How to Improve Your Photography

Among the many articles I have read here, at Photography Life, the most controversial are the ones that especially call my attention. Despite being against the polemics, I am in favor of sincere dialogue, because through dialogue we can grow internally too. In my opinion, there are several steps that one can take in order to make better pictures. Therefore, I invite you all to carry out a reflection on the subject.

The Theme

The most important initial step is having some sort of a theme to your work (you might even call it a “project”). And the more specific, the better! For example, we can dedicate ourselves to take pictures of birds, but if we create a theme within the subject, our photos will be inherently better, as they will be related through something common. For example, one could study and photograph bird migration patterns, or perhaps photograph ecological problems that impact bird populations. With such themes, a variety of situations that normally would not come to mind when thinking about pictures of birds may emerge, making your work even more interesting.

NIKON D750 @ 135mm, ISO 800, 1/250, f/4.0

Themes and photography projects are endless. For example, for portraiture, we can use a theme related to coffee workers and that’s exactly what I have done in this article. It is interesting how the more specific the subject becomes, the more captivating photography can get.

NIKON D750 @ 31mm, ISO 1600, 1/160, f/9.0

Location

The location is obviously very important – that’s where you shoot. Studying it, learning the best moments and times of light, the great possibilities of varying the angles and the best lenses to use for the particular location will be very important in yielding potentially stunning images. You must also know the location in order to be efficient with your time – the more you know, the faster and easier you will be able to execute a project. In the choice of lenses, you must take into account your theme / project, because depending on your approach, things like angle of view, focal length and maximum aperture might vary and change. In the case of coffee workers, for example, I used portrait lenses suitable to my style and I did not just concentrate on the portraits themselves – in many cases, I wanted to highlight the surrounding environment and the working conditions of the workers, which is very important.

NIKON D750 @ 35mm, ISO 1250, 1/320, f/9.0

The second plan is where we place the subject in the environment and, in this case, a wide-angle might be preferable in order to show what’s going on around the subject. This also does not mean that you cannot use telephoto lenses – sometimes telephoto lenses are even more preferable, as they allow focusing in one particular area of the scene, rather than introduce all the potentially undesirable clutter.

NIKON D750 @ 35mm, ISO 640, 1/200, f/6.3

Now that our theme and location are set, it is time to reflect on our possibilities.

Possibilities

Many argue that photography is an elitist profession, full of people with financial possibilities. And it can certainly be true in some cases, especially when it comes to digital photography. If we take two skilled photographers and put them in a jungle in Borneo, Indonesia with different-level equipment and budgets to work with, it is expected that the one with the better gear and resources will yield better photographs. For example, if photographer A has limited gear, such as the Nikon D7100 with a kit 18-55mm lens and say a single telephoto lens such as the 70-300mm VR, with a 7 day deadline, whereas photographer B has a Nikon D5 with a collection of exquisite lenses such as the holy trinity (14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm), along with high-end super telephoto lenses such as the 200mm f/2, 400mm f/2.8 and 800mm f/5.6, and on top of that has all other tools and resources such as a helicopter, a plane, etc, with unlimited time on his/her hands, it is expected that the latter will produce much better work, simply due to the above factors. So in a way, gear and resources unfortunately do matter when it comes to possibilities, but it does not mean that we should ignore other factors such as knowledge, skill, patience, luck, etc. However, one must evaluate and understand their possibilities and limits – what we can and cannot do with the tools and resources we have today.

NIKON D750 @ 20mm, ISO 3200, 1/60, f/5.0

Understanding and knowing the tools you have today is very important. For example, if you shoot an event with other photographers who are shooting with 70-200mm lenses and you do not own such a lens, lenses such as the 105mm f/2.8 or other classic portrait lenses can produce similar, if not better quality images. Knowing your lens limitations, you might need to move around more and try different angles, but that’s the beauty – your gear will force you to get more creative than the others, which might actually make your images look better in comparison. If you photograph wildlife, you might not have the $ 10K 600mm f/4 that your neighboring photographer might be shooting with, but slap on a 200-500mm budget lens on your camera body and it is all about the subject and the light at that point. While he will be busy attaching his lens to a gimbal head, you are already out taking pictures hand-held and capturing those unique moments he is missing out on. Sometimes, it is as simple as waking up earlier than others that will give you the advantage. Many photographers are often lazy to get up early, but you know that it is all about that early morning and late afternoon light that makes a picture go from average to superb.

