Perhaps you have just acquired your first camera, or maybe you’ve never photographed Landscapes before and want to know how to begin making Landscapes, or what are those “Rule of Thirds” anyway? Wherever you are on your photography journey this class is perfect for you and anyone wanting to learn how to begin making beautiful Landscape pictures for your Instagram, prints for your home or you just love to be outside enjoying nature with your camera. We will explore and learn what makes a visually pleasing Landscape. We will learn about Exposure and Autofocus settings. We will learn how to compose the scene and the Rule of Thirds. We will explore gear, accessories, and much more for your landscape photography journey. So come join me and Let’s Make Some Landscapes.

This magician shares all his secrets! Join Frank Doorhof in studio as he shares a series of tips, tricks, and techniques for adding special effects in your portrait photography. You’ll learn how to add magic to your photos using small accessories, gels, projectors, masks, special lenses, fabrics, and so much more. Come be inspired to take your portrait sessions to new levels and have a lot more fun.

It’s like being the photo editor of your own magazine! Join Scott Kelby as he guides you through the process of using Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark) to tell a photo story with style and impact. Scott gets you started, shows you various ways to bring photos into your page, leverage the design tools to make your page look fantastic, and then share it out with the world. Adobe Express is available for free to all and premium features are included in many creative cloud subscriptions, so learn how to take advantage of this powerful storytelling tool!

What is fall color to you? Join Karen Hutton in the Eastern Sierra Mountains as she chases fall color while exploring what fall means and how to tell its story. From planning and preparation to shooting on location, Karen shares her thoughts, process, and techniques while challenging you to find ways to put yourself into your art, explore the relationships between your subject matter, and follow what you love.

Coldharbour Farm is part of a wider area that’s long been known as Berkhamsted Common. Over the last few hundred years the land has been fought over between the local aristocratic landowners and the commoners of Berkhamsted, the latter of which have long enjoyed the right to roam, graze cattle, and harvest firewood. A hundred and fifty years ago, though, the young lord of the manor pushed his luck too far when he fenced off part of the publicly owned common land in an attempt to add this to his private estate.  In the old days, the Commoners might have fought back with clubs and pitchfor...

As you probably already know, shooting at the correct time of day is key in photography. But what if you were there at the perfect time, but you still couldn’t get the shot you wanted? What now? Well, let me show you a few steps to take your photo from boring to amazing. This is a formula you can use for any time of day, it’s specially dedicated to the golden-hour mood. For this, I’ll bring you to Paris with me with a photo of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, less famous than the Arc de Triomphe but a beautiful monument in Paris, nonetheless.  STEP ONE: First, in the Basic panel, we’ll ...

The latest versions of Lightroom Classic and Lightroom got a big update to the tool formerly known as the Spot Removal tool, now known as the Healing tool. Clicking the Healing icon (bandage) in the toolstrip below the Histogram reveals the three Modes for removing distractions from your photograph. Two of the Modes, Heal and Clone, are functionally the same as the previous version of the Spot Removal tool. While the new Mode, Content-Aware Remove, is sure to become your new favorite, it’s good to remember you have these other options to fall back on, if needed.  HEAL AND CLONE  Let’s...

After wrapping up my column on “Photoshop for Lightroom Users” last issue, it’s time for something new and, with all the new masking tools and greatly improved “healing brush” in Lightroom, I wanted to kick off a new column on using Lightroom for portrait retouching. I think there’s a lot that can be done, retouching-wise, than most users realize, so I want to use this column to open that door and show what can be done, which today is more than ever.  Let’s start with one of the most common portrait retouches, which is removing blemishes and reducing things such as hot spots or moles.  ...

I removed my shoes to walk on the sands of Omaha Beach, the site of a significant turning point in World War II, and was surprised by how small the beachhead was. The ridgeline where German troops were entrenched was not as high as I’d expected. My brief walk from the waterline to the sidewalk was relatively quiet, except for waves lapping at the beach’s edge.  Decades ago, this beach in Normandy was not the tourist destination it is now. On June 6, 1944, thousands of American and Allied troops stormed the beach. It was a pivotal assault that began France’s liberation, and eventually end...

Q. You showed us Solo mode for only having one panel open at a time in the Develop module. Is there a way to get rid of the ones I never use or at least move them down?  A. Solo mode in Lightroom Classic is awesome, as it keeps the focus of your editing on one panel at a time. Many of us, however, do things in a certain order, so the default order of the panels may mean that you’re scrolling around a lot unnecessarily.  Luckily, there’s a way for you to not only reorder the Edit panels in the Develop module, but also hide the ones you never use. Click on a photo and go to the Develop ...

Of all the image adjustments that can be applied in Lightroom, adding a hand-coloring effect is probably not one that most people think of. For some types of images and coloring styles, however, the masking tools in Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and even Lightroom for mobile, can work very well for adding color tinting to a photo.  We’ll take a look at how to achieve this effect in the cloud-based Lightroom. The basic technique works the same in Lightroom Classic and the mobile app but, of course, there are differences in the UI for the masking features.  HAND-COLORING STRATEGY: LIGHT...

From the blue of night to the yellow and orange of sunsets, color plays an important role in the emotions evoked from a photo. Over centuries we’ve attached meaning to color: red for danger, green for calm, orange for warmth and security. By understanding these color meanings and, of course, the color wheel for how they interact, you can manipulate the viewer’s emotions in a photo. You can do this in Lightroom using the Color Grading panel, but it doesn’t provide direction. You could play about, find ones you like and create presets, but those presets aren’t directly in the panel for quick ...

It’s my favorite time of the year! No, not because of holidays or weather (though I love those, too). It’s MAX season! We just came off almost an entire week of amazing creativity, sharing, and learning, and there’s a lot to process. Thanks to Photoshop product managers Meredith Stotzner and Pete Green for taking time to answer my questions about new stuff. The new version of Photoshop appeared during the MAX keynotes, so let’s dig in and see what the latest version of Photoshop has to offer.  Note: Many of these updates are also available on the iPad, so if you’re running Photoshop on y...

This time around we’re going to explore some design effects using various Photoshop features. We’re going to create a sports-themed poster that we can customize to fit any theme. By utilizing some creative masking effects as well as some other graphic elements, you can turn a simple sports snapshot into a piece of art!  STEP ONE: Start by opening the subject image with which you want to work. For this stock image, I looked through several images of the same subject to find one with a good facial expression as well as body position for the composition. Plus, this one has some elements in ...

NBC has recently decided to revisit Quantum Leap, the beloved sci-fi series from the 90s portraying the adventures of a time-traveling Dr. Sam Beckett. The new series isn’t a reboot, as it’s in the same continuity as the original show and pays homage to it whenever it can. It’s clear the show runners were fans, and their love of the original series shines through. All nostalgia aside, the new series has better graphics and marketing treatment than the 90s show could ever wish for! In this project, we borrow some inspiration from the scientist trapped in time, and craft our own quantum effec...

A rogue shadow can ruin an otherwise great portrait. Happily, if you have a good sized patch of non-shadowy skin next to the shadowy part, you can often remove the shadow completely. And if not, you can always lighten the shadows so they’re not as noticeable. In this column, you’ll learn a nondestructive technique for both. Let’s get started!  STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate to a portrait with shadows on the skin. If you’re starting in Lightroom, select the thumbnail in the Library module and choose Photo>Edit In>Adobe Photoshop 2022.  If you’d like to download the lo...

I really enjoy two types of photography: travel and toy. Ideally, I combine the two by packing a few action figures in my camera bag when I travel. When I arrive at my location I use the action figures as foreground elements in my travel and landscape photos. It’s not always possible, however, to get to the locations I want to shoot. This has been extra hard lately due to the various pandemic lockdowns. In the meantime, good friend and photographer, Dave Williams, has been traveling the world, living in his van, Kofifernweh, and having some amazing adventures. So Dave and I decided to colla...

As photographers, whether professional or hobbyists, we take thousands upon thousands of photos on our “big” cameras, phones, and point-and-shoots. We probably only do anything useful with about 10% of our images; the rest just sit in digital storage. So, in this article, we’re going to take some ordinary photos and try to make some interesting art using text, poster styles, and color. We can take any photo and turn it into a fun image that can be framed or used for a postcard, greeting card, or anything else you can think of. It’s all about being resourceful and creative, and bringing back...

Q. What is the best method of selecting color in Photoshop?  A. This is a great question, because colors play a very important part in Photoshop. The easiest and most common way of choosing a color is to use the Eyedropper tool. You can select the Eyedropper tool from the Toolbar or by pressing I on your keyboard. Next, specify the eyedropper’s sample area by choosing it from the Sample Size drop-down menu in the Options Bar. If you have more than one layer, you have the option of picking a color from multiple layers at the same time by selecting All Layers in the Sample drop-down menu i...

Hi, tip lovers! I have grown a fresh batch of Photoshop tips for you this month. They’re delicious and nutritious for your workflow. I hope you enjoy them and put them to good use. As everyone who copies Apple’s keynotes says, “I can’t wait to see what you do with them.”  SKY BRUSH  The Sky Replacement tool is an incredibly accurate, fast, and useful tool to change the sky instantly in a photo. Choose Edit>Sky Replacement and this AI tool automatically detects and selects the sky. Choose a sky from the included library, or upload your own, and it will be dropped into the photo like...

We are incredibly fortunate to have some amazing national treasures all across the land. Some like Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon are well known. Others like the Redwoods, Badlands and others are not so well known. Let's take a photographic journey through these lands and talk about planning, best times, best locations, hidden treasures and making the iconic shots so we can bring home the memories and share them!

Adobe MAX has begun and that means new versions and new features for Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop. With even more powerful ways to create masks, better retouching tools, and so much more. Join Scott Kelby as he gets you up to speed fast with the key features that are sure to take your workflow to the next level!

Master hard light in the studio! Join Frank Doorhof in his studio to learn what you can do with smaller light sources to create dynamic photographs with stunning shadows that are the hallmark of hard light. In this class you'll learn how to use reflectors, grids, flags, projectors, gobos, and more to light your subjects as creatively as your imagination allows. Frank wraps up the class with some retouching examples to demonstrate his approach to enhancing his photos to finalize his original vision.

Photographing kids can be challenging on many levels. Join Gilmar Smith on set for a series of child-themed photoshoots as she shares her techniques and tricks for making connections and capturing each subject’s personality. Gilmar’s ultimate goal is incorporating a sense of wonder into her photographs to preserve that magical time of childhood. From working one-on-one with kids of various ages to a wild group photo shoot Gilmar walks you through each step of the shoot. At the end of the class Gilmar reviews her favorite photos from each shoot and demonstrates some of her post processing techniques.

Nearly 1,000 creatives from all TYPES OF backgrounds took to the Internet and Photoshop World website, August 30–September 1, 2022, for Photoshop World. With an array of classes on photography, Photoshop, and Lightroom, there was no shortage of knowledge, talent, creativity, and learning.  Since its humble beginnings in 1999, the Guru Awards have become the most prestigious and coveted awards in the international digital imaging industry. Every year since then, attendees have been encouraged to submit their work in various unique categories in which we choose two finalists and one winner i...

The subject of this photograph is the Ross Fountain in West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, with Castle Rock and Edinburgh Castle in the background. The fountain was originally created by the Antoine Durenne iron foundry in Somerville, France, and was put on show at the Great Exhibition of 1862 in London’s Hyde Park. After the exhibition closed, Edinburgh gunmaker, Daniel Ross, purchased the fountain and donated it to the city of Edinburgh.  I took this photo in the late spring just as the sun was setting. This is a perfect time of year to visit Scotland. Not that you can ever rely on...

I had the opportunity to stay at the Shangri-La hotel in Paris, which is a luxurious hotel that’s known for its amazing views of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, I wasn’t having any luck with the lighting situation while I was there, as the weather was bad, and at night there was too much contrast between the Eiffel Tower and the inside of the room, the shot for which I was going. I wanted to show the beauty of the hotel and the Eiffel Tower together.  The next day was the same; the daylight photos were boring and didn’t display the hotel very well. Disappointed with my photography adven...

Last month I wrote about various ways of sharing photos from Lightroom Classic, but one option I saved for special attention was Publish Services, the panel for which is located in the Library module, below Collections. It has been around for many years, but is often overlooked.  WHAT IS A PUBLISH SERVICE?  You can think of Publish Services as a form of export. It’s a managed form of export that allows you to group photos together (think collections) and publish (export) them to either your hard drive or some online service (Adobe Stock and Flickr by default, but you can add others). ...

Radiant Photo is an AI-based photo-processing application. It only processes photos, either individually or in batches. It doesn’t do any management, HDR, or stitching; it just processes the photo. On load, it examines your photo and applies a Smart Preset to give just the right amount of editing for the photo. It’s so good that much of the time, you’re done at that point. Of course, it also has a comprehensive set of tools for editing.  Radiant Photo is based on the Perfectly Clear engine. You’ve seen Perfectly Clear here on Maximum Workflow before and it’s a great program, though the U...

It’s raining in Paris. It begins as a soft drizzle as I go down Avenue du Président Kennedy, along the Seine River. The light is soft and diffused from the overcast sky, lacking the strong contrast between light and dark. I nevertheless welcome it. I’m in Paris, after all.  My wet polo shirt clings to me like an adhesive. I periodically wipe away the accumulation of water on my shaved scalp. Droplets of water collect on my glasses, but I give up trying to remove them; I only succeed in smudging them, making it harder to see things sharply. I need that clarity as I select and compose scen...

Q. How do I switch from Lightroom to Lightroom Classic?  A. That’s a big question, but not uncommon. Sometimes photographers who are just starting out begin with Lightroom. Usually, it’s because they didn’t know there was more than one version, so they get the first one they see on adobe.com, which is usually Lightroom (Lr).  Switching to Lightroom Classic (LrC) is actually not hard. Because your images are already in the cloud in their full resolution, Lightroom Classic can sync all of your images to a folder on your hard drive. Your albums will come down as collections.  Start by...

Adobe’s applications are known for many things: cross-segment, cross-platform (more often than not), and integrated creative solutions that are often the best-in-class. They’re also known for “magic:” inexplicable features and solutions to difficult problems. In this piece, I’d like to explore just some of the magic that’s available in the palms of our hands.  ADOBE CAPTURE  I find everything about Adobe Capture to be magical. Whether leveraging the live feed of the camera or any existing file (local, from Creative Cloud, or even Lightroom), I can harmonize colors, create infinitely s...

We’re winding down this column with kind of a wrap-up, catch-all for those things that we haven’t covered yet, but that we need to, before we bring this plane in for a landing. At the end of this last installment, you’ll be able to consider yourself a Photoshop user and not just a Lightroom user, and that’s why this article is called “Photoshop for Photoshop Users.” So let’s jump right in.  CHANGE THE SIZE OF YOUR IMAGE  If you want to change the physical size (dimensions) of your image, go under the Image menu and choose Image Size. When the Image Size dialog appears, you’ll see two ...

Welcome to our 23rd Annual 100 Hot Tips issue! Yes, you read that correctly. We’ve been producing the 100 Hot Tips issue every year now for the past 23 years. For the first 21 years, all 100 tips were dedicated to Photoshop, but since we started covering Lightroom in the magazine back in 2020, we now split the difference with 50 Photoshop tips and 50 Lightroom tips, so there’s something for everyone. And these tips are from some of the highest-caliber instructors, designers, and photographers in the business. So climb aboard for a relaxing ride through the skies as you take your Photoshop a...

Is it Halloween season already? Well break out your pumpkin-spice whatever and let’s get started! This time we’re doing some fun Halloween photo manipulation using one of my favorite features. We’re going to take a simple costume photo and turn it into a stylized horror poster by exaggerating features using Liquify, and a few other tricks, with which you can have some fun. You may get a few of your own Halloween ideas as you follow along. Enjoy!  STEP ONE: Start by opening the subject you want to use. Here we have a cosplay Dracula that looks somewhat scary but let’s make it a little mor...

