Ron Leach

Most photographers consider spring and summer the optimum seasons for macro photography, when interesting bugs and colorful flowers seem to be everywhere you look. While you can shoot small subjects any time of the year indoors, winter offers an array of unique opportunities for close-up photography outdoors.

If there’s one underutilized technique for achieving superior results when editing images in Photoshop, it’s the use of Luminosity Masks to balance out the tones and create truly captivating photographs. Best yet, this powerful method is very easy to master.

Not long ago we featured a very helpful tutorial, explaining how to customize Photoshop’s interface to facilitate your personal workflow. The point was that Photoshop is designed for photographers, art directors, and a variety of other content creators, and the default workspace isn’t equally conducive for all users.

We regularly turn to British pro Nigel Danson for expert tips on capturing compelling landscape and travel photos. Today’s tutorial is a bit different, as he foregoes a discussion of gear and shooting techniques, and reveals what he says are the best exposure settings to use.