Software How To

Shutterbug columnist Scott Kelby is a Photoshop and Lightroom master. But in the below software tips video, Kelby shows how you don’t need to be an expert to fix a common problem in your images.

Every so often we hear from photographers who are new to Photoshop or Lightroom, requesting editing tutorials designed for beginners. If this sounds familiar, we’ve got you covered with the basic Lightroom primer below. 

Many of you are no doubt familiar with “dodging and burning,” a term harkening back to the wet darkroom that describes a technique for manipulating the exposure of selected areas on a print. People still do that today in the digital darkroom, and this tutorial involves a powerful method that may be different and more effective than those you have tried.

This Lightroom tutorial deals with a situation we’ve all encountered: “You make a photo, you think ‘yes, this it,’ I GOT that shot.” But when you get home and look at the image on you’re computer, you say to yourself, “Yo, this photo is kind of boring.”

One of the most powerful yet frequently overlooked tools for outdoor portrait photography is an inexpensive, manual flash. This simple accessory is great for filling in shadows, compensating for backlit scenes, and adding extra punch to your images.

One trick employed by experienced landscape photographers is to use long exposures to capture dramatic images of soft, flowing water and cotton-like clouds. This technique typically involves the use of neutral density (ND) filters to reduce the amount of light entering the camera, thereby permitting extended exposure times.

This morning Adobe announced an update to Photoshop CC, named “Version 19.1,” with a host of enhancements including selection improvements, advanced support for Windows high-density monitors, and more.