The new FX series, The Patient, attempts to dig deep into the mind of a compulsive killer and his kidnapped therapist. As the series progresses, layer upon layer of mental and emotional anguish is revealed. Despite the grim but compelling concept, we thought the promotional material featuring a visual representation of getting into someone’s head was a fun idea for a project! Our project includes several steps that make good use of some clever masking tricks and Photoshop know-how to craft a mental landscape of enveloping doorways. The project does use some stock images from Adobe stock,...

The experimental Makeup Transfer Neural Filter lets you copy eye, eyebrow, and lip makeup from one image and apply it to those same areas in another image (sorry, blush isn’t included). Short of having your own personal makeup artist, this filter’s just the ticket for trying out different looks or for creating a good old-fashioned glamour shot. Read on!  STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate to the two images you want to use, so they open into separate documents. Open the image to which you’ll apply the makeup, and the one from which you’ll copy the makeup (both of the images we’re ...

There are times when a photo includes a person or object, but part of that person has been cut off, either due to poor composition or the image has been cropped. This is true of both old and modern photos. In this article, we’ll show you the steps to fix this issue by extending the edge of the photo and filling in all the missing pixels.  STEP ONE: This photo of two girls dressed in their Halloween customs was taken sometime in the late ’30s, but the girl on the left has been slightly cut out of the frame. You can find this image on flickr by clicking here. Start by pressing Command-J (P...

Photoshop has made some amazing strides with automated selection tools. Select Subject has saved me countless hours by making tedious, manual processes a one-click affair! Well, usually. Sometimes the results do need a little help, even with fairly simple edges. This month we’ll look at a couple of ways to combine the new and the old for doing speedy cleanup work on basic edge selections.  Note: Before we begin, I want to set some expectations. These techniques are about working quickly to get solid results and should be added to your larger bag of tricks. They’re meant to help with gett...

One of the most precious things we have in any endeavor is time. Whether it’s learning, creating, or trying to meet deadlines, time is a large factor in every design or photography project, including how we bill clients for work. So, any tool that makes our process more streamlined is always going to be of great benefit, whether it’s a purchased product or, even better, free!  In this case, I’m talking about extensions and plugins (on top of the great techniques we learn in these very pages every issue). In this month’s article, I’m going to share some of my favorite free extensions foun...

Q. With the Spot Healing Brush tool selected, what are the differences between the Proximity Match and Content-Aware modes in the Options Bar?  A. Great question! The difference is that Proximity Match analyzes the pixels around the area you’re trying to repair and then samples those pixels and tries to blend them into the damaged area. The Content-Aware mode uses AI to fill the damaged area with the best possible match.  Q. How can I customize artboard preferences?  A. There are a couple of artboard preferences that you can customize in the way that works best for you. Go to Pho...

Great travel photographs start right in your hometown! Join Rick Sammon in his hometown as he shows you how to practice photographing different subjects and different lighting situations. The more you practice at home the higher the number of keepers you’ll get when you photograph on your travels, and this is especially true when you have new gear. In this class Rick looks for new challenges and new photo opportunities for landscapes, wildlife portraits, including people in the scene, capturing the flavor of a city, and much more. Through each lesson Rick packs in endless tips, techniques, and easy to remember tricks to help you have rewarding and creative experiences no matter where you find yourself with your camera.

Portrait photographer, Tracy Sweeney, will share with you her “It’s all in the details” approach to crafting captivating, creative portraits in Lightroom Classic. In this session you’ll focus on texture and clarity sliders in Lightroom Classic, and learn how to elevate your portraits with simple techniques that will enhance details and diminish distractions, resulting in wow factor photos.

Maximize how you use a single prop in your portrait photo shoots! Join Frank Doorhof as he demonstrates how he uses several different props to create a wide range of looks and effects. From room dividers to lightbulbs to the common chair and fabric, you’ll be amazed at the possibilities that can be achieved from a creative approach with the props you may already have on hand.

Wrapping up this two-part series, Scott uses Lightroom Classic and Photoshop to show you how to bring back the best pictures you’ve ever taken while traveling. Using the photos he created in Travel Photography: Capturing Beautiful Interiors Scott demonstrates his post processing workflow for overcoming tricky lighting, lens and perspective distortions, removing distractions, enhancing sharpness, and a whole lot more. Through each lesson Scott works through the challenges each photo presents while sharing killer tips, tricks, and techniques to bring out the very best in each picture.

The Fruita Schoolhouse is located within Capitol Reef National Park, just off Utah State Route 24. It was constructed in the 1890s by early settlers to the area, and remained in use as a grade school until the outbreak of WWII. A lot was expected of those who taught here. A photo I took of the “Rules For Teachers” revealed that male teachers were allowed one evening each week for courting purposes, or two if they attended church regularly; however, women teachers who married, or engaged in unseemly conduct, could expect to be dismissed. Needless to say, any teacher who smoked, drank intoxic...

When you shoot a sunrise, you have to ensure that your composition is correct and that your photos are sharp. Every sunrise isn’t always spectacular, so my key rule is: If the sky is boring, or there’s not much color, go black-and-white! You can always add a lot more drama with black-and-white. In this article, I’ll focus on some key tricks that you can use to make your photos pop!  The first thing you should do when you come back from shooting a sunrise is to select the best shots in Lightroom. It’s easy to do: you can rate your photos with stars and decide right away which ones will be...

Lightroom Classic (LrC) makes a great home base for your photo library, but a common question that comes up in the KelbyOne Community forum is: “What is the best way to share those photos with others for viewing and possibly even downloading and printing?” There are actually a few options to consider depending on your needs and the needs of those with whom you’re sharing, so I thought I’d cover what those options are and how to utilize them from LrC. The first and most obvious method is the good old Export dialog.  Being ready to share your photos implies that you’re done with editing an...

Our last look at Luminar Neo was the limited open prerelease just before launch. Since then, Skylum has been working hard to add all the features that were promised during the original promotion of Neo. While it still lacks some of the features of Luminar AI and Luminar 4, Luminar Neo has become a mature product, with many very desirable features.  We’ve seen the fantastic Sky AI in operation, as well as other features brought over from Luminar AI but, for this article, we’ll be looking at Mask AI, background removal, layers, and others, as well as the new HDR extension. Essentially, thi...

I made my first good photograph shortly after learning the fundamentals of the camera. I was a member of the Boys Club of Hollywood, where one of the counselors introduced me to photography. I knew then that photography was the only thing I wanted to do.  I captured that photograph during a competition where boys would compete in games, including billiards, bumper pool, ping-pong, and table soccer. The picture was of one of the boys, leaning over the edge of the pool table, ready to take his shot. I carefully composed the photograph with the subject at the left edge of the frame, the poo...

No, there aren’t any typos in the title above. This article is all about the benefits of editing in black-and-white to give you a result with great light and color. I’ll begin with explaining the concept, and then we’ll get down to business.  Photography is the art of recording light. The word “photography” is a combination of Greek words that I’m sure you’ve all seen explained in countless photography books, so I won’t belabor the point, but it’s important to remember that light is the most important element of photography. When we’re out shooting, we’re thinking about color, compositio...

Q. I use LrC and have a lot of watermarks defined. The reason I have so many is that I haven’t found a way to adjust opacity, size, or placement dynamically without editing the defined watermark or defining a new one. I also have a few different formats for different projects and work. Is it possible to have “folders” of watermarks to make it easier when working on a project using similar watermarks? As it is now, each export requires scrolling down the list to get to the one I want (and you cannot use the mouse wheel; why?).  A. If there could be folders in the Watermark drop-down menu ...

As we head into the last days of summer, I’ve had a flashback to the feature article I wrote in the August 2022 issue that covered profiles, presets, and plug-ins in Lightroom. If you’re a KelbyOne Pro member, you can find that article here. In this month’s column we’ll explore creating your own profiles for Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Camera Raw from adjustment layers in Photoshop.  CREATE YOUR OWN LIGHTROOM PROFILES FROM PHOTOSHOP ADJUSTMENT LAYERS  Profiles are created from color lookup tables, or LUTs. These are typically created in programs that are specifically designed fo...

One of my favorite talks to give is on best practices for mobile photography. Yes, there are all sorts of apps, services, and technologies that I enjoy teaching and sharing, but what tends to resonate most broadly with people is a handful of tips that happen long before the files find any of those editors. In this piece, I’d like to walk you through some of the pitfalls, workarounds, and guidelines for getting the absolute most out of the camera that you have with you. Technology changes and the lines between the still image and motion are blurrier than ever so, for those of you who have he...

Just when you thought we were running out of filters to cover, here comes another huge batch, but you’ll definitely want to know about these, because they’re kind of the latest thing. They’re AI-powered filters called “Neural Filters,” which can do some pretty incredible things. They’re partly a “work in progress” because not only do you have access to these new AI filters (referred to as the “Featured” filters), but you can also test some of the constantly evolving and improving filters while they’re in their beta form (they’re still in testing, but you get to try them out and play with th...

Portraits. The very word has taken on several meanings over the past few hundred years. There once was a time when the only option for a portrait was for an artist to paint one on canvas. The masters of that artform, those painters of old, established much of the foundations of visual design that we still build upon today.  The modern meaning of the word portrait usually connotes photography. It’s not unusual for photographers to also look back upon painted portraits from Renaissance masters for inspiration on lighting, color, and posing. It can be frustrating for modern photographers se...

Fancy title, eh? Not long ago, Adobe released these things called Neural Filters that do some AI hocus-pocus to produce quite impressive effects. One of them is aging a photo using Smart Portrait. I mostly saw this as a novelty after it was released, especially on social media, but I wanted to show you a way to employ it as a useful effect and compositing tool.  STEP ONE: First, we need a subject. For this exercise, we’ll use a younger subject like this one I found on Adobe Stock. You could actually go the other way and use a photo of an older person and make her look younger, but that c...

Ad designers often have the difficult task of finding a way to create a graphic containing photos of different people who are not in the same original photo. In fact they’re frequently in vastly different environments, under lighting that isn’t even close to the same, and even with color tones that are different. One technique to deal with these challenges is to try not to hide the differences, but to use them to juxtapose the design in a way that highlights the contrast.  The fantasy series His Dark Materials has ads showing various characters in the show, each with a unique color tone ...

Special effects play an important role in the telling of a visual narrative. Heck, we’ve all witnessed how theatrical smoke and fog at concerts or the theater completely change the mood of a scene. Happily, Photoshop makes it easy to add either element digitally; all you need is a free custom brush and an image that could use an atmospheric boost.  STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate to the photo you want to use, such as this studio image of a band that’s free from Adobe Stock. (If you’re starting in Lightroom instead, select a thumbnail in the Library module and then choose Photo...

Every now and then you just need a little fire in your life. Or maybe just in your images. Illustrator Ursula Dorada [https://sulamoon.com/] shared her layer setup with me, showing how she adds glow, fire, and other atmospheric effects to her work. It’s a great way to show off Gradient Maps, which we looked at back in the July issue for tonal control when converting color to gray. We’ll use the reverse process and convert shades of gray to color for a beautiful illustrated smoke and fire effect. You’ll need a digitizing tablet such as a Wacom Intuos or similar to get the most out of this lo...

A huge part of my day job is creating packaging design. I work for a company in the cookware industry so I get to work with lots of products from small egg timers to huge pots and pans; and all these items need packaging, inserts, boxes, etc. I realize that many of you may never have the need to create a package design, but I thought it would be fun to show you how to approach a printed box design layout. Who knows, maybe you’ll be inspired to design and create a unique package for a gift for a celebratory event, or maybe you actually have a product you sell and want to know how to design y...

Q. Is it possible to change the color of the interface in Adobe Camera Raw like you can in Photoshop? A. Absolutely. In Photoshop, you can access the Camera Raw settings by going to Photoshop (PC: Edit)>Preferences>Camera Raw. In the General section, under Appearance at the top, click on the Color Theme drop-down menu to expand it, and pick from one of the shades of gray in the list.  Q. I’m a photographer without any graphic design experience. I just started my business and can’t afford to pay for design services yet. It takes me a lot of time to create the simplest poster or...

There are many ways to do just about everything in Photoshop, but that doesn’t mean they’re all good ways (that’s why you read this column, right? To find out the good ways). Are you ready? Ready for some Photoshop tips? I’ve gathered another nice collection for you this month. I hope you put them to work and let them save you lots of time and frustration.  ACCURATE DROP SHADOW  Drop shadows are useful to lift something off the page and make it look as if it’s floating in the air, or at least look as if it has some depth. It’s easy enough to apply a drop shadow: Go to the bottom of th...

Create epic interior photographs while traveling! In this first segment of a two part series, join Scott Kelby as he photographs museums, cathedrals, palaces, and other stunning locations around Prague. Scott starts off with a discussion of gear, settings, and strategies before heading out to a variety of locations to demonstrate how he overcomes the challenges each location presents to capture beautiful photographs.

Rick and Susan Sammon, who had early careers working in Madison Avenue advertising and public relations firms, have been running their photography business since 1991. Their business workflow includes: organizing photo workshops, giving seminars, marketing on social media, recording on-line classes, writing books and magazine articles, getting commercial assignments, getting sponsors and more. In this class, the dynamic duo covers everything you need to know (including the ups and downs) of running a business, including diversifying, dividing responsibilities, networking, invoicing, paying taxes, keeping a low overhead, the work of running a photo workshop, and much more. The Sammons’ hard work has allowed them to travel to more than 100 countries, illustrating the adage: "Hard Work Pays Off.”

Create a magical storybook image! Join Kirk Nelson as he takes you from a blank canvas to a stunning final composition with the approach of a traditional artist. Using photo elements from a portrait session, additional visual elements, and some special Photoshop sauce, you can use the practice files to follow along or practice on your own after the class.

Join Erik Kuna to learn the ins and outs of the amazing Canon EOS R3! If you’ve purchased the R3 or are considering adding this to your kit, then this is the class for you. Join Erik as he shares his experience with using the R3, discusses what type of photographer will benefit the most from what this camera has to offer, and then takes you on a deep dive exploration of the buttons, dials, and menus to help you get the most out of Canon’s most high performance mirrorless camera to date!

Make the most of your KelbyOne membership with this class from Scott Kelby and Erik Kuna! Whether you are a new member or a seasoned KelbyOne veteran this class is for you. Join Scott and Erik as they take you through a complete tour of all the content, features, and perks your KelbyOne membership has to offer. Get the inside scoop on navigating your Dashboard, finding classes that fit your interests, the various ways you can watch your favorite instructors, how to get involved with the best community on the web, and so much more!

A few years back I took a memorable road trip through the southwestern states of the U.S., the highlight of which was an overnight stay at The View Hotel in Monument Valley. This provided a perfect location to stop and rest and take in the amazing views of the Mittens. Not surprisingly, when we arrived close to sunset, there were already several dozen photographers huddled together in the one location, ready to capture the classic shot of Monument Valley (the traditional Navajo name is Tsé BIIʼNdzidhsii).  Rather than join them, I looked around for a more unique angle and was drawn to th...

The whole point of using tools in Lightroom is to guide the eyes of the viewer into the photo so they can fully enjoy the subject without any distractions. Let me show you several tools you can use in Lightroom to achieve this result and get spectacular photos every time!  This is a photo taken in Diamond Beach in Iceland. I love the composition, and the star of the photo is this mini iceberg that landed on the beach. So let’s see how we can make it stand out and lead the eyes of the spectator into the photo.  STEP ONE: First, we’ll do a basic retouch. We can open up the Shadows to +1...

In the June 2022 update for Lightroom (Lr), Lightroom Classic (LrC), and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), Adobe added the ability to edit video in the Lightroom cloud-based family of apps. I got a chance to use it recently and wanted to share how it worked. I captured a time-lapse of the Milky Way using the built-in time-lapse feature of the Canon EOS R10. This allows you to configure all the settings, fine-tune exposure with test shots, then start the time-lapse process of recording a final MP4 video completely in camera. While not the preferred method for having ultimate control over the postproce...

