3 Landscape Photography Tutorials I've Used and Why You Should Too
/People ask me all the time, "what is one photography video you'd recommend" and I usually point them to something snarky because I'm that kind of guy. But occasionally, I feel like pointing them in an actual direction and being a decent person I do have three resources/tutorials that I use and recommend. Just a note, I'm not affiliated with any of these people or their businesses and if you saw my Google Analytics, you'd know they aren't giving me anything in return for this plug.
1. Tony Kuyper Luminosity Masks and Photoshop Actions
Tony Kuyper is a generous person, I don't know him personally but I have read through his luminosity masks tutorials, I have downloaded his photoshop actions, and it's not like he charges all that much. In particular, his photoshop actions are phenomenal and I'm editing more in Photoshop these days than I am in Lightroom. Here's what makes his luminosity masks and photoshop actions invaluable, you will be able to get very detailed in your editing with masking. Much more so than in Lightroom. I love them and cannot imagine using Photoshop without his actions, which is what I use most often. When I need a refresher in luminosity masks, I'll read his tutorial again and probably discover another valuable piece of information that will aid my photography. Go check him out if you edit in Photoshop, your post-production will be forever changed.
2. Ryan Dyar's Start to Finish Video Tutorial
“In this in depth video we attack our image head on with many techniques; prepping the RAW files, a focal length blend, focus stacking, luminosity masking, color dodging, perspective shifts, fine tuning textures and contrasts, hand painting, and much more. Well over two hours of detailed instruction with no filler... all instruction, all the time!”
Here's where we start to get into the meat of post-production with a few advanced techniques as taught by one of my inspirations. You'll notice that term "luminosity masking" again, it's not a total repeat of Tony Kuyper so don't worry about purchasing content that won't benefit you. Focus stacking, color dodging, and perspective shifts are one of my favorite lessons in Ryan's videos, I've been looking to do more focus stacking/blending in my photography for a few years now and thought I'd have to buy some expensive software to achieve it. While using Photoshop, Ryan walks through his editing workflow from start to finish and will tremendously impact your editing workflow too.
3. Chip Phillip's Photoshop for Landscape Photographers
Chip Phillips is another photography hero of mine, his work has been very influential for me when I want to look a master at work. What struck me about this video was how good his photos were when he was just importing them RAW. His photography is very good even before he starts editing. From his website:
“In this set of 10 videos, Photoshop for Landscape Photographers, I discuss editing techniques that I use on my images, such as:
Ideal workspace settings for image processing
How to create and use layers
My favorite adjustment layers
The magic of creating and using layer masks
Opacity and my most commonly used blending modes
How to create and use both 8 and 16-bit luminosity masks
The ease of using Tony Kuyper’s great new 16-bit TKv4 action panel
An in-the-field demonstration of my shooting techniques for capturing multiple exposures
Focus stacking techniques
Micro contrast, including the use of Tony Kuyper’s Tonal Clarity actions
How I enhance the light throughout my images, including my favorite Orton and Light Painting techniques
My favorite tools for color adjustments
Sizing and sharpening images for both web and print
The concepts are intermediate to advanced so basic knowledge of Photoshop is recommended.”
Again, you'll notice luminosity masks. If you watched these videos last, you'd want to skip this portion because you'd be well-versed by this point. This is a collection of 10 videos that spans nearly 4 hours worth of incredibly helpful content, it helped revolutionize my editing workflow and got me out of just editing in Lightroom. You'll also notice that all of these use Photoshop for editing, there is a reason for that and I would recommend using Photoshop too. Chip's take on the Orton Effect was particularly inspiring and helpful for me as was his section on manual blending of images together. Highly recommended.
Have any of you ever used video tutorials to help with your editing workflow? Leave which ones down in the comments. Hope you've found this helpful and that you check out all of their great content, your photography will be better for it.
An image I edited using Chip Phillips's videos and Tony Kuyper's Photoshop actions.
Another photo that I used Chip Phillips's image blending and Tony Kuyper's Photoshop actions.
