Recent Post Production Articles

Adobe Adds Structure Reference to Firefly Generative AI

Adobe has unveiled a new feature inside its Adobe Firefly portal that gives users more control over the final look of images and art created using Generative AI. The feature is called Structure Reference and offers users control over an aspect of their output that has been unavailable previously.

Is the Remove Tool the Perfect Skin Retouching Tool in Photoshop?

The Remove Tool is a new AI-powered tool designed to remove unwanted areas in your images by simply brushing over or around them. This tool has quickly made it into the workflow of portrait photographers around the world, but is it all it claims to be?

You Must Know These Lightroom Techniques

With all the different AI tools that get introduced into the various photo editing apps, it's easy to forget about the fundamentals. To become an efficient photo editor, you must also know the basic settings and techniques. Michael Shainbloom gives ten Lightroom tips that help you achieve that.

The Walmart Photo Challenge

Today I bring you a hilarious photoshoot challenge called The Walmart Photo Shoot. Pye Jirsa and I battle head to head to see who can take the best looking images all while using $100 worth of clothing bought from Walmart. To make it even harder, none of the images can be Photoshopped either!

The Important Differences Between Vibrance and Saturation

Vibrancy and saturation levels have a strong impact on an image, and as such, understanding the nuanced effects of these adjustments can help photographers enhance their photos without compromising naturalness, especially regarding skin tones and landscapes.

How to Edit Landscape Photos Like a Pro

Professional photo editing does not have to take a lot of time. If you have proper source material, all it takes is a few minutes and the right combination of tools to add that little extra that makes your photos shine.

5 Best Plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom

In this video, I share my five favorite plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom. Those are tools I don't want to live without, and the best part is: two of those are totally free.

Will AI Be Taking Over Your Photography?

Did artificial intelligence technology take over photography? No, it hasn’t, and it probably never will. But here is how AI might have been helping you behind the scenes all along.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is perhaps the biggest buzzword in the world of photography and tech for 2023, and it continues to be a widely discussed topic in 2024. This stems from the fact that the industry has had mixed reactions about the emergence of AI tools for photography and raised the question of whether this kind of technology puts photographers' jobs at risk. However, much of...

Apple Vision Pro for Photographers: How Useful?

The Apple Vision Pro is all over the news lately. It's an expensive $3,500 wear-on-your-head device that offers augmented reality, virtual reality, and what Apple calls "Spatial Computing." (That's just the base price. Adding memory and prescription lenses adds to your ticket.)

Essential Techniques of Dodging and Burning

Dodging and burning, the art of selectively lightening or darkening parts of an image, is a foundational technique in photography. Understanding this method is essential for photographers aiming to control the visual narrative and emphasis within their work.

Overcoming Polarizing Filter Challenges: A Landscape Editing Tutorial

Photographers often face challenges when capturing landscapes using wide angle lenses combined with polarizing filters. This pairing can result in uneven sky exposure, creating distracting dark spots in photos. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to tackle the issue and create better photos.

Balancing Blues in Photography: A Guide to Better Color Management

Color management is a critical skill that can significantly impact the final outcome of an image. Mastering this aspect of photography is especially important when dealing with colors that subtly influence a photo's mood and tone, such as blue. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to carefully manage the blue hues in your photos to produce a more polished final product.

Is This the Answer to All Your Color Issues? We Review Datacolor’s Spyder Checkr Photo

Color. Vivid green forests, melty brown chocolate, voluptuous red lips: color is the reason that compels so many of us to reach for our cameras. When I was approached about reviewing Datacolor's Spyder Checkr Photo, I was skeptical. Color is one of the most-often stated reasons clients approach me. Was this little device just another gimmick marketed to chroma junkies, or was it a tool that would fine tune my color-centric work? I gave it a try, and I’m here to share my findings with my fellow artists who love color as much as I do.

The Power of Simpler Post-Processing

In landscape photography, the post-processing stage is where the magic of an image often comes to life. This phase is critical, as it allows photographers to refine their captures, enhance details, and convey their artistic vision more effectively, but it can also be overdone, especially with all the modern tools available. Here's why simplifying your approach can lead to better results.

When Should You Perform Noise Reduction on Your Images?

Noise reduction is a critical component in the post-processing workflow for photographers, especially those frequently dealing with high-ISO images or challenging lighting conditions. Understanding where and when to apply noise reduction can significantly impact the quality of the final image. This helpful video will show you the optimal time to do to ensure you get the best possible shots.

Awesome Lightroom Technique to Add Atmosphere

In this article, I show you an awesome Lightroom editing technique you can use to add atmosphere to your photos. If you take this method to the extreme, you can even turn a normal day into a foggy scene. It works well for woodland photos.