As the keeper of the Nik Collection keys, DxO is mindful of its heritage. Despite the transition between many companies, they’re keeping the flame alive and regularly adding value to these much-loved and -used plug-ins. In mid June they launched Nik Collection 5. Like the previous update, two of the plug-ins have been rewritten from the ground up. This time it’s Color Efex and Analog Efex getting that love.  In the mind of DxO, there are two parts to the Nik Collection: the creative part, which covers Color Efex, Silver Efex, Analog Efex, and Viveza; and the technical part, which covers ...

There have been countless lessons I’ve learned about photography. The most important lesson, however, is that there isn’t one singular way to practice photography. We each wield the equipment and software differently. Photographs are unique based on how we see the world and what we want to express. It took me a while to understand that.  Like countless beginning photographers, I was fixated on gear and technique. That was appropriate during those early years. I learned about light, exposure, and postprocessing, which was necessary to achieve consistently good results. This was an essenti...

Q. If you use Lightroom Classic to upload to Adobe Stock, how do you keep track of which images you’ve uploaded?  A. Lightroom Classic has a Publish Services feature that’s dedicated to uploading to Adobe Stock. It’s great and I use it all the time; however, it’s not always easy to tell which of your images have been submitted to stock without scrolling your collection of potentially thousands of images.  There are a few ways you can accomplish knowing which images you’ve already submitted. The first one is that Lightroom Classic keeps track of which collections your images are in. Th...

In the feature article for this issue, I covered the Three P’s of Lightroom: Profiles, Presets, and Plug-ins. With three main topics to cover and a limited amount of space, I ended with a bit more material than could fit in the article. Fortunately, I also have this column for that additional material. So, let’s get started with those extra tips!  DOWNLOADING AND ORGANIZING PLUG-INS  When you download a plug-in for Lightroom Classic (plug-ins currently aren’t supported in the cloud-based Lightroom), it will most likely be saved to your Downloads folder. After I download a plug-in, the...

When it comes to mobile creativity, not only does every phone have an incredibly powerful still camera, but a video camera as well. Gone are the days where video on a phone resolved postage-stamp-sized output. In its place we have 4K, high-frame-per-second captures that can generate incredible footage. In the same way that some iPhones can natively capture RAW files, the same is true of ProRes for video! It’s astonishing what you can capture on your mobile device, but what do you do with it?  Sticking to the example of iOS, the Apple Photos app is surprisingly powerful and my first recom...

So far, we’ve covered some pretty important (and amazing) Photoshop filters, but this month we’re going to introduce a filter you probably didn’t realize was in Photoshop. Even though it’s a filter, it’s actually a version of Lightroom’s Develop module that lives inside Photoshop. You can pull up this filter and use it any time you think what you’re about to do would be easier if you were just back in Lightroom, but because you can do that stuff here in Photoshop, it keeps you from bouncing the same image back and forth between Lightroom and Photoshop multiple times.  STEP ONE; Let’s do ...

Taking advantage of profiles, presets, and plug-ins in Lightroom Classic can help you discover new artistic interpretations, streamline your processing workflow, or extend the creative possibilities of Lightroom through plug-ins. Let’s take a closer look at each of these, starting with profiles. PROFILES  At the most basic level, a profile in the Lightroom ecosystem is simply a way to interpret a file. It can serve as a starting point for your image-processing explorations via the initial interpretation of a RAW file when it’s first imported, or it can be a more creative or stylistic ...

Banana! Ah, those lovable minions! This month we’ll explore creating a minion-inspired image pretty much from scratch using mainly shapes and layer styles in Photoshop. Mine came out so cool that I use it as the lock screen on my phone. You can download some assets I’ve prepared to follow along as well.  STEP ONE: Start by creating a new Photoshop canvas by going under the File menu and choosing New. Set both the Width and Height to 2000 pixels for a square format in which to build the elements, and click OK or Create when done. STEP TWO: Let’s begin by creating the basic shape of the...

A few issues ago we explored a piece involving a young woman dancing in the rain on a city street with a colorful neon umbrella. The colors and atmosphere of that project were powerful enough to warrant another exploration of a rain-filled city street; but this time, exploring the hidden depths below the surface of those rain puddles. In this surreal composite, we’ll work with several clever compositing tricks to create a visually enticing image of somebody diving through a rain puddle into the ocean depths.  This project does use several stock images. If you don’t want to purchase the f...

Skywriting is an incredible, yet vanishing art. So few can do it: it’s self-taught, takes great skill, plus the pilot can’t see what she’s writing. Today, you’ll learn how to perform digital skywriting using a free, cloud-shaped brush and a type layer. With zero risk to life and limb, you can add this beautiful art to any photo. Read on!  STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate to the photo you want to use, such as this beach scene photo from AdobeStock. (If you’re starting in Lightroom instead, select a thumbnail in the Library module and then choose Photo>Edit In>Adobe Photosh...

First there was my KelbyOne class, Sammonisms: Speed-Learning Advice for Making Awesome Images [https://members.kelbyone.com/course/rick-sammon-sammonisms/]. This class was jam-packed with photo tips with catchy, easy-to-remember phrases to quickly drive home a photo technique. These Sammonisms included: “The name of the game is to fill the frame,” “Backlight shoot tight,” “See and photograph eye to eye,” and “The camera looks both ways.” Then came my KelbyOne session at the Landscape Photography Conference, Sammonisms for Landscape Photographers: Speed-Learning Advice for Making Awesome...

Social media dominates how photographers and digital artists share their work, but nearly all platforms have unique requirements for optimal image display (and none of them have native tools to help you sort this out). While automated tools do exist, most of us only need something quick and easy to create a handful of images every now and then. Also, automated tools often don’t give you flexibility in placing, sizing, or adjusting your images for best effect. That suggests a lower-tech approach, and fortunately it’s something we can do right in Photoshop with templates and CC Libraries. We’...

When trying to come up with design ideas in Photoshop, I often find inspiration from things I’ve seen around me. I wanted to make a graphic around the current meme of a song by BBC documentarian Louis Theroux that’s doing the rounds on social media. For those of you who don’t know it, it starts with “my money don’t jiggle, jiggle, it folds….” I wanted to make a design that had the engraved look of bank notes and certificates to give the design a “money” look. I also wanted it to be fun, so I went hunting for images on Adobe Stock and found a great photo of another favorite face from online ...

Q. As a lifestyle photographer, I often need to blur out the background in my photographs. What’s the quickest way of doing this in Photoshop?  A. I’m with you on this. In Photoshop we have many ways of blurring an image’s background but, of course, we always like to do it the fastest way. My favorite way is using a Neural Filter. First, go to Filter>Convert for Smart Filters so you’ll be able to make changes to the Neural Filter after you apply it. Then, go to Filter>Neural Filters and turn on the switch for Depth Blur. If you haven’t used Depth Blur before, you’ll need to downloa...

Hi, everyone! It’s that time again for me to share some of my favorite Photoshop tips. I have a nice collection of fresh tips for you here. You know, those little paragraphs that save you hours of work. How many of these are new to you?  GET MORE OUT OF YOUR BRUSHES  If you haven’t tried using texture brushes with the Brush tool (B), you really ought to give it a go. It’s so much fun to add textures, or create ragged edges. The key is not to make it look too repetitive. Here’s a trick to get the most out of a brush. Choose Window>Brush Settings. Using the Scale, Angle, Flip X, and ...

Go in-depth into the world of dog photography with Kaylee Greer, a private and commercial pet photographer. Learn to create photos of your dog that are worthy of a cover shot by learning the tips and tricks Kaylee uses to bring out the best in each subject.

Capture life’s most active moments with your iPhone! Join sports photographer, Rob Foldy, at Safety Harbor Park to unlock hidden features and make the most of your iPhone for photographing sports and action. In this class Rob explains key settings, features, options, lenses, and shooting modes on your iPhone to help you create dynamic photographs of your friends, family, athletes, and regular people just having fun on the move.

Take a photographic tour of one of the most beautiful cities in all of Europe! Join Scott Kelby and Larry Becker as they walk you through all of the locations a travel photographer would want to visit in the photogenic city of Prague. Scott shares his recommendations for the gear to bring, how to plan ahead for the photo locations you’ll want to include, and then gives you the inside scoop for how to create the best photographs of each of these iconic locations. Scott even prepared a PDF of all his top locations you can download and take with you!

Whether you’re shooting tethered in your studio or out in the field and coming back to your desk to do your post-processing—your workstation matters. In this class, Terry will explore all the pieces that go into a kick-butt photo workstation so that you can work better.

The June update has arrived! Along with support for new cameras, we’ve gained a host of new features and improvements in Lightroom Classic and Lightroom. Let’s take a look at what’s new in Lightroom Classic first.  LIGHTROOM CLASSIC  PRESET INTENSITY ADJUSTMENT  This one goes up to 11, er, 200 actually! A very cool new feature, which people have been requesting for ages, is the ability to refine the intensity of a given preset. Well, now we’ve gained the ability to dial preset intensity down to 0 and all the way up to 200% (not that you’re likely to take it up that high). This will...

We are fortunate to live on the edge of a National Forest, known as the Ashridge Estate. Not so long ago the estate all belonged to the Bridgewater family; however, during the 1930s, the family was faced with the need to pay death duty taxes and consequently sold off as much of the land as they could privately. That is until a wealthy benefactor purchased up all of the remaining estate that had not yet been converted into private housing and golf courses, and donated it to the National Trust.  Today the Ashridge Forest is restored as a public right of way. Located just outside London, it...

Last issue, we looked at how the facial recognition function, a.k.a. People view, worked in Lightroom Classic. This issue, I figured it would be useful to examine how the facial recognition function works in the cloud-based Lightroom ecosystem as well.  First off, if you sync your Lightroom Classic catalog to the Lightroom cloud, you can certainly sync photos, and if those photos contain faces, those faces will be analyzed and allow you to assign names to them. The people tags (keywords) assigned, however, do not sync between Lightroom Classic and Lightroom. So, if you have photos in bot...

Portraits are one of the more visceral genres of photography. It’s not just about your reaction to the work you create, but that of your subject too. Whether it’s individual portraits for adults or children, family photos, or even more private photos like boudoir, good portraits generate an emotional response in the subject. For us at “Maximum Workflow,” that collaborative effort makes portraiture a truly worthwhile endeavor.  But there’s something that’s not quite so glamorous, and that’s the editing process. While some people thrive on it, and make quite successful careers from the edi...

One of the signs of getting older is the changing of perspective: Things that were important in my twenties and thirties are less so in my fifties. It’s the culmination of life experiences, both good and bad, and wisdom derived from countless moments.  In my youth, I saw photography as an opportunity for life change. It was more than an outlet for creativity. It offered a career path that propelled me from the streets of South Los Angeles into places I’d only imagined as a child. The joy of making photographs provided opportunities I once thought unimaginable, including traveling the wor...

Q. My Lightroom Classic plug-in wants to save the edited images as PSD. What is PSD and is it as good as DNG/RAW?  A. It’s very easy for a Lightroom user to become accustomed to working only with DNG/RAW or JPEG files. Most people understand that shooting in RAW yields the highest-quality image that your camera can produce. When working with DNG/RAW files in Lightroom, you’re actually never editing the actual RAW file. Lightroom/Lightroom Classic only applies nondestructive edits to the metadata and never edits the actual pixels of the image.  When you send the image to a third-party ...

This month, tasks I’ve been doing in my own Lightroom work, as well as questions from some of my consulting clients, have resulted in some tips on renaming files, virtual copy and version names, and modifying the capture date of files for both Lightroom Classic and the cloud-based Lightroom.  WHAT’S IN A NAME?  For some photographers the filename for their photos may not be important, and they may choose to use the name that the camera applied. For other photographers, the filename can contain useful information, such as the date when it was captured, the photographer’s name, or even ...

I know, I know, we’re still in the Liquify filter, but this filter is so powerful with so many tools, features, and such depth that I really wanted to cover it pretty fully here so you could start letting that genie out of the bottle. The good news is that this is the last issue we’ll be covering Liquify, and next time we’ll dig into a different topic, but for now, let’s dip back into the goo (okay, that was rather lame. Sorry).  STEP ONE: To get to the Liquify filter (by now you should know how, but just in case), you go under the Filter menu, and up near the top, choose Liquify to brin...

Posting content to social media, for many of us, feels like a chore. We’re already so busy with our day jobs, side hustles, or gigs that it feels impossible to dedicate more time to it, even if we know that it can bring in new followers or even job opportunities. Today, we’re going to be looking at Adobe Express, the newly revamped offering that enables people of all ability levels to create eye-catching social content. Don’t be fooled, even longtime Photoshop users (like yourself) will find lots of value in an imaging tool that can save them tons of time and effort. But we won’t just throw...

I was inspired by some sports images I saw recently and wanted to share some cool tricks for blending text and images in ways that enhance the design, while maintaining readability. You can use these tricks in a variety of ways, either combined, as we’re going to do here, or individually, to add a little something extra to any project. You can follow along by downloading the images, which (as of this writing) are totally free on Adobe Stock. I have also provided a free flare brush for you to download for the finishing part.  STEP ONE: Start with a subject you can easily extract from the ...

The latest streaming Star Wars series shows us a dark time in the life of fan-favorite Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Jedi is hiding in the sandy dunes of Tatooine and has lost much of his confidence. The series is reminiscent of old samurai films where a lost rōnin has to find his path once more. The marketing art for the series serves as the inspiration for this piece, showing a sand-swept, forlorn hero.  In this project, we explore some great free brush sets from Adobe’s website, and how to use them to get a gritty, sandy effect that just might have you wondering how moisture farming actually wo...

In this column, you’ll learn how to create a picture-in-a-picture effect. It’s a great way to accentuate a certain part of a photo, while adding a hint of nostalgia with an old-school, Polaroid-style frame. This technique is versatile and fun, plus you’ll learn a slew of core Photoshop skills along the way. Let’s get started!  STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate to the photo you want to use, such as this group photo, which is free from Adobe Stock. If you’re starting in Lightroom instead, select a thumbnail in the Library module and then choose Photo> Edit In>Adobe Photoshop...

Pick your target! That’s the first key to creating a killer top-down drone shot. We’ll come back to that, but I wanted to make that point straight off the bat, and here’s why: Drones are becoming far more accessible and, as a result, drone photographs are now more common than ever. The shots are no longer a novelty; however, the drone itself can be a novelty to the consumer.  As drone pilots, we need to realize that our drone is a camera just like the one held in our hands, but we can position it almost anywhere around us in 3D space. It’s common for a new drone pilot to take photos of f...

One of a handful of ways to spark a spirited debate amongst photographers is to talk about converting a color image to black-and-white. Everyone has a favorite method or tool, and I’m no different. I’ve used this technique for at least a decade, and despite any black-and-white conversion plug-ins that come along (many of which are absolutely amazing), I always come back to this method when I want full control over the whole process.  Before we get into the actual technique, let’s cover a little background. Shown here is one of the 38 Ishihara Plates that are used to help determine specif...

Welcome back to Designing in Photoshop! Recently, I was speaking with a fellow creative who asked me if Photoshop had been forgotten as a creative design tool and how powerful its features are. That got me thinking about some of the “forgotten” features of Photoshop that I actually love using as a designer. These are things you might ignore in the menus or just never knew how to use them, but they’re all part of this very powerful piece of creative software. Admittedly, some you wouldn’t think of it as a “designer” tool, but it’s all about how you interpret the usefulness.  So, in this m...

Q. I’m trying to add an image to a mockup and blend it in to create a retro-style look, but the blend modes I used don’t give me a retro feeling. Is there a way to adjust the blend?  A. Blend modes are very powerful tools to blend two or more layers together to create a unified image. Sometimes to achieve the desired results, we need to use a combination of the blend modes and Blending Options in the Layer Style dialog.  Add the image to the mockup and use the blend mode you think is the best for your image. I used Multiply in this example. Click on the Add a Layer Style icon (fx) at ...

