Traditionally, many photographers use a range of filters, either of the screw-in glass variety or the plastic rectangular filter-plus-holder combo

The trick to protecting colours when altering contrast lies in desaturating a copy of the original image, altering its tonal range to create a dramatic contrast and then reintroducing the original colour info. Here’s how…

Transform any portrait with a glamorous magazine-style finish. Once you’ve mastered the use of adjustment layers and their masks, producing polished portraits is as simple as a brush stroke here and a brush stroke there. A lightening Curves adjustment layer can be used not only to dodge dark blemish areas on skin, but also to whiten teeth and eyes and emphasise highlight areas in the hair.

Looking for some quick ways to spruce up your photos? Welcome to the first of a regular series on how you can swiftly work some image-editing magic