If you’ve ever stared at one of your landscape photos and thought, “It’s nice, but it’s missing something…” — you’ll love this little creative detour with Karen Hutton. In this excerpt from her Landscape Photography Conference session “Landscape Photography: Ordinary to Extraordinary,” Karen takes a simple shot of Donner Lake and turns it into something truly artful using layers, blur, blend modes, and a sprinkle of sun flare magic. Watch how she transforms an ordinary scene into a dreamy, vibrant image that still feels totally real — and 100% Karen. Keep reading or watch Karen’s lesson below.

This is Donner Lake in Truckee, California, tucked up in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It’s a place that means a lot to me — I lived in this area for thirty years, so even a “dumb photo” like this carries memories of incredible sunsets. I had an idea for this shot: I wanted to change the color, but not by brute-forcing the pixels. I wanted something organic. I’m going to give this image a big push — still a photograph, still rooted in the real — but drawing on memories and a li’l imagination to make it true-to-life yet spectacular.

Building an Organic Glow

So, I pulled in one of my own sunset photos — I’ve got, oh, three or four thousand of those — and used it as a texture layer. I applied a Gaussian Blur (around 167 pixels), then changed the blending mode to Overlay.

Blurring and blending — a sunset photo adds warmth and glow without touching the pixels

Et voilà! Instantly, it lightens and enriches the base photo without manhandling it. The texture brings this subtle radiance to the scene — like light seeping in naturally, not artificially.

Because this photo includes a reflection, I duplicated the blurred layer (Command-J, my favorite shortcut!), flipped it vertically with Free Transform, and lined it up to mirror the scene. A little presto-flippo whammy-jammy, and boom — reflection magic.

Adding Drama and Depth

Of course, I can’t leave it there. I love to push things — not to the point of “that would never happen,” but just far enough to feel like those sunsets I’ve actually seen.

So, I merged visible layers (hold Option while choosing Merge Visible — that way it creates a new one) and opened the result in Exposure 7, one of my favorite plug-ins.

Inside Exposure, I started with some film looks:

  • Fuji Velvia is gorgeous but a lot.
  • Fuji Provia feels a bit tame.
  • Ektachrome? Often just right — rich, but believable.
Testing out Velvia, Provia, and Ektachrome — finding that “just right” balance of color

I like to start strong and then back off the intensity rather than over-enhancing. You can do that right at the top of Exposure by dialing down Overall Intensity — it reduces the whole effect gracefully without flattening your colors.

Backing off the intensity of the filter to customize the look

Sometimes I let an edit sit for a bit. You get a feel later for whether it’s too much or not enough. But this felt like a good start — a strong color foundation to build on.

Here Comes the Sun (Flare)

Next, I wanted to add a little sun flare. Exposure 7 has some nice built-in light effects — under Sun Flare, look for Haze Pale. That one often mimics exactly what I see when the sun’s about to drop behind the mountains.

A soft sun flare right where the light drops behind the mountain — subtle but powerful

You can stop there, but I like options. So, I also showed another way: manually adding flares using brushes.

I created a new layer and opened my Nucly brush set — chose Flare 18 — and sampled a warm tone from the scene, pushing it toward white. Once I stamped it in, I rotated and scaled it using Free Transform until it looked like sunlight just kissing the ridge.

Then, playtime: adjust the color for a more golden hue, try Soft Light or Overlay blend modes, even blur it slightly for that soft, dreamy glow.

You can find flare or light brushes all over — Etsy, Creative Market, Design Cuts — just make sure the license fits your use.

Creating a gentle, golden flare with a custom brush — layered light, handmade style

Stretching the Scene

At one point, I decided the mountains needed to feel bigger — more presence, more “wow.” Easy fix: duplicate the layer and use Free Transform to scale them up slightly. Totally legal move!

Suddenly, the composition feels more dramatic and grounded, without losing its realism.

Finishing Touch: Bird of Prey

Now for a final storytelling touch — one of my favorite moves: add a bird. I placed it on a new layer, adjusted the scale and opacity so it looks like it’s gliding through that golden light.

Then, because I’m all about reflections, I duplicated the bird layer, flipped it vertically, and softened the opacity for the reflection in the lake. It’s a small detail that ties everything together.

A final touch: adding a bird (and its reflection) for scale, motion, and storytelling

And just like that — in a few playful, intentional steps — we’ve gone from ordinary to extraordinary.

Et voilà! I hope that was fun for you… because it sure was for me.

Your Journey to Landscape Mastery Starts Here

Want more techniques like this? Join us online for the Landscape Photography Conference, December 9–10, 2025, presented by KelbyOne Live. Erik Kuna and other industry pros will share their secrets for capturing unforgettable images—day and night.