Hi, everyone! In this installment of “Photoshop Tips,” I have a nice set of tips for you. Some are for photographers and some are for artists but, after all, we’re all artists, are we not? I hope you find inspiration in these tips; if not, maybe they’ll at least free up some of your time so you can search for that inspiration.  SHARPEN IMAGE WITHOUT SHIFTING COLORS  Although there are lots of ways to sharpen an image in Photoshop, the most common way is to choose Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. The only problem with this method is that sometimes the colors can be blown out to white...

Get your visual effects on! Join Erik Kuna as he gets you up to speed with Boris FX Optics 2022, a plug-in for Photoshop and Lightroom Classic as well as a standalone program. Boris FX has been a leader in visual effects for video and now for stills. In this class you’ll learn how to perform color grading, lighting effects, light leaks, particle generations, and more using Boris FX Optics. Starting from Lightroom Classic and Photoshop, Erik takes you step-by-step through different example workflows, from basic to more and more advanced, to help you create photographs that more closely match what you saw in your mind’s eye or even your imagination when the photo was created.

Get your Lightroom Classic questions answered! Join Scott Kelby as he clears up the confusion and keeps you moving forward with confidence by answering the most frequently asked questions from the Lightroom Conference. You can watch through all lessons in order or just skip to the topics that you want to learn. Scott covers everything from catalog management tips to finding your photos to shooting tethered to solving common problems and so much more.

Take the mystery out of creating panoramas and timelapse movies! Join Erik Kuna out in the beautiful landscape of Arizona as he breaks down the essentials for creating breathtaking panoramas and captivating timelapse movies. Starting with no frills set ups, Erik teaches you the lingo, the gear, and the settings to make these creations come alive, as he builds on each lesson to increase your skills and your options.

Learn how to sell your fine art prints online! Join Craig Alexander as he shares the tactics and techniques he’s used to sell thousands of prints online. Craig starts with a history of how he got started and then dives into his process for discovering what sells, various methods to enhance your volume of sales, and a step-by-step look at how to set up an online listing. By the end of the class you’ll have a roadmap to follow to get started selling your art online.

Join Nikon Ambassador, author, and travel photographer Deborah Sandidge as she guides you through capturing experiences and creative imagery, giving you a sense of being there in the moment. Through this presentation, Deborah will share the conceptual elements of her imagery and how the art and technique of photography can bring an image to life. Deborah’s approach through photography is to create an image that conveys what it feels like to be there—in other words, making it more of an experience. Learn how she envisions and creates shots in the dark, photographing stars and the rushing tide of the ocean, well before sunrise. Master details that engage the viewer and allow you to enjoy creative and alternate photography options through long exposure, infrared, and multiple exposures. Deborah will share many tips and techniques that add depth and dimension to your imagery. Deborah invites you to join her. You’ll have fun and come away with fresh ideas and new techniques that you can apply to your own creative landscape photography.

The subject shown in this photograph is Pulpit Rock at Portland Bill. This is part of what’s referred to as Britain’s Jurassic coastline, because many of the rocks date back to this period. Pulpit Rock is so named because from certain angles the rock formation looks like an open bible resting against a lectern. In actual fact, it was artificially created, the product of 19th century quarrying activity.  These days, Pulpit Rock is a popular location for an activity known in the UK as “tombstoning.” Despite all the warnings of the dangers of jumping off high rocks into unknown waters, tomb...

Taking long exposures really adds a timeless feeling to your photos. You can play with textures, such as water or the sky, and it’s truly a great technique to use when you want a simple composition with great aesthetic! In this article, I’ll show you how you can shoot and retouch long exposures, especially color photographs.  TIP #1: USE ND VARIABLE FILTER  You might prefer to do just a long exposure with your camera and a remote, which is fine, but having an ND (neutral density) filter can help you nail your exposure to capture that stretchy cloud feeling! ND filters limit the amount...

Organizing your photo library is one of the main jobs of Lightroom Classic (LrC), but it’s not nearly as much fun as editing. Leveraging the power of face recognition to assist you in manually finding and keywording the photos of people in your library, however, is sure to put a smile on your face. Contained within the People view of the Library module, which can be accessed by clicking the People icon in the Library module Toolbar or pressing O, you’ll find all of the tools to have LrC begin finding and gathering all of the photos with faces (or what it thinks are faces), so you can name t...

There’s a host of reasons for wanting film emulations: nostalgia for old processes, hopping on trends, or even just having an affinity for film itself without the messy work involved. The Lightroom and Photoshop add-on market isn’t without a host of film emulation plug-ins. Lightroom Classic has even benefited in the past from the use of filmic profiles such as those from VSCO, meaning that you don’t even need to leave Lightroom to get a look. Exposure X7, a plug-in we’ve looked at often, is out there with a film-emulation heart. So what do we do when there’s another plug-in that does film ...

I read a critique recently that was critical of a photographer’s work because of his use of postprocessing. The writer favored photographers who created their images in-camera without the aid of a photo-editing application. Photographers with this belief argue that images created this way are genuine and more authentic: Photo-editing software is cheating.  I can sympathize with such a sentiment. I’d believe the same if I saw one-too-many bad photographs where Photoshop was used to fix them. I agree that Photoshop can be too much of a good thing; however, I don’t dismiss software that pro...

Q. I just got a new, bigger hard drive. How do I move my images to the new drive without messing up Lightroom Classic?  A. This is a common scenario and a common question. At some point you’re going to fill up your hard drive or need to replace it, as hard drives don’t last forever. The problems arise when people take it upon themselves to move their Lightroom Classic (LrC) photos in the operating system instead of letting Lightroom Classic do it. If you move the photos in the operating system behind LrC’s back, then LrC won’t know that you moved them, and you’ll have to relink the photo...

I’ve recently been working on a project of diptychs that show two different angles of the same location taken along a walking trail near my home. Testing out possible image arrangements and creating letter-sized proof files for printing has meant spending a lot of time in the Print module of Lightroom Classic. For this month’s article, I’ll share some tips for using the Print module to create diptychs, triptychs, and mirrored or reflected images. And, while we’re there, there’ll be some general tips for the Print module as well.  PRINT MODULE: WORKING WITH MULTIPLE IMAGE LAYOUTS  My f...

I spent the first 15 years of my career on the Photoshop team, a dream job in every way but, as a Product Manager of a pre-subscription Photoshop, it could be maddening to have to wait years before we could get new features in the hands of users. One of the great things about modern, subscription-based offerings (and all of Adobe’s mobile apps, both free and paid) is that, when a feature is ready, you get the update. We release a lot of updates and for this piece, I wanted to focus on some of the most recent and exciting ones in the mobile landscape.  ADOBE CAPTURE  Let’s start with A...

Okay, last issue we took a peek into the marvelous world of the Liquify filter, and we focused on a few of its most-important tools, such as the Forward Warp tool that moves things around like they were made of molasses (which can be super handy for portrait retouching, among other things). We also looked at the Pucker and Bloat tools, which are aptly named as they let you pinch in on an area of your image to make it smaller (don’t know if you remember, but in the last issue I pinched in a guy’s belly quite a bit), and then the Bloat tool makes things larger. (No, I didn’t make his belly la...

For those of you who follow my monthly tutorials here in the magazine, you’ll know I come from a place of deep graphic design. If you’ve ever been to one of my Photoshop World classes, you’ve heard me talk about how design influences our daily lives without even realizing it. Advertising is design, fashion is design, our online user experience is design; we’re subconsciously led by design, whether we like it or not. And I like it: I like it a lot. Understanding where design fits in our world helps us make better decisions about our own brands and businesses.  One of the major components ...

I recently saw this cool effect on my Roku screensaver. Yes, ideas are everywhere! It was a graphic for a show called Swimming with Sharks (I have no idea what it’s about). Anyway, not only was it a cool-looking effect but it was a good opportunity to demonstrate the power of combining layer masks and vector masks to create multi-layer effects, using just one subject and a simple decorative flower element.  STEP ONE: Once again, we’ll start with a photo of the subject. Here we have a model isolated on a white background that will work perfectly for this. The simpler you can make it to ex...

There’s a handful of recent entertainment properties that bank on the sweet nostalgia of the 1980s. Even the recent Marvel series Moon Knight featured glimpses of an old pulp adventure show recorded on VHS tapes. The whole idea is still deliciously inspiring and a lot of fun to craft yourself in Photoshop. In this project we take a blank VHS mockup and create our own label design inspired from the adventure films of the 80s, but with our own unique spin. Grab your fedora and follow along on this old school adventure!  STEP ONE: In Photoshop, use File>New to open the New Document dialo...

A handful of Photoshop tools lets you copy pixels from one place to another, but only the Clone Stamp tool lets you change the size (and angle) of the pixels you’re copying. In this column, you’ll learn how to use it to duplicate an object at different sizes in a photo, creating more depth of field. As a bonus, we’ll also change the color of the new objects.  STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate to the photo you want to use, such as this sailboat image, which is from Adobe Stock. If you’re starting in Lightroom instead, select a thumbnail in the Library module and then choose Photo...

It’s no secret that Photoshop is simply a portal to endless creativity, expression, and just good ol’ digital fun. There are so many different ways to create and so many effects to try out, it can be as daunting as it is enjoyable. Two creative avenues of exploring Photoshop stand out as particularly fun and expressive: the act of compositing multiple images together, and the process of digital painting, making full use of the plethora of brushes and tools at our fingertips. And of course, since this is Photoshop after all, we can even combine these two styles for a fantastic mixed media ef...

With summer upon us, it’s that time of year when summer fêtes, parties, and community events take place. And we all know that the person with Photoshop is the person designated to come up with the event poster (when it comes to my friends and family, that’s usually me). So, in this tutorial, we’re going to build a poster for a fictitious summer event using assets that are all interchangeable. Plus, we’ll create a really cool pattern effect that you’ve probably never used before and, once you discover it, you’ll use over and over again in the future!  Like with all good projects, we’ll do...

Digital artist Aditya Aryanto has some really creative composites, including simulating a “real-world” visualization of a popular video game style that consists entirely of assembled 3D cubes. This month, let’s square up with Liquify to create a blockhead portrait!  To make things easy, we’ll work with a minimal low-key portrait where the subject is already isolated. In more complicated pieces, you’ll need to manage the background elements (see “Some Final Thoughts” at the end of this article). If you’d like to download the low-res watermarked version of this image to follow along, click...

Q. With the latest Photoshop update, I can’t find the Camera Shake Reduction filter.  A. In April’s update of Photoshop 23.3, the Shake Reduction filter was removed. If you’re looking for a great sharpening solution, then have a look at Topaz Sharpen AI.  Q. How can I apply a custom color theme to Photoshop’s interface?  A. This is a great question. Depending on the color of the image on which I’m working, I often change the color of the canvas around my image because I prefer to have a lot of contrast between my document and Photoshop’s canvas color. You can change the color of ...

I have a nice selection of tips for you this month, which may help you solve nagging issues and speed up your workflow. Saved time is money in the bank, unless you’re on an hourly rate, in which case you can get your work done faster and have more time to blankly stare into space.  EASY ROUNDED CORNERS  If you want to make a rectangle with rounded corners, choose the Rectangle tool (U), make sure Shape is selected from the top left pull-down menu in the Options Bar, and draw out your rectangle. You’ll see dots at each of the corners. Drag any one of these dots to round all four corner...

Take your finishing moves to the next level with On1 Effects! Join Scott Kelby as he shows you exactly how he uses Effects in his workflow. Whether you start in Photoshop or Lightroom Classic, you’ll learn how to take your photo into the plugin. Within Effects you’ll get up to speed on using presets, combining presets, customizing filters, working with layers, applying masks, making selective edits, and then bring the finished copy back again. By the end of the class you’ll be able to incorporate this cool plugin into your own workflow.

If you have Photoshop you can make a logo! Join Dave Clayton for a fun introduction to creating logos in the Swiss Army knife of programs, Photoshop. You’ll learn how to use type, custom shapes, combine shapes, put type on a path, create mockups, export your finished logos, and a whole lot more. Dave packs expert tips and tricks into each lesson and eases even a beginner into the tools and process of creating a logo from scratch.

Learn how to capture your best photographs during the best time of day! Join Rick Sammon as he uncovers the magic of photography during the golden hours. In this class Rick shares tips for shooting before, during, and after sunrise and sunset, as well as his post processing techniques for making photos look their best. You’ll learn how to make the most of that warm golden glow, those long dramatic shadows, and the cool blue time that comes before sunrise and after sunset.

Both Adobe Lightroom and Lightroom Classic are pretty straightforward, but there are several little known features and tips and tricks that most users will never find on their own. In this class, Terry White does a rapid-fire session fitting as many tips on both versions in an hour as he can. If you’re a Lightroom or Lightroom Classic user you don’t want to miss this one!

I took this windmill photograph during a trip to Thorpeness on the English Suffolk coast. This location isn’t far from the villages and towns described in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield. When taking a stroll along any of the local beaches, one can easily picture the landscape described in the book; in particular, Mr Peggotty’s upturned boat house at Great Yarmouth. I’ve visited the area many times, and what makes it so appealing is that many of the seaside towns here have still retained their Victorian charm. The beaches and beachfront properties are unspoiled by garish fast-food outle...

Photography has a lot of elements that go into making the perfect photo but, in this article, I’ll show you five key steps that will make any photo spectacular. You’ve probably seen all of these techniques before, but if you follow them in the order in which I explain them, it will give you a fail-proof workflow, as well as a lot of space for you to create any look that you want. So let’s get started!  EXPOSURE  The best way to get the right exposure in-camera is to expose for the highlights, because you don’t want your whites burned out, leaving you with no information to recover ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a common buzzword in the photography world and Adobe has invested heavily in this technology across many of its products. In this article, we’ll explore all the current features that use AI in Lightroom (Lr) that can improve the way your photographs look, as well as make it easier to find the photos for which you’re looking. Some of these features, namely Auto, Select Sky, Select Subject, and Enhance, are also found in Lightroom Classic (LrC) and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), but a few more of them are only found in one or more of the Lr apps at this time....

There are typically two types of views on DxO: You either think of them as the people who now own the Nik Collection, bought from Google, or you know them as the keeper of the best lens information on the planet, known as DxO lens modules. But they’re far more than that. DxO uses that lens information as part of their flagship product, DxO PhotoLab 5, which is essentially their Lightroom competitor. It does RAW development and image management, the two keystones of Lightroom for most people.  There is also DxO FilmPack 6, a premiere film emulation product that uses the same expertise as ...

I’m periodically surprised when I discover a great image despite not looking for one. Typically, photography is a purposeful practice. There’s intent behind it. I set a date and time, prepare my equipment, travel to a destination, and make photographs. It involves a commitment of time, and concentration dedicated entirely to my creativity.  For obvious reasons, the opportunity for such moments decreased dramatically over the past two years. Yet when it did, I made the most of it, regardless of time limitations or subject matter. I still needed the satisfaction and joy that comes from pho...

Q. If I delete original photos in Lightroom cloud to make/conserve space, does that also remove them from Lightroom Classic?  A. This is a common concern among users of Lightroom Classic who also want to take advantage of Lightroom cloud for a mobile workflow, but don’t have a ton of cloud storage in their plan. Some Photography plans have as little as 20 GB of cloud storage. That’s not a lot, especially if you’re shooting in RAW while you’re out and about. The good news is that you can allow those “originals” to sync down from the cloud into Lightroom Classic and then remove them from L...

Understanding the basics of the masking features in Lightroom Classic and Lightroom is essential to getting the most from the significant develop capabilities in each program. This month we’ll take a look at some useful tips, shortcuts, and mask strategies for working with the masking tools in both applications (if I don’t specifically mention differences between the two, then the shortcut or operation is the same).  OPEN THE MASKS PANEL  In the cloud-based Lightroom, you open the masking tools by pressing M. In Lightroom Classic, the shortcut is Shift-W. And, of course, you can also ...

As a 22-year veteran of Adobe, I tend to use Adobe applications primarily, and it’s a safe bet that if you’re reading this, you probably use many of these same apps. As it pertains to mobile, there are certain tools and features that I lean on regularly that aren’t from Adobe, so I thought I’d focus on the what, how, and why of those other applications.  Let’s start with the phone. I capture an increasing number of photos on my iPhone and, thanks to feature-parity across platforms and a synched cloud connection, it isn’t uncommon for me to edit them on the phone as well. More often than ...