NIKON D750 @ 16mm, ISO 200, 1/500, f/9.0

References

Studying good photographers and having references in your head is fundamental in growing your photography. It would be very naive on our part to think that we are the first to conceive this or that project. We should use tools such as Google before making our projects, and references will certainly arise. Nowadays, the level of photography is highly elevated – there are many amazing photographers out there. Right here, at Photography Life, you can find very young photographers who already get it right, whereas for many of us, it took years of practice to get to where they are today…

NIKON D750 @ 32mm, ISO 400, 1/640, f/4.5

Studying known photographers and their work is important. If you shoot in Black and White, you should know who Henri Cartier-Bresson, Fan Ho and Sebastiao Salgado are. You should study their work, study their compositions and how they interpreted light. The same goes for all other types of photography – understanding and knowing masters of particular photography genres will help you in shaping who you are today and where you will be tomorrow. It will be a good reference point in your head and it will make you want to get better.

NIKON D750 @ 24mm, ISO 800, 1/1000, f/7.1

Humility

You might be a great photographer already. You might have the money to buy a high-end camera with an 800mm f/5.6 to parade everywhere you go. However, you might be walking on a thin line with your pride and arrogance, so watch out! At the end of the day, it is not about you – it is about what you can do for the world around you.

Be open and listen to what others have to say, because sometimes a little phrase might be the biggest tip of your life.

NIKON D750 @ 50mm, ISO 1600, 1/125, f/1.8

Mood

Be an joyful photographer. Look into your heart to see what you should do next, even if you are on your own and nobody wants to support you. Do not let others make your day gray!

And always remember the following:

“Why worry, there should be laughter after pain
There should be sunshine after rain
These things have always been the same
So why worry now”

Mark Knopfler

Happy shooting my friends!

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Aperture Settings in Photography

Most tips relating to exposure advocate the use of the aperture priority mode, and with good reason. The aperture priority mode allows you to control the shutter speed through the aperture settings, which are responsible for crucial picture dynamics that include depth of field, motion blur and freezing action.

Understanding how the aperture and aperture priority work, will help you as a photographer gain control over exposure and these critical picture dynamics.

“waves” captured by PictureSocial member caleb wilson

Setting the camera mode dial to aperture priority puts the camera into a semi automatic mode, which means that you will have to take care of other crucial setting such as white balance, metering and ISO. In this mode the shutter automatically changes to compensate for the different aperture settings.

Aperture and F-Numbers

The aperture is basically a hole behind the lens which allows the light to pass through the lens to the image sensor located within the body of the DSLR. The aperture uses numbers (F-Stops) corresponding to the different sizes of the aperture (or hole if you like).

The F-Stop is derived from the mathematical relationship between the aperture diameter and the focal length of the lens.

A typical range of F-Numbers or F-Stops is:
F 3.5, F4, F4.5, F5, F5.6, F6.3, F7.1, F8, F9, F10, F11, F13, F14, F16, F18, F20, F22

These numbers are the range available when using the 18-105mm AF-S NIKKOR lens, with the lens set to 18mm.When set to the other extreme of the lens (105mm) the F-Stop range changes from F5.6 to F36, and so it will change for each focal length. For example at 50mm the range will be from F5 to F32.

The increment value between F-Stops can be changed on many DSLR cameras. Typically the light is halved or doubled for each F-Stop increment.

Picture dynamics

So what’s the big deal about using Aperture Priority? In most cases the beginner accepts the exposure set by the camera’s choice of shutter and aperture combinations. This still gives a good picture, but does not take into account the look of the picture in terms of depth of field, movement and frozen frames. The aperture setting can be used to control all these dynamics.

Photo captured by PictureSocial member Grigoryev Sergey

Given factors

A wide Aperture (small F-Number):

• Narrow depth of field
• Fast shutter speed

A small aperture (High F-Number)

• Wide depth of field
• Slow shutter speed

Taking into account the factors above one can see how the three picture dynamics can be controlled.

Depth of field: This is the area in front and behind the subject that is in focus. A small F-Number results in a very narrow depth of field, so the background and often the foreground is out of focus. This is great for portrait photography where the attention is focused on the subject. Because the shutter speed is normally high in this mode it is easier to shoot without blurring the picture.

