Improve Photography

For the last month or so, I’ve been teasing this contest but today I’m finally ready to release the details.  This contest will test your skill at editing photos in Lightroom, Photoshop, Aperture, or whatever other software you choose.  I took the photo and I’m inviting you to download the photo and edit it however [...]

I’ve always disliked watermarks.  When I am asked to provide a portfolio review and see watermarks on the picture, I’m unable to even concentrate on the photo because I’m so distracted with the watermark. However, about a year ago, I started watermarking my photos because I found a way to do it unobtrusively by using [...]

We are all good at taking photos… and when we catch the bug, we take A LOT of photos! But how do we keep them organized?? My workflow is done using Adobe Bridge, but the same concept of organization can be applied to pretty much any photo management software you choose. As a little bit [...]

Computer monitors do their best to reproduce colors and brightnesses correctly, but each one is slightly different.  In fact, a screen even reproduces photos differently when it starts up compared to the way colors and brightnesses look after the monitor has been running for a while. This is a serious problem for photographers.  We are [...]

by Dustin Olsen Photoshop is overwhelming!! There is no way around it! There is just so much to constantly learn that undoubtedly, at some point, we have all needed someone to show us around and give us a few pointers. Photoshop is the digital photographer’s greatest tool if you know how to use it. Here [...]

Amanda Tucker, who is one of the the members of our Facebook community, and who took the 30-Day online portrait photography class recently, did an awesome Photoshop work of a wedding picture (see below) that created an action sequence. She was kind enough to share her talents with all of you and reveals here how [...]

This is a guest post by Dustin Olsen, who now works with me (Jim) on Improve Photography.  Here’s Dustin… The photography industry has taken a turn for the worse! It has gone digital and the younger generations of our time have embraced it gladly and the older generations have about thrown it away. Before the [...]

Most photographers spend a lot of time in Photoshop.  We do our best to learn tips and tricks on how to use Photoshop to create various effects, but if you’re still using Photoshop on its default settings and preferences, you’re totally missing out.  Today I made a list of a few customizations I always make to Photoshop [...]

Yesterday, I wrote an introduction to Lightroom Presets.  This prompted MANY readers to ask whether they should buy Photoshop or Lightroom, and whether Lightroom is useful on photos other than portraits, or if it is just a portrait photography tool.  Michael Bates wrote on the Improve Photography facebook fanpage, “I’m new to the world of [...]

Lightroom 3 is a program made by Adobe, the makers of Photoshop.  I usually recommend that photographers buy Lightroom 3 rather than Photoshop as your first image editing software choice because it is MUCH easier to use, faster, and perfectly capable for making 95% of the edits that most photographers make.  Photoshop is really for [...]