Okay, are you about ready to take a break from sharpening? Thought so. Let’s move on to something way more fun in Photoshop: working with filters. We’re going to start off with one of the most amazing filters in Photoshop and, while you can use it for everything from tweaking landscape and travel images to sports photos (and I’ve used it for all these things), it’s most useful for photos of people.  It’s called the “Liquify” filter and, at its core, it allows you to move anything, or part of anything, in your image as if it’s made of a thick, goo-like molasses. But that’s just one of its...

You understand the basics of working with layers. You’ve combined a few photos into one document, perhaps added a type layer or two, and changed the blend mode; but now you’re ready for more. In this article we’ll introduce some of the lesser-known and more-advanced layer techniques that can help you take your use of layers to the next level.  LAYER FILTERING  Once you start to build up a document with multiple layers, it can be challenging to quickly and easily find the layer on which you want to work. One solution is to use the Layer Filtering options found at the top of the Layers ...

It’s that time of year to do some sports-themed designs. This time around I have some cool techniques for creating color compositing effects by using the light and dark tones of an image to extract design elements that you can customize with color and even cool masking effects. This is another one of those effects I found myself trying on several images and found that, with just a couple simple tweaks, you can cater the design to almost anything.  STEP ONE: Beginning in Photoshop, create a new document by going under the File menu and choosing New, or press Command-N (PC: Ctrl-N). Set th...

Rainy nights in the city are a curious experience. The precipitation creates reflective surfaces everywhere while the vibrant lights of the urban setting create a supersaturated, surreal environment. This project attempts to capture some of that unique sensory experience. Having a model holding a vibrant glowing neon umbrella while happily skipping through the rain creates a beacon of energy that refuses to succumb to dreariness of the weather. It’s an uplifting visual message. Plus, it’s a fun opportunity to play with filters in Photoshop!  Here, we’ll use two images from Adobe Stock, b...

Leaf shadows add a lot of visual interest to a photo. And by adding the shape of a tropical leaf, you can make a photo look like it was taken beachside instead of in a basement. While the perfect leaf shadow may be evasive to capture in-camera, today you’ll learn how to make one from a photo of a leaf instead. Read on!  STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate to the photo to which you want to add the leaf shadow, such as this tabletop image that’s free from Adobe Stock. If you’d like to download this image to follow along, click this link, log in with your Adobe ID, and click the Lice...

Some old photos have what we call “fog” in them. According to Doc Chevalier, a Community Leader of the KelbyOne Community, this is due to “the fixer being depleted or being diluted. Another reason for fogging is exposing the paper to light before the fixer has set properly.” The photo I’m using is of the living room at Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri (Laura and Almanzo Wilder’s home). The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library asked me to state, “We do not know who, if anyone, has copyright to the image.” (KelbyOne members can click here to download this image for practice purposes onl...

In the March 2022 issue, Corey Barker laid down some brush love. I’d like to build on that and show you a few nifty ways to combine brushes and paths. This approach is great for creating illustrations and precise graphic treatments where you may not trust your freehand painting skills, or simply want an easier path (ha!) to create repeated elements.  The idea is really simple: create a path, then use the Stroke Path function to paint along that path. There are three ways to get to the Stroke Path function:  Option-click (PC: Right-click) on a path while using any of the path manipul...

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Photoshop is as versatile as an egg because there’s not much you can’t do with it. As a designer, I always recommend using the right tool for the right job: Illustrator for logos, InDesign for layouts, and Photoshop for everything else in-between. But there’s so much you can do in Photoshop that you might not realize and, in this instance, we’re talking vector tools!  In this tutorial, we’re going to explore the vector tools available in Photoshop and, trust me, they have a lot of power! We can create all kinds of vector-based artwork in Photosh...

Q. Is there any way to delete the list of files in the Open Recent list under the File menu? A. Yes, and it’s very easy to do. You can delete your recent files listing by simply going to File>Open Recent>Clear Recent File List.  Q. I tried Perspective Warp but I’m having trouble understanding how to use it correctly.  A. When you take photos of objects that you want to combine with other photos, unless you planned ahead, the perspective will likely be off. Perspective Warp is one of the best tools in Photoshop when you want to match the perspective of a layer against the ba...

Are you ready for another info-packed edition of “Photoshop Tips”? This month’s tips are dripping like honey and they’re oh-so sweet. Go ahead, indulge yourself; they’re great for your Photoshop health.  MORE ACCURATE COLOR SAMPLING  Do you ever feel like the Eyedropper tool doesn’t work correctly when you’re in the Color Picker and trying to sample a color in your image? Maybe the color isn’t what you expect, or you can’t seem to sample small areas of color? You need to change the sample settings, but where are they?  With either the Color Picker or the Eyedropper tool in the Tool...

Plan your next photography Adventure! Join Ramtin Kazemi as he teaches you all the essential steps for planning and executing a successful landscape photography expedition. Rammy shares the gear he uses, his process for pre-scouting the location, how to scout on location, how to find the best compositions after you arrive on site, the settings he uses to capture the images, and how to post process the final results in Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.

Take your headshot game to new levels! Join Peter Hurley for a complete walk through of his signature lighting techniques for men and women. In this class Peter walks you step-by-step through three different lighting setups with two different models in studio. You'll learn about the gear he uses as well as how to make a lighting setup with the gear you already have. Get a front row seat as Peter works with each model to dial in his light and bring out the very best poses from his subjects once he gets them in the zone!

Break out of a creative rut with a series of exercises to boost your creativity! Join Dave DeBaeremaeker as he shares, demonstrates, and illustrates 10 exercises to that will help you master your gear, gather ideas, and learn the benefits of limiting your choices. By the end of the class you’ll be able to put these exercises into practice toward expanding your own creative efforts!

Join Scott and open the door to his top 20 portrait tips and tricks—that make you faster, and more efficient. In this session you will learn how to keep everything on the set moving forward with tips on how to work with your subject to things you can do right during the shoot in post that make a big difference. This is a super fast-paced class packed with lots of info that will make your photography sessions more fun and productive, and help make your portraits look like the pros.

All Souls Church is a prominent building at the top of London’s Regent Street, which is part of architect John Nash’s coordinated Regency design that connects The Mall (leading to Buckingham Palace) with The Regent’s Park. The church today is a well-known landmark building, mainly because it’s in front of the BBC headquarters, otherwise known as Broadcasting House.  I took this photograph using a Sony RX100 camera that I’ve owned for a number of years now. When I first bought the camera, I thought it was a great alternative to carrying around my much bigger digital SLR cameras. These day...

Composition is key when it comes to photography. If you’re at the right place at the right time but don’t know how to compose your shot, you might miss a chance to create a beautiful piece of art.  So what is composition? It’s the arrangement of elements within a work of art to convey a message. With that in mind, let’s get to the first type of composition.  THE RULE OF THIRDS  The concept behind the rule of thirds is that if you were to draw two lines horizontally and two lines vertically over your photo to create a grid of nine equal squares, it will form four key points where...

Historically when it comes to printing, Lightroom Classic or Photoshop are the go-to apps for most Adobe customers, but what about folks who subscribe to the Lightroom (only) plan that doesn’t include those options? In this article, we’ll explore the routes that are available for creating prints of all kinds (local printer and online) when the cloud-based Lightroom app is the home base for your photo library.  It has long been a criticism of the Lightroom app that it doesn’t have a print function (let alone a dedicated Print module like Lightroom Classic) and, while that’s technically tr...

An email from Boris FX letting you know that there’s a new version of Optics on the way is an exciting prospect. Last year’s debut showed that the combination of Boris FX Sapphire with the old TIffen DX/DFX plug-in was a winner for fun and creativity with photographers. What could this visual effects powerhouse do to top that? Well, how about adding even more of their Oscar-winning movie plug-in magic for still photographers to use? Oh yes! Boris FX seems intent on giving users the joy of even more play by adding Particle Illusion and Beauty Studio, both from their Continuum plug-in, to ...

I allowed the business of the past few years to put a damper on printing my photographs. The images found their home in dozens of magazine articles and presentations, but I fell behind creating fine-art prints of my work. The recent addition of a large-format inkjet printer changed that.  Images shared on Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, or even printed in a magazine result in a fast-and-passive consideration of a photograph. Even when images were published, multiple deadlines resulted in a postprocessing workflow that favored speed. I prided myself on producing good results in a short time....

Q. I like to shoot with my camera set to B&W so that the preview on the back of the camera and the JPEG are B&W. When I imported the images into Lightroom, I was expecting the RAW images to be in color, but they’re still in B&W. Is this normal?  A. It sounds like your Lightroom defaults are currently set to mimic the camera settings, but it’s very easy to change them to settings of your choice. To set the same defaults for all RAW files, go to Lightroom Classic (PC: Edit)>Preferences and click the Presets tab. Select the default of your choice in the Global pop-up menu. Yo...

Last month we looked at collections and collection sets in Lightroom Classic. This month is a continuation of that topic but the focus is on using albums and folders in the cloud-based Lightroom. We’ll begin with a basic overview and then look at sharing albums for viewing, as well as contributing new photos and allowing other users to edit your images and create new auto-saved versions.  ALBUMS VS. COLLECTIONS  Let’s get started with a terminology clarification. In the cloud-centric Lightroom, albums are the equivalent of collections in Lightroom Classic. Folders, which can be used t...

Today’s cameras and smartphones all generate both beautiful photos and high-resolution videos. Further, social platforms allow for sharing of both still and video files. Video is a bigger piece of our lives than ever before, and Adobe’s mobile solution, Adobe Premiere Rush, solves both anywhere access and usability. While applications, such as iMovie, are incredibly powerful, they’re constrained to the Apple ecosystem and don’t consider multiplatform workflows; plus, they lack integration with other creative products or storage.  Adobe Rush is a friendly, nonlinear, video editor that all...

You’re probably wondering, “Can there really be more to sharpening than we’ve already learned in these past few issues?” We’ve learned the classic Unsharp Mask, we’ve learned about High Pass sharpening, and even Smart Sharpen. Can there be more? There’s always more in Photoshop, and today we’re looking at a different way of thinking about sharpening.  So far, the sharpening we’ve applied is absolutely critical. It’s a part of our production workflow (every photo gets sharpened—every single one!), so the type of sharpening we’ve learned is that essential, kind-of-mandatory sharpening we d...

You’ve likely heard the old saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” The lesson in this adage is extremely relevant to photographers; it’s all about how you look at the thing or moment to which you’re assigning potential. Sometimes we have complete control over the scenes that we compose but, in other cases, it’s like the wild west: how fast can you get your finger on the trigger and pull? I’ve edited so many images in my career as a retoucher and production artist that I’m always trying to see the greatest potential in an image. If you’ve ever studied successful image makers ove...

It’s fun to revisit effects I created years ago to see if they still hold up or if they can be enhanced in some way. Back in my early days of “Down & Dirty Tricks,” I did a water displacement effect that I want to use in this tutorial as an example to show you how you can go back and expand on something you created a long time ago and perhaps even discover something new. Here, we’ll build custom displacement maps for a stylized water-distorting effect.  STEP ONE: First we need a subject. It’s fun to experiment with this effect on different types of images but we’ll keep things somewh...

Crafting fun title treatments is one of those tasks for which Photoshop seems intentionally built. Who doesn’t love a bright, shiny metallic title? Accomplishing this effectively is an exploration in layer styles and other filters, but it goes way beyond just basic Bevel & Emboss. The key is understanding the limitations of the styles and working to apply them within those constraints. Sometimes that means creating multiple layers for a single line of text; sometimes it means folding smart objects inside other smart objects. In any case, it’s a fun journey with great results! (This effe...

Bathing the subject of a photograph in colored studio lighting can completely change the mood and feel of the image. And, thanks to Photoshop, you don’t even need a real studio to get it done. In this column, you’ll learn how to use Gradient Fill layers to add diagonal pink and blue studio lighting to a portrait. This technique is easy, flexible, and full of creative potential. Let’s get started!  STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate to a photo, such as this free one from Adobe Stock. (If you’re starting in Lightroom, select a thumbnail in the Library module and then choose Photo&g...

Spoiler alert! This isn’t a technical, detailed step-by-step, how-to article on how to enhance your images in Photoshop. Rather, it’s more of a philosophical homily on how Photoshop can help you create the images you see in your mind’s eye.  I had other titles in mind for this article: “Awaken the Artist Within with Photoshop,” “Don’t Delete,” “Reality Leaves a Lot to the Imagination,” and “Before-and-After Adventures in Photoshop.” But “Got Questions? Photoshop Has Answers!” won out.  Here’s the basic idea: After you open an image and before you start playing with all the cool slider...

The overlay feature in Photoshop’s Crop tool is a great way to use common composition guides when cropping your photos. You have diagonals, rule of thirds, golden ratio, golden spiral, triangles, and a basic grid. To activate these overlays, choose the Crop tool (C) and, in the Options Bar, click the drop-down menu just to the right of the Straighten option. While this is a great help when you’re ready to crop your photo, what if you just want to explore different options without actually cropping? Guide layouts work well for grids and rule-of-thirds compositions, but even these are gene...

If you’ve been following my tutorials, you’ll know I love retro/vintage effects and anything typographical. So this issue we’re going to look at some type-warping techniques in Photoshop to give your images and designs that little extra. So many Photoshop users don’t realize how much they can do with type, and how easy it is to stylize it with the built-in effects. So get Photoshop fired up and let’s start creating some fun type designs!  WARP FACTOR 1  Thanks to Photoshop’s wonderful versatility, we can warp text in several different ways. In this first method, we’re going to warp it...

Q. Sometimes when I go to the Properties panel, the Remove Background quick action button isn’t there. Why is that?  A. Remove Background is a quick action in Photoshop, and it can be found in the Properties panel (Window>Properties) as well as the Discover panel (click the search/magnifying glass in the upper-right corner in the Options Bar). When you go to the Properties panel, the Remove Background button will only show up if you have a regular layer selected, not the Background layer. Simply converting your Background layer to a regular layer by clicking its lock icon in the Layer...

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another enticing episode of “Photoshop Tips.” I’m feeling a little tipsy this month, so I’ve provided some timesaving tips for you in this issue. Fortunately, my tips are better than my puns. Bon appétit!  LAYER STYLE CONTROL  Layer styles are a quick way to dress up images and give them a little kick. Here’s an interesting thing, though: They’re based on the original image boundaries and not added layer styles. What do I mean? Click on the fx icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, and add a wide Stroke layer style to a layer. Now, with the Layer Style...

Join Moose Peterson for a masterclass on the Nikon Z9! If you’ve already purchased this camera or are planning to in the future, then this class is for you. The Z9 is an amazing camera, and only made better when you can customize it to fit your photography like a glove. In this class Moose gives you the information you need to get started, a PDF download of the settings he uses, and then he walks you through all of the key buttons, menus, and settings you need to know to get the most out of this powerhouse of a camera.

If you’re using the cloud based Lightroom (or considering it in the future), then this is the class for you! Scott has adapted his SLIM organizational system from Lightroom Classic to work with the newer cloud based Lightroom with the same focus on keeping it simple. There are 5 key steps to this process, and Scott’s breaks down each one, teaching you the tools you need to know and providing a common sense framework that you can adapt to the subjects you photograph. Scott wraps up the class with a start to finish workflow that puts all the concepts together to show how well it works.

Learn how to create and capture dynamic visual effects at home! Join Kirk Nelson for a truly fun and practical class on shooting and composting special effects that you create in your own home or backyard. With lessons on water splashes, smoke, steam, and fireballs, made from props, materials, and equipment you may already have or can acquire at a local store, you’ll be ready to get started right away. After walking through how to create and capture the effects, Kirk takes you through his post processing workflow and demonstrates how to composite these effects into photographs.

