What Makes a Good Photo?

A topic that comes up again and again in my classes and presentations in one form or another is "What makes a good photo?" There is no simple answer.

However, there are pure, simple facts of what comprises good photography. Good photography takes into account many things: lighting/shadow, composition, exposure, subject, story, color, contrasts, sharpness, depth of field, and more -- often intangible -- things. A good photo is one with great orchestration of the facets of photography, that ends in a pleasing image. Likely there is a little bit of luck tossed into our salad of preparation, positioning and equipment.

There are no bonus points for dangling from helicopters except in that it may offer the right perspective. A great moment, whether captured of a penned animal or one in the wild, is still a great shot. Whether they look while standing knee deep in mud or sitting in a plush armchair, the final image is what the viewer sees...no less or more because of the subject or how it was captured. Passion for a subject should be evident in the photography of it.

There is no one philosophy that will capture a great image, but any great image will encompass all these things. I think the ideals are reinforced by the perceptions of Ansel Adams, and I have collected a few of his attributed comments here:

Mr. Adams on a good photograph:

• A good photograph is knowing where to stand.
  
• A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.
  
• A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.
  

On the rules for making a good photograph:

• There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.
  

On luck in making photos:

• Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter.
  

On perspective of observing photos:

• A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into.
  
• There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.
  

On how to take an image:

• To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things.
  

On photography and the creative spirit:

• No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.
  

To me, wherever there are opportunities, I am glad to share the joy of photography, at whatever level...photographs need not be marred by griping discussion for what an image could have been, if only...Shots can be satisfactory as an amateur or professional, and only your own expectations of what is good will change. Images can be explored in greater depth and improved in image processing to bring out more -- as Adams often did himself as an artisan in the wet darkroom, which today we can all explore without chemicals using Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

As you explore your photography on whatever level, and as your skills develop, enjoy it for what it is. Enjoy a sense of accomplishment in how you improve or improve your images, and your skills. Resist the urge to be overly critical and poison the water that keeps your interest in images and photography growing.

A good photo is always the one you are about to take, and it can be better for what you learned from the experience you gain as you shoot.

---

Improve your photography with post-processing using Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Richard's Photoshop Courses can help you get more out of your images and your investment in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

The Joy of Making Mistakes

The Brief Anatomy of a Mistake
It seems to be human nature to be dismayed at having made mistakes. Botching a capture in a fleeting moment is a missed opportunity, and certainly we are right to be a little mad at ourselves for not being properly prepared. Ruining a print because you set up a file incorrectly is costly, but curable.

While it may be disappointing not to make the perfect image, no one ever learned a thing by being perfect. The reality is: every mistake is an opportunity...an opportunity to learn and to enhance your skills. In fact, it could almost be argued that if you don’t make mistakes, you’ll never learn, expand your horizons, and improve.

All mistakes aren't good (for example, dropping your digital camera in the ocean while out at sea), but all come with a lesson. There are mistakes you will be able to learn more and less from. There are times when the risk of mistakes will ‘cost’ more. The best mistakes are those that come with the least dreadful impact.

Looked at in the right way, the opportunity created by making a mistake is potential for learning and the true joy of pure accomplishment.

What to Do When You Make a Mistake
When you make a mistake -- whatever it is -- it isn't time to sit back and lament; it is time to sit up and take notice. It may also be a moment to congratulate yourself for trying new things and not being afraid of confronting what you don't already know.

When a mistake happens:

1. Acknowledge that something went wrong, and don’t assume it is a reflection on you (or anyone around you).
   
2. Study the consequences and understand why things went wrong.
   
3. Plan a counter action or means of avoiding the same mistake in the future.

The first is both the easiest and hardest of these steps. People like to blame themselves or someone else and distract from the sense that something merely happened. Forgo the blame as there’s nothing positive there. The next two steps are where it counts. Look at the event and what went wrong, research or ask questions about the things you don’t understand, and make a plan for avoiding the same thing happening again. You can write down your answers, and keep a notebook to keep track if it helps. All you want to do is plan to avoid making that same mistake again. The plans can be trivial or complex.

Often you’ll be tempted to lean on the advice of others that they gained from experience, and that can be a good thing by helping you avoid making terrible blunders. As long as you digest the suggestions and lessons it helps; it helps less so if you take anyone’s word for granted. Practice what you read in tutorials, lessons and books before you assume you really understand it. And when you practice allow yourself to explore at the fringes where things might just go wrong and that’s where you’ll learn.

