careful attention to lights, shadows, and various elements in the frame that you won’t always notice when shooting in color.

(Shooting in RAW is especially important here; if you switch your camera to monochrome and capture RAW files, you can always convert back to color when editing. However, if you shoot monochrome JPEGs, your camera will discard the color information at the moment of capture.)

Some cameras even include film simulations that mimic the look, tonal quality, and grain structure of traditional black-and-white film. For example, the Fujifilm X100F that I used for the image featured above has a mode that simulates ACROS film. It does an outstanding job of replicating the complex and nuanced look and feel of this analog process, and it’s not an effect you can achieve afterward with a simple filter or preset.

And even if you are capable of recreating film simulations using editing software, shooting using these effects and simulations can help you create stunning compositions you might never capture when working in color.

4. Be mindful of light and shadow

Photography is all about capturing light, but when shooting black-and-white family photos, this basic principle is even more important than ever.

Before pressing the shutter button, consider where the light falls on your subjects, how the background colors interact with one another, and the overall sense of emotion and context that you are attempting to convey. Use shadowy areas of the frame to create a specific mood, and think about how the shadows look on faces, hands, and clothes.

I composed the frame featured above with the young woman fully illuminated by the late afternoon sun. I knew that the final shot – when converted to black and white – would immediately draw the viewer’s attention to her face. The background was a mix of light gray, dark gray, and red bricks, but thanks to a monochrome treatment, all the viewer sees are shadows, which works very well to accomplish the goal I had in mind.

Use similar techniques with your black-and-white photos to get results that will surprise and delight your clients and go beyond what they might be expecting!

5. Utilize editing presets

I used to think that presets, such as those found in Lightroom, Luminar, and other editing software, were a bit of a cop out. Real photographers wouldn’t use presets, I used to tell myself. They would edit every single image by hand.

Wrong! Real photographers know that their time is valuable, so they take advantage of the tools they have at their disposal. Editing presets are an essential component of many photographers’ workflows and can work wonders for black-and-white family photos.

Lightroom comes with several presets that can transform your images into beautiful black-and-white shots with a single click. But they aren’t simple hacks; instead, they use adjustments created by teams of professionals who understand color science on a deep level. And if you don’t like the results, you can tweak them by adjusting sliders and even save new presets to use on future images (or to share with your friends).

Whether you’re just starting out with black-and-white family photos or have been taking portraits for years, these presets can save you a huge amount of time while offering outstanding results.

6. Experiment with Lightroom B&W filters

In the days of film cameras, black-and-white pictures could be manipulated by using color filters to adjust exposure levels. Different filters could be attached to camera lenses, and they would alter the incoming light so photographers could achieve various looks with a great deal of precision. Modern software such as Lightroom allows for this same level of flexibility but on a level far deeper than our analog forebears ever dreamt was possible.

When you convert a color photo to black and white in Lightroom, you can actually use sliders to adjust the exposure levels of individual color ranges. If your subject is wearing a red shirt, you can lighten or darken that color by dragging the red slider. The same holds true for orange, yellow, green, and more.

You can combine slider adjustments, as I did for the image above, to get a specific look in your black-and-white family photos. Alternatively, you can press the Auto button at the bottom of the sliders, which will have Lightroom take its best guess.

These sliders are not only helpful, but they’re also fun to experiment with and can easily take your B&W images to the next level with minimal effort on your part.

7. Use solid-color clothes

This isn’t a universal rule; instead, it’s more of a general guideline that I like to encourage folks to use, especially if you’re new to black-and-white family photos. Solid colors help draw viewers’ eyes to your subjects’ faces instead of getting lost in the myriad patterns and prints that are commonly found on clothing.

When shooting in color, you can end up with distracting arrangements thanks to the different hues and colors on clothes, but all of that disappears when you shoot in monochrome.

Solid colors not only help people focus on faces, but they also give you lots of flexibility when editing. You can use the black-and-white slider options to selectively adjust the brightness levels of individual pieces of solid-color clothing, which can give you a huge amount of freedom to achieve the look that you want.

8. Capture candid moments

When you do family photo sessions, always look for opportunities to take candid portraits in between formal settings and poses.

When you capture these authentic moments, monochrome showcases the results in a way that feels both wonderful and unique. Even if you take color pictures and convert them to black and white later, you will be surprised by how the removal of color can really bring out the best in your clients.

When I’m culling my pictures, I often flag the best and toss the worst, but I am consistently surprised by how a simple black-and-white conversion can transform a file from Rejected to Flagged. In my view, black-and-white family photos invite viewers to overlook flaws, appreciate the imperfect, and see your subjects for who they really are.

It sounds a bit silly and melodramatic, but it works far more often than you might realize. If you can capture candid, unscripted, natural moments of people just being themselves, a black-and-white conversion can elevate them to a whole new level (and your clients will love the results!).

9. Look for genuine emotions

There’s a purity to B&W photos that’s perfect for displaying the genuine moments of humanity. By stripping the images down to light and dark, you invite your viewers to focus solely on faces, poses, body language, and other elements that make people unique and special.

When doing family photography, seek out opportunities to take black-and-white pictures that capture your clients’ real, raw emotions. Look for tender moments between poses, laughs shared among children, and even just couples holding hands. When you create these photos and present them to your clients in black and white, they’ll be transformed into something truly special.

