Photoshop How To

So you spend what seems like ages editing a photo with all your usual tricks, tools, and techniques, but no matter how many adjustments you make to exposure, color, and other key variables the image never seems to feel finished. If this frustration sounds familiar, today's quick tutorial from instructor Steve Arnold will simplify your shots and provide the final bit of polish every photo needs.

Arnold is a professional landscape photographer who employs a "game-changing" mindset that goes like this: "At some point the task of turning a great shot into a gallery-worthy masterpiece is not about what more you can put into it, but rather about what you can take out." In other words, less is oftentimes more.

In this episode Arnold demonstrates one simple thing you can do to every single photo, regardless of genre, to create portfolio-quality photos with every edit. In short, and there are three simple changes you can make to your workflow for impressive transformations every time.

Arnold's approach is all about striving for simplicity and removing distracting elements from the frame. This task is particularly important when editing complicated landscape photos, busy street scenes, and other complex images without an obvious focal point that can easily confuse the viewer.

Think of it like trying to make sense out of a mind-boggling Where's Waldo illustration and you'll get the idea. In other words, "the more you can remove distractions, the more key elements in an image will stand out." Arnold demonstrates how to rid photos of unnecessary distractions, whether they're large objects or little stuff like dust spots, specular highlights, stray hairs, or small branches in the background that compete for attention.

Arnold starts with the small stuff by saying this: "The surprising thing about tiny distractions is that you may not even consciously notice them, but you'll notice the big effect they have after being removed." By following his advice for eliminating these wayward elements your images will appear far more polished and complete. One very helpful tool is Photoshop's Spot Healing Brush and you'll learn how easy it is to use.

Larger distractions can be even more problematic when trying to tell a story and guide the viewer's eye to exactly where you want it to go. Fortunately, though, they're just as easy to get rid of if you use the proper tools in the manner that Arnold suggests. What we're discussing here isn't the popular style of minimalist photography, but simply cleaning up a shot so that everything within the frame serves a purpose.

Arnold's instructional YouTube channel is a great source of information for landscape shooters, but there are also tutorials like this one that will significantly improve just about any image you capture.

And don't miss a tutorial we featured recently from another accomplished pro who explains a common mistake photographers make when sharpening images and a better way to do things right.