Enhancing light and shadows in landscape photography can dramatically transform your images, adding depth and visual interest. Here's a great approach to adding that depth in Lightroom.
Coming to you from Christian Möhrle - The Phlog Photography, this informative video demonstrates how to use Lightroom's masking tools to enhance light and shadows in landscape images. Möhrle begins with basic adjustments to set the foundation, including tweaking the profile, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks. He then moves on to texture, clarity, vibrance, and saturation adjustments to create a more vibrant base image. These initial steps are crucial for preparing the image for more targeted local adjustments.
The real magic happens when Möhrle dives into the masking panel. He uses a combination of color range masks, linear gradients, and radial gradients to selectively adjust different areas of the image. By darkening shadows in the foreground and enhancing brighter areas, he creates a greater sense of depth and dimensionality. Möhrle also demonstrates how to use these tools to make the sky more dramatic and add warmth to specific areas of the image.
Möhrle's approach to color grading involves subtle adjustments in the color mixer, focusing on yellow and green tones to make the foreground pop. He also shows how to use the luminance panel to further enhance the light and dark areas of the image. The tutorial concludes with some final sharpening adjustments and a demonstration of Lightroom's AI-powered removal tool to clean up distracting elements in the scene. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Möhrle.
And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out our latest tutorial, "Photographing the World: Japan With Elia Locardi!"
