Want to take your photos to the next level? Consider purchasing Photoshop CC…

If you’ve read my previous articles, you know what cameras and lenses I recommend to get great results. But how do you take your images to the next level to achieve a professional look? So many times you can take a great photo using your top of the line camera and lenses, but the image lacks that extra “something”. Most pros use Photoshop to enhance colors, sharpen, saturate, or fix common exposure issues.

If this is something you’re interested in doing, you will need the following:

Laptop or desktop computer (NOT an ipad or tablet!) with at least 8 GB of memory and either an external hard drive or internal hard drive with 500 GB available storage space. I actually prefer to plug in an external hard drive (more on that below) to allow my main computer to work efficiently at all times. If you do not have a computer like this, either purchase one or try to find a friend or relative who will let you borrow theirs 🙂 🙂 Make sure your desktop either has a memory card slot (where you can stick the CF or SD card into the front panel to transfer files) OR buy a CF/SD card reader like this one.

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Next, you’ll need a copy of Photoshop CC. Photoshop used to cost over $900, which made it unrealistic for most hobbyists. Recently, Adobe changed the game and started doing monthly memberships (happy dance!!!) The membership for the entry level CC (20GB Photography Plan) is currently $9.99/month- SOOOO much better than the $900 it used to cost! Sidenote…because Photoshop updates their technical specs frequently, I would check this site for up to date computer and technical requirements.

There are a million tutorials online to learn Photoshop! I’ll be posting a tutorial on my exact workflow very soon, but in the meantime here are a few of my favorite tricks and tips in Photoshop CC to get you started! I’ll chat more in depth about workflow and how to use Photoshop after a shoot in upcoming tutorials.

Let’s chat about the external hard drive I mentioned earlier. If you do plan on purchasing a computer and working with Photoshop, I would highly recommend buying an external hard drive for your computer so that you can save all photos on a separate drive. Don’t know what an external hard drive is? I like this analogy. Say you decide to start a business collecting items (widgets let’s say). Instead of filling your house with all of your items and widgets, you rent a portable storage space and have it delivered to your driveway. You load all of your widgets into the portable storage space where you can easily access them, and your house stays nice and tidy! External hard drives for your computer are very similar. Instead of bogging down your main computer with a million files, you store them on the external so that they’re all in one place, easy to find, and your computer hard drive stays nice and tidy. It’s a win all the way around. That being said, remember that any hard drive can fail, so be sure to save copies in several places (or better yet upload a second copy to cloud storage for safe keeping) 😉

Hope this helps, and feel free to leave questions and comments below. Thanks!

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Krista Lee is a Nashville, TN based portrait and wedding photographer. See her work and professional site at www.kristaleephotography.com