Photoshop How To

Friends or mentors have likely broached the concept of "low key photography," but you're uncertain what the term really means or how to capture images with a dramatic look that can be easily achieved if you know a few basic tricks. This straightforward primer discusses everything you need to know for getting the job done with simple gear.

We're going to jump in our time capsule for a seven-minute trip back to the days of 35mm photography and discover how an old-school (and largely forgotten) sharpening technique is still valuable today. So grab your digital camera and climb aboard!

But here's the rub: When we turn to post processing to rehabilitate a problem image, here too there are several preventable mistakes that compromise the enhancements you make. This eight minute video from instructor Jalen Oban identifies nine of the most common errors made by Lightroom users, and then he demonstrates a better way.

We've all come across an interesting scene that would make a spectacular shot in better light. Sometime the problem is a bland day, while other times your vantage point relative to the sun is not where you need it to be. In either case, this tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel demonstrates how to win the challenge—even if you have to create glorious light of your own during post-processing.

Here's a frustrating and all-too-common dilemma: Your landscape photographs consistently lack punch, and nothing you've tried during the image-editing process seems to resolve the problem. Well, there's one very effective technique you may have missed, and that's what you'll learn in this tutorial from the popular PHLOG Photography YouTube channel.

Photoshop's oft-ignored Blend If feature is a hidden gem that enables you to create professional-level edits that are guaranteed to wow your audience. This tutorial from the Adobe Live youTube channel demystifies the process so that photographers of all skill levels can put it to use in minutes.

Autumn is the favorite time of year for many experienced outdoor photographers because of the spectacular colors that paint the landscape. Unfortunately, our results sometimes fall short of expectations, and when they do it's easy to transform an OK image into a great one with a little help from Lightroom.