Ron Leach

If you've ever marveled at photographs with eye-catching headlights and taillights streaking through the frame, and wondered how it's done, this quick beginners guide is just what you need. It's a dynamic technique that anyone can master in minutes.

If we asked you to name the "one concept that 99% of photographs get wrong," it's doubtful that contrast is the first thing that comes to mind. According to photographer James Parsons, however, this is a critical element that should never be ignored.

White balance can make or break a photo because this important attribute enables you to imbue a scene with a variety of feelings and moods. Do things right and you'll have broad control over a variety of appealing effects. The problem is that an incorrect approach may result in photos that appear unrealistic or totally fake.

So what in the heck are bokeh lights? The term bokeh describes an eye-catching effect that's achieved by shooting with a fast lens at maximum aperture to create soft-out-of-focus backgrounds that accentuate the main subject in an image. It powerful method that can be employed at any time of day.

There are several reasons why your outdoor photographs may be far less compelling than possible. Perhaps your images lack uniqueness and and don't stand out from the crowd. Or maybe they're short on impact for reasons that are easy to correct by changing the approach you take in the field.

The megapixel race shows no signs of abating as camera manufacturers continue to promote the benefits of high-res cameras while ignoring some of the disadvantages. The result is that many shooters are think about investing in a new and expensive high-resolution monster.

An overriding concern when editing photos is the necessity of employing the right tools and adjustments that result in a realistic look, because taking a heavy-handed approach or employing incorrect techniques can actually make our originals look worse. In other words, you're just wasting your time.

Inexperienced photographers typically strive for maximum sharpness from foreground to background in every image they shoot. A more sophisticated approach often involves strategically adding lens blur to accentuate a key subject within frame. And you'll learn an effective way to do exactly that in this tutorial from the Park Cameras YouTube channel.

There are a variety of reasons that some photographers are moving on from Adobe, and today we're looking at a few alternatives that are worthy of your consideration. Perhaps Lightroom and Photoshop are too complicated for your needs, or you're unhappy with paying the "Adobe tax" every month or the premium overall cost.

Lightroom's Selective Color tools enable you to target and adjust specific colors independently of one another to accentuate or deemphasize certain elements within the frame. In this tutorial from one of our favorite post-processing experts you'll learn a unique twist on this technique for transforming a color shot to b&w while retaining colors in the main subject of the shot.