Photoshop How To

There are a variety of reasons that outdoor photographs may appear flat and lifeless, even when a location is spectacular. Maybe you used the wrong camera settings, or perhaps the light just wasn't right. In either case, today's Photoshop tutorial demonstrates how to transform images from meh to WOW by employing easy-to-use Dodge and Burn tools during post processing.

This tutorial comes to us from Photos on the Bay, an instructional YouTube channel targeted at inexperienced photographers and Photoshop users. In barely 17 minutes you'll learn a simple and effective method for unlocking the power of Dodge and Burn to bring uninspiring images to life.

Instructor Neil Medland is an Australian photographer and image-editing expert whose lessons involve basic shootings skills, processing techniques, gear recommendations, and more. We're pretty sure that by the time this video concludes you want to add this straightforward Dodge and Burn method to your everyday workflow.

If you're unfamiliar with this powerful technique, here's how the experts at Adobe explain the concept: The Dodge and Burn tools lighten or darken area of the image based upon a traditional darkroom technique for regulating exposure in specific areas of a print."

In other words, you can hold back light to lighten an area or modify the exposure elsewhere for the opposite. effect. And both of these adjustments can be made in tandem while working on a single shot. The more you paint over an area with the Dodge and Burn tools, the lighter or daker they become.

The primary goal of taking this approach is to create images with perfectly balanced tones. The technique is particularly useful for processing complex landscape photos shot in mixed light, and Medland walks you through every step of the way with illustrative photos that make everything easy to understand.

Medland's popular YouTube channel is full of instructional videos that will help you make the most of every photo that you capture in the great outdoors.

And don't miss the tutorial we featured on a related topic in which another experienced pro demonstrates why common bad habits result in boring outdoor photographs, with seven pro tips for boosting the impact of every image you shoot.