5 Essentials every Photog needs to streamline their editing process

When your first starting Photography it can be a bit overwhelming. You probably have a thousand questions running through your mind and have no idea where to start! Maybe your thinking, how do I edit photos? How do I send photos to clients? How do I send contracts? All these questions came to my mind when I first started my businesses so I thought I would share with you some of the program's I love to use! They have all helped me succeed in my business and I know it will help you too!

External Hardrive

First and foremost invest in an external hard drive. Backing up your images is so important in this business. I personally love the passports from best buy, I've used them my entire photography career. You can get a one terabyte harddrive for around $50 bucks! I would recommend creating a new folder for every session to stay organized. Copy the images on the SD card and paste them in the folder you created on your hardrive! Boom! Now you have two copies of all your images. It's better to be safe then sorry!

Photo Mechanic

This program is amazing and saves so much time when it comes to choosing which photos you would like to edit. It can be especially helpful for wedding photographers who have thousands of images to go through. I wish I would have known about this program earlier in my business! It allows you to quickly scroll through your SD card, rate the pictures you want, then drag and drop them into Lightroom. The less amount of pictures you have in Lightroom the faster it works. So I definitely recommend using photo mechanic for a fast and easy way to streamline your editing process.

Photoshop and Lightroom

These are amazing editing programs for all photographers! They also have several video tutorials on how to edit images. This was a life saver for me when I first started my businesses. I knew I wanted to be a photographer, but didn't know how to make my photos stand out! Photoshop and Lightroom offer an amazing package you can get them together for $10 a month! You can also get Lightroom presets to install in Lightroom! I love presets! You can check them out here and watch the video on how to install and apply them to your photos!

Shootproof

Shootproof is perfect for sending contracts and galleries to clients. I love their platform, I think it's user-friendly for both the client and photographer. Sending contracts is easy, your client can simply sign it with their finger straight from their mobile device. When it comes to sending galleries you can add music and a video slideshow to your clients gallery. Another feature that is appealing is you can make mobile apps for your clients which allows them to have quick access when they're sharing photos with family and friends. You can also add your personal branding, store contracts and sell prints. Having one platform to do all those amazing things definitely makes you look like a professional!

One Drive

I would highly recommend getting a one drive! I made mine through Microsoft and it is the best thing I ever did! This allows you to store all your hard work to the cloud. The amazing thing about this, is you can download the one drive app on your phone and always have your work at your fingertips. After I complete my sessions I create a new folder for every client. I then make 2 folders within their folder labeled web files and high resolution files.

Example

Ashley Smith (main folder)

Web files (sub folder)

High resolution (sub folder)

Having both file types is very important. You can post web sized images straight to Facebook and Instagram without them pixelizing. It's also nice having high resolution photos on the go. Maybe a clients messages you and wants to order prints! Well you can do that from wherever you are.

Thanks for reading!

Alexandria Marie