Some exciting news from Adobe! Lightroom version 12.3 drops some new features underwater photographers are going to love! The first new feature is something many underwater photographers have been...
A killer keyboard shortcut for going from the Lightroom Classic Library Module directly to the Masking Panel in the Develop Module is "Shift-W"....
Yes, the answer is yes. Upgrade your Lightroom Catalog when asked. Every time you upgrade, Lightroom takes the name of your current catalog and appends it with a...
It's not possible to permanently trash images while working in a Collection...
For those of you who aren't so good at remembering to set the time in your camera to match the time zone you're shooting in - it's possible...
Do the new Lightroom 11 masking tools have you confused and frustrated? Learn how to work the old way by watching our free Lightroom 11 Masking Baby Steps...
I love Lightroom, but it’s not without a few pitfalls. After years of real-world studio and classroom experience, I’ve identified a bunch of booby traps that consistently derail...
Do’s and Don’ts of Editing Wreck Photos Whether moody or magnificent, wreck shots can be a real challenge to edit. Typically taken in less-than-optimal conditions, most wreck photos need...
Two Dirty Tricks that Remove Backscatter in Photoshop Ugh. Backscatter. It’s the nemesis of every underwater photographer. Many have tried, but no one’s been able to conjure the sorcery...
Using Photoshop’s Crop Tool in tandem with Content Aware Fill, you can tack on canvas area and add a little breathing room to an otherwise cramped composition. In some...
There’s nothing worse than discovering you’re missing a critical piece of gear on a long-awaited dive adventure. Most underwater photographers stress out before a trip, checking and re-checking...
Many people get off on the wrong foot with Lightroom. They jump straight into the Develop Module, hoping to attain instant editing wizardry. They suffer through the drudgery...
Finding the Perfect Punch for Your Pictures I simultaneously love and fear the addition of any significant new feature in Lightroom or Photoshop. Love, because it potentially enriches my...
Panning or rotating the camera at slow shutter speeds creates motion blur. It’s a technique that can yield exciting, evocative images, but the learning curve for producing predictable...
There’s a yin-yang involved with post-production in Lightroom. In the Library Module, building an asset management strategy often seems more like a chore than a creative endeavor, while...
I don’t know a single Lightroom user (me included) who hasn’t noticed alarming exclamation point or question mark icons sullying their Lightroom Library. It can be downright scary...
Content Aware Fill is a quasi-magical Photoshop process that removes bubbles, backscatter and bozos from your pictures. When it works as intended, Content Aware Fill is a beginner-level...
As a frequent judge of underwater photo competitions, I’m tasked to evaluate thousands of competing images. It’s rare that the technical merits of an image, though critically important,...
Lightroom is Adobe’s professional level one-stop-shop for organizing, editing, and sharing images. It’s the perfect companion to Photoshop, and has been the photo editing industry standard for more...
Of all the miracles Photoshop can perform, fixing soft focus isn’t one of them. There’s simply no existing post-production voodoo that can restore acceptable photographic sharpness to large...
In “What’s Wrong with This Image? Mastering a Develop Module Workflow”, I emphasized the importance of selecting a camera profile early in the editing process. Lightroom has long...
As Lightroom evolves, new functionality is added to what’s already a stunningly deep piece of software. Showy new features get lots of exposure, but subtler components of an...
Mastering Lightroom Classic’s Color and Luminance Range Masking Tools With the addition of Color and Luminance Range Masking to Lightroom Classic, Adobe bestowed new superpowers to the Adjustment Brush,...
Don't wait to get good in Lightroom and Photoshop before learning a few keyboard shortcuts. Learning them is how you get good! Download my Essential Keyboard Shortcuts for...
I love working with wreck photos. They’re rich with all kinds of form, texture and gritty, scratchy detail. They’re dramatic and moody, and hold up surprisingly well in...
Digital Asset Management 101 for Lightroom The single most common question I'm asked about Lightroom is "Where the #$&! are my images?". Understanding how Lightroom manages and displays information...
I wish I had a magic bullet for backscatter removal, but the truth of the matter is that to get spots out of your shots, you’ve got to...
Why take your RAW adjustments to eleven? Because it’s one louder than ten, as Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel so aptly puts it. The expression "taking it to eleven"...
Don’t get too excited. The techniques in this article won’t rescue your out-of-focus images. Out-of-focus photos can’t be recovered in post, but you can (and should) enhance the...
Let’s take a look at an advanced technique in Photoshop that purists would consider a cheat, but is a fantastic tool for those not so worried about bending...
It’s easy to customize the Lightroom Library’s Grid and Loupe Views to display useful information. Searching, sorting, and rating are much easier when you can see specific metadata...
Quick and Dirty Backscatter Removal in Photoshop There are as many ways to remove backscatter as there are to shoot it, but the technique I’m about to show you...
Using a single catalog makes the most of Lightroom’s superpowers A Lightroom catalog is much like an old-school card catalog in a brick-and-mortar library. It contains all kinds of...
The fashion industry has long laid claim to Photoshop’s Liquify filter as its staple of image manipulation, but like many tools in post, it can be used for...
Using Lightroom’s filter tools to reposition your strobes in post One of the most difficult skills to master in underwater photography is lighting. While it’s always best to get...
Not all photos are contest winners. Cut down on the under-achievers in your image library by flagging keepers and clunkers right off the bat as Lightroom imports them. You...
Sharks are a favorite photographic subject of mine. Over the years, I’ve developed a few post-production techniques that help to mitigate common problems and emphasize desirable details in...
If you’re not already shooting with the help of your camera’s histogram, it’s time to start. A histogram is a graph that shows the distribution of tonal values...
I know, I know - compositing is cheating. A composited image uses elements from one part of a picture in another part, or combines multiple photos to create...
The right white balance can make or break an underwater photo. Some shots need just a single click with the White Balance eyedropper in Lightroom or Adobe Camera...
How to make Sexy B&W Conversions in Lightroom The first step to making a good black and white image is implicit in its name.You’ve got to have clean black...
Lightroom is a deep program with amazing functionality. Despite (or maybe because of) the enormous amount of documentation available online and elsewhere, it can be tough to unearth...
Lightroom is a near-magical piece of software. It’s both librarian and technician for your digital images, and unlike Photoshop, it leaves your original photo untouched throughout the entire...
I just finished judging a photo contest, and although the rules were made very clear to the contestants, a few excellent photos were still disqualified because of willful...
I attribute the phrase “dial-a-blue” to Berkley White, shooter extraordinaire and owner of Backscatter Photo and Video. I first heard Berk use the phrase to describe a specific...
Lightroom is a fantastic jumping off point for video dabblers who don't want to miss out on all the fun of motion capture, but who are primarily still...
A watermark is a faint logo or words superimposed on top of an image. The idea of placing a watermark on your photos is to prevent others from...