Virtual Copies are really useful. They let you try out a whole load of different processing variations on a single image without having to create new files, saving time and disk space in the process and keeping all your adjustments ‘editable’. But there are drawbacks too. One this that none of your edits are visible […]
Featured posts
Welcome to the Life after Photoshop archive of 'Featured' posts. These are favourite articles or tutorials that appear in the carousel at the top of the home page.
How to use the Pixelmator Kaleidoscope filter to create a mirrored landscape
Pixelmator is an interesting image-editing app for Mac and iOS that I’m always telling myself I should spend more time with. Well I did just that, finding an interesting use for the Pixelmator Kaleidoscope filter. Before we go any further, though, there’s something you need to know (that I wish I’d found out sooner). The […]
Lightroom noise reduction and why you need it
If you never thought you’d need to pay attention to the Lightroom noise reduction settings, you might need to think again. Like a lot of photographers I shoot RAW files on the assumption I’m going to get better image quality by processing the images myself rather than leaving it to the in-camera JPEG processing. That’s fine […]
How to set the hyperfocal distance with a manual lens
Here’s a situation where a simple manual focus lens can do something a modern zoom lens can’t. I’ve dug this dusty old Pentax SMC 50mm f/1.7 lens out of the garage to demonstrate it, but there are an increasing number of modern manual prime lenses which can do the same thing – setting the hyperfocal distance. […]
Fine art black and white with the Fujifilm GFX
I was lucky enough to get a Fujifilm GFX 50S on loan for two weeks to review in Digital Camera and Professional Photography and I’m really impressed by the tonal range and subtlety it can capture. This became obvious when I started working on a set of shots from a drizzle-swept day on Exmoor. The sky […]
Skylum Luminar Golden Hour filter
The ‘Pluto’ update to Luminar brought a selection of new tools including a new Golden Hour filter. If you want to know more about it, you can download the Luminar trial version. This filter is designed to simulate the warmth of a late afternoon sun, something which is actually a lot more difficult to do digitally […]
10 tips for using digital graduated filters
1. Shoot raw You can’t recover detail in an overexposed sky if it’s been clipped and lost forever in the original image. With a JPEG, what you see is what you get, but with raw files you’ve generally got an extra 1EV of ‘invisible’ highlight detail which can be recovered with a good raw converter. […]
How to duplicate pictures in Apple Photos
Apple Photos is central to both the Mac OS and iOS devices. It’s a great way to keep all your photos to handy on all your devices, and it practically looks after itself – you add a photo on one device, and very soon it’s on all of them. It’s also a pretty good image-editing […]
Black and white filters in digital imaging
Why would you use colour filters when you’re shooting in black and white? It’s so that you can control the way different colours translate into shades of grey. For example, if you shoot through a red filter, it blocks colours other than red, so that opposite colours, like blue skies, for example, come out much […]
Shadow and Highlight recovery in Lightroom
It’s very easy to lose extreme shadow or highlight detail when you’re shooting high-contrast scenes, and that’s one of the reasons for shooting raw files – they contain additional highlight detail, especially, that you may be able to bring out during processing. Shadow and highlight recovery is not always possible, but I usually reckon that […]