Photo How To

If you’re just getting started in Lightroom and have no idea what you’re doing, you’ve come to the right place. Most photographers get lost in a hurry when first trying to decipher all tools in this comprehensive image-editing program.

Tonality does not exist in a vacuum; the tones form a visual impression in terms of both their intrinsic value and their relationship to one another. The context in which they relate is called contrast, simply the difference and relationship between the light and dark values in the scene. Contrast determines the “look” of the image, and has a profound effect upon visual effects.

Lightroom's easy-to-use Contrast tools are useful in a wide variety of situations, but here's the deal: When you make these adjustments selectively using masks, you've just hit on a very powerful combination. That's what you'll learn how to do in this eye-opening tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel.

Experienced photographers tend to shoot in the Raw file format because of enhanced image quality and greater flexibility during the editing process. But shooting Raw comes with a penalty because these files are significantly larger than Jpegs and other available formats.

Jim Karageorge has been an eyewitness to the changing face of corporate photography over the years. “Today, the stories that corporate clients want to tell are different from those we told in the past,” Karageorge, a corporate/industrial photographer, observes. “They are geared more toward the human factor than the technologies.”

If you want to shoot better portraits without expensive lighting equipment, this quick tutorial is for you. In just five minutes you’ll see how to create a simple and effective natural light studio in your garage that delivers professional results. And you can use this setup for more than just portrait photography.

Today's tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel demonstrates how easy it is to use a Color Balance adjustment layer in Photoshop to refine colors in outdoor photographs and create a spectacular yet realistic look. Be sure to download the sample Raw file with the link beneath the video so you can follow along and make the changes yourself.