Outdoor Photography How To

Pro photographer Tom Mackie gets so many questions about how to make photos “pop,” he decided to do a whole video on the subject, which we have embedded below. And while a lot of folks might think all you need is some deft Photoshop skills to get your images to sparkle, there’s really a lot more to it it than that.

“Everyone thinks it’s all about post-processing but there’s so much more that goes into an image, starting with field technique and the elements you have in the field,” Mackie says. “[These things] are so much more important than post-processing.”

In the video Mackie explains how to make your landscape photos pop by first considering how you plan and capture the very best image. He then discusses how to make your photos look better fast with a Photoshop tutorial and a walk through in Lightroom and Nik software. He also shares some tips on how to make colors pop, and how to avoid the common mistake of oversaturating images.

Check out the video below and watch more of his tutorials on his Landscape Photography IQ YouTube channel. You should also watch this video where he shares some great tripod buying advice for landscape photographers.