Nature Photography How To

There's no better way to elevate your skills than by watching an acclaimed pro demonstrate the shooting and image-editing techniques that contribute to his success. In this episode French photographer Serge Ramelli walks you through what he says are, "eight Lightroom tips that will change your life."

Ramelli specializes in landscape and cityscape imagery, and he's not given to hyperbole, so when he makes such a bold claim it pays to hear him out. The quick methods he describes are presented in reverse order, with the most powerful tips saved until the end of this 18-minute episode.

The lesson kicks off with this: "Bad colors? Go black and white." He pulls up an image shot in Los Angeles' beautiful Griffith Park. It's a compelling scene, but as you'll see, the colors are dull and unimpressive. He quickly walks you through the b&w conversion and subsequent adjustments to quickly turn the bland shot into a very dynamic image. And you can easily do so with or without the presets he recommends.

Next on the list is using Lightroom's AI Generative Fill capabilities in a unique way. Here he captures three images of LA's iconic Roosevelt Hotel, stitches them together for a nice panoramic image, and then employs AI to control perspective and fix skewed lines, while filling in the gaps caused by his geometric corrections. Lightroom's new Fill Edge option helps get the job done to perfection.

There's also a related trick for fixing other perspective problems in panorama photos, and this one involves Lightroom's frequently ignored Boundary Wrap tools. This particular image of the famous hill-top Hollywood sign needs a lot of help, in part because his vantage point was too close—resulting in a really weird merging of his photos. He demonstrates how the Cylindrical and Spherical Commands can be used for an effective fix.

There are still five additional editing tricks to learn, that Ramelli says are more and more important as the video progresses. The good news is that the remaining five adjustments are not particularly complex, despite the degree to which they'll improve the photos you shoot in the great outdoors.

So take a look, do a bit of quick practice, and then try out these helpful methods over the weekend. We promise that you'll be very grateful after examining the results. Then head over to Ramelli's globally popular YouTube channel for more shooting and post-processing advice.

We also suggest watching the tutorial we posted recently from another accomplished pro, explaining the way he improves his outdoor photographs by using four oft-ignored Lightroom tools.