We recommend that you use the software that we do, Photojunction and Photoshop, and that you avoid complicating your workflow with other programs as far as possible, at least to begin with. If nothing else, we’ll be able to help if you have problems!

While there’s plenty of image editing software to choose from, we use and recommend Photoshop as the industry standard. Wherever we need to discuss image editing in these resource pages, we use Photoshop as an example.

We recommend Photojunction to organise and project your images, prepare album and portrait orders, automatically output cropped and sized image files for printing, produce electronic outputs like slideshows - and interface with Photoshop itself.

Click here for more about Photojunction.

Why we recommend this approach

Simplicity and ease of learning

Digital workflows promoted around the world these days often include several software applications to make them work. For example:

1. Software for converting your camera files
2. Software to burn CDs and DVDs
3. Software for reviewing, browsing and sorting images
4. Software for performing batch processes on the images
5. Photoshop (or an alternative) for editing images
6. Photoshop’s File Browser (Bridge) for locating and managing files while you’re editing
7. Software for adding “special effects” to images (often Photoshop plug-ins)
8. Software for creating slideshows
9. Software for creating web pages
10. Software for ordering from your lab
11. Software for designing albums (generally you need to choose between low-grade functionality or separate software for each supplier, sometimes both)
12. Software for selling portraiture

Unless your hobby is learning software, you may be pleased to know that you can replace all this, except items 1 and 2, with just two programs, Photoshop and Photojunction. And while we recommend Photoshop, and use it ourselves in the lab, it’s not strictly necessary to have that industry-standard program in studio either, as you can pass the work on to us.

Keep it simple

A large number of other programs can handle more than one of the above functions too. Very often we find photographers bolting them together for the sake of a feature here and there that they like. The downside of this is that you need to learn the each program, its idiosyncrasies and the effect it will have on work done by other programs (often unhelpful). Often, too, there will be non-one available to help you with these issues.

Inevitably there will be some compromise in keeping your workflow simple, but we recommend you start from this point and add more programs if necessary as you learn about the software and your own core requirements.

Productivity

You’ll save time if you do as much as possible in Photojunction. That’s because once you’ve organised your “image resource” (point 3 above) it works for all the “products” that follow, like creating albums, portraits, slideshows etc. In fact many of Photojunction’s “output products” are better described as “by-products” - quickly generated from the work you put into things like album planning.

Support

We can assist our clients with Photojunction and Photoshop because we use both programs daily. Photojunction is also well supported by the Photojunction team itself, with several free help services. You can also purchase one-on-one help if necessary.

Conflicts

The more programs you have working with your image files, the more likely you are to have conflicts between them. And it can be very hard to find anyone to help you with it. (Software support staff can be expected to know a lot about their own program, but not necessarily as much about others). In our experience software working at cross-purposes causes more confusion than anything else to do with digital workflow.