Summarizing Mistakes?
Mistakes can come in shooting, in choosing a lens, in working with or against the light, in shooting too few frames, choosing the wrong exposure. You'll see them in bad choices for tools you use in Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements). Don’t be afraid of making the mistakes, of posting them to your gallery, of showing them to people who might help let you know what went wrong or offer opinions. That is research. Opinions will vary as will solutions, and your preferences and techniques for avoiding the mistakes will expand as your experience grows. As your list of mistakes grows it is something you can wear like a scarf or badge of courage and show off in the experience you've gained. Mistakes accumulate with hard work, and experience. You make more of them as you challenge yourself with new styles, ideas and techniques. The more of them you make, the better they will make your images.

If your goal is to be a better photographer, don’t make mistakes, revel in them.

Making a Holiday Card

With the holidays approaching it is still not too late to take on a project and do your own holiday card. All you really need is an image for the cover, some paper to print on (or a service to send to), Photoshop (or Elements), and a plan for the layout. The plan mostly has to do with printing to the edge, and getting the image on the front of the card.

Printing to the Edge
A layout problem that may confound those making their first cards is printing to the edge of the paper. Though some home printers have a print-to-the-edge feature, there is an edge area of the sheets you are printing that the printer will not print on -- commonly called a grip edge. It is often a quarter to a half an inch broad, and may vary from edge to edge depending on how paper was designed to go through the printer. The solutions to the problem of printing to the edge (and this holds for when you send a job to a shop to have it printed), is to design a little larger and then and crop the paper to the size you want the finished piece. So, for your holiday card, you wouldn’t start with paper that was exactly the right size and then use your printer to print the image exactly to the edge; you’d start with a larger sheet, print the layout, and then trim the paper down. To make your layout work, you'd lay out the graphic part of the card to print a bit beyond the crop edge—say, by an eighth of an inch (which is a printing standard). This is known as a bleed. The bleed provides a margin of error for the cropping. If the cut doesn’t fall precisely on the crop mark, the image will still come all the way to the edge of the cropped area.

The Basic Layout

Image on the Front
In laying out the card, be sure to think of how you want it to present! When you use a folded card, you have to put the front of the card on the right side of the layout so that when it folds the front of the card is in the right place. It may not be natural to think of the right side of the layout as the front, but that is where it is! The back of the card is on the left.

Outside

On the inside, the left and right facing sides are more intuitive. You usually want to have the saying on the right.

Inside

As far as the back of the card, you can put several things there for information purposes. Sometimes it is fun to put in your real or even an imaginary business name, copyright and date, website (if appropriate), and maybe some information about the photo (subject, title, separate copyright -- if applicable). Usually this is all in small type so as not to detract from the card. Homemade cards seem to always be the ones that stand out from the others.

For More Information...
For better ways to process your images and get the most out of them for your cards and other uses, be sure to check out Richard Lynch's Photoshop courses and his latest book: The Adobe Photoshop Layers Book

Holiday Gift Ideas
If you are looking for a good gift for that budding photographer or photoshop professional, try giving a betterphoto.com gift card. Good for courses, books and apparel!

Magic Tools in Photoshop and Elements

The Entertainer and the Entertained

Magicians in their magic acts are entertainers. They perform mystical feats designed specifically to cleverly trick us -- those being entertained -- into believing something miraculous is happening when they waive their wand or perform an incantation. Deep down, we know it is somehow explainable, but we want to be entertained, suspend our disbelief, and enjoy the show. We may half-heartedly try to figure out what really happened behind the scenes, but in a way, perhaps, we almost don't want to know: it might ruin the illusion and we'd no longer be entertained. The entertainer practices his craft building the clever and believable deception, and the entertained soak it in without thinking all too hard. That is the difference between the entertainer and the entertained.

The Juggler

Photoshop and Magic
People beginning to edit images with Photoshop and Elements often scour the menus looking for the tool that will do something spectacular to their images believing great images are just a few clicks away. It is almost as if they want the program to entertain them with an element of magic or a fantasic feat of mind reading. Photoshop and Elements have lots of tools whose behavior may seem mysterious and unexplainable at first, at least one named specifically 'Magic Wand', but regretfully there are no 'magic' tools that read your mind. No matter how clever the implementation of a function or how well it seems to work there is never anything 'magic' about a tool itself. There is a calculation -- however complex -- that drives any tool application. The behavior can be described and predicted, no matter how we might resist knowing.