Movement through blur: Using a high f-number will force a slow shutter speed when the camera is set to aperture priority. This is great when you want your picture to show movement. A typical scenario is when shooting a waterfall. The water is blurred through movement while the rest of the picture remains sharp. A tripod is essential for this type of shot. The camera can be panned swiftly to follow a moving subject, keeping the subject sharp but blurring the background.

Freezing the subject: This of course depends on the shot you are attempting. Anytime you want to avoid blurry pictures, a faster shutter will become your best friend. The snag here is that the higher the shutter speed you use the more light you will need. A small F-number (large aperture) will give a fast shutter speed when in aperture priority mode.

When you need a really fast shutter, keep an eye on the warning light in your viewfinder which indicates the shutter speed is cutting off too much light and the aperture range for that lens has been exceeded. This is a common problem.

A good example is when photographing birds. The best time of day to shoot is often when the light is low. A necessary compromise in these poor lighting conditions is to increase the ISO. Why compromise? Well too high an ISO introduces noise into the picture, influenced largely by the quality of camera model. This can be a nuisance when enlarging photos in post production.

Increasing the ISO increases the shutter speed, so one need to make a choice between capturing a great photo that is hard to repeat, or risk introducing noise.

Practice

Practice in manual mode and play with the shutter, aperture and ISO. Some cameras offer an anti blur feature which in essence is automatically creating the fastest shutter speed with the right combinations of the three (aperture, shutter and ISO).

Next time you are photographing the kids indoors, try getting the fastest shutter speed before resorting to your flash, which sometimes is the only way to avoid blurry shots.

Photo captured by PictureSocial member Jason Livingstone

Flexible solution

In summary, aperture priority mode offers the most flexible exposure control when striving to create certain picture dynamics on demand. Experience will teach you when to use another mode such as Shutter Priority, Program Mode or Manual. The ultimate goal is to go manual and take full control of exposure and other features.

About the Author:
Rob Gray brings to the table over forty years of experience in the television and photographic production industry. Visit the Facet Visual & Sound web site (facetmedia dot co dot za) and share your experiences with us, get free photographic tips watch out for Photoshop and Photographic workshops on e-book.

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Hands-on review: GoPro Hero5 Black

GoPro Hero5 Black is ready to give you an new epic level of 4K video that, for the first time in two years, gives you a reason to upgrade your action camera.

There’s no GoPro Hero5 Silver. Instead, the Black version combines the best features of both editions with 4K video at 30 frames per second and a much-needed interactive two-inch touchscreen.

The touchscreen provides a simplified interface that makes the GoPro Hero5 Black much easier to use, and it all comes together in a tighter, more waterproof package.

That said, in two years, a lot has changed. There are a lot of cheap GoPro clones for sale, and we’ve run into a lot of GoPro Hero4 and even GoPro Hero3 owners who struggle to find a reason to upgrade.

Price and release date

• It costs $ 399 (£349, AU$ 569) and launches October 2
• That’s actually cheaper than the Hero4 Black, so hold off

4K video capture from an action camera is still an expensive hobby for most, but the Hero5 price is $ 399 (£349, AU$ 569). That’s $ 100 (£20, AU$ 80) cheaper than the GoPro Hero4 launch price two years ago.

In fact, the new camera is cheaper than the Hero4 price a month ago, which we found for $ 439 on Amazon in the US. You actually saved money to waiting for the new Black version.

So when can you get it? The Hero5 Black release date is October 2, and pre-orders are now available. That’s also when the GoPro Hero5 Session comes out for $ 299 (£249, AU$ 459).

Let’s take a look to see if the GoPro Hero Black is worth its $ 399 (£349, AU$ 569) price before its October 2 release date, and how it compares to the smaller GoPro Hero5 Session.

Design

• Boasts a two-inch touchscreen for controls and playback
• Waterproof up to 33ft (10m) – without waterproof hosing
• Bigger battery, small wrap-around frame and USB Type-C port

The GoPro Hero5 Black is the action camera that we’ve wanted for a long time. It combines the high-end specs of a camera a Black edition, with the screen that was strangely limited to the Hero4 Silver.

The two-inch touchscreen changes the way you control the GoPro, with streamlined menus. You no longer have to press a series three physical buttons in order to do a million different tasks. It’s all right on the display.

