Recent Education Articles

How to Copy the Color Grading of a Painting to Your Photos

One of the most recognizable aspects of any visual artist's style is their color grading, and it is a fantastic way to really level up your own work. If there is a painting, movie, photo, or some other visual piece that you really love the color grading of, this fantastic video tutorial will show you how to copy it directly to one of your own photos using Photoshop.

6 Common Mistakes Landscape Photographers Make When Editing Skies

Editing the sky in a landscape image is a critical skill for creating a compelling final product. However, many photographers, especially beginners, struggle with over-processing the sky, making it appear unnatural and detracting from the overall image. This helpful video tutorial will show you six common mistakes and how to improve your sky edits.

Color Grading in Lightroom Version 10

Adobe just released the latest version of Lightroom that removes the split toning module and replaces it with an updated version, "Color Grading." In this article and video, I quickly go over how to use the new tool, and I even edit a few photos along the way!

Improve Your Composition With This One Simple Change

When it comes to taking a great photo, many photographers argue that it starts and ends with great composition. I’m not sure I’m so black and white in my outlook, but good composition is hugely important without a doubt. And one of the most overlooked parts of great composition is adding foreground interest. Today I will discuss how foreground interest in your photos can really improve your end results, and what you can do to nail the foreground every time.

Photography Ideas for the Long and Dark Winter Nights

At the end of the year, when the nights are long, and the days dark and weary, photographing can become less interesting. Some may even lose inspiration during these days. I have some ideas for you to get through the dark winter months in the Northern hemisphere.

The Art of Noticing Potential Photos

One of the subtlest and yet most important skills an accomplished photographer has is the ability to look at a scene, no matter how ordinary, and find a way to portray it that captures the viewer's eye and imagination. How does one go about actually doing that? This great video follows one photographer discussing the process.

Are You Ready To Upgrade Your Camera Body?

There comes a time in every growing photographer's career when he or she decides that it is time to upgrade their equipment. If you are like me, then you put it off for as long as possible. In recent posts, I’ve mentioned that I firmly believe that you can create some great images using a very basic DSLR. While this is true under most circumstances, there are often times as a working photographer that you will need the options of a professional grade DSLR.
Three Valuable Photography Investments You Won't Overpay For

In an industry where every day seemingly brings the announcement of a new camera system promising to up your photography game while simultaneously depleting your bank account, it can be hard to know what is really worth the investment. So today, I’ll have a quick look at three areas where I’ve found you almost always get an appropriate level of bang for your buck.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Importing Photos in Lightroom

If you haven't closely examined everything you can do when you import photos in Lightroom, you could be missing the chance to save valuable time in your workflow and increase both your organization and efficiency. This great video will teach you everything you will ever need to know about importing photos into Lightroom.

Want to Print Your Own Photos? Here Are Some Helpful Tips

The digital age has pushed some of us away from printing our photos, but at the same time, better technology and cheaper prices has made it more possible than ever to make your own high-quality prints at home. This helpful video will give you some tips to help and mistakes to avoid in the process.

Choosing the Right Laptop for Photo and Video Editing

Choosing a laptop that strikes a balance between performance, portability, and screen quality can make or break your workflow. This video offers a clear breakdown of what you need to know about laptops specifically for creators, touching on practical details about performance and specific configurations that work best for different creative tasks.

5 Common Mistakes in Landscape Photography and How to Avoid Them

Just like any other genre, landscape photography comes with its own set of potential pitfalls and common mistakes that can derail your images. This fantastic video discusses five common mistakes in landscape photography and what you can do to avoid them and create better photos.

How to Organize and Back Up Your Photos

The start of a new year is the perfect time to prepare your files, backups, and workflow for the months ahead. This organizational groundwork not only ensures your files are safe but also frees you to focus on creative work instead of dealing with last year's clutter.

The Difference Between Curves and Levels in Photoshop

Photoshop has a huge array of tools and features, and many of them have some degree of overlap between each other. Two of the most fundamental and powerful tools you have at your disposal in the program are Curves and Levels, and this excellent video tutorial will show you the difference between them and how you can use them for editing your images.

Do You Use the Gray Card for the Reason It Is Meant For?

Do you have a gray card? A piece of foldable card that has a gray tone which is called 18% gray? If you do, there is a chance you have used it to set the white balance. But that is not where the 18% gray card is meant for.

Five Steps to Master Your 70-200mm Telephoto Lens

When you talk about landscape photography, chances are, you associate it with wide angle lenses. Telephoto lenses are probably the least used in landscape photography, but they do have some fantastic qualities to them.

5 Common Landscape Photography Mistakes

Landscape photography is a challenging genre that takes a combination of strong technical skills, planning ahead, a keen awareness of conditions, and often, a smidgen of luck. As such, there are a lot of places where things can go a bit wrong and end up derailing your images. This great video tutorial details five such mistakes and how to fix them or avoid them altogether.

How a 10-Stop Neutral Density Filter Can Save Your Shot

Weather conditions aren’t always perfect when shooting landscape photography; let's be honest they are usually not ideal. One way to turn poor weather into something special is by using a 10-stop neutral density filter which allows you to take very long exposures during the day resulting in some unique images.

How to Sharpen Images in Lightroom With Precision

Creating crisp, visually striking photos often requires more than just a great shot. Thoughtful Lightroom adjustments can help you refine details, enhance sharpness, and bring out the best in your images.

Bite-Size PS Tutorials: Creating Even Colors in Your Images

One of the most obvious telltale signs of an unprofessional commercial or product image is color. The most famous and readily cited issue is color grading, but it's not the only problem and the uniformity of color is often neglected. That is, the even color of the object or two objects' colors truly matching. As always, I will couch my method in the sentiment that it may not be the optimal technique, but it works very well for me.

Tips for Better Photo Editing Consistency

Consistent photo editing can be a huge factor in ensuring that your brand is cohesive. Knowing how to achieve consistency on a regular basis is a handy tool every photographer should have in their skill set.

What Makeup Artists Wish Photographers Knew

Makeup artists are an invaluable part of the creative team for many photographers. In fact, there are certain genres of photography that rely so heavily on makeup artists that we simply couldn't work without them. Unfortunately, there seems to be a few serious problems cropping up between makeup artists and photographers.

8 Ways to Adjust Color in Lightroom and ACR: Compared and Contrasted

One of the things that I enjoy about Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw is that there is often more than one way to perform the same task. Perhaps the most flexible of these ways are all the different methods you can use to adjust for colors and tones.

Did You Know You Can Archive Your Digital Photos on Analog Film?

Bit rot, or the slow deterioration in the performance and integrity of data stored on various forms of digital storage media, is a real concern for photographers. Over time, digital photos degrade and some even become totally defective. The best insurance against this problem may actually be analog film.

10 Indispensable Tips for Getting a Killer Headshot

If part of your business is capturing headshots, then this is for you. Even if you're thinking of adding it to your portfolio, it's worth checking these essential tips and tricks as, if you're a commercial photographer, you can up your customer's average spend by offering this essential service.