To Be the Magician
A true magician doesn't waive a wand and hope magic will happen -- imagine what would happen to a magician doing that on stage. The magician knows the secrets of the tricks and what goes on behind the scenes, utilizing props and tools with purpose to craft the perfect deception. Likewise, the imaging magician, must be a master of the tools and craft of post-processing. Just clicking a filter or auto function and being elated or disappointed by the result isn't mastering Photoshop and Elements, it is being entertained. Being entertained can be pleasing at times, but generally it is not how you make a magical image. The tools themselves have no way to see and evaluate the images they work on except as a calculation. They are lifeless props and props never make magic either.

Magicians practice their craft and develop their art, and you will want to do the same to achieve desired results with your post-processing in Photoshop. Changes do not have to be mystical, spectacular or flamboyant to get the most from your images, and post-processing is only a portion of the photographic craft. There is a place for being both the entertainer and the entertained, the magician and the audience. Learn and be awed by other people's craft, but strive to understand the magic of their images like a magician in the audience watching the craft of the magician on stage.

To Learn More
My courses teach the timeless fundamentals for Photoshop and Elements that you'll use as the core of your craft. I talk about magic tools in my Photoshop 101 class...namely the "read my mind" and "do it for me" tools: mythical tools designed in the minds of users hoping there is an easier way. But it is the only mention of magic tools in my courses. You get practical methodology for Correcting and Enhancing Your Images, solid techniques for matching your images on your Monitor and In Print, and advanced exploration of
Layers: Photoshop's Most Powerful Tool. Each is a facet of the tools you have to master to perfect your image editing craft. My latest book, The Adobe Photoshop Layers Book, is the perfect companion to these courses.

Breaking Photography's Rules

Coming from a writing background (I have an MFA in Fiction Writing), I find it is interesting to note the overlap and comparison of thinking about composition of images and composition of prose. The common quote "a picture is worth a thousand words" comes to mind. Interestingly it is said one of the 'rules' of photography is that images should tell a story. If it is true, who should be more likely to have an interest in photography than someone who has studied fiction writing...I find my experiences with writing help me see my progress through photography more clearly.

Writing At College
Taking writing courses was a confounding joy. I might be handed an assignment to write a story, and might be inspired immediately to write a poem. With the suggestion that I write a poem, I might be at no short hand to write prose. Other students I know would claim to get the much-romanced 'writer's block', often meaning they couldn't come up with anything interesting to fulfill an assignment. While my reaction to assignments may just have been some perverse part of my nature, the imposed task would fill with obligation, rigidity and expectation...and I could find respite in doing almost anything but the task at hand. I enjoyed discovery and creativity; it was simply more fun to explore writing to whatever end than to perform a task.

The upshot of structured courses was that while I was compelled to complete the necessary work to conform to the expectations, I wrote probably twice as much unstructured work in addition to the formal assignments. To stave off verbal constipation, I made a habit of keeping a scratch book (and still do) where I was free to experiment and explore words. In the abstract paths, scraps, and unfinished pieces may not be my best work and material, and much I've never shared or published, but some inevitably filtered back into other finished work, and it is still where I do my most intense learning.

And After College...
Later, continuing down a lawless path, I taught college English for several years, and tested ideas from my own learning, using my students like guinea pigs. I tried to abandon rules entirely as part of the curriculum -- rules, I reasoned, were something no one really cared for, and college students should have had their fill by the time they met me -- so I had my students exploring writing itself rather than tethering them to the rule book. They wrote a lot, improved tremendously by following their interests, and seemed to allow themselves to enjoy the experience of writing which, in turn, helped them learn from it, often coming in a back-handed way to the rules -- whether they recognized them or not.

Choosing Your Rules
The best of rules, when you know them, become simple, helpful guidelines built on common sense: suggestions as to what will achieve success with relative consistency. While anyone can resist rules, the essence of rules can't totally be ignored. Rules of writing attach meaning to words and without that reference writing would never convey an intended meaning; likewise, you can't take a picture without light in the absolute dark. Rules may not fit your perspective as you hear them, but they may have other meanings, and more fitting, creative, and personally meaningful interpretations. For example, the rule of thirds really says to me: "don't be boring", which can lead to a lot more than 4 suggested options.