Don’t worry, the Hero5 Black still has one-button control at the top to quickly start recording footage, and a on/off/mode button on the side to power up and cycle through various ways to capture. The screen just a clutch wingman.

What’s stripped back is the plastic housing, and that’s a good thing for the most part. The camera is no longer fully encased in waterproof-sealed plastic – it’s waterproof on its own up to 33ft (10m). You can add a plastic housing to take it deeper, but by default, it’s ready for a swim.

We dig actual matte black color of the Black edition (previous Black GoPros were still silver, despite the name). The new color ensures it doesn’t stick out as much when strapped to your body.

Likewise, the the wrap-around plastic frame is also grayish-black, and has a minimalist design. Taking cues from the Hero4 Session, it exposes most of the front and back without a bulky, clear casket.

There is a small, protective casing around the lens, and it’s now swappable. It pops off with a little pull, just in case you dent the lens and need a $ 20 replacement. on The Hero4 Black, the lens was either exposed in the camera’s smallest form, or encases in the plastic housing.

All GoPro mounts are compatible with the Hero5 Black, and the camera also works with the new GoPro Karma Drone. It’s shaping up to be the best way to shoot 4K aerial footage with super smooth video.

The replaceable lithium-ion battery is a notch better than before, with its 1220mAh size. That’s up from the 1160mAh battery. Even better, it uses reversible a USB Type-C cable to recharge.

USB-C here is a really big deal. Both GoPro Hero4 Black and Silver used the already-archaic USB mini when they debuted two years ago. Having to carry around a USB mini cable just for using a GoPro while microUSB dominated every other non-Apple gadget was a serious pain.

With the Hero5 Black, GoPro is way ahead of the pack. We’re pleased they didn’t go with microUSB just when that standard is fading. This one is designed for the long-haul.

Video and photo quality

• 4K video with long-overdue video stabilization
• New Linear mode provides less barrel distortion
• RAW and WDR photos, with GPS tagged locations

Hero5 Black provides the same wide-angle camera field of view that GoPro is known for, but it also adds new modes and better video quality in key areas.

In addition to the returning fields of view of SuperView, Wide, Medium and Narrow, there’s a new Linear mode for less distortion from the normal wide-angle view. That means fewer edits are required.

The Black edition shoots 4K video at either 30 or 25 frames per second in Wide, while SuperView and Wide do 4K at 24 frames per second. Medium and Linear shoot in 2.7K, while Narrow is capped at 1080p.

No matter the field of view or resolution (at least at Full HD or higher), the quality seemed to have been bumped up from the Hero4 Black. That’s because there’s a new, souped-up sensor inside the camera.

Hero5 touts professional grade low-light performance, ultra-sharp image quality and video stabilization. That last one has been a much-requested feature among GoPro fans, and it’s finally a part of the new camera.

It also shoots 12MP photos, can capture RAW and HDR-like wide-dynamic range photos (WDR) and includes your GPS location on all media. There’s stereo sound on this camera and pretty advanced wind noise reduction built-in.

GoPro Hero5 Black vs Session

• Better sensor and more options on the Hero5 Black
• Black has GPS, RAW, WDR and a replaceable battery
• Touchscreen controls vs smaller form factor
• $ 100 (£100, AU$ 110) price difference

The Hero5 Session is the smaller, cube-shaped GoPro that’s much more competent than the Hero4 Session. It’s actually tempting this time around with its new 4K specs and $ 299 price tag.

However, exclusive to the Black is its touch display, GPS chip for location capture and RAW and HDR photos at 12MP. The Session doesn’t have any of that, with photos topping out at 10MP.

The camera sensor is a bit better on the Hero5 Black, with professional vs consumer grade low-light performance and a few more options at higher frame rates at 1080p and 2.7k. Battery capacity is also longer on the Black and it’s replaceable.

Interface and app

• Touch and voice controls makes operating it simpler
• New GoPro apps for capturing and editing are a plus
• Promises better connectivity, but that’s still under our testing

This is GoPro is really trying to solve its biggest problem. It’s now easier to capture footage, but turning on the camera, recording and collection and editing the video can be a challenge.

The touchscreen makes everything intuitive, with a left swipe for reviewing media and a right swipe for changing settings. You can toggle preferences on and off and menus spring into view quite nicely.

It’s not always the most responsive touchscreen and we’ve had instances where we left the camera on and didn’t know it. It’s always a letdown to return to a hot camera with almost no battery life left.

