Not sure if Photoshop is worth investing in for your business? Keep reading, and we’ll help you make an informed decision.
Over the past decade, technology has become an integral part of our day-to-day lives. The advancements that have been made have been nothing short of extraordinary. AI, smartphones, wireless internet, Bluetooth connections, and all the different apps and devices have completely changed our lives. Technology has also become an indispensable part of your business and the work that you do every day, especially as a remote worker.
Are you comfortable with technology? How computer-savvy are you? There are a million different websites, software, apps, and computer programs that you could be using in your business. Honestly, it can be a bit overwhelming. Deciding which business tools to invest your time and money into can be a challenge. There are tools for communication, prioritization, budgeting, design, hosting, marketing, organization, sales, and much more.
In fact, not many things have stayed the same over the past 15 years, but one thing that I’ve used consistently since the beginning of my career is Adobe Photoshop. While it can be complicated, I feel it has many capabilities that make it a wise investment for your business.
Why? How can Photoshop help my business?
Adobe Photoshop is an image editing program. If you want to create digital art of any kind, Photoshop would be excellent software to invest in.
If you have product images that you need to edit to put online, place in newsletters, print, or anything else, Photoshop can help you get them ready. It can do the basics, like cropping, red eye correcting, changing to black and white, and basic effects. It can also do more advanced editing like removing backgrounds, replacing objects, and wrapping textures and patterns. The most basic and most common thing I use it for is to resize images. If I take a photo with my DSLR and want to put it on my blog or website, I need to shrink down the resolution and size considerably so that it loads faster and doesn’t bog down my site.
Photoshop also features what is known as layers. As you get more comfortable, you may want to progress into using this more complex feature. A layer is basically just one image on top of another. The layers panel within Photoshop allows you to hide layers, filter them, color, lock, blend them, and more. The possibilities are really limitless.
The most common reason that I use layers within Photoshop is to create an animated advertisement. I’m sure you’ve seen them online. They are the ads that seem to flash from one frame to another. This is easily done in Photoshop if you have two images of the same size that you can layer on top of one another. There is an easy tutorial for the process here.
If you are designing your own advertisements, Photoshop is an excellent tool to make your ads look professional and consistent. Photoshop allows you to add effects, enhance the color, brightness, and appearance of photos, as well as make them the exact size you need for an ad placement. It enables you to change the background or remove blemishes from images.
How can I justify the cost?
The good news is, you might not need to. If you don’t know a lot about Photoshop or how to use it, you need to do some research before forking out a lot of cash to purchase the full version. The desktop version can cost around $260, and the less robust Adobe Photoshop Elements can still cost $100.
Now, enter Canva.
This desktop platform is free and puts a wide variety of design capabilities at your fingertips. With this platform, you can create designs, edit photos and videos, and much more. Canva is free with the basic plan, and they also have Pro and Business plans that cost $18 and $25 per month, respectively. Depending on your needs, this may be all that you need.
Photoshop Wrapup
If you feel somewhat comfortable at your computer, or have ever done any type of graphic design, learning more about Photoshop might be able to save you some cash. Designing and creating your own images can reduce the cost of hiring a graphic designer. It also gives you complete creative control. With online tutorials and resources, you can learn some of these great skills on your own. Because of its immense popularity, there are many online forums and other free support online.
And, after you’ve honed your skills, it might also be a way for you to make a little extra cash. You can sell your images on your own website, contract your services out, or create social media images for other small business owners.
Are you thinking about purchasing Photoshop for your business? Do you use Photoshop already? If so, drop us a note; we’d love to hear from you. If you enjoyed this post, please share it on your favorite social media site.
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