In this class you’ll learn the step-by-step process of how to prepare your images for print using Lightroom Classic (including why you should use Lightroom Classic instead of Photoshop). You’ll unlock the power of Lightroom Classic’s Print Module for creating really cool multi-photo layouts, plus Scott covers everything from which printers to consider, which paper to use (and why), how to evaluate your prints, how to get your prints to match what you saw on screen, and more.

Take your beverage photography skills to the next level! Join Aaron Van, an Orlando-based commercial food and beverage photographer, for a complete behind-the-scenes look at everything you need to know to create pro-level photos of beverages. To begin, Aaron takes you through the tools, props, glassware, and light shaping tools he uses every day. From there you’ll join Aaron in the studio for a series of shoots where changing up the lighting allows for a variety of creative looks that help to tell a story. Through each lesson, Aaron shares tips and techniques for elevating your beverage photography higher and higher. Aaron wraps up the class with a discussion of flash duration for stopping motion in liquid before putting it all together in a final shoot.

I began shooting digitally in the mid-nineties. Back then this was usually with loaned equipment, or when I was reviewingv the latest digital kit. It wasn’t until 2003 that I purchased my first proper professional camera, which was the Canon EOS-1Ds Mk I. Under controlled studio lighting, the results I got from the camera were impressive. Outside the studio, though, I found the camera struggled with scenes that had a wide dynamic range, or when shooting in low-light conditions. And of course, the RAW processing tools back then were quite limited.  Version 1.0 of Camera Raw was released t...

The Radial Gradient has several functions and uses in Lightroom Classic and Lightroom. Once you know how to use it, it will become your best friend when it comes to transforming your photos into fine-art pieces. I’ll show you just a few ways you can use the Radial Gradient, but keep in mind that the possibilities are endless!  A QUICK TOUR OF RADIAL GRADIENTS  Here’s some basic information about the Radial Gradient and how to use it.  THE INVERT FUNCTION  It’s important to know that, by default, the settings for a Radial Gradient affect the inside of your circle, but you can ...

Last issue, I looked at how we might decide which version of Lightroom, either Lightroom Classic (LrC) or Lightroom (Lr), is the right one for our needs. I left out an important point that’s worth mentioning now, which is that, while it’s possible to use Lr offline when needed, it really does require a reliable Internet connection and ample data to use it as it’s designed. LrC on the other hand can be used in its normal functions of editing, library management, and output while being completely offline.  For anyone with limited Internet access or capped data plans, this aspect of how eac...

Retouch4me plug-ins are the brainchild of Oleg Sharonov, the developer of 3D LUT Creator. He has used his eight years of practical high-end retouching experience, combined with two years of testing and research, to create a set of eight tools to shave hours off your daily editing times. These AI-based tools take tedious tasks and automate them, freeing up your time which, if you’re in business, translates to more time to make money. If you’re doing this for fun, it puts the joy back into editing, allowing you to concentrate on the creative aspects of the edit.  Yes, these are big claims ...

There are different ways to practice street photography. The two most popular approaches are described as hunting and fishing. Hunting describes a photographer who is constantly in motion, searching for a scene, subject, or moment that triggers the raising of the camera and the release of the shutter. People often imagine street photographers weaving through a crowded street. They’re creatures, sharks, constantly in motion.  Fishing describes a less hectic approach. Instead of scanning the urban landscape for a special moment, the photographer discovers a scene that offers the potential ...

Q. Whenever I open Lightroom, it says “This catalog was previously upgraded during the Lightroom Classic update. Would you like to use the newer, upgraded catalog instead?” It gives me two options, “Yes, use the newer, upgraded Catalog,” or “No, upgrade the older Catalog.” I think I’m doing the right thing by selecting “Yes, use the newer, upgraded Catalog,” but how do I stop it asking every time?  A. Selecting the upgraded catalog is absolutely right! To stop it asking, you just need to change which catalog is opening by default. First, go to Lightroom Classic (PC: Edit)>Preferences,...

In this issue we’ll look at some useful tips for working with collections, collection sets, and smart collections in Lightroom Classic. WHAT IS A COLLECTION? In Lightroom Classic, collections let you organize groups of images in any way that makes sense to you. A collection is somewhat like a playlist for your photos. Just as a song can be placed into different playlists, the same photo can be added to different collections. Collections are available in all of the modules in Lightroom Classic, whereas folders are only visible in the Library module. This alone should provide some clue ...

Ordinarily, when you think of masks (a selected area of an image or a cutout between multiple images), you think of Photoshop. Even constrained to mobile, Photoshop on iPad does indeed have tremendous chops here and, if you’re combining images, overlaying text, or imagining the impossible, there remains no better place to leverage the magic of masks. What about photos though? Still images that need one area darker, lighter, or just different?  Lightroom has had this ability for some time now in the form of Radial and Linear Gradients, controlled areas that allow you to adjust a subset of...

Okay, in our last couple issues we’ve learned about the classic Unsharp Mask filter (been there for 30 years), and how to use High Pass sharpening when you really need some “mega-sharpening,” but today we’re going to uncork the genie in a bottle that’s the Smart Sharpen filter. This is the best sharpening, with the best interface, and most options, using the best math in all of Photoshop, yet for some reason it just never caught on. Everybody still gloms onto the old Unsharp Mask filter. Even folks who recognize that the Smart Sharpen filter is better, has a better user interface and more o...

The world of brushes in Photoshop has been the subject of thousands of tutorials but, while many of these tutorials are impressive, few ever really go into how certain aspects of brushes work, or maybe the instructor provides a set of brushes for download but doesn’t explain how to load them into Photoshop. He just moves on to the ultimate goal of a finished design or digital painting. There’s nothing wrong with that, but sometimes you may want a little more info, such as how he created those brushes in the first place so they behave in a particular way.  In this article, we’re going to ...

Ever since I saw the posters for the movie Glass three years ago, I was blown away by the compositing effect of the broken glass. In this tutorial, we’ll re-create the Glass poster using a few layer tricks, as well as other creative tweaks along the way that you may find useful in other projects. Plus, it’s fun to reverse-engineer effects and bend them to your will! (By the way, as I started looking for stock glass images on Adobe Stock for this effect, I stumbled upon the very same glass shard elements used in at least one of the original posters!)  STEP ONE: As usual, we’ll begin with ...

Crafting interesting text effects is always a fun way to use Photoshop’s bevy of tools. In this tutorial we explore a way to create a text effect inspired by the Netflix series Blown Away. The idea is to craft a text effect that appears to be blown glass that’s still hot and glowing. This project includes several creative techniques to get to the final product, including a means of crafting 3D text without the benefit of actual 3D tools, since Adobe no longer supports them in Photoshop’s toolset and they plan to discontinue them altogether in the near future. All that means is that the ...

Frames are incredibly handy for setting up photo templates. When you use the Frame tool, you get a special layer type that works like a picture box; you can size and style the frame and then insert different photos into it. Frames can be rectangular or elliptical. In this column, you’ll learn how to create a triptych template for a fictitious martial arts studio.  STEP ONE: Choose File>New and click the Photo category (circled) at the top of the dialog. Pick the Default Photoshop Size and set the Background Contents drop-down menu to Black (also circled). Click Create.  STEP TWO: C...

Adding glow to a composite can really sell the overall effect, but environmental lighting is sometimes difficult to achieve. A little blending mode magic is in order! We’ll place this steampunk fighter into a dark room and give her lamp a blue aura. When we’re done, that light should spill onto her as well as the room behind her. Ready to glow?  STEP ONE: If you’d like to download the low-res watermarked versions of these images to follow along, first click this link for the room image, log in with your Adobe ID, and click the Save to Library button. Now click this link for the steampunk...

One thing I love about Photoshop is the ability to make something cool out of something ordinary, using images you wouldn’t have considered using before. I’m a big fan of replicating real-life techniques in Photoshop, things we used to make by hand. In this tutorial, we’re going to look at a scrapbook-style effect, creating cutouts from images and sticking them on a page using our own custom digital tape.  For this project, I found some illustrations on the Free section of Adobe Stock to demonstrate how to apply this particular method. This isn’t restricted to illustrations, however; you...

Q. I have a new MacBook Pro based on Apple’s M1 chip, but one of my favorite plug-ins isn’t native yet on M1 and doesn’t show up. How can I use this plug-in?  A. Congrats on your Apple Silicon-based Mac. I love mine, and the speed and battery life are amazing. The speed increases come from running applications that have been re-coded to run natively on these new chips, and Photoshop and Lightroom have been updated to run natively, which is great. If your third-party application hasn’t been updated yet, then it may not show up in the normal places in Photoshop.  You can reach out to th...

This month I have lots of great tips for you. Many of this installment’s tips refer to compositing in Photoshop, or working with multiple layers. Don’t worry, if you don’t composite, there’s still a little something for everyone here.  USING THE EXISTING CROP  Here’s something that can be annoying; but there’s a simple fix. Let’s say that you have several images that you wish to crop, so you select the Crop tool (C) for your first image. You set the crop size in the Options Bar, crop the image, and then move on to the next image. The crop boundary automatically appears on the next ima...

Head north to the scenic shores of Lake Superior for some amazing winter landscape photo opportunities! Join Ian Plant on location in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as he shares his favorite tips and techniques for creating dynamic winter landscape compositions that draw the viewer deeper into your photographs. Along the way Ian teaches you how to keep your gear and yourself safe and warm while shooting, how to find the best subjects and light, and then puts it all into practice through a series of on location shoots in lakeside ice caves.

Join Jefferson Graham on a 240-mile journey that steps back in time exploring historic Route 66! One of the first major paved roads, Route 66 is chock full of photo ops, roadside attractions, and endless photo opportunities. Jefferson shares the gear he uses, tips for capturing the best photos in the daytime or night, post-processing techniques, fascinating Rt 66 trivia, and a list of all the most important sights to see along the route.

Sometimes we overlook the camera we have with us all the time—right in our pocket! Join Erik as he shares tips and techniques for making the most of your iOS or Android phone to make awesome professional quality images. He’ll go over how to shoot in RAW, and how to use computational photography. He will also teach you how to capture amazing images without having to lug around extra gear or spend extra time editing. From long exposure to shooting the Milky Way to shallow depth of field and macro, so many things are possible. What better time than now to get ahead of the game and start using your mobile device as your second camera? Who knows, it might just become your primary camera one day!

Take your understanding of Photoshop’s layers to a whole new level! Join Scott Kelby as he helps you unlock all the creative power of using layers to their fullest. Layers are one of the most important aspects of using Photoshop. Scott starts the class helping you understand the concept of layers and the fundaments before moving onto a series of project-based lessons that show you how to use layers like a pro. In this class you’ll gain an understanding of blending modes, layer masking, working with type layers, keeping your layers organized, adjustment layers and so much more!

Get ready for some Photoshop tips! These thrilling tips are sure to save you time, and offer unparalleled joy as you work on your images. Okay, I might have oversold them just a bit, but you’re going to get a lot of use from these tips.  DUAL VIEW  When you view an image that’s been zoomed way in, it has a different impact than when you view the entire image. When sharpening and retouching, it’s important to work at 100% magnification for an accurate view of your image. There are also times when you need to zoom out to see the overall impact and composition. Did you know that you can ...

Q. I have a small JPEG that I want to run Super Resolution on, but I’m at a loss as to how to get the JPEG to open in Camera Raw?  A. Super Resolution is an amazing bit of tech built into Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Adobe Camera Raw. Accessing it via Camera Raw in Photoshop, however, isn’t as straightforward as it is in Lightroom. When you open a RAW file in Photoshop, it automatically opens in Camera Raw. If you have a low-res JPEG that you want to run Super Resolution on, double-clicking it would only open it in Photoshop, since Camera Raw isn’t needed.  Here’s a way to get a ...

If you’re of an age where you remember cutting out bits of magazines and letters from newspapers to make your own artwork, then you’re going to love creating this similar style of artwork in Photoshop. For a completely bespoke design, you can make your own “scraps” background by manually cutting up lots of images and type from old magazines (you can find packs of vintage magazines on Ebay for less than $10) but, for this example, we’re going to use ready-made “scraps” images from Adobe Stock (from the Free selection).  Collages are cool because you can make something interesting out of a...

Here’s a classic effect that lets you explore illustration looks quickly and easily using photographs, text, or simple gradients. It’s a staple of design with tons of approaches and applications, from graphic novels and storybooks to trendy low-fi, flat graphics. Let’s bust out the oft-forgotten Cutout filter and have some fun!  Note: Each of the examples shown are created from a document no larger than 2,000 pixels on the longest side. The Cutout filter is dependent on canvas size, so exact settings will be based on your actual image.  THE CUTOUT FILTER ON SIMPLE GRADIENTS  STEP O...

The world has changed a lot recently. A large portion of the global population has been unable to travel to see the things and places that fill their bucket list. On top of this, the announcement of the metaverse as just one of a number of immersive, virtual environments that we, as photographers and creatives, are in an ideal position to fill with content. In this article we’ll explore one of these many possibilities, an immersive 360° virtual tour. We’ll create the images, edit them, and then take them to another piece of software to create the tour. (Interestingly, the word “panorama” co...

Curves is one of the most powerful—and fear-inducing!—adjustments in Photoshop. The basic idea is that, by curving a diagonal line on a grid, you can change the brightness of specific pixels in one or all of the color channels in your image. Today you’ll learn how Curves works, and how to use it nondestructively to correct a portrait. Read on!  STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate to a photo that needs correcting, such as this portrait, which is underexposed and severely lacking in contrast. (KelbyOne members can click here to download a version of this image for practice purposes ...

For much of the world, the transition to wintertime comes on surprisingly fast. One day the weather is comfortable enough for short sleeves, then suddenly the next day you find yourself searching for mittens and heavy coats! The season comes on gleefully unopposed, almost as if Lady Winter herself danced across the landscape spreading ice and snow everywhere in her wake.  That’s the scene we’re attempting to capture in this project. Starting with an image of a woman in a long flowing dress on a warm beach with the folds of her dress converting the scene into a wintery wonderland. This pr...

This project was inspired, in part, by the Yellowstone series on the Paramount Network. The title sequence has a nice look consisting of simple colors and textures and, in this exercise, we’ll explore creating a similar effect using photos, textures, and text. We’ll also show a cool way to make multiple layers interact while keeping them aligned. Even though this effect works great on a western theme like this, it’s worth exploring with other themes such as sports, for instance. What can you do with this effect?  STEP ONE: Let’s begin by creating a new Photoshop canvas in which to build ...

Most people become Creative Cloud (CC) members because they’re interested in the applications that come with the membership; however, many members never look beyond the applications to take advantage of the subscription for which they’re already paying. The Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan comes with a lot of benefits that go beyond Photoshop and Lightroom. It also gives you access to several powerful mobile apps, Adobe Fonts, Adobe Creative Cloud Express and Portfolio, cloud storage, etc. Let’s learn how to take advantage of all these tools to power your productivity and creativity.  ...

We’re picking up where we left off last issue, where we dipped our toe into the wild world of sharpening. We started with the classic Unsharp Mask filter, which has been in Photoshop since, well, version 1.0 some 30-something years ago, but we still use it today, so it was a perfect way to kick off our adventure using filters. In this issue, I want to take sharpening another step further.  The sharpening we’re going to learn about today is called High Pass sharpening (using the High Pass filter), which I use when I open an image that:  Needs a ton of sharpening  Is the type of im...

Over a decade since the iPhone and iPad have changed our lives, today’s mobile apps are more ubiquitous, more powerful, and more uniquely capable than ever before. At the heart of any great mobile app are a few core attributes: delightful, engaging, uniquely powerful, tailored for the device, and easy to use. When these attributes meet creative workflows, it makes sense that more people than ever are discovering creativity beyond the desktop—and enjoying the process!  As we start the new year, I’m delighted to introduce you to a new app that should be in everyone’s creative quiver. I thi...

UNDERSTANDING LIGHTROOM CLASSIC CATALOG FILES  At the heart of Lightroom Classic is the catalog file that allows you to work with all the photos you’ve imported, as well as all the develop and metadata changes you’ve applied to them. This is the primary file with which you’ll be working, but there are also additional files that are associated with the main catalog file. Understanding what these are and where to find them is an important part of working confidently in Lightroom Classic.  WHAT THE LRCAT CATALOG FILE CONTAINS  It’s important to note that the catalog file (identified b...