GoPro added voice control to its new Hero5 cameras (both Black and Session). Enabling it and saying "GoPro take a photo" or "turn off" works best when alone. At a GoPro launch event with 50 other camera in a tight space, it works too, with a hilarity.

Video edits, of course, are never easy, so GoPro has a few solutions for this. It’s adding auto-upload of photos and video to the cloud (via a subscription service) when the camera is charging.

It also has a new Capture app for recording video and Quick app for creating video on-the-fly. Quick is no longer limited to your computer, and that’s a step in the right direction.

Of course the apps have their limitations right now, specifically regarding which video resolutions (like 1080p) can be edited on a phone, and, as always, connectivity is still a hassle.

GoPro Hero5 Black uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for pairing, but it’s not always able to keep the camera and an iPhone talking to each other. We’ll revisit this when the camera launches to the public.

Early verdict

Hero5 Black is the GoPro we always wanted. And, really, it’s the GoPro the company really needs. It’s facing both competition and users holding onto their older devices that, to them, work just fine.

The good news is that this new camera has enough to make it a convincing update. The picture quality is better, it finally has video stabilization and the touchscreen makes it easier to use than any other GoPro.

The new waterproof design out-of-the-box makes it more resilient, yet the actual wrap-around frame has shrunk in size, forging the normal GoPro plastic housing altogether.

There’s more testing to be done for our full GoPro Hero5 Black review, and tons of "epic" video footage to capture. We’ll return with a final verdict when we have more time with the camera this week.

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Tips for Understanding the Lightroom Adjustments Panel

Lightroom can be an intimidating program. Even longtime users sometimes find themselves confused at all the options or unsure of exactly what to do to achieve a specific type of look for their pictures. Fortunately much of this can be mitigated by learning new things slowly and carefully, and taking the time to master just one new tool, option, or set of sliders at a time. The first thing I usually recommend to beginners is the Basic panel because, as its name implies, those sliders can go a long way towards improving your pictures. However another set of sliders in the Develop module, called the Adjustments panel, can take your images to a whole new level if you learn to use it properly.

What is the Adjustments panel?

While the Basic panel allows you to adjust global settings on an image related to things like white balance, overall tint, and highlights/shadows, the Adjustments panel lets you get much more specific with selective color editing. To access this panel click on the Develop module and then look on the right-hand side of your screen. If you do not see it (it’s the third one down), right-click (ctrl-click on a Mac) on any of the Develop panels and make sure the Adjustments option in the pop-up menu is checked.

Right away you might be a little confused because the options have odd-sounding acronyms with no explanation. But once you understand how they are related it should get a little easier. For starters, here’s a brief explanation of the three main categories of HSL / Color / B&W.

• HSL: Allows you to control the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance of all the main colors that make up a picture (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Aqua, Blue, Purple, and Magenta)
• Color: This is essentially the same thing as the HSL panel, as you will see shortly, but the options are organized in order to help you focus on specific colors, and then specific types of adjustments within those colors.
• B&W: This panel is often the most misunderstood, but one of the most powerful tools available in Lightroom when it comes to converting your images to black and white.

The HSL tab

This abbreviation stands for Hue, Saturation, and Luminance and allows you to control these parameters all at once for the various colors in your image. When you click the HSL option in the Adjustments panel you can then choose each of these three options to control, or you can click the “All” option and have access to all of the parameters at a glance.

Hue sliders

Click the Hue option and you will be able to change the look of specific colors such as Red, Green, Yellow, etc. for the entire image. For example, you could make your greens have more of a yellow tint to them, or make them look almost fluorescent just by changing the Green slider. You can give your skies a deep, rich blue or tone it down to make them look a bit pale. Your purples can be anywhere from reddish to deep violet, all with the click of a mouse button.

Simply adjusting the green hue can give your nature photos an entirely different look and feel.

Adjusting the hue, as is the case with many editing decisions, can be most effective when used subtly and in combination with other options such as the tone curve or white balance. Too much editing can come across as obvious and give your images a look that seems overly processed, especially when it comes to portraits. Still, it’s a powerful and valuable adjustment that can greatly affect your pictures.

If you are not sure exactly which color option to select from the ones that are available to you, you can click the target button in the top-left corner of the Hue panel (circled in red below) then click and drag on a specific point in your image. This will adjust the hue that matches the target area, and all similar colors for your entire photo.

