Outdoor Photography How To

Do the outdoor photos you capture often appear dull and uninspiring, failing to convey what you saw through the viewfinder? Fear not, because this Lightroom tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel explains how to bring them back to life with Lightroom's oft-ignored Color Range Masks.

Instructor Christian Mohrle is an acclaimed German pro who is equally adept behind the computer as he is with a camera up to his eye. You can download his sample Raw with a link beneath the video and follow along as he demonstrates how to unlock the power of today's powerful masking technique.

Mohrle begins by merging multiple photos to create a panoramic shot, and he walks you through the straightforward process. As you'll see, the result is promising, but needs some work to balance out a wide range of tones that can't be fully corrected with adjustments to the overall scene. Hence, the necessity of selective enhancements to various areas within the frame.

The next step involves a few global adjustments that create the best possible base image for the masking magic that follows. These begin in Lightroom's Basic panel by changing the profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Standard. Doing this immediately lessens contrast and brightens up the darkest areas in the photo.

Other preliminary enhancements include modifying White Balance to correct a heavy green cast and introducing more warmth. He also tweaks the exposure for more details in the sky, makes further adjustment to contrast, and increases clarity, texture, and vibrance.

The image is greatly improved and it's now time for selective enhancements using Lightrooms Color Range Masks. The intent is to target blue tones in the sky and river in the foreground, accentuate green highlights in the midrange of his composition, and work on gray tones further back in the upper middle of the scene.

Mohrle demonstrates the straightforward steps required to accomplish these tasks. Then all that's left to complete the impressive transformation is some final color grading and judicious sharpening. Mohrle's before/after images prove the effectiveness of this easy-to-emulate technique.

Be sure to check out the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel for more helpful lessons like this one—especially if landscape photography is your thing.

We also recommend watching a tutorial we featured earlier with another post-processing expert who demonstrates a foolproof focus-fix technique for creating sharper landscape and nature photographs with a realistic look.