Often you want to apply an effect or adjustment to a whole picture, but not always. Sometimes you only want to apply it to part of the picture, and this is where the Luminar mask tools become really useful.
Tutorials
DxO PhotoLab Graduated Filter, Control Points and Repair tool in action
This step-by-step editing walkthrough shows a number of DxO PhotoLab tools in action, principally the Local Adjustment tools, including the Graduated Filter and Control Point tools.
Lightroom tone curves explained: Tone Curve vs Point Curve vs Target Curve adjustments
Curves adjustments are one of the key tools in photo editing, and Lightroom offers three ways of making curves adjustments. What’s more, the curves tools look different in Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic CC. Complicated? Not once it’s explained…
Dawlish Beach in black and white, with Exposure X5 adjustment layers
This project turns a regular color RAW file into a strong black and white image in Exposure X5. It uses a number of different tools so it’s a good chance to see how these work and how they can be used together. It’s also a good example the kind of image which works well in […]
Free Analog Efex Pro presets (and how to install them)
Welcome to the fourth and final part of this mini-series on Google’s brand new film and camera simulation plug-in, Analog Efex Pro. It joins the existing plug-ins in the Nik Collection, now owned and distributed by DxO. Note: Following many requests, I’m republishing this article with the download link restored but the content unchanged. This […]
Using HDR Efex Pro for everyday enhancement
Usually, HDR images are pretty obvious. The technique is part of the ‘look’. But it’s also possible to use HDR to enhance regular images to add depth and drama, but winding the effect back just a little so that it’s no longer center stage. So for this shot I used DxO PhotoLab and HDR Efex […]
Lightroom CC White balance tools explained
White balance is one of the central image adjustments in any photo editing workflow. Here’s how the white balance tools in Lightroom CC work. 1 Edit button Click this to open the Edit tools sidebar. This is where most of Lightroom CC’s editing tools are found. 2 Color panel The Lightroom Edit panels expand and […]
Lightroom CC Profiles explained
Lightroom CC offers a range of Presets and you can create or save your own. But Presets use a combination of editing tools and effects, while there is another, more basic adjustment you can make to the look of your photos with Profiles. Profiles have been around in Lightroom for some time, but it’s only […]
Lightroom CC Geometry panel explained
Lightroom comes in two versions. Lightroom Classic CC, the ‘desktop’ version, is probably the most popular, especially amongst long-term Lightroom users, but Lightroom CC has a lot to commend it. On the downside, it means paying extra for Adobe Creative Cloud storage – the 20GB with the regular Photography Plan is not enough, and the […]
How to carry out white balance and color adjustments in Exposure X
White balance and color corrections are basic image adjustments you’d expect to find in any photo-editing application, so let’s see how they are applied in Exposure X. We’ll use this interior shot of a boutique hotel as an example because it has some very serious color issues caused my the mixed lighting. The strong blue/purple […]