Photo How To

Have you ever been out in the field on a nice day, found a great subject, and framed up the shot perfectly—only to discover that the images you captured are far less impactful that you expected? If your answer is "no," then you're better or luckier that the rest of us.

There are numerous reasons for disappointing outdoor images and we've discussed many of them in the past. Maybe the exposure was wrong, the Color Balance option was incorrect, or another camera setting missed the mark. Whatever the cause, this six-minute Lightroom tutorial from instructor Casey Herzog will help you rehabilitate dull images and give them the WOW factor.

Casey specializes in travel photography, but the "five essential Lightroom hacks" in today's episode will work wonders when processing just about any type of images that you capture in the great outdoors. Best yet, even though he says these techniques are "advanced," they're super simple to accomplish for photographers of all skill levels.

Casey promises that his handful of tried-and-tested tips are different from those you've see in the past. At the top of his list is "a method I use to separate my subjects from the background and give them a unique look." This one involves increasing Exposure and adjusting Dehaze to create eye-catching Contrast.

Tip #2 demonstrates how to achieve perfect White Balance "every single time," by first moving the Vibrance and Saturation sliders all the way to 100. As he explains, "this give us a very clear view of where our White Balance is." Then it's far easier to modify Color Temperature to make the image warmer or cooler as needed.

Casey describes his third trick like this: "I use the Curves tool based upon where the information is in the photo, instead of just using a generic Curve." That because, "in some photos the information is heavily pushed in one direction or the other—or it may be squished together." This can result in photos with an unbalanced exposure.

There are two more techniques left to be discussed, and they are just as quick and powerful as the enhancements mentioned above. One describes Casey's secret for creating "perfect masks," and the other reveals "my most-used hotkeys in lightroom." So check it out and improve your Lightroom workflow today.

Casey's instructional YouTube channel is a great source of post-processing tips "you won't find anywhere else." So check it out and learn something new.

We also encourage you to watch a beginners guide we featured recently, demonstrating how to shooting dramatic black-and-white photographs or convert color images to monochrome.