This Months Highlights:
- INTENTIONAL COMPOSITION, RAY SCHNEIDER
- TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY, CONNIE FRISBEE HOUDE
- FOCUS ON: WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE MORE PEOPLE IN YOUR STREET PHOTOGRAPHY, RICH SCHREIBSTEIN
- FIND YOUR HAPPY PLACE, IAN PLANT
- COMING SOON: SPS SMART PHONE FOCUS GROUP
Check out our archives for past newsletters!
Recent Competition Submissions
Lightroom View More
Pro-Level Post for iPhone Shots with Ramtin Kazemi
Advanced Editing in Lightroom & Photoshop This tutorial comes straight from photographer Ramtin Kazemi’s class “Capturing Landscapes: Post-Processing with Style” from last year’s iPhone Photography Conference. In this excerpt, he digs into just how far…
Mastering Focal Lengths for Outdoor Photography with Erin Babnik
Choosing the right focal length can completely transform an outdoor photograph. It affects how viewers experience scale, depth, and emotion—and ultimately how intentional your image feels. In her latest class, Erin Babnik breaks down how…
Tools for Your Catalog
Over the last few of updates to Lightroom Classic (LrC) we’ve been given a few different tools to help us take better care of our catalogs over time. This has always been a problem area…
Learn How the Pros Make Masterpieces With Ultralight Gear
It’s time to rethink what “going pro” really looks like. Hauling a giant camera bag stuffed with bodies and lenses isn’t the only path to professional results anymore. Today’s iPhone cameras are so powerful that…
Exploration Photography: How to Photograph a Place You’ve Never Been with Marc Adamus
When you’re photographing a place you’ve never been before, it can feel equal parts exciting and overwhelming. Where do you start? What do you look for? And how do you move past just documenting a…
This Masking Tool in Lightroom is a Game Changer
Masking used to be one of the most frustrating parts of working in Lightroom Classic. Too many tools, too many decisions, and too much time spent trying to get a clean selection. That’s changed in…
Editing Color in Lightroom Doesn’t Need to Be Complicated
Color is one of the most powerful parts of Lightroom Classic—but for many photographers, it’s also where edits start to feel overwhelming. With newer tools and more options than ever, it’s easy to second-guess yourself…
Move All Your Photos To One Drive—Fast!
Managing your photos across multiple devices can feel like a headache—desktops, laptops, and external drives can make it tricky to stay organized. But it doesn’t have to be complicated. With this organization method, Lightroom doesn’t…
Don’t Panic—Lightroom’s Import Step Is Easier Than It Looks
The import screen in Lightroom Classic can feel intimidating, especially when you’re staring at a screen full of options before you’ve edited a single photo. But here’s the truth: import is one of the most…
This Week on The Grid: Open Q&A Holiday Edition w/ Scott Kelby & Erik Kuna
This week’s episode of The Grid was an always-popular Open Q&A, with a light holiday twist and plenty of laughs along the way. Scott and Erik tackled whatever was on photographers’ minds, jumping from topic…
Photoshop View More
Reference Images in Photoshop Generative Fill – 3 Amazing things it can do
Reference image in Photoshop Generative Fill, in depth guide Writing prompts to try and describe what you want in Generative ai, is so Old school. Now we can use images to guide Photoshop ai to…
New Features in Photoshop 2026 Jan 26 update
What’s new in Photoshop Jan 2026? Adobe drops updates to Photoshop on a regular basis, but 4 times a year, there are bigger updates. If you want to see a catalog of all the updates,…
New This Week in Photoshop Roadmap — Jan 28, 2026
This week’s roundup brings together a new selection of Photoshop tutorials and creative assets recently featured on Photoshop Roadmap. From quick portrait effects to better control over how Photoshop behaves, the focus is on working…
Playful Abstracts : Expressive Colorful Background Papers
Playful Abstracts is a collection of 10 colorful abstract background papers created with a lively, hand-made feel. Each design combines bold, rounded shapes with rich layered textures, paint-like marks, speckles, and subtle imperfections that give…
How to Wrap Designs Around Complex Objects Using Displacement Maps in Photoshop
Professional mockups require more than simply placing a design onto an object. Complex surfaces like crushed aluminum cans demand advanced techniques to achieve realistic wrapping that follows every contour and deformation. This process combines displacement…
How to Fix Three Confusing Default Settings in Photoshop
Sometimes Photoshop's default settings can make beginners think their software or hardware is broken. Images that fly around uncontrollably when panning, scroll bars appearing on full-size images, and zoom tools that seem to have a…
How to Create Better Shadows Than Drop Shadow in Photoshop
The basic drop shadow effect often looks flat and artificial compared to how shadows actually behave in real environments. Professional designers know that convincing shadows require understanding light direction, surface interaction, and atmospheric perspective. This…
How to Customize Your Photoshop Toolbar and Find Hidden Tools
A cluttered toolbar can slow down your workflow when you can't find the tools you need. Meanwhile, dozens of useful tools remain hidden in groups or completely out of sight. Learning to customize your toolbar…
How to Change Backgrounds and Match Lighting in Photoshop
Creating seamless background replacements requires more than just cutting out your subject. The real challenge lies in making the new composition look natural through proper lighting, color matching, and depth of field consistency. Modern Photoshop…
How to Create a Colorful Aura Effect for Portraits in Photoshop
Portrait photography becomes truly captivating when enhanced with atmospheric effects that draw the viewer's eye. The colorful aura effect transforms ordinary portraits into striking visual statements by surrounding the subject with ethereal, glowing light that…