Most people assume that photographers just snap pictures at a shoot, head home, upload the photos, and they are done.  Not the case at all.  I heard a statistic one day that said photographers spend only about 12% of their time actually taking the pictures.  The majority of their time is editing, custom designing products (albums, etc) and then actually sending their images to their pro labs.  Pretty dead on, for me at least.

In my years of being a photographer, I’ve searched for ways to make editing easier and faster.  Many photographers choose to use actions in Photoshop to help speed up the process.  I get asked all the time what are my favorite actions.  I always answer that my favorites are the ones I’ve made to help make my editing easier.  Sure, I have a few actions that are my “go to” ones for certain things (Florabella and Michelle Kane are two favorites) but for the most part, I hand edit every image a client purchases.  I’m kinda Type A like that!

Today, I thought I’d show off a simple and life changing (okay, maybe not life changing but pretty darn awesome) tool that I use that has helped speed up my editing process dramatically.  This little dandy method helps you out in a few ways.  Not only does it house all your tools you use on a regular basis (brush for the eyes, brush for the eye bags, Logo watermark, etc) but it has them already sized to what you normally would need them to be.  When making my tool presets, I open an image and enlarge it to where I would normally be editing at.  If I’m editing the eyes on an image, I usually enlarge my image to 100%.  I will go ahead an zoom in on an image and set my brush to exactly what I want.  I make it the size I want, the opacity needed, etc.  This way, I don’t have to fiddle with them when going from image to image.  They are pre-sized and ready to be used.  To make your own presets, follow the instructions I laid out for you.  (*Sidenote: This is using CS5 but I’m assuming it’s similar in all versions of Photoshop)

Now, all you need to do is save it and you’re done.  Simple as that.  Pretty nifty, huh?  Also notice, I try to minimize the amount I have to drag my mouse across the screen.  I’ve moved my tool bar to the right side to keep me from having to go from one side of the screen to the other so much.

Do you have a time saving tip that you’d like to share?  I’d love to hear it and maybe even feature your suggestion on my blog.  Send me an email at summer[at]realpromisesphotography.com with your tip.