Q. When I use the Masking tools to select the subject, I thought my edits would affect only the selection, but any adjustments I make are being applied to the entire photo. What’s going wrong?  A. First, make sure the Mask is selected in the Masks panel. Then on the right, you should see the Masking sliders for Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, etc. If you can only see a single Amount slider, click the disclosure triangle to the far right of the word “Effect” to see all of the Masking sliders. These are the sliders you need to adjust to affect only the masked subject. It sounds like you’re...

A public street, especially a busy one, possesses a balance of chaos and order. The sidewalk, traffic lights, signage, and storefronts are fixed elements that establish the identity of the place. The people that move down the sidewalk and intersections are fluid elements that transform the scene with every passing second. The resulting moments are unique and never repeatable, creating a tremendous challenge for any photographer.  There lies the allure of street photography. The challenge is whether the photographer can recognize a moment where the fixed and fluid possess synchronicity an...

There’s no doubt that Skylum is a hard-working software company. They’re constantly pushing the envelope on new technologies, while making it easier on the user. Their commitment to this end has led to amazing features such as Sky AI in Luminar AI, which exceeds any other software out there right now for automatic sky replacement.  Sometimes this means that the previous iteration has to be left behind. Such is the case with Luminar Neo. While Luminar AI remains a fantastic editor, the basis of the engine isn’t sufficient for Skylum’s plans, hence the release of Luminar Neo.  Luminar N...

Is this the year to switch to Lightroom in the cloud? Is Lightroom Classic a better fit for your needs? As I look back over the past 4+ years since Adobe released the cloud-based Lightroom (Lr) ecosystem as a separate offering from Lightroom Classic (LrC), I think the dust is starting to settle. I don’t think either version is going to go away, and I feel that this fear and uncertainty was clouding the thought process for some people.  As the editing capabilities have nearly reached feature parity between both versions, it makes choosing the product that best fits your workflow a whole l...

I want to share some tips for shooting a panorama at night. I’ll also go over retouching the image using the new Masking features in Lightroom. The power of these tools can help you create amazing fine-art results!  CAPTURING THE IMAGES  For this panorama taken in Paris, I captured three photos at 1,250 ISO, which was the lowest I could go. Because my camera has built-in stabilization, I was able to shoot at 1/20th of a second. Also, since there weren’t any elements close to the lens, an aperture of f/4 gave me images that were focused throughout. When shooting at night, use the self-...

Not far from where I live is a pine tree circle on the top of a hill. In fact, our neighbor’s house is called “Pine Tree View,” as the lady who lives there remembers when the house was first built in the 1930s how the pine trees on the hill were a prominent local feature. Hence the name.  When using Google Earth to search through historical images in the UK, you can go back as far as 1945 in some places. And, sure enough, the pine tree circle was clearly visible then as a precisely cultivated circular feature with nothing else growing around it. Why the trees were planted like that and t...

Learn how to become the best photo editor of your own work! Join Ibarionex Perello as he provides a clear understanding of the role of the creator and the editor in the photographic process. He goes beyond discerning which images are “good” and “bad,” and instead shows photographers how to think of their images as bodies of work that express ideas, themes, and narratives. Using Lightroom Classic as its starting point, Ibarionex demonstrates how he initially gathers images into categories based on the subject matter, and graphic elements of ideas found in their photographs. From there he shares his process for narrowing down that selection, using Lightroom Classic’s various tools, to end up with a tight selection of images for a portfolio, web gallery, or book.

Learn how to take a so-so photo to a stunner using Photoshop’s neural filters! Join Kirk Nelson as he takes you step-by-step through a project using one of his photos that leverages the power of multiple neural filters and other Photoshop tools to transform it into a masterpiece. In this class you’ll learn all about what neural filters are, where they are found, how to apply them to your photos, and then how to take them to a whole new level using smart objects, depth maps, and other Photoshop tools.

Join Scott Kelby in this special session from the Travel Photography Conference as he shares his top 20 tips for travel photography. Scott’s traveled all over the world for work and for pleasure and now you can learn from his experience as if he was giving advice to a friend. In this class you’ll learn how to remove tourists from a scene, get sharper photos, make your own reflections, how to show motion, handle bad weather, and so much more!

If you want to take great portraits with just one flash, this class is for you! Join Scott Kelby as he teaches you a simple system that works in studio and on location. Starting from scratch, you'll learn the camera settings, flash settings, and core gear you need to get consistently great results. At the end of this class you're going to be able to create amazing portraits with confidence!

Hi, everyone! Are you ready for some Photoshop tips? What a great way to kick off a new year, with some fresh tips. If you’re resolute to step up your Photoshop game this year, be sure to check out the more than 100 back issues of Photoshop User on the members’ site and dig in!  COLOR INSIDE THE LINES  I often see people loading selections on layers that contain transparency so they can paint on the layer without affecting the transparent areas. Command-clicking (PC: Ctrl-clicking) on the layer’s thumbnail in the Layers panel will load the selection. I’m guilty of doing this too and f...

Q. Is there a way to bring up the last filter I applied; but rather than applying the same last settings, I want to change the settings. Is there a way to do this?  A. Photoshop remembers the last filter you applied. As a matter of fact, after you apply a filter, the next time you go to the Filter menu, the last filter you used will be at the top of the menu. If, however, you choose it that way, it will apply that filter with the same settings you previously used. There’s a little hidden keyboard shortcut that will bring up the dialog of the last filter that you used so that you can chan...

One of my favorite design projects is combining images with type, making a whole new image. In previous issues, I’ve covered some cool type+image techniques, and this month I’m going to show you one more. This is something that many designers might do in Illustrator or InDesign, but I’ll show you how to create it in Photoshop.  We’re going to take an image of two 50s style dancers and apply some running text around each of the subjects. It can be any text, but we’ll use the words “LET’S DANCE” and “LET’S JIVE” for this example. Once we’ve applied the text, we’ll use some effects, blend m...

We closed this column last year with a Content-Aware method to clean up flyaway hairs against textured backgrounds. So let’s start off the new year managing those strays in the hair itself. This approach is really a suite of techniques jumbled together and, in practice, you may not do things in the same order every time.  Starting from where we left off last issue, let’s take a look at the task in front of us, and do a little strategic planning.  The first thing I notice is the flyaway stuff over and around the model’s ear (circled in yellow). Those are just messy and distract from th...

When retouching your images, Adobe Camera Raw can be considered the “starting block” of your journey into Adobe Photoshop. When you’re particularly excited about retouching certain images, you can subconsciously fall into habits when using the sliders in Camera Raw. While going into autopilot mode can sometimes be productive, it’s important that you give full consideration to all the sliders, using both global and targeted adjustments. When you use Camera Raw effectively, you can save yourself time by not having to refine things in Photoshop, as well as preventing the need to return to C...

Capturing real light trails made by a moving vehicle takes planning, some camera know-how (setting up a long exposure), and a tripod. In this column, you’ll learn how to use a built-in brush and a layer style to make your own. All you need is a photo that looks like it could have had moving vehicles in it and you’re all set!  STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate to a photo, such as this free one from AdobeStock. (If you’re starting in Lightroom, select a thumbnail in the Library module and then choose Photo>Edit In>Adobe Photoshop 2021.)  If you’d like to download this ima...

Photoshop’s new Neural Filters now include a fascinating filter called Style Transfer. This filter uses an image from a famous artist as “inspiration” to apply a similar style to your image. The idea behind the technology is really quite amazing and it can be used to create some interesting effects quickly. It’s important to govern some expectations here. This feature isn’t attempting to create replicas or reproductions of the paintings by famous artists in history. It doesn’t even come close to that! Rather, it tries to simulate some of the color usage and brushstrokes that it detects i...

After 18 years, I never thought we’d see another Matrix sequel. But here we are! So I thought it would be fun to play with some Hollywood-style effects using custom brushes. We’re going to create our own stylized poster with a subject covered in raining matrix code, all with a simple brush and photo. You can never have too many brush tricks in your arsenal.  STEP ONE: It all starts with a photo. Here we have a good shot with a guy in sunglasses in a dark environment. This image is free from Adobe Stock. Whether it’s stock or your own, the image of the subject needs to be rather dark with...

When Adobe revamped the local adjustment tools in Lightroom Classic (LrC) into what is now called Masking and added AI-based tools such as Select Subject and Select Sky, it greatly reduced the need to take a photo from LrC into Photoshop. For example, since I can now use Select Sky in LrC to make targeted adjustments to the sky, and then invert that same selection to make a different adjustment to the foreground, that’s one less trip I need to make to Photoshop for the same type of edit. This is great news and is in keeping with one of the original goals of the Lightroom workflow, which was...

Happy New Year, everybody! As it is a new year, it’s the perfect time to move on to a new area of Photoshop, and that’s filters. There are a ton of filters in Photoshop that do all sorts of things but, in reality, there are only a handful that we use on any kind of regular basis, so we’re going to focus on those here in this column.  We’re going to start with one of the most useful sets of filters in all of Photoshop, and that’s the Sharpen filters. They do just what they sound like they’d do: they sharpen your photo. These filters have a big advantage over the sharpening in Lightroom, w...

Every year Adobe hosts the creative circus that is Adobe MAX. While this magical event is ordinarily several thousand passionate users and dedicated employees at the largest venue Adobe can find, these past two years it’s been virtual—and larger than ever. What this means to you is that you can enjoy all of MAX—the keynotes, the hundreds of sessions, and the hundreds of product updates—from wherever MAX finds you, free of charge. Now, about those updates… PHOTOSHOP ON THE IPAD  This being Photoshop User magazine, let’s start there. Photoshop on the iPad carries the weight of more than...

NEW CAMERA, NEW WORKFLOW Last summer I wanted a smaller rangefinder-style camera for travel and street photography, and I picked up a Fujifilm X100V. Fujifilm cameras offer an interesting film-simulation feature for JPEG captures. You can use some of the many film simulations that come with the camera, or you can apply recipes that others have shared, or even configure your own settings, depending on the creative look you’re going for. Most of the time, I shoot RAW files with my main cameras, but with the X100V, I ventured into using RAW+JPEG so I could explore the different JPEG film si...

Q. I like to put the year in my copyright, but I can’t remember how to update the metadata preset that I apply on import. Can you remind me please?  A. In the Metadata panel in the Library, go to the Presets pop-up menu and select Edit Presets. Then, at the top of the dialog, select the preset you want to change, and edit the metadata below. Finally, select Update Preset from the pop-up menu at the top of the dialog, and then click Done.  There are a couple of things to watch out for when creating or updating metadata presets. First, all of the fields that are checked will be included...

In November, I led my first in-person street photography workshop in two years. Throughout the pandemic, I’d conducted online workshops using Zoom, and these were successful and gratifying, but I missed the real-world interaction with other photographers while exploring the streets together.  A total of six photographers provided an ideal number with which to work. Each person could receive personal attention, and there was less stress over “herding cats,” as can be the case when working with a large group.  I walked to the eastern entrance to the Central Market in Downtown Los Angele...

It doesn’t feel like all that long ago when Alien Skin’s Exposure upgraded to its X branding and, of course, the move to being Exposure Software. But yet, here’s “Maximum Workflow” looking at X7. The Exposure elves have been working hard enhancing and updating, giving you a host of new features, but the primary one is something you’re seeing a lot of in other programs: AI-based masking.  Exposure Software has chosen a different route than others, though. Instead of automatically selecting parts of the photo, you draw generally around the area you want selected, and the AI works out where...

A new feature recently added to the cloud-based Lightroom apps for Mac/Win, iOS/Android, and even your web browser (lightroom.adobe.com) puts AI in charge of analyzing your photo and serving up a wide range of presets you can explore as potential starting points for your next edit. These Recommended Presets are pulled from edits shared by other photographers in the Lightroom in-app community. You can access this feature across the entire Lightroom ecosystem of apps, but I think it’s easiest to explore from within the cloud-based version of Lightroom on your desktop (just another reason to u...

In this article, we’re going to retouch a photo of the Milky Way in both Lightroom Classic and Luminar AI to compare the two applications. This isn’t a technical comparison, but more of an artistic one. I’ve always loved Lightroom and I’ve been using it for many years, but let’s see how it compares to other software.  Here’s the photo taken at night of the Milky Way with a castle in the foreground. It was taken at 3,200 ISO, 15.0 sec, and f/4.0. It’s fairly underexposed to avoid as much noise as possible. We’ll first retouch it in Lightroom, trying to get the best out of it, and then we’...

Some years ago I decided to take a slow road trip along Highway 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco. San Simeon was a good enough halfway stopping point to stay the night. On this occasion, I was particularly keen to visit the nearby Hearst Castle, the famed mansion William Randolph Hearst had built in the Twenties as a private home and place to entertain his guests. I asked the elderly motel owner for information about how to get there and what she thought of the castle? To my astonishment she confessed that, despite having lived in San Simeon most of her life, she had yet to pay a visit t...

Add new techniques to your creative arsenal! Join Dave Clayton as he walks you through five of his favorite Photoshop tips and tricks. In this class, you’ll learn how to create patterns, shapes, color themes, and gradients from photos, how to organize your libraries, leverage the Frame tool, take advantage of Layer Comps, create cool effects, and so much more!

Join Rick Sammon as he takes you through 21 steps to unlocking your photographic creativity! From setting goals to making more prints to the importance of your own physical health, Rick illustrates each step with photographic examples, stories, and his own brand of wisdom and humor. No matter where you are in your photographic journey, this class is an opportunity to take your skills and ways of seeing to the next level!

Join Russell Preston Brown as he discusses how he pushes the boundaries of mobile phone technology to capture long exposure night photography. Russell leaves DSLR cameras behind and only travels with his iPhone and an iPad. He will discuss how he captures the night sky with an iPhone. He will cover setting up the phone preferences and the various applications he uses. Plus he will cover some of his favorite tips and techniques for capturing city lights, stars and star trails, light painting, and more.

Step up your creativity in your family portraiture! Join Gilmar Smith as she walks you through a series of super fun and imaginative photo shoots with families and kids. In this class you’ll learn what goes into the set up of each scene, how to make it flow with adults and kids, get everyone engaged with a concept, and ensure everyone has a great experience. The first shoot involves a family in a holiday themed shoot, the second has a magical theme for a youth portrait, and in the final shoot Gilmar engages her own kids in a fantastically creative shoot with a unique concept.

We’re almost through another year and I have a great basketful of tips for you. I hope you find them useful and timesaving, and that they bring you some year-end joy. Who doesn’t love delicious Photoshop tips?  QUICK ACTIONS  Did you know Photoshop has a number of things it can do for you automatically? Sure, there are actions in the Actions panel, but this is even easier. Maybe you want to add a vignette, select a sky, make a duotone, or smooth skin. You can find lots of these one-click quick actions in the Photoshop Discover panel.  Choose Help>What’s New (or Hands-on Tutorial...

Q. Now that you can copy-and-paste with layers from Adobe Illustrator to Photoshop, I’m wondering if it also creates swatches for the colors?  A. The copy/paste workflow from Illustrator to Photoshop is new as of the October 2021 MAX release of Photoshop 2022. It’s great for what it does, but you’ve just highlighted one of the things that it doesn’t do at this time. You’d have to create the swatches you want manually or better yet, in the Swatches panel (Window>Swatches) in Illustrator, click the flyout menu at the top right of the panel, and choose Save Swatch Library as ASE (you’ve ...

As the saying (kinda) goes, “With great Photoshop power comes great responsibility,” or at least something to that effect! As a huge fan of superhero movies and the complicated universes that hold them together, I can safely say that there’s one particular superhero I’ve always loved since I was a kid. He was bitten by a spider and the rest is history.  So, to celebrate the release of the latest installment of that franchise this month (December 2021), we’re going to create a stylish poster using a pattern, effects, blend modes, and stock images.  We’ll begin by making the pattern we’...

