Software How To

Regardless of what software you use for processing images, keyboard shortcuts are very important tools. That’s because they dramatically speed up the process, streamline the workflow, and increase your productivity.

There are few things worse than dull and flat monochrome images. After all, striking contrast and drama are two of the reasons many photographers forego color in favor of b&w. Fortunately, you can transform a photo from boring to dramatic with a few simple steps in Lightroom, Photoshop, or whatever editing application you use.

Photoshop’s Vanishing Point Filter is a powerful easy-to-use tool that simplifies the process of editing images with perspective planes like walls, sides of a building, or other rectangular objects. And once you specify the planes in an image, your subsequent edits will maintain that perspective.

It often takes considerable concentration to capture compelling images, and every so often we miss a distracting background element while focusing on our main subject. Other times we’re aware of the distraction, but make the shot anyway because there’s no way to recompose and avoid the problem.

PortraitPro and PortraitPro Body make dropping the subject into a new background quicker if you shoot them against a blue sky – or use a blue or green background in the studio. 

Vibrant nighttime street scenes, brilliant sunsets, vivid parades, and automobile light trails after dark are just a few of the many opportunities for eye-popping photos. But if you don’t do things right, the impact is lost.

 “What is a LUT?” you ask. In technical terms, LUT is an acronym for “Look-Up Table”—a precise mathematical means of modifying RGB image values by changing hue, saturation and brightness of a photo to create a specific look. In basic parlance, a LUT is nothing more than a bunch of adjustment layers compacted into a single file that you can save and use with most editing programs available.