Nature Photography How To

German pro Christian Mohrle is a favorite among Shutterbug readers for two reasons: His imagery is stunning and the tutorials he posts are extremely effective and to the point. So when Mohrle identifies a Lightroom tool as the software's "most powerful feature," it's time to pay attention and learn how it works.

We've all captured photos during the day that didn't make the grade, either because of flat lighting, unimpressive colors, or a variety of other considerations. Rather that tossing these images into the trash, how about transforming them into dramatic nightscapes that really grab attention?

It' a shame that many Photoshop users ignore the Eyedropper tool when editing their images to achieve precise colors with a natural look. After all, accurate tones are a critical element in  just about every photo whether it's captured indoors or put.

Ugly Dust Spots can really spoil a photo, whether they're caused by a dirty lens or a sensor that's overdue for a cleaning. Unfortunately, conventional post-processing repairs don't always do a perfect job—especially when the artifacts are difficult to notice at first glance.

It's not unusual to return from a day in the field and discover that some of your images are either too light or too dark. That's because landscape scenes often have a wide range of tones that are difficult to capture accurately in a single shot.

Whether you shoot portraits, wildlife images, or cute photos of your beloved pets, the eyes are the most important element to get dialed with precision. Achieving accurate focus on the subject's iris when capturing an image goes a long way to achieving this goal. But there's much more you can do to accentuate the eyes during post processing.

There's a lot of hype about the "superiority" of full-frame cameras these days, and it's important to separate the marketing chatter from the difference in sensor size as pertains to your particular style of photography. If you're thinking about "stepping up" we encourage you to watch this video before making the switch.