One tip I like to use when adjusting the values is to click on the 0 and enter numerical values using my keyboard. I’ll start with something small like 5 and then press the up and down arrows on my keyboard to raise the value in increments of 1. Or you can hold down the shift key while tapping the arrows to raise and lower values in increments of 10. It’s a good way of making more precise adjustments rather than moving the slider with your mouse.

Saturation and Luminance

The Saturation and Luminance tabs function in much the same way. You use sliders or enter numerical values in order to adjust how much of each color is present (Saturation) or the brightness of each color (Luminance). Finally, clicking “All” will let you edit all three parameters at once. I find that a bit overwhelming but others can think is quite useful. See what works best for you.

Subtly editing the HSL values on this picture helped me bring out more vibrant colors and produce the final image I was really going for.

The Color tab

At first when you click on the Color tab of the Adjustments panel you might be hit with a feeling of déjà vu. The options look remarkably similar to what you might have already seen in the HSL tab, in that you can once again change the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance. The difference here has to do with how things are organized, and it’s why I find myself working more often in the Color tab than the HSL tab.

Here all three adjustments are available to you at the same time for each individual color, which makes it very easy to work with your image on a per-color basis as opposed to a per-adjustment basis. If I’m shooting portraits and want to tweak the color of my subject’s purple shirt I will probably want to adjust all three parameters at once, but just for the color purple. This tab gives me the option to do exactly that, and once again you can click on the All option to see all the colors, along with all their corresponding adjustment options, at the same time.

Working in the Color tab of the Adjustments panel let me tweak various parameters of the greens and yellows to get the final image I was going for.

The B&W tab

This part of the Adjustments panel is often the most confusing because as soon as you click on it, your image turns grey, and yet you still have all the same color sliders as on the other tabs. What’s going on here?

The answer lies in how Lightroom essentially tries to mimic the effect of black and white filters on color pictures. What you are doing with this panel is turning your image into a grayscale version of its colorized counterpart, then adjusting the tone of each of the individual colors as the image is processed. Incidentally, if you open this panel and then click on one of the Black and White filter presets in Lightroom (in the presets panel on the left side of LR) you will see the sliders move around because they are really just specific values for the sliders you see here.

An example B&W conversion to see how the sliders work

To demonstrate how these Adjustment options work, here’s an image of a woman who owns a wildlife refuge in Oklahoma holding a macaw.

There are several distinct colors in this image such as yellow, aqua, and green, which makes it an ideal candidate for understanding how the B&W adjustments work. In this first example I have clicked the B&W filter and left all sliders at their default values, but changed the yellow option for two different results.

Most of the image remains unaffected except for the bird’s bright yellow chest, which is starkly different depending on the values I have selected for the Yellow slider. Increasing the numerical value of yellow has made the corresponding areas much lighter, and decreasing it has made them appear significantly darker. Once again you will likely find that in this B&W panel the best edits are the most subtle, and you can use the sliders to creatively adjust the look and feel of a monochromatic image. To further illustrate the effects of these sliders, compare the following images. The first one has higher values of colors that correspond to the skin tones of the woman and the chest plumage of the bird, and darker greens for the foliage in the background.

Be careful not to go too far

In the next example, the colors of the bird’s chest have been significantly darkened while the background is much lighter, and the woman’s skin tone has been toned down quite a bit as well. I find the top image much more natural and pleasing, whereas the bottom one significantly alters the appearance of the bird and makes the woman look almost as though her face has been burned, particularly if you look where her jawline meets her neck.

As you play around and experiment with the B&W sliders you will start to get a feel for how you might prefer various adjustments in your images. If you are the type of person who likes to try black and white photography this panel is significantly more useful than just clicking on a preset or using built-in filters in a program like Instagram.

Conclusions

I hope this article has helped you understand a bit more about some of Lightroom’s useful editing options. If you have never used the Adjustments panel before go ahead and try it out! Lightroom is non-destructive which means your edits are not permanent and can be undone at any time, so it never hurts to try something and see what happens.

If you find the Adjustments panel to be useful, or have your own tips to share, please leave your thoughts in the comments below. I’m sure other readers would enjoy hearing them.

The post Tips for Understanding the Lightroom Adjustments Panel by Simon Ringsmuth appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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