My First Time With a Pen and Tablet: Wacom's One 13 Touch

When I look back on the end of 2023, it'll be at Wacom's One 13 Touch. That's where it's going to start for me. I'm a bit older, and I've been using Photoshop for decades with a mouse. I was curious if I'd learn that the phrase about teaching dogs new tricks, old as this one may be, would prove to be true or not. Let's also take a look at whether the entry-point price for the One 13 Touch should tempt the rest of us who haven't jumped yet.

You Must Know This Lightroom Tool

Over the past years, Adobe has introduced many great tools to Lightroom. Some of them came through major updates, while others went nearly unnoticed. In his video, Greg Benz shares one of the lesser-known additions to Lightroom.

Shooting Fine Art Architecture and Post-Production

We have all seen the stunning, high-contract, black and white architecture shots all over social media. Well, here is how to shoot and retouch your images in a similar way.
How to Fix Blurry Photos in Lightroom and Capture One

Have you ever taken an image that looked great on the back of the camera, but upon closer inspection on a larger screen, was found to be slightly out of focus? This is a very frustrating position to be in as a photographer. This tutorial provides options to help reduce blurriness and enhance texture and detail in your images.

How to Capture and Edit Epic Landscapes

In this video, landscape photographer William Patino takes us behind the scenes of capturing an epic landscape photo in New Zealand. He shares his complete process, including the photo editing in Lightroom.

Accessories To Optimize Your iPad or Tablet for On-The-Go Editing

If you want to pack light everyday and still be able to get a lot of work done, a tablet can definitely step up for some of the post-production work that you do. With the help of these tools, you’ll be able to fully utilize the capabilities of your tablet computer.

Skylum Now Adds Even More AI to Luminar Neo

Just a few weeks ago, Skylum added GenErase to the Neo platform, a smart AI erase and fill feature. Now, they are adding the second part of their trilogy of AI tech: this one is GenSwap.

Is Multi-Shot High Resolution a Gimmick?

Are high-resolution images created from multiple images taken by the camera a gimmick? Is it possible that they can actually create higher-quality images? But isn't it too difficult to shoot and process these images? What about all the storage space that they need? All your questions are answered in this video!

I Wish I Had Known This Photoshop Trick Earlier

In this video tutorial by Christian Möhrle, you'll learn a great technique for improving your wide-angle photos by enlarging distant subjects in your landscape photos.

How to Use the Modern Frequency Separation Method in Photoshop

For those who have been editing portraits in Adobe Photoshop for a while, frequency separation is likely something you'll be aware of. If you haven't, it is a technique used for skin retouching. The most modern way of performing this technique is better and easier than ever.
Luminar Neo Adds Generative AI to Its Photo Editing Software

It was inevitable considering the evolution of photo editing, so Skylum is adding key AI features to its very popular Luminar Neo editing software. The new features include GenErase, GenExpand, and GenSwap. The new tools will be released one by one throughout October, November, and December, starting with GenErase on October 26, 2023.

A Quick Rundown of All the New Lightroom 2024 Features

In the past few months, Adobe's suite of software has rocketed forward with features, most of which are AI-powered. Now, Lightroom 2024 has a plethora of new functionality that could be useful to you, so here is a quick rundown of what's new and what each addition does.
Important Photo Editing Fundamentals for New Photographers

Creating a successful image is almost always a two-step process: shooting and editing. As you grow comfortable with your camera, you should also work on developing your post-processing skills. This excellent video tutorial features an experienced photographer sharing some of the fundamentals of editing photos and offering some helpful advice sure to put you on the right track.

A Closer Look at Luminar Neo Pano Stitching

Shooting panoramas can be a highly rewarding exercise. However, there is always the dread in the back of my mind as to whether I will be able to stitch it correctly when back in my editing suite. I, for one, have had this challenge with an image that I thought was going to be a banger, only for the horizon to slope off or for an important part of the foreground or sky to end up not stitching, resulting in a scrapped image.

Simply Undefeated: We Review the Datacolor Spyder X2 Elite

If you haven't calibrated your monitor recently — or perhaps ever — you may not realize the impact it can have. It is a rather dry topic and you might want to allocate those dollars toward a new lens, which I understand, but a color-calibrating tool is an essential piece of kit and Datacolor are the best in the game.
DXO Is Back With a Solid Update to Nik Collection Version 6.3

I go way back with the Nik Tools software. I bought the set before Google snapped it up, then they let it sit virtually idle. DXO got it six years ago and have added their own deep knowledge of photo editing and, I think, fulfilled the dream of what the Nik Collection should be.

Buying Versus Building a New Editing Computer

Getting a new editing computer can be a confusing process. How do you know when to upgrade? What kind of computer do you get for different kinds of editing? Do you build one or buy one? Well, I hope to answer those questions here in this article in a way that will match your specific situation.