Nature Photography How To

So you scouted out a promising location, used your best tools and techniques, yet the photos you captured are far less impressive that you expected due to problematic daytime light. You can return just before sunset and try again, or you can mimic a stunning Golden Hour effect by using the editing technique demonstrated in this beginner-friendly Lightroom tutorial.

There's an interesting dichotomy when it comes to adjusting color during post processing. Most of the time our goal is to use various techniques to make an image appear exactly as it did through the viewfinder for a believable, natural looking result. Other times, however, our intent is to is to employ lens filters, camera settings, or editing enhancements to achieve special effects or change the mood and feeling of an image.

When first starting out in photography everyone is bombarded with conventional wisdom about tools and techniques, along with a bunch of long-time "rules" for quickly evolving their shooting and editing skills. Some of this advice can be quite helpful (at least in the beginning) but other "essential" tips may hold you back—or even spoil your work.

So you spend what seems like ages editing a photo with all your usual tricks, tools, and techniques, but no matter how many adjustments you make to exposure, color, and other key variables the image never seems to feel finished. If this frustration sounds familiar, today's quick tutorial from instructor Steve Arnold will simplify your shots and provide the final bit of polish every photo needs.

The failure to attain precise focus is a sure way to ruin an otherwise great photo, but fortunately there are post-processing methods to sharpen blurry images IF you use the right tools. Taking the wrong approach, however, will only make things worse.

Most experienced photographers rarely shoot without a lens hood for several important reasons, whether they're photographing indoors or out. These affordable accessories not only protect the front element of a lens from damage, but they also improve image quality in a number of ways.

Shutter speed is one of the three elements that combine to achieve a proper exposure, the other two being aperture and ISO. But unless you shoot in Manual mode, it's likely that you use Aperture Priority—thereby leaving it up to the camera to choose an appropriate shutter speed.