A vignette can help guide the viewer toward your subject, but lowering exposure around the edges of a black and white photo can quickly bury important shadow detail.

In this quick tutorial, I’ll show you a more controlled approach using a radial gradient and the Whites or Highlights slider. You’ll still get that visual nudge toward the subject without making already-dark areas disappear.

What do you do when the weather is dull, the surf is uninteresting, and a dead battery takes away one of the tools you normally rely on?

You can spend the outing wishing conditions were different—or let those constraints narrow your choices and point you toward another photograph. In this video, I share how I adapted during a recent seascape outing and why limitations can sometimes give your photography clearer direction.