Photoshop is now much more accessible to creative entrepreneurs, because Adobe now offers a monthly payment plan. I love Photoshop, because my photos wouldn’t be the same without it. I encourage you to take advantage of the 30-day free trial that Adobe offers to see if it’s something you want to invest in. {FYI, as the first commenter mentioned below, you can always get Photoshop Elements if you’re only using it to edit product photos, because it will give you more than enough to work with–thanks Karine!} I made the video below, because one of my consulting clients wants to edit her photos using Photoshop but she just hadn’t learned how to use it. So, I broke down the steps that I take to edit my photos for her–and thought I’d also share it with you.
[FLOWPLAYER=http://blacksburgbelle.com/wp-content/videos/PhotoshopEdits.flv,600,450]
Dear April,
Photoshop CS is a superb tool. It is also a very complex and expensive one. I am a photographer and I know for sure that as a professional in photographer I do not use 50% of Photoshop CS capabilities (mainly because I do not need to).
If it is only to edit product objects and products one is selling online, I would not advise anyone to invest in Photoshop CS. Photoshop elements is a more than sufficient tool to edit photos of products. It is really affordable and adapted to that kind of work. It is even quite complete as a photo editing software. There are even free editing softwares available for more basic work.
Anyway, the most important thing to remember is that nothing beats a good picture straight out of the camera and that a bad picture will remain as such even after “saving” it on any photo editing photo software.
those are my two cents as a photographer and a crafter who used to sell products on the internet.
best,
Karine
Thanks so much Karine! I’ve never used Photoshop elements–but I’ve heard that it definitely has more than enough “stuff” if you want to just edit product photos. Thanks for that reminder and sharing that. I’ve seen free editing software tutorials that are great {one was recently published on Oh My! Handmade Goodness}, but my client wanted steps for Photoshop, because she already has it. She bought it as a package with other Adobe products–so she wants to use it.
I love photography and knew that I wanted Photoshop. We got it when my husband was in school, so we got the student price {so it was totally worth it!}. I love learning more and more about it. I doubt that I’ll ever take my photography to the “professional” level but I definitely love it as a hobby 🙂
And, I completely agree that getting your picture as close to perfect as possible while taking the picture is the best way to go–but editing a good photo can make it even better.
really sweet tips april! i use regular photoshop cs and have actual never touched either of those first tools your mentioned, so I went and tried it out – looks good!
I also got my cs suite at the student price. it was 200 for al the programs in the creative suite. So worth it.
Thanks Danielle! Oh my gosh–getting it at the student price was the best thing ever 🙂
Yay! I just got Photoshop but haven’t tried using it (too intimidated!) so this is perfect for me. Thanks for being generous with your knowledge April 🙂
Of course Serene! Try it out–it’s so much fun once you get past the intimidation factor 🙂
April,
I love that Adobe is offering the monthly plans; what a great way to try a program out to see if it is the right fit!
Now, I just need to practice with my camera taking skills.
Hahahaha…Etsy just recently put on a workshop on photography and you can watch it for free here: http://www.etsy.com/storque/seller-handbook/make-it-work-an-etsy-success-photography-workshop-12754/
You should check it out!
April thanks for the tutorial. I’ve been dragging my feet on purchashing Adobe Photoshop because it does seem very daunting to use! I appreciate the tips and will defitinely look into the Photoshop Elements!
Sounds great…let us know how you like Photoshop Elements if you get it 🙂
I have photoshop and am just now learning it, so this is a huge help April! I have been using Adobe lightroom, which also rocks:) I like Danielle, have tons of programs via Fred being in school for Graphic Design…so I get the hook up!:)
Thanks April!
Thank you for this April–very helpful! What kind of camera do you use? Thanks!
Hey Mandy,
I had been using a simple point and shoot camera–but it died. So, I upgraded to a Nikon D90.
Yay Erin! Glad I could help 🙂
Great video, thanks for the tips April. Good photos are something I really struggle with so I’m definately going to try this out.
You’re so welcome Dani! I’m glad it’s helpful.
Hi–Thanks so much for putting this together! Just watched the video (finally!) and am looking forward to using the tips. Also, for anybody who wants more detail, there is a series of books on the CS package that I’ve found very helpful. There’s a volume each for Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. I like having a hard copy around when I have questions and, having been through all the books once, I sort of remember where to go for answers.
And another thing….I wish I could see what the Filter>unsharpmask>fade unsharp mask part does. It doesn’t seem to make any difference–but I’ve been doing it anyway because you said so!
From what I can tell, it just sharpens things up a touch 🙂
Thank you April!
I don’t have Photoshop but I was able to find all the same features in my lower end program and the result was awesome! The picture “popped” just like you said!! And it didn’t take much longer to do that than just cropping. I will have to go back and do some editing of my pictures for sure.
Thank you, thank you for all your fantastic information! I love reading your blog and emails!
That’s awesome Maya! I’m so glad you were able to apply those tips to the photo editing software that you already use.