There are all sorts of writings, just like there are all sorts of photos. Some photos might tell a story, and might seem more like a poem, a story, or even a novel -- and some may only be meant to be snippets, scraps, experiments, and vehicles for learning. If you following the rule that each shot needs to be a story as an imperative, you may hold yourself back from capturing some less structured frames, experimenting and exploring possibilities, and learning from and enjoying your time taking pictures. In other words, you will do well to follow the rule of trying to tell stories with your images -- so long as it doesn't oblige you to try and squeeze impossible imagery from an inappropriate scene when you might, instead, happily snap the shutter to learn some nuance about light, shadow, shutter speed, or color that may later help you 'tell a story' in better conditions.


Pear Stems. Shot when I found my camera in hand and some interesting light after dinner.

Practicing Lawless Photography
At times, when you are frozen, looking for the ultimate shot in a dramatic scene that is being elusive, it may help to put the rules out of your head a moment and just look through the viewfinder. Snap off some frames without expectations, move in and away, tilt the camera, shoot portrait and landscape, change your lens...Think of as many rules as you can while doing it, and break every one -- for a reason if you can think of one, or just because. After you shoot a series, view the results to see if anything you shot suggests a direction, and then use that suggestion and refine the result. You can always use rules first if you feel naked -- or you may find you follow them more naturally as you shoot view and refine.

When to Upgrade Photoshop

Are You A Photoshop Junkie?
Photoshop junkies are people who religiously upgrade from one version to the next without thinking as if a new release were some type of signal that the current version of the program would soon expire and stop working. Others upgrading without a second thought may believe that owning the newest version of Photoshop automatically makes their images better. Regretfully, "cool" new features may sound enticing, but in the long run these enhancements may be something you rarely use -- or use once in a lifetime -- that isn't a reason to upgrade. The boring reality is that sometimes what you have is really what you need. While it does not carry the social status of owning Photoshop, it is easily possible that Photoshop Elements may serve every need you have even if you are a demanding digital technician (and at a savings of 90% (!) of the cost of Photoshop). Upgrading out of habit, obligation or anything other than a clearly defined need makes you a junkie.

The Truth About Upgrades

It is Adobe's job to make their product compelling enough so that you want to upgrade. In the early years of Photoshop, every version had a significant new feature. Digital imaging had a lot of maturing to do from the first release in 1988, so the room for improvement seemed endless. Now, as Photoshop has matured, the list of enhancements for any version may be as long as your arm, but it may be less clear if you really need to upgrade because features are not always something every user will benefit from.

Richard's Philosophy of Upgrades

1. Don't automatically upgrade to a new release of Photoshop. You don't owe it to Adobe, and your version of the program will still work months and years from now.


2. It is not a social embarassment to skip an upgrade version of Photoshop. For example, if you are on CS2 already, you can probably wait for CS4. People may point and wisper under their breath, but how long can they do that for? Just ask them for a compelling reason to upgrade.


3. Know the Photoshop upgrade cycles. You can count on a new version every 18 months or so. Don't get the last version after it's been out 17 months when it suddenly goes 'on sale' or you'll be looking and yearing to get the next version in a month all over again.


4. Don't be swept away by the hype of the 'cool' factor of new Photoshop tools. Advertising can make features look more promising than they are. Find out what tools and functions actually do by reading reviews before you upgrade, and weigh how much you think you'll actually use them.


5. Find at least two actual must-have features in any new Photoshop upgrade that will save you time, effort or improve image quality on a daily basis before considering an upgrade.


6. Don't upgrade if there are a significant number of tools and features that you already don't know how to use. Learn the tools you have. New features will take weeks, months and perhaps years to incorporate into your workflow. Give them time to sink in before looking for more features you won't use.
   


7. Find out about system requirements and compatabilities BEFORE you purchase a Photoshop upgrade. If you purchase a version that requires a new operating system, it may trigger a reaction where you'll have to buy a whole new system at many times the cost of the upgrade just to run it.


8. Just because it costs more doesn't mean it does more for you. Know what you are buying. For example, don't get the extended version of Photoshop CS3 instead of the vanilla version if you have no interest in medical imaging, 3D modeling and video editing.