Flyaway hairs! The bane of many retouchers’ existence, you just can’t get away from them without a diligent hair wrangler and toxic quantities of product. While Spot Healing and some careful dodge-and-burn are the go-to methods, trying to deal with each little strand can eat hours of work. And the situation becomes truly infuriating when the background isn’t cooperative. So we’re going to create a new background!  We can use a suite of tools in concert to reduce time spent dealing with these little nuisances. Let’s focus on two general goals: reducing total time spent, and reducing the n...

Postcards make a great way to send greetings to someone. In this tutorial, we’ll create both the front (photo) and back (address) of the postcard, starting with the back. This will be for Christmas, but it can be adapted for any occasion, or for a business.  BACK OF POSTCARD  STEP ONE: In Photoshop, go to File>New and set the Width to 6 inches; Height to 4 inches; Resolution to 300 ppi; Color Mode to RGB Color, 8 bit; and Background Contents to Transparent. Click OK or Create. STEP TWO: We need to create a bleed area, which is a printing term that indicates the area that will be...

There’s something magical about icicles hanging from a snowy roof. While creating real icicles takes a lot of cold, hard effort, making an icicle brush in Photoshop doesn’t! In this column, you’ll create a brush from an ice cube, tweak a few Brush Settings to elongate and randomize the stroke, and then add a couple of layer styles to give it shine and color.  STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate to a photo of an ice cube (this one is free from Adobe Stock). If you’d like to download the low-res watermarked version of this image to follow along, click this link, log in with your Ado...

In the latest release of Photoshop this past fall, Adobe included some exciting new Neural Filters. These Neural Filters are different from regular filters in that they use machine learning to take user feedback and make themselves better and better over time. One of the most impressive new filters is the Landscape Mixer, which allows you to change the season of a landscape with a simple slider bar! So now you can use those pics from your favorite summer vacation spot to create wintry wonderlands for your backgrounds. In this project, we’ll take a window setting of a rather boring city skyl...

Let’s have some holiday fun with Photoshop. This time we’re going to decorate a wreath with colored lights and then place it on a wood grain door with custom light effects using brushes and layer styles. Along the way we’ll uncover some tricks you may find useful in other projects!  STEP ONE: Like in real decorating, it starts with the basic elements. Here we have a plain undecorated wreath on a white background. This image along with all the other images used in this exercise are, as of this writing, from the Free section of Adobe Stock.  If you’d like to download the low-res waterma...

Welcome to my semi-breathlessly awaited “16th Annual Holiday Photo Gear Guide.” It’s a tradition here each year in the mag, where I share gift ideas for photographers based on the stuff I spent too much money on this year. You’d think with the pandemic still hanging on that I wouldn’t have much new gear but, sitting around looking through all the pages on B&H Photo’s website (I’ve memorized them all by now), had an effect on me and on my wallet, and now I’m wearing a barrel (kids, ask your folks about that one). Anyway, here are the three categories I cover each year.  Stocking Stuff...

Welcome back once again! By now you’re probably getting a little tired of the whole learning layers thing, but I have good news: this column, in this issue, wraps up the layers portion of our Photoshop journey, so next issue we’ll open a new can of worms…er, I mean some other important Photoshop features.  Today we’re talking about using layer masks (finally!), which are awesome. Now that there’s a bunch of new masking features inside Lightroom, however, you probably won’t have to use layer masks in Photoshop as often as you’d have before, but they still allow you to do things you can’t ...

By Wren Sauer  Want to get a little more experimental with your photography? With Adobe Fresco and Adobe Capture, you can transform your photos into colorful patterns with ease. From fashion to home goods, patterns can be found everywhere in our lives, and are easier than ever to create on the iPad.  Adobe Fresco is a free mobile drawing app where creatives can find an array of tools with which to draw, paint, and animate. Live brushes are particularly fun for adding painterly effects to images. Fresco is available for iPhone and iPad.  Adobe Capture is an arsenal of creative tools...

As we head into the final month of the year, I have a variety pack of different tips for you covering Lightroom Classic. To wrap things up, we’ll take a look at how one of these tips translates into Lightroom, Lightroom for mobile, and Lightroom for web.  THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING IMPORT THUMBNAILS  If you’ve ever tried to import from a memory card into Lightroom Classic and been confused that no thumbnails appeared in the Import dialog, you’re not alone! This one definitely had me mystified when I first ran into it. I’m not sure why it happens but, fortunately, the fix is very simpl...

Q. I recently imported a whole load of photographs with tons and tons of keywords, which are now totally cluttering my keyword management. I really don’t want or need them. How can I get rid of them?  A. It sounds like these may have been photos downloaded from the web or perhaps a stock photo website, so they came with pre-existing keywords. The good news is that, since you know from which photos the random keywords came, it’s easy to delete them. Of course, always back up your catalog first in case you make a mistake or something unexpected happens.  In the Grid view, select all of ...

Rhythm is the life of space of time danced through.—Cecil Taylor  The great poet and American pianist Cecil Taylor expressed a beautiful sentiment in that statement. He recognized and declared that rhythm is more than just a characteristic of music, poetry, or speech. Rhythm is natural and innate, a fluid thing that is ever-changing, active, and alive. Its power and beauty are best when experienced rather than just being observed.  Cecil explored that concept with his poetry and music. I’ve used a camera, yet we both pursued an experience of creation that was beautiful, genuine and, a...

While the new Masking functionality released in Lightroom Classic 11.0 understandably stole the show, there are a few other new features worth diving into now that the dust has settled a little. Most notably, the Metadata panel in the Library module got a serious upgrade along with a few other functions related to the metadata applied to your photos.  THE METADATA PANEL DEFAULT VIEW  At first glance you may not notice anything different about this panel but, upon closer inspection, the Default view of the panel has changed and gained new options.  At the top left is a new icon rese...

As I work with a lot of photography students, the number-one mistake I see when reviewing their images is oversharpening. Too much sharpening makes photos look unnatural and is more distracting than pleasing to the eye. So, in this article, I’ll share with you a three-step formula you can follow to nail the sharpening and make spectacular photos!  Something I see a lot of when I’m reviewing my students’ work is the Texture and Clarity at +100 and the Sharpening Amount at 150. It hurts the eyes!  THE MAGIC FORMULA  Let’s take a look at my formula for successful sharpening.  #1 BA...

As I write this, Britain is facing a fuel-supply crisis at the pumps with people driving around and sometimes having to queue for several hours to fill up their vehicles. When you’re so used to buying gas on demand, it can come as something of a shock when supplies run out. The situation reminded me of a trip I once made to Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. This remote town has no gas stations and the nearest one involves a 90-mile round trip. So I definitely wanted to make sure the tank was topped up before making the journey.  Port Renfrew itself is delightful and offers amazing coastl...

Put the power of Photoshop into your Instagram game! Join Dave Clayton as he takes you through a series of projects for creating compelling content for your feed. Dave starts with a firm foundation in what's involved, and then takes you step-by-step through creating panoramic photo carousels, photo collages, and telling visual stories with individual images. You'll gain a thorough understanding of Photoshop's Artboard feature, how to create template files, and save time with Crop tool presets. Whether you're a business owner or casual content creator you'll come away with valuable skills you can start using now.

Get your ducks in a row with this photography business bootcamp! Join Alex Cearns as she shares her wisdom and experience from getting her own pet photography business off the ground to the successful business it is today. In this class you’ll gain tips on how to choose a solid direction for your business, strengthen your client reach, focus on branding, skip common mistakes, and learn how to run your business more effectively!

New to Macro? Not so new, but want a new way to approach it? Professional Fujifilm X-Photographer Karen Hutton shares her secrets to success. She’ll show you what lenses to use, what aperture is best, whether to use handheld or tripod, what to do if you’re stuck at home, how to use storytelling to make an amazing image, how to use natural light to your advantage, and the right lenses for the job. With her help you too can become “the Macro Whisperer”. That is, one whose photographs at first glance inform, but at second glance touches deeply, revealing the whisperings of Mother Nature herself—up close and personal.

Happy November everyone! As the weather gets colder, the tips get hotter. I really hope you enjoy this collection of Photoshop tips I’ve cooked up for you. They’ll warm your images and save you a whole bunch of time.  LAYERS PANEL THUMBNAILS  The thumbnails on the left side of the Layers panel are great to see what’s on a layer. They also have other functionalities; but sometimes they’re a little bit small. Did you know you can make the thumbnails even larger, or turn them off to allow the viewing of more layers? Click the top-right corner of the Layers panel to open the panel options...

Q. I heard about the new masking features in Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Are those features also in Camera Raw in Photoshop?  A. The new masking features in Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Lightroom on mobile are fantastic and take editing to the next level in those applications. The good news is that Lightroom’s editing features are usually in lockstep with Adobe Camera Raw since they’re based on the same engine. This means that yes, the new masking features are not only a part of Camera Raw they’re also a part of the Camera Raw Filter. This is great because it means that now you...

This issue we’re going to create a printable calendar for 2022 using several images, adjustment layers, type, a free Photoshop plugin from Creative Cloud Marketplace, and Google Calendar! I’ll also show you an awesome Photoshop extension called Infinite Calendar (also available for Illustrator) that costs around $12 but it makes some great calendar layouts. Creating custom calendars could be great for things such as offering them as part of a portrait package.  By showing you how to create a custom calendar in the November issue, you’ll have time to design and print a calendar that’s rea...

Creating ornament style decorations and graphics is really easy with Photoshop’s Symmetry painting function, but it’s limited to brushstrokes only. This month, let’s get around that limitation with a bit of a hack so you can add text to your symmetry designs!  For this example, we’ll use a five-point star as our guide. I’m starting with a blank square document, 2000 px per side and white as the background color. Stick with 8-bit depth since we won’t need serious resolution.  STEP ONE: Create a blank layer and choose the Brush tool (B). Click on the brush preview thumbnail in the Optio...

As photographers, we need to give our images the best chance to be seen, and when we put our work in front of a larger audience, we stand a better chance of being booked. When it comes to social media, and Instagram in particular, we’re essentially displacing our portfolio and presenting our images in a different location, but the views that we get on Instagram may be the thing we can convert to revenue, so we need to be able to maximize those chances.  When we process our images for print or even for the web, we follow specific processes. For Instagram, there’s a particular export proce...

Photoshop lets you apply all kinds of fun effects to text, which can be extremely useful in advertising when you want a headline to stand out. In this column, you’ll learn how to create a text reflection, a background glow effect, and how to apply a gradient to part of text for a split color look. Read on!  CREATE THE TEXT  STEP ONE: For each of our text effects, we’ll pretend we’re creating an ad for “Black Friday” shopping specials. Choose File>New to create a new document, pick a template such as the Web Most Common in the Web section (make sure the Artboards checkbox on the rig...

 Have you seen the NBC TV series La Brea yet? Judging by the ratings…probably not. Regardless, the premise and ad spots are visually compelling. The idea of a giant sinkhole in downtown LA leading to some mysterious portal is a fun concept to say the least. Although it bears a striking resemblance to another “stranded-in-a-mysterious-jungle-environment-that-offers-more-questions-than-answers” series, it’s fascinating enough to try to create our own version of the urban sinkhole effect.  In addition to the inspirational material, there’s also the newly released Free section of Adobe Stock...

I’m often asked about how I created the cool texture patterns that I use for my computer’s wallpaper. We’ve covered shapes and styles here before, but this time we’re going to work with them in a different context. I thought that it would be a good exercise to revisit how to create custom textures and patterns from scratch, not for your computer screen; but for your other most trusted and valued digital friend: your smartphone!   STEP ONE: Start by taking a screenshot of your phone’s home screen. This is so you can get the file size correct as well as use it as a reference for where the ...

PHOTOSHOP 2022 NEW FEATURES (OCTOBER 2021 RELEASE)  Terry White  Adobe MAX is Adobe’s annual conference where Adobe takes the wraps off major updates to its Creative Cloud applications, and this year was no different. Let’s start with an improvement to one of my favorite new selection tools: the Object Selection tool, which was released last year. It’s like having Select Subject on a tool, and this year it gets even better. HOVER AUTO-MASKING OBJECT SELECTION TOOL  With the Object Selection tool (W), you can now hover your cursor over an object in an image and select it with a s...

Welcome back once again! This issue we’re going to divert from our regular-style tutorial and instead we’re going to look at 10 things you should probably know about working with layers before we dig in any deeper. There’s a lot to layers, but that’s a good thing because they have a lot of power and depth, and if you learn these things now, it’ll pay off very soon. So here we go:  #1: HOW TO RENAME A LAYER  It’s fine working with the default names of Layer 1, Layer 2, etc., until you get a handful of layers and things start to get confusing, so after three or four layers it’s probably...

Part of what makes Photoshop so successful is that the application can solve many different problems, uniquely well, for many different types of users. In past articles, I’ve written about the role of Photoshop on iPad vs. the focused objectives of other Adobe mobile apps: Lightroom (photography), Fresco (drawing/painting), Spark (publishing), etc. There is an app that I haven’t mentioned yet; one that bears Photoshop’s name and is both multifaceted and very powerful, so in this issue I’d like to share some superpowers of one of Adobe’s most successful apps: Photoshop Express.  Photoshop...

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE AUTO BUTTON  In the early days of digital imaging programs, the auto adjust features were okay, but not that great. They tended to apply rigid formulas to a photo that sometimes worked fine, but other times prompted a quick visit to the Undo command. Thankfully, that’s not the case anymore, and the Auto button in the Basic panel of Lightroom Classic’s Develop module, or the Edit panel in Lightroom, often does a very good job at improving the image.  For many photos, taking this for a test drive is one of the first things I do when I adjust an image. You have noth...

Q. How do I roll back Lightroom if there’s a big bug?  A. Before each new version of Lightroom is released, extensive testing is done. Due to the many variations of computer hardware and operating systems, however, sometimes an issue is found that’s serious enough that you’d want to roll back to a previous release.  To roll back, open the Creative Cloud app, which usually lives in the menu bar (PC: system tray) and select the Apps tab. Click the three-dot icon (...) to the far right of Lightroom Classic, select Other Versions, and click on the version number you want to install. (The ...

I’ve attended two weddings in as many months as a guest. Each time, I’ve had a camera with me. I was at risk of being “Uncle Bob,” that guy with the camera that irritates the hired photographer, but I didn’t prioritize my pursuit of an image over their ability to do their job. If I could make a picture without being intrusive or disruptive, I’d do my best to get in and out. I was there as a guest and not the second photographer.  During most of the wedding and reception, the camera sat idly. Countless memorable moments occurred; so I dedicated myself to experiencing them rather than docu...

The folks at ON1 Software are working hard. Starting with a set of separate plug-ins, they’ve built Photo RAW into a full-fledged and fully standalone photo editor and asset manager. More impressive is the fact that a lot of the features they’ve added aren’t in other apps, and where they’re similar in scope, ON1 has used a different approach.  While some editors change from the ground up on each release, Photo RAW 2022 builds on past triumphs, giving you a solid and mature application with which to work. Clearly, they’re fighting for Lightroom pie, but they’re not trying to be Lightroom....

The biggest feature to hit Lightroom Classic (LrC), Lightroom (Lr), and Camera Raw (ACR) has to be the completely revamped and re-envisioned tools for making selective or localized adjustments to our photos. Collectively, these tools are now referred to as Masking, and as such, it has a brand-new icon and panel of its own.  There’s a lot to be excited about with Masking, but one thing to know right off the bat is that Adobe worked hard to bring the same functionality and naming conventions across LrC, Lr, and ACR, so that while my focus here is primarily on using it in LrC, you can trans...

Even though the Adjustment Brush tool isn’t new in Lightroom, you still might be surprised by all the different ways it can be used and all the advantages of using a brush to edit your images. This is now part of my daily workflow and I hope it will become part of yours!  To show you all the different ways that you can use the Adjustment Brush, I’ll use this photo taken in Iceland.  First, let’s do a basic retouch just to get a better idea of what we’re working with. We’ll add some Contrast (+26), open up the Shadows (+100), bring down the Highlights (–100), and set the Whites (+54) a...