10. Use a wide aperture

While wide apertures are always great for capturing beautiful shots with beautifully blurred backgrounds, it’s a technique that can be especially useful when shooting in black and white. Since these monochromatic files contain no colors to direct the viewer to specific parts of the scene, shooting at f/1.8 to f/2.8 is a great way to put focus on your main subjects.

Shooting wide open also has the benefit of letting you use faster shutter speeds, which can be great for photos featuring lots of movement. If kids are running around, wind whipping through hair and clothes – or if you’re trying to freeze the motion of your walking, jumping, laughing, or hugging clients, using a wide aperture can help ensure your shots look tack-sharp!

11. Use a monochrome camera

While it’s easy to convert color pictures to monochrome, there are actually some cameras that only shoot in black and white. This might seem like a frustrating limitation, but when you actually use one of these cameras, it can actually be quite liberating.

Since you won’t have the option to shoot in color, you’ll be forced to take a more careful, considered approach to your portraits. This can help you develop a more artistic eye, and you may find that you capture family photos that are impressively thoughtful and nuanced.

There aren’t a huge number of black-and-white cameras available, but the ones that do exist offer excellent image quality. The Leica Q2 Monochrom is a great option to consider, as is the Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrome, which costs much less and features an APS-C sensor compared to the Q2 Monochrom’s full-frame sensor.

For photographers who seek a unique shooting experience and want to offer their clients something unique, cameras like these are certainly worth considering.

Black-and-white family photos: final words

It might seem a bit anachronistic to think about black-and-white family photos when modern cameras can capture more color than ever before. However, monochrome images are perhaps more important than ever!

In a world that is oversaturated with colors, black and white offers a way to step back to a simpler time and create stunning shots that stand out from the crowd. So the next time you’re doing a family photo session, consider shooting in black and white – or, at the very least, converting a few images when you edit.

Now over to you:

What are some of your favorite tips and techniques for B&W family photos? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post 11 Tips for Beautiful Black-and-White Family Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Great news, Lightroom users: 

Adobe recently implemented its April 2023 Lightroom update, and the enhancements include several outstanding features everyone should try. Note that the upgrades discussed below apply to both Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Lightroom Classic, so you can take advantage of the changes no matter your program of choice.

What does the April update entail?

First, Lightroom now offers AI-powered noise reduction to create an unprecedentedly powerful – and effective – denoising experience. Instead of fiddling around with the Noise Reduction sliders, simply press the Denoise button, adjust the Amount slider as you see fit, and hit Enhance.

Adobe promises that the feature will “efficiently remove noise from Bayer or X-Trans RAW images while preserving all the finer details.” The biggest drawback here is the required processing time, especially if your PC isn’t very powerful; I tested the Denoise feature on my (somewhat aged) desktop, and I waited about seven minutes before I had my new noiseless DNG file. 

But if you only ever need to apply noise reduction to a few images at a time, that shouldn’t be a problem, and the AI-powered denoising has the potential to rescue images that were previously unusable. Also, if you prefer to customize your edits, you still have the option to reduce noise via the old sliders – look under the tab labeled Manual Noise Reduction. 

Next, Adobe has updated its Lightroom Masking tools, which you can access by selecting the Masking icon:

Under the People section, Lightroom still offers the option to detect and mask individuals. When you click on a person, you can then choose whether you want to separately mask the hair, iris and pupil, eye sclera, eyebrows, and more – and here, Lightroom has added several new masking options, including the ability to independently mask your selected subject’s clothing. 

And that’s not Lightroom’s only masking-related update. When you create a mask – whether with a Brush, a Gradient, or Lightroom’s AI selection tools – in addition to all your standard adjustment tools, you now have the option to apply targeted Curve adjustments:

If you’ve never used the Tone Curve before, it’s a powerful tool that lets you adjust image tones and colors with great precision (it’s also a favorite among Photoshop users). The addition of a Curve feature to the local adjustment menu may seem minor, but it’s a huge deal for folks who are looking to make careful tonal and color edits to portions of their images without affecting the whole file. 

Finally, Adobe has tweaked Lightroom’s layout in several key ways. You’ll now see an eye icon next to each editing panel; click on one of these, and any corresponding edits using tools from that panel will be temporarily deactivated. (As soon as you let go of the eye icon, the edits are reactivated.) Additionally, once you’ve made an edit using tools in a panel, the corresponding eye icon will be highlighted; that way, you can go back to old photos and quickly identify which panels have been used. 

Lightroom has been given a few more minor updates – for instance, there are some additional presets, and support has been expanded to a handful of cameras and lenses – and you can see a full list of changes to Lightroom Classic here and to Lightroom here. 

But it’s the noise reduction and masking improvements that are really going to kick things up a notch for Lightroom users, so I encourage everyone to head over to Lightroom and try them out!

Now over to you:

What do you think of these Lightroom updates? Which do you plan to use regularly? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Lightroom’s April 2023 Update Adds AI-Powered Denoise and More appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Looking for some abstract photography inspiration? Producing abstract images is a great way to elevate your creativity to new heights. It’s also highly accessible; even the best abstracts can be taken literally anywhere – in your home, while on a walk in the park, while shopping at the grocery store – and you don’t need a fancy camera or lenses to get professional results.

That’s not to say abstract photography is easy. Generating new concepts and approaches can be difficult, whether you’re a photo veteran or a complete beginner. If you’re struggling for inspiration, I share a handful of abstract photography ideas in this article, and I also offer plenty of abstract photography examples along the way.

Ready to get excited about abstract shooting? Let’s dive right in!

1. Get as close as you can

For me, abstraction is about removing the world from its familiar context. It involves playing with elements and subjects, and – through careful framing and camera work – taking them out of their usual settings and placing them into new situations so that they become something else entirely.

One of the easiest ways to show the world from a new perspective is by getting close. When you take a familiar subject and you zoom in to reveal previously unnoticed details, it can suddenly look alien – plus, the act of zooming in will often divorce a subject from its usual context.

You can use a close-up approach to photograph literally hundreds of ordinary (and not-so-ordinary) subjects. Here are just a few ideas:

• Fruits and vegetables
• Debris on the road
• Scuffs on walls
• Furniture textures
• Old posters on poles
• Graffiti

A dedicated macro lens can be helpful for this type of work, but it’s certainly not necessary. Even smartphones are capable of getting reasonably close to their subjects, and you can also get great results using a point-and-shoot camera or a DSLR or mirrorless model with a kit lens.

In other words, don’t let your gear hold you back from taking a close-up approach!

2. Let your mind wander

“Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see physically with his eyes…Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an exploration into unknown areas.” – Arshile Gorky

For me, doing abstract photography feels like I’m trying to detach myself from reality and delve into a space where everything is new: new sights, new sensations, or new experiences. And a big part of finding this newness is about being imaginative!

If you can look at the world and let your mind wander, you’ll come up with all sorts of interesting ideas. This should be like seeing shapes in the clouds, but instead of looking at the clouds, you’re looking at the ordinary world.

Open your eyes and scan your surroundings. Try not to think about what you’re seeing. Let your imagination kick in and offer all kinds of ideas about what things look like. Then try to communicate what you see through your images.

To me, the photo above looks like something coming from the cosmos, the beginnings of a new world. In reality, it’s some slime floating around in water, which I then edited in Lightroom.

So use your imagination constantly. When doing abstract photography, don’t let “conventional” thinking get in the way!

3. Seek out interesting textures

Textures are a fascinating abstract subject to explore. For one, when you capture textures, you’ll often give your photos a tactile quality. You’ll make people want to lean in and touch something. Additionally, by concentrating on textures, you can often give very ordinary things – water, brick, wires, or stone – an inviting feeling.

And textures are literally everywhere! Every subject has a texture of some sort: smooth or rough, dirty or clean. It’s your task, as an abstract photographer, to look around, find the textures that interest you, and capture them.

One tip here is to pay attention to the light – both its quality and direction. Softer light is good for displaying details, though harder light is great if you’d like to play around with the interaction between texture and shadow. Also, side light (i.e., light that comes from off to the side of the subject) can help give textures a sense of three-dimensionality.

Also, look for areas that display multiple textures that you can juxtapose with one another. By displaying two or more textures side by side, you can highlight the uniqueness of each one:

4. Photograph the ordinary

“The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real.” – Lucian Freud

I love to shoot random, day-to-day subjects that I find all around me. I challenge myself to make these subjects seem interesting, and I challenge you to do the same!

For instance, I am always on the lookout for torn posters on a wall – especially when they are bathed in beautiful light – as well as strange things I find on the street at my feet.

Here’s why:

Everything, when you pay attention to it, can reveal different qualities than what we first notice. And our struggle as photographers is to find the most interesting way to shoot whatever catches our attention.

I’m not talking about finding an ordinary subject, taking a couple of snaps with your camera, and calling it a day. Instead, it’s important that you figure out a way to make the ordinary look extraordinary.

Maybe you need to take a different perspective – lying on the floor, getting up high, or changing angles. Or maybe, by shooting with the right light, you can take an everyday subject and make it seem fascinating.

Another idea is to use color to give boring, unoriginal subjects interest and depth:

The key here is to find a single subject, then experiment with different approaches. Many of the photos might not turn out, but as long as you capture one good shot, you’re golden.

5. Include mystery

“Abstraction generally involves implication, suggestion and mystery, rather than obvious description.” – Robert Genn

The appeal of abstract photos for me is very much about mystery. Creating something that doesn’t look as it should, displacing your subject, mixing up reflections, creating contrasts and jarring juxtapositions – it’s all a fun part of making the world less real and more mysterious. 

You can combine shapes together to create something that makes no real sense, yet it will still spark curiosity and ideas in the mind of the viewer. 

In fact, the most successful abstract photos often get the viewer to spend long seconds (or minutes) trying to figure out what, precisely, the shot is about. In the end, the viewer may figure it out, or they may not, but what really matters is that they engaged with the image!

In the photo below, I captured this reflection of a man on what I like to think is a moon landscape inhabited by interesting-looking creatures:

At least, that’s what I see when I look at the photo! What do you see? It might be completely different, and that’s completely okay.

Note that you can create mystery through various approaches, such as:

• Deliberately underexposing
• Allowing your subject to be covered by shadows
• Including confusing reflections
• Juxtaposing foreground and background elements

Of course, you can also come up with approaches of your own. The great thing about abstract photography is that there’s no one way of doing things, and the more you try new techniques, the better your images will be.

6. Aim to capture the feeling of your subject 

“Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential.” – Wassily Kandinsky

In my photo teaching, I talk a lot about having a heightened awareness and sensitivity to the world. This is because if you want to find incredible photos wherever you go, you must have the ability to see more of what’s around you than you can when you are lost in your thoughts.

Now, with that heightened sensitivity comes increased feelings and impressions of what you see.

And thinking about the feeling you have when you look at your subject is so important. If you aren’t feeling anything, you won’t be able to communicate anything in your photos.

But if you do feel something when you look at your subject…

…you can channel it into the photo for a beautiful result! 

I like the sensations I get when I look at the photo above. It’s perhaps a sense of awe at the water and the beautiful colored stones. I can almost feel the water, and that feeling is translated through the photo. 

In the photo below, perhaps I get a feeling of fun, thanks to some bright colors on what I remember to be a dull London day:

Remember: It’s not about finding breathtakingly dramatic scenes that fill you with powerful emotions. Instead, it’s about recognizing the way more ordinary scenes make you feel and communicating that in your photos.

7. Find subjects that stop you in your tracks 

If you’re struggling to come up with new abstract photo ideas, I strongly urge you to cultivate a sense of wonder. You see, I think we often get so jaded by the world around us – that is, we are so busy with our lives and worries and things to do – that we stop finding things awe-inspiring. It takes more and more to make us stop in our tracks and say “Wow!”

But we photographers have a gift:

We are visual people.

We just have to make sure we’re always refreshing our vision and our sense of wonder at the world around us.

And we must go seek subjects that make us feel awe. 

I believe that we don’t always need new subjects and exotic locations. We can be impressed by things that are right on our doorstep. Therefore, going out with the intention of finding something that makes you go “Wow!” or “Cool” or “Interesting!” is a great thing to do.

Work on always trying to refresh your eyes so that you can be impressed by mundane subjects (these also refresh the spirit!).

In the photo below, the faded street markings look like a sign in an unknown language. Maybe even a secret message.

I find that the easiest way to refresh your eyes is to go out with the goal of having fun in your photography. Try to find something that makes you laugh. 

In this shot of gnarly wood below, I might have photographed a frog, or maybe an alien! 

That, for me, is the essence of abstract photography:

Creating a new world, a new vision, and a new experience from this very familiar (yet still awe-inspiring!) world around us. 

8. Use perspective for an unusual take on your subject

Adjusting your perspective is a fantastic way to divorce a subject from its surroundings – plus, by changing perspective, you can create cool new images of otherwise dull subjects. Buildings may not be terribly interesting on their own, but if you look up at just the right time, you can capture images like this:

And by shooting upward and not focusing on the entire scene, I captured this photo:

So make sure you don’t always shoot using the same boring, eye-level perspective.

Instead, mix things up a bit! Experiment with changing your vantage point or your angle, and see what you can achieve.

9. Break down the world into elements 

In photography, you must learn how to see the world as a series of elements, and then learn to arrange those elements in pleasing and interesting ways. (By elements, I’m referring to basic shapes, textures, and lines.)

Ultimately, if you can see the world as a series of elements and not as a vast, interconnected whole, you’ll be far better equipped to capture some beautiful abstract shots.

This is relevant to all genres of photography, but gaining a sense of control over the elements you place in your scene, what elements you use to support your subject, and what elements you remove from the composition is a great way to improve your abstract photos. 

If you’re struggling to see the world in terms of its elements, by the way, I’d recommend putting down your camera and just looking around. See if you can identify various lines and shapes in the area around you, and consider how they interact with one another. It can be helpful to do this exercise every so often, especially when you’re just starting out; that way, you can develop your eye.

Abstract photography ideas: final words

Hopefully, you’ve found some exciting abstract photography ideas to try – and you’re ready to get out and start shooting!

So grab your camera and take some photos.

And make sure to have lots of fun while you’re at it!

Now over to you:

Do you have any additional abstract photography ideas? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post 9 Awesome Abstract Photography Ideas (+ Examples) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anthony Epes.

Photo editing is an essential part of every digital photography workflow. Not only is it a way to handle basic problems – such as dust spots, color casts, and lost detail – but it also allows you to enhance your files with color grading, light leaks, vignettes, and so much more. In fact, thanks to modern post-processing software, users can give their files a refined, pro-level look with only a few clicks.

But while post-processing software is powerful, it’s important that it’s used with both careful consideration and restraint. Sure, you can refine your photos in a few clicks, but you can also ruin them – and I’m afraid to say that folks do have a tendency to edit in the wrong direction, especially when they’re just starting out.

In this article, I share the five photo-editing mistakes that plague beginners’ work over and over again, and I explain how to fix them, too. Fortunately, even if you do make any of the errors that I share, they’re pretty easy to correct – so without further ado, let’s get to work!

1. Selective coloring

Sometimes, we get so obsessed with a particular element in our frame that we desperately want to highlight it. You might capture a bright umbrella, a stunning bird, or a colorful dress, yet when you look at the final image, you feel like it doesn’t stand out against the background – and that’s where selective color can enter the picture.

I’m talking about the technique where you make the entire photo black and white, except you keep one part of the image in color, like this:

As a beginner, you might be super excited by the selective color effect. After all, it looks cool and it can make key elements pop at the same time. But while there’s nothing wrong with testing out different photo-editing options to see what you can achieve, selective color is generally looked upon as a bit…amateurish.

For one, it’s compositionally lazy. If you want to highlight a particular object or color, it’s better to do it through careful composition and perspective choices, not a bit of post-processing magic. It often also feels rather gimmicky, like the photo is primarily interesting because of the selective color effect, not because of its subject, lighting, composition, etc.

Therefore, if you wish to step up your photography game and make your images look more professional, I’d encourage you to avoid selective coloring (and other, similarly gimmicky effects such as artificial background blurring) as much as possible. If you do run into a situation where you need to highlight one specific area in post-processing, try selectively boosting the exposure or saturation; it’s effective, but it’s also a lot more subtle.

2. HDR techniques

Of the five beginner photo-editing mistakes I discuss, this one has probably seen the most use – and, unfortunately, ruined the most pictures. HDR techniques aren’t as popular as they once were, but I still see a lot of problematic HDR edits, especially in landscape and interior portfolios.

Now, HDR photography isn’t inherently bad. It refers to the technique of capturing several photos at different exposures (i.e., bracketing), then blending them together in post-processing to create a final file that features detail in the highlights and shadows. It’s an approach that’s often used by professional landscape photographers to handle difficult lighting conditions, and it’s one that I encourage you to try out for yourself.

The problem is not when HDR techniques are used. The problem is when they are taken too far, either in an attempt to create an artsy look or with the purpose of showing tons of shadow and highlight detail. When you push HDR processing to a ridiculous degree, you’ll end up with unnatural-looking shots that look crispy, over-saturated, and just plain bad:

So here’s my advice:

If you do decide to use HDR processing on a photo, make sure that the results are natural. The tones in the image should align with what you saw with your eyes at the moment of capture. I’d also recommend doing your HDR processing with standard editing software (e.g., Adobe Lightroom), which is designed to create a subtle blended effect, not an eye-catching but ultimately unpleasant HDR look.

3. Oversaturating your files

We’ve all come across photos with vibrant and attractive colors, especially on photo-sharing apps such as Instagram. I get it; some of these photos look amazing.

But in trying to reproduce those results, it’s easy to boost the saturation level way too far – so much that you end up with a garish, distorted version of your original shot, one that looks worse, not better.

Check out the image on the left versus the image on the right below:

The shot on the left features vibrant reds and blues, but they don’t seem unnatural. The shot on the right, however, is so saturated that the man’s skin looks strange and his clothing has experienced a complete loss of detail, which is not at all ideal.

Unfortunately, it’s tough to get this one right. When you’ve spent several minutes (or hours) editing a single frame, you can develop a sort of blindness, where you’re unable to objectively evaluate the shot’s level of saturation.

That’s why I recommend taking a two-minute break from the screen after your final edit is complete. When you come back to your device, peek at the image and see what you think of the saturation level. You may find that the colors look far too intense, in which case you’ll need to dial back that saturation or vibrance slider. I use this process, myself – so you can trust me when I tell you that it’ll make a huge difference!

4. Using a black-and-white conversion without careful consideration

For many beginners, black and white is an artsy effect that can save nearly any image from the Rejects folder – but while a monochrome conversion can certainly improve images, it’s not a one-size-fits-all look. There are plenty of photos that are harmed by the black-and-white treatment, and it’s important that you approach each new edit with a fresh and analytical mind.

Personally, I find that images featuring lots of contrast tend to look good in black and white, whereas images that have very little contrast are damaged by the approach. Therefore, if I want to decide whether to convert to black and white, I check if the frame has contrast in it.

And even if a scene has good contrast, I also like to check if the image has any prominent colors that might add to the composition. If your shot includes a beautiful and colorful sunset, monochrome probably isn’t the way to go, even if you often do like the effect!

Of course, testing out a black-and-white look is easy – you can simply drop the desaturation slider or click the black-and-white conversion button – but the key is to be patient and analyze the image (both before and after the conversion). If you feel the colors aren’t especially appealing and the image features some nice high-contrast areas, go ahead and stick with the black-and-white effect.

One more tip: If you’re really struggling to determine whether black and white works for an image, ask a friend or family member. They don’t need to be a photographer; sometimes, all you need is someone who can be a little more objective.

5. Overuse of the vignette effect

Vignetting refers to the practice of darkening the edges of the frame to direct the viewer’s eye inward. As with a number of the other photo-editing mistakes I’ve explored in this article, vignetting isn’t necessarily bad – in fact, it can be quite effective when done correctly – but it is often overused or applied without significant restraint.

Overuse of the vignette effect will make your entire portfolio look amateurish, and if you push the effect too far in a single image, the vignette will actually detract from the subject, not emphasize it.

I myself love using a vignetting effect in photos where I want to emphasize a particular subject, but I don’t recommend using it in every image. And when I do use it, I aim to be subtle about it. The best vignettes are felt rather than seen!

Look, for instance, at the difference between these two images:

Both use a vignette, but the shot on the left is far more natural, while the vignette on the right is so obvious that it causes problems.

Also, I’d encourage you to avoid using the editing technique on landscape and interior architecture shots (and if you do wish to use it, keep it subtle so the overall beauty of the frame doesn’t get destroyed).

Photo-editing mistakes: final words

Hopefully, you’ve identified whether you’ve been making any of these mistakes yourself – and if you have, you know how to handle them.

Do remember, however, that editing is a subjective process. If you like a certain look that goes against the grain, then by all means, use it! Just make sure you’re making the choice carefully.

So head on over to your favorite post-processing program, then see if you can find some images to re-edit. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to avoid these top mistakes without any thought!

Now over to you:

Have you been making any of these five photo editing mistakes? Do you wish to add any editing mistakes to the list? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post 5 Photo-Editing Mistakes Every Beginner Should Avoid appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kunal Malhotra.

Live View is a powerful photographic tool – and if you’re just delving into photography, or if you’ve never done dedicated Live View shooting before, you may not realize quite how effective it actually is.

In this article, I share everything you need to know to get started with Live View, including a basic description of its function, when it’s useful, and when it’s best avoided. I also offer a handful of tips so you can get the most out of your Live View shooting.

Sound good? Then let’s dive right in, starting with the basics:

What is Live View?

Live View is a camera feature that allows you to view the sensor’s feed on the rear LCD. In other words, it lets you see how your images will turn out before you actually take them. If you’ve ever composed a photo by looking at the screen on the back of your camera, you’ve used Live View.

Photographers tend to talk about Live View in the context of DSLRs. However, most cameras feature Live View in some form, including smartphones, point-and-shoot models, bridge cameras, and mirrorless cameras. (If you’re not sure how to activate Live View mode on your camera, do a bit of Googling or check the manual!)

While some cameras only allow for composition via the rear LCD screen, others are also equipped with electronic or optical viewfinders, which allow you to place the camera to your eye for an “up-close” view of the scene. Shooting through the viewfinder is the more conventional way of photographing, but Live View does have several key benefits, as I discuss in the next section:

When is Live View useful?

As I mentioned above, shooting via the viewfinder is the common way to take photos. After all, the viewfinder allows you to block out all distractions, and the close-up view allows for more careful composition. Plus, Live View comes with a slight lag, whereas (some) viewfinders are perfectly in sync with the outside world.

But Live View does offer several key advantages. For one, it boasts exposure simulation, so you can see precisely how the tones of your photos will look before you press the shutter button. It also comes with an array of shooting aids, including the rule of thirds grid (so you can improve your compositions), focus peaking (so you can see the areas of the scene that are in sharp focus), and a histogram (so you can evaluate the tonal range of your image more precisely).

Note that not all cameras offer the same shooting aids; it all depends on the model you buy. Also, bear in mind that optical viewfinders and electronic viewfinders are dramatically different – optical viewfinders give you a view through the lens, while electronic viewfinders project the sensor feed in viewfinder form. All of the advantages that I’ve described above also apply to electronic viewfinders, but they don’t apply to optical viewfinders. (Confusing, I know! Before continuing, it’s a good idea to determine whether your camera offers a viewfinder, and if it does, whether that viewfinder is optical or electronic.)

Unlike both electronic and optical viewfinders, however, Live View offers a different perspective. By looking at your compositions from a distance, you may find that you can evaluate them more effectively. And because most cameras these days offer articulating screens, Live View is often the easiest way to compose photos while shooting from high or low angles.

Finally, if you use a DSLR, Live View is a convenient way of forcing your camera’s mirror upward before you fire the shutter, which will help prevent camera shake during long-exposure shots.

You shouldn’t use Live View all the time. But you should consider using Live View in a handful of scenarios, including:

• When you’re trying to capture images from tricky angles (e.g., low-angle landscapes)
• When you’re working with tricky exposure conditions and you want to be sure you’ve captured plenty of detail (e.g., outdoor portrait photography)
• When you want to make sure you’ve nailed your composition
• When doing long-exposure photography with a tripod (e.g., blue-hour cityscape photography)

On the other hand, Live View generally doesn’t work well in scenarios when you’re:

• Tracking moving subjects
• Handholding in low light
• Hoping to really immerse yourself in a scene

Of course, at the end of the day, what matters is whether Live View works for you. Give it a try, then adjust your approach accordingly.

How to use Live View like a pro: 5 effective tips

In this section, I discuss a few helpful techniques that’ll improve your results when shooting with Live View. I also share some hidden Live View features!

1. Zoom in to set the focus

Modern cameras tend to offer incredible autofocus capabilities. In certain situations, however, they can fail – and that’s where Live View comes in handy.

You see, Live View allows you to magnify the sensor feed and check focus on distant elements. If key elements look sharp, that’s great – but if not, you can try changing your point of focus or using a focus-and-recompose approach. You might even switch your lens over to its manual focus mode and carefully set the focus that way (while making sure to zoom in on the rear LCD once again!).

If your subject isn’t moving, this technique is one of the best possible ways to make sure everything is tack-sharp. One caveat, however: In addition to magnifying the scene, this zoom-in approach will magnify camera shake (on the LCD, that is). Because it’s tough to set focus while your camera appears to be leaping in every direction, I recommend using a tripod (and if you don’t have one handy, set your camera on a rock, a post, or some other solid surface).

2. Use Live View to preview effects

One fun trick that many manufacturers have added to their cameras is the ability to apply various effects, including selective coloring, miniature, black-and-white, sepia, and even film simulations. Think of these as Instagram filters or Lightroom presets, except they’re added as you shoot rather than in post-processing.

If you use an optical viewfinder to take photos with an effect activated, you can always see how your images turned out by reviewing them on the rear LCD – but it can be a lot more fun to shoot with the effects in real time! That’s where Live View comes in; it’ll let you see an effect in action before you press the shutter button, and it’ll help you understand how each effect will modify your images in advance.

You can use this trick when testing out fun effects, but you can also use it when doing serious photography. For instance, by setting your camera to its black-and-white mode and activating Live View, you can literally see the world in monochrome, which is a great way to elevate your compositions.

Note: To ensure that an effect is baked into the final file, you’ll need to shoot in JPEG rather than RAW. Otherwise, the effect won’t appear when you pull up your image in post-processing. (This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as you can often recreate and improve upon various effects while editing, but it’s worth bearing in mind!)

3. Use the histogram to ensure a good exposure

If you shoot via an optical viewfinder, you have no way of previewing the exposure before you fire your camera. You can only make changes after you’ve taken a shot.

Live View, on the other hand, lets you simulate the exposure for each image in advance, and this can be a great way to prevent over- and underexposure from the get-go. But I’d actually encourage you to take this a step further:

Instead of evaluating your exposure by simply glancing at the rear LCD, activate your Live View histogram. (Not all cameras offer this function, but if yours does, it’ll be listed in the manual!)

Then check the histogram before you take each shot (or, at least, when you’re initially setting your exposure). Make sure there are no peaks pressed up against either side of the graph. And if there are, adjust your camera settings accordingly. That way, you’re essentially guaranteed to come home with a decent exposure!

4. Try using touch-focusing

One great feature that some cameras offer in Live View is touch-focusing. In other words, you simply tap on the portion of the screen that features your subject, and your lens will focus precisely as directed. (If you’ve ever shot photos using your smartphone, you’ll know what this is like – and how convenient it makes photographing certain subjects!)

It generally won’t be effective if you’re shooting sports, action, or wedding photos (by the time you’ve tapped to focus and then pressed the shutter button, your subject will have moved!). But if you’re out shooting casually, it’s an approach you might really enjoy.

It even has some advantages over traditional viewfinder-based focusing if you’re shooting at extreme angles. Instead of painfully positioning yourself so you can see through the viewfinder, you can simply tap to lock focus and fire off an image.

5. Familiarize yourself with all your Live Mode extras

While every model is different, your camera undoubtedly features a few effective Live View tools, and it pays to familiarize yourself with each and every one of them.

I’ve already talked about histograms and focus peaking, but your camera may also offer additional focusing aids, an electronic level, shooting mode options, and so much more. You may ultimately find that none of these options are useful to you, but you won’t know unless you do a bit of research – and for the right photographer, one (or more) Live View features can make a huge difference.

So spend a bit of time poking around in your camera manual and see what you can find. Then try out some of the most promising options. Who knows? Maybe it’ll revolutionize your photography!

Live View in photography: final words

Now that you’ve finished this article, you know all about Live View – and you’re ready to apply it to your own photographic workflow.

The next time you’re out with your camera, try playing around with Live View. It may seem unfamiliar at first, but with a few hours (or minutes) of practice, you may wonder how you ever went without it!

Even if you’re a more traditional shooter, I hope you at least give Live View a chance. It’s not going to be the best option in every situation, but you may find it to be more compelling and useful than you realize.

Now over to you:

Do you plan to use Live View? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Live View in Photography: A Comprehensive Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Lightroom Classic is a powerful editing program, but did you know that it contains an array of hidden tools that can speed up your workflow while also making it more efficient?

It’s true! Adobe packed Lightroom full of helpful little features, and in this article, we take a look at our seven favorites, including:

• A quick way to adjust the overall look of your images
• How to make precise exposure adjustments with minimal effort
• How to save space when importing images
• Much more!

So whether you’re a beginner just familiarizing yourself with Lightroom’s tools or you’re a serious editor looking to revolutionize your workflow, keep reading!

1. Visualize Spots

Have you ever shared an image online or printed a picture only to find that you failed to remove some ugly dust spots? It happens to the best of us, and it’s a deeply frustrating problem. After all, who wants to spend long minutes scrutinizing every inch of their images?

Thanks to Lightroom’s Visualize Spots feature, you don’t have to. You see, Lightroom boasts a handy little tool that makes it insanely easy to see – and then eliminate – spots from your photos.

Here’s how it works:

First, make sure you’re in the Develop module. Then select the Healing option (you can also hit Q on your keyboard).

Next, head down to the bottom of the screen, where you should see the Visualize Spots option. Click the checkbox (2), and watch as all your dust spots are revealed! You can also adjust the level of detail in the visualization (3):

Note: If you don’t see the Visualize Spots option, hit T on your keyboard to reveal the relevant toolbar.

At this point, you’ll want to quickly go through your image, switching Visualize Spots on and off while you remove all unwanted spots using the Heal or Clone tools. (You could remove spots with the Visualize Spots feature always on, but it’s better to make sure that spots are removed properly.)

You’ll finish with a spot-free image!

2. Hidden Quick Develop tools

Lightroom’s Library module is primarily designed to review your images after import, not apply edits. That said, it can be helpful to make basic changes to your images as you view them (especially if you struggle to decide which photos look best).

And that’s where the Quick Develop options come in, which you can find on the right-hand side of the Library module (underneath the Histogram panel). These handy buttons let you adjust the image exposure, contrast, white balance, clarity, and more.

Take a look at the Quick Develop options, however, and you’ll notice that two common adjustments – saturation and sharpening – are missing. Happily, these editing tools are available. They’re just hidden! Simply ensure that your Quick Develop panel is open, and look at the Clarity and Vibrance buttons:

Press and hold the Alt/Opt key. Clarity will instantly turn to Sharpening, and Vibrance will instantly turn to Saturation:

Keep holding the Alt/Opt key as you make your adjustments. When you’re done, take your finger off the key, and the tools will revert back to their default states.

3. Quick Develop adjustment precision

As I emphasized in the previous section, the Quick Develop tools can be very handy. However, they’re not very precise, which can be a problem – unless you know what to do.

You see, in the Quick Develop panel, you have four buttons for each adjustment. The inner two buttons will incrementally adjust your image, while the outer two buttons will make larger changes:

The Exposure buttons, for example, feature single and double arrows for increasing and decreasing the exposure. Single arrows change the exposure in 1/3rd stop increments. Double arrows change the exposure by 1-stop increments.

But what if you want to make more subtle changes? Are you stuck using the standard single-arrow buttons?

As it turns out, no! If you need more precise buttons, simply hold down the Shift key. The single arrows will become smaller, and when you click the corresponding buttons, the adjustment will only affect the image half as much.

4. Refine your Linear Gradients

Lightroom’s Linear Gradient tool (formerly known as the Graduated filter tool) is a great way to bring back detail in the sky without affecting the foreground. Note that you can access the Linear Gradient by selecting the Masking option in the Develop module:

However, if you use the Linear Gradient frequently, you’ll run into scenarios where the tool affects more of the scene than you’d like. In this next shot, I wanted to darken the sky without also darkening the cliff and the trees on the left-hand side:

Fortunately, you can achieve the result you’re after in a few different ways. One option is to apply your Linear Gradient, then – with the tool still selected – pull up the shadows; it’ll brighten up the darker areas while leaving the lighter sky untouched.

The second method requires more work, but it’s also far more precise. Once you’ve applied your Linear Gradient, select Subtract in the Masks panel:

Choose Brush, then use your cursor to paint away the areas that should remain unaffected by the Gradient.

5. Adjust the preview size when importing

Lightroom doesn’t edit your RAW files, but upon importing images, the program does generate previews – and the size of these previews depends on your settings.

In the Import window (under File Handling), you can select one of four options:

If you select the 1:1 option, Lightroom will produce giant previews for each image. While this will make editing at high magnifications much faster, it will also take up a ton of space. Standard previews are generally a better choice; these correspond to the previews you see when your image is viewed at screen size in the Library or the Develop module. (You also have the option to create Minimal previews, but these are too small for any in-depth reviewing.)

Even Standard previews can take up a lot of space, however, so if you have a lot of photos (or a small hard drive), you may wish to adjust their dimensions. Select Edit>Catalog Settings, then click the File Handling tab:

Here, you can choose the size of your Standard previews. The default option is Auto, which automatically sets the preview size to match your monitor’s resolution, but what if you’re using multiple monitors? Or what if you use a 6K monitor and don’t wish to create gigantic Standard previews?

Therefore, I’d recommend looking through the options and even testing out a few sizes until you find the right settings for your needs. The smaller the preview size, the less space the images will take up – and you can also save space by reducing the preview quality.

By the way, Lightroom automatically creates 1:1 previews when you zoom in for close-up editing, but by telling the program to discard these previews after one day, you can ensure they don’t fill up your hard drive.

6. The Profile tool

If you capture your photos in RAW (which we generally recommend!), you have the option to change the look of each shot without applying a single editing slider. I’m talking about the Profile option, which lets you select from a number of different ways of rendering the colors and tones in your images:

Lightroom offers a handful of basic Profiles, and I encourage you to test out each one. The default option is Adobe Color, which generally looks fine, but the Adobe Landscape, Adobe Portrait, and Adobe Vivid Profiles are all solid alternatives.

And if you can’t find a basic Profile that you like, Lightroom has dozens of additional profiles, which you can find by selecting the Browse option under the Profile list (displayed above).

These include Artistic Profiles, B&W Profiles, and even Vintage Profiles for that retro vibe that’s so popular on social media:

Here’s an image of mine that displays the power of Lightroom’s Profiles. The left side uses the Adobe Standard option, while the right side uses the Camera Matching Landscape option:

So the next time you’re unhappy with an edit, try switching the Profile. Maybe you’ll hit on something amazing!

7. Use the Alt/Opt key to set the blacks and whites

Most of the time, it’s a good idea to maintain detail everywhere in your images. In other words, you want to ensure there’s information in both the highlights and the shadows without any clipped areas.

When you’re adjusting image tones in the digital darkroom, however, it’s easy to accidentally lose detail (or fail to recover detail) without realizing it. That’s where this Lightroom tool comes in handy.

Simply hold down the Alt/Opt key while adjusting the Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks sliders. Lightroom will create a mask that allows you to easily identify clipped areas as you work!

For instance, if you adjust the Whites slider while pressing the Alt/Opt key, your image will turn black – but if some parts are overexposed, you’ll see them as white or colorful areas.

And the opposite is true for the Blacks slider: If you hold down Alt/Option key and push the slider, the picture will turn white. If you clip some of the shadows, the areas will turn either colorful or black:

I highly encourage you to use this method when checking and adjusting the contrast of your picture. By carefully preserving detail in the whites and blacks, you’ll ensure that your images look professional – and thanks to Lightroom’s handy tools, you can achieve maximum contrast along the way.

Handy Lightroom tools: final words

Now that you’ve finished this article, you should be familiar with plenty of useful tools to enhance your editing workflow.

So head on over to Lightroom and test them out. See if you can re-edit a few of your images using insights from this article!

Now over to you:

Do you have any favorite Lightroom tools that we missed? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post 7 Handy Lightroom Tools to Improve Your Editing Workflow appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sebastian Jezierski.