Adobe has consistently put out an enticing product that gives users a real reason to upgrade. Adobe does work hard at it, they have a fabulous, well-tested product, and have generally productive reasons for upgrading. However, there is no reason to feel pressured, rushed or obligated. The new version will be there when you are ready for it, and your old, tried and tested techniques for image editing will not soon be worn out and displaced by the latest tool if you learn the right techniques. The real task is to learn the right techniques and theory to make your image editing efforts less tool-centric.

A Short List of Photoshop Enhancements by Version This is an extremely abbreviated list of enhancements for Photoshop versions. Versions 2 through 7 list the major enhancements only. CS versions are listed in greater detail so it will be evident what was added in the newer versions and what you may gain by upgrading from prior versions. Photoshop 2 (no, not CS2, Photoshop 2.0 released in 1991) added Paths Photoshop 2.5 added a Windows version Photoshop 3 added Layers (which makes my Leveraging Layers course possible) Photoshop 4 added recordable Actions Photoshop 5 added editable type, the History palette, and the dreaded Color Management Photoshop 5.5 added Image Ready for web development Phtooshop 6 enhanced the user interface, added layer styles and Blending Options dialog, and 16-bit editing Photoshop 7 introduced the Healing brush, paint engine enhancements, and introduced RAW image handling Note: At this point Photoshop broke into the CS versions, the first of which was released on October of 2003. As more users still own these versions I'll use more comprehensive (but still partial) lists... Photoshop CS (8) added: — Camera RAW 2.x — Highly modified "Slice Tool" — Shadow/Highlight command — Match Color command — Lens Blur filter — Smart Guides — Real-Time Histogram — Detection and refusal to print scanned images of various banknotes[2] — Macrovision copy protection based on Safecast DRM technology Photoshop CS2 (9) added: — Camera RAW 3.x — Smart Objects — Image Warp — Spot healing brush — Red-Eye tool — Lens Correction filter — Smart Sharpen — Smart Guides — Vanishing Point — Better memory management on 64-bit PowerPC G5 Macintosh machines running Mac OS X 10.4 — High dynamic range imaging (HDRI) support (32 bit per channel floating point) — Scripting support for JavaScript and other languages — More smudging options, such as "Scattering" — Modified layer selection, such as ability to select more than one layer. Photoshop CS3 (10) added: — Smart Filters — Quick Selection and Refine Edge tools — Advanced compositing — Streamlined interface — Better raw image processing — Improved Adobe Bridge — Enhanced Vanishing Point — Enhanced 32-bit HDR support — Peak performance — Black-and-white conversion Note: The waters get further muddied here by a release of more than one version of CS3; CS3 and CS3 Extended.

Building the Ultimate Image Editing Computer

As a Photoshop professional and author of Photoshop and Elements books, people looking to buy a computer to use for image editing often ask my opinion about what I recommend. I use Mac as my main work station, and have a PC laptop. Though Mac is a preference for me, I think the platform isn't as critical a decision for image editing as it once was. However the peripherals and accessories I put into my 'ultimate system' whether on mac or PC can be fairly extensive and. To me, the additional expense is not only unavoidable, but essential to handling image safely and getting the best results. All the items I choose are not necessary for every system and all level of user, and some of your personal preferences may differ. But some core elements should be considered beyond just the platform to enhance your image editing experience.

The following are all part of my main work station:

*Dual, matching monitors

*Spyder monitor calibrator

*2+ GB of RAM

*4 matching hard drives

*dual core processor

*Kensington Turbomouse

*DVD Writer

*External backup drive

*Card reader

*Power backup system

Keep in mind that for my work with professional photographers I need a lot of processing oomph. If you are a more casual user you may not really need all this stuff, and some of that is personal preference. But here is a breakdown of what advantages each of these provides:

Dual, Matching Monitors
Dual monitors provide a lot of visible landscape, generally at a fraction of the cost of a larger monitor. Another option may be a very large screen, like the 30" Mac Cinema Display, but that is not in the price range of many users. Two monitors may require an additional video card depending on your setup, but really a large monitor may demand an upgrade as well. The goal of increased viewing area is to allow for room to open multiple palettes while viewing your images large on screen.

Spyder monitor calibrator
Monitor calibration is essential for getting good results with your images consistently, in print and on the web. If you don't calibrate, your monitor color may be off, and you can't possibly trust what you see on screen. Dark monitors will find you overcorrecting images and thee results will be light in print; monitors with a color shift will find you compensating toward the shift's complement color -- a monitor with too much red may find your prints consistently leaning toward a cyan hue. Hardware calibration can measure thee color on your screen with great accuracy and will be the cornerstone of good color practice and workflow.

2+ GB of RAM
One of many complaints I hear from users as they upgrade to new versions of Photoshop and Elements has to do with the program running slower. Often running slower can be attributed to keeping an old system and trying to run a more demanding program with the same equipment. Current system requirements for Photoshop suggest a minimum of 512 MB of RAM, this is in addition to what you need for your operating system (Windows Vista requires 1GB of RAM), and really the size of your images. There is almost never too much RAM and you may want 4GB to stay ahead of the curve.

4 matching hard drives
I use 4 hard drives on my system: 1 for system/programs, 2 for images/work in a RAID array, 1 more for a dedicated scratch disk. Drives should all be fast, and it is handy to have them in matching size and manufacture so you can swap them out in emergencies (e.g., for example if one drive in your RAID goes out, you can sub in the scratch disk while waiting for a replacement). Keeping work separate from your programs allows you to run a RAID array to make instantaneous backup of your work to protect you from losing anything. A dedicated scratch disk allows photoshop plenty of room to scale its memory needs without conflicting with image saves and program activity. A RAID can easily be set up on a Mac; PCs will require additional software.,

dual core processor
Photoshop is a processing and memory hog, and having a fast processor at the core is essential for peak performance. Photoshop has been built for a long time to handle dual core processing, and that capability leads to less wait and more productivity.

Kensington Turbomouse
There are various input devices to choose from, and my input of choice is a Kensington Turbomouse, and has been for many years. Mice require a lot of wrist movement and potential strain, and Wacom tablets while interesting and unique, do not provide the kind of accuracy and control I can get with a trackball (try stopping in the middle of a stroke with a graphics pen, for example). The trackball is really a huge inverted mouse with the advantage that it never needs to be moved, takes up little desk space and offers the ultimate in control of your cursor. Don't get a flimsy trackball with a small controller...it just isn't the same.

DVD Writer
As images mount on your drives you will eventually need to back them up to make room for new ones. One of your best long-term options for high capacity storage/archive are DVDs, which offer about 6 times the space of a CD. They are also quite durable, and likely your best option currently for image archive and storage.

external backup drive
For daily or weekly backup, to keep your current work safe should you experience some type of computer meltdown, you can make use of an external drive with at least the same storage capacity as your work drives. Doubling the capacity will allow you to retain the original backups while making the new, and considering the low cost of hard drive space these days, a single large backup drive will save you infinite worry and offer the capability to restore work easily.

card reader
A device that I have found to have ultimate utility on the road as well as for daily download of images is my portable Wolvarine drive. It sports additional slots for a variety of card types, and an 80GB capacity which allows me to take approximately 12,000 photos before having to touch base with my main desktop. It has an internal power pack so it can operate anywhere, and attachments for car lighter plugs. Great for backing up cards on the road, and reading them into the computer.

Power backup system
Power backup allows you to stave off the ultimate, unpredictable catastrophe: power loss. Power can go out at any time, and some types of power/surge protectors offer surge protection and full switched power that automatically stores and kicks in during a power outage. A must if you live in an area where unpredictable power outages occur.

Of course, my image editing program of choice is Photoshop, but Photoshop Elements is often just as good for most users who will never need the additional non-photo-editing features (CMYK generation, Actions/Scripting, Web development tools). Some of this list is equipment you can accumulate and reuse between systems as you upgrade.

You may notice the glaring omission of a home printer. I am not big on printing at home, and send everything to a service. To get the equipment I’d want for that I figure I am saving about $80,000 in a printer cost which I assume is worth it ;-). You can also save yourself the headaches associated with maintaining supplies and printer maintenance. I discuss this in a lot more detail in my From Monitor to Print: Photoshop Color Workflow course.

If you are looking for the ultimate system for editing images, or even to begin upgrading as you begin to take image editing more seriously, this list of key components should prove helpful in your consideration of building the ultimate system. I'd be glad to answer additional questions on the subject (Contact Richard